Krista laughed as she closed the cell door, watching Helena and the other Scab girls swarm the bars between cells and start to growl at him. “Looks like they just found their next meal.”
Lipton backed up, pressing his back against the bars on the opposite side of his cell. “Have you ever heard of cruel and unusual punishment?”
“Nice try, but that’s no longer part of the legal system,” Krista said. “Or society. Not here. It’s all about what Krista wants and when. Or haven’t you figured that out yet?”
“Oh, I know exactly what this all means.”
“And right now, I want to see you squirm. And maybe bleed a little.”
Horton made eye contact with her, but held his tongue.
“Feel free to feed him to them if he gets out of line,” Krista said to Horton.
“Gladly,” Horton said, giving her a single head nod.
Lipton shook his finger at Krista. “Don’t forget, you need me for those EOD calculations.”
“How could I?” she answered in a sarcastic tone. “You remind me every ten minutes.”
Lipton continued. “And as trade bait for that other camp.”
“Then I’d suggest you stay as far away from Helena and her friends as you can.”
“Oh, I plan to, trust me.”
Krista held for a beat before responding. “Wow, for a man nobody trusts, you sure use that phrase a lot. Kind of diminishes the whole meaning of it.”
“That may be so, but it doesn’t change the facts. You do need me.”
“So you say, but you’re really not my focus at the moment.”
“Nomad?”
Krista tilted her head and raised an eyebrow, but didn’t respond.
“He’s your focus? Seriously? That man is a lowly cretin. Yet another Neanderthal. You’d think you learned your lesson about men like him after the whole Frost debacle.”
“Wow, you’re just a legend in your own mind, aren’t you?”
“You really need to listen to what I’m saying. Nomad can’t help you. With anything. I’m your only hope, but you’re too damn stupid to see it.”
“Have fun, Lipton,” Krista said with a smile covering her lips. “Try not to turn yourself into a crunchie while I’m gone.”
CHAPTER 6
Liz stopped in the hallway when she saw Krista exit the door of the brig and head her way. “I was hoping to run into you.”
Krista pointed at a door nearby. “Just on my way to the locker room.”
“Is that where he is?”
“Who?”
“Nomad.”
“Yes. Why?”
“Need to ask him some questions about the girl he brought in.”
“I take it she’s in bad shape.”
Liz nodded. “Can’t treat her properly without additional information.”
Krista opened the door to the locker room. “After you.”
Liz walked in first, seeing a half-dozen men standing in a semi-circle around another door in the back of the room, all of them looking inside. She stopped her feet and looked at Krista. “What’s going on?”
Krista slid in next to her. “I told them to clean him up. Just like they did with the women he brought in. You never know where these drifters have been. Plus that smell has to go.”
Liz passed a wooden bench on her way to the gathering of men, then turned sideways and pushed her way inside with an outstretched arm.
Krista followed her, both of them breaking through the group on the other side.
“Hey, that’s enough,” Liz yelled at the man holding a firehose that was shooting a heavy stream of water.
It was Wicks. He had the nozzle aimed at the back of a naked man in the community shower area about ten feet way.
The man’s hands were braced up against the wall in front of him with his wet, stringy black hair hanging down an inch or so past the bottom of his neckline.
“Easy, Doc,” Krista said, grabbing Liz’s arm. “He’s just following orders.”
“Make him stop, now,” Liz snapped, wondering why Krista kept putting Wicks in a position to cross the line. The man obviously had issues. “I mean it. Shut it off. We don’t do this here.”
“Do what?” Wicks asked, his tone sarcastic. “Clean up the filth?”
Before Liz could respond, Summer arrived and stuck her head in, eyes wide, bouncing her pupils between Krista and her. “What are you ladies doing?”
Liz pointed at the man being blasted by the water hose. “They need to stop this. Now.”
Summer shot an intense look at Krista. “You heard her. Turn it off.”
Krista paused, then turned to her man. “All right, Wicks, that’s enough.”
Wicks aimed the hose at the wall to the left, then peered behind him at a guard who stood where the other end of the hose met the water spigot. “That’s enough, Watson.”
Watson leaned down and cranked the valve, ending the water stream.
Nomad dropped to one knee, his chest pumping hard for air.
“What the hell happened to him?” Summer said, her eyes focused on the man in the shower.
Liz noticed the scars on Nomad as well. “Looks like burns. Third or fourth degree, if I had to guess.”
“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” Wicks said, walking to Nomad. He grabbed the prisoner’s arm and yanked him to his feet, then shackled his hands with a pair of cuffs. He spun the man around to face the women.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Wicks said, grabbing the hair in front of Nomad’s face and flipping it up and over his head. “I give you, The Freak.”
Summer gasped, turning her head away.
Liz wanted to do the same but convinced herself not to react to the man’s disfigurement. It looked as though his face had been hit dead on by a flamethrower. His scars were layered, and a good portion of his nose was mangled, making him look less human than the Scab women he’d brought to Nirvana.
“Any wonder why he wears a mask?” Wicks asked, pointing at Nomad’s face. “Look at this shit. And I thought my face was messed up.”
Nomad turned his head away and let his chin drop to his chest.
Liz wondered why Nomad didn’t resist Wicks. His reputation as a ruthless swordsman turned vigilante meant he knew how to fight. Yet he remained there limp, taking the abuse, as if he welcomed the humiliation. Or perhaps thought he deserved it.
Summer brought her eyes back to the prisoner. She squinted. “Someone get him some pants.”
Liz turned to Krista. “She’s right. A little dignity, please.”
“And one of your commando masks, too,” Summer added, turning her head away again.
“You mean a balaclava?” Krista asked.
“Yes, whatever you call it.”
Liz decided to jump into the conversation. “It’s obvious he prefers his face covered. I think we should indulge him.”
“For everyone’s sake,” Wicks said, his hand sliding to the back of Nomad’s head and yanking on his locks.
Nomad’s head jerked back in obvious discomfort, but he still chose not to resist.
Summer nodded. “It beats that heavy mask he normally wears.”