sometime in 1995 . . .
injury on the job
I was among a large number of people lined up along a chainlink fence. I knew some of them, and they were all about my age. we faced a long, dull-colored building within the fence. a couple of armed guards paced before us, and one asked for volunteers to work in a store.
some walked into the building, and I considered following them. I realized suddenly that those who stayed outside would be killed, and I quickly went in.
once inside, our job was to fill large paper cups with root beer, and bring them around the room through a doorway. I followed a line of people doing this, and as we neared the doorway, I noticed a small hallway with several other doors besides the one we were supposed to enter. many people were going into them instead.
I decided to see what was behind one. A woman dressed in a nightgown approached from behind, looked behind several of the doors, and said, partly to me, but generally to herself, "why should they all be full in the middle of the day?" I went in to one of the rooms.
it was full of bunk beds. adults wearing pyjamas were sleeping in many of them, but most were occupied by people my age who were supposed to be working. I climbed to an empty upper bed.
just then, a woman who looked a lot like Diana from the movie "V" burst into the room. she held a barbed metal whip, and was waving it wildly, yelling at those who weren't supposed to be in there. She hit many of us, but not me. The whip left huge, ragged bloody holes in people's clothing.
several who were struck fell to the ground, either unconscious or dead. when everyone had either fallen or fled the room but myself and an adult sleeping nearby (who I suddenly noticed was my mom!), the woman turned on a record player on a dresser and played some loud country music with very obscene lyrics, and came toward us. I realized that my mom was a prisoner.
the woman was about to hit her, but noticed me and whipped me instead. it hit my shoulder, and hurt like crazy.
she rose the whip to hit me again, but I grabbed it, cutting my hand on the barbs, and yanked it out of her hands. I jumped to the ground and struck her with it several times as hard as I could. She was bleeding all over, but still came at me.
another whip materialized in her hand. I didn't think I had a chance. two or three hits had killed other people. I straightened my whip into a spear, and tossed it up to my mom, then bolted for the door. the woman raised her whip to get me on my way out, and I realized there was no way I'd make it in time. I braced myself, but felt nothing.
opening my eyes and looking back from the doorway, I saw that my mom had thrust the straightened whip through the woman's back and it protruded a foot from her chest. she slumped to the floor.
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