CHAPTER THREE
Astrid
Mrs. Parks pursed her lips in disapproval.
“Disgusting,” she said as the three of them watched the security tapes of their interaction with the dragons.
They stood in the security office, which was ringed with monitor screens showing different locations throughout the facility. Mrs. Parks had the technician who watched the screen step out for a break as the three of them surveyed the action. It was a tiny room that must have been a storage room at one time. But there was simply not enough room for four people.
Mrs. Parks had thought it would be instructive to watch the tapes and she was free with her comments to both of the young women throughout. But when they reached the end of the video where Rawlins jerked himself off, Mrs. Parks became pensive.
She muttered a few words under her breath that sounded suspiciously like, “indecent, abominable, horrid.” Her fists were bunched at her hips but she did nothing to turn off Rawlin’s raw sex show.
“Can they really have no privacy?” asked Astrid. Mrs. Parks shot her a look that could peel paint off the walls.
“Of course not,” the matron replied. “They are dangerous creatures. You saw how they acted. Especially that Templeton Rawlins.”
Astrid wondered what Rawlins had done to the matron, other than his masturbation session, to make her remarks even more acidic than usual. But she turned her head away from Mrs. Parks sharp and critical gaze. They were sentient creatures, damn it, and deserved some dignity. No wonder the inmates were in full revolt. She would be too if she were treated like an animal.
“But you, Ms. Hellstrom,” said Mrs. Parks, “You showed fear in front of the prisoners and that will not do. Not at all.”
Mrs. Parks wielded her sharp tone with the precision of a surgical instrument. Jane paled, not just at the words, but the nasty tone of Mrs. Parks voice.
“I’ll do better, ma’am,” she said timidly.
“You should take from Davis, Hellstrom. She keeps a level head with them.”
“That’s the schooling, ma’am,” said Astrid coldly. “Knowledge overrides fear.”
“Yes, I suppose it does.”
The ring of a cell phone filled the small room and Mrs. Parks pulled the device from her pocket. “Excuse me, ladies. It is the commandant.” She spoke the words as if they were of major import and Astrid supposed for a small and mean administrator like Parks, such a call was.
Mrs. Parks stepped out of the room and shut the door.
“She’s an absolute horror,” hissed Jane.
“You noticed that.”
Jane shivered. “I don’t know how I can keep working here.”
“Why did you apply in the first place?”
“It was my father’s idea. He has connections in the government and thought it would be good for me to get into government service. You know, steady employment, benefits.”
“Good choice,” said Astrid. She struggled to keep the sarcasm from her voice.
But to her horror, Jane broke out in a rush of tears. The girl turned shaking toward Astrid and though she thought the girl foolish and unnecessarily dramatic, Astrid wrapped a comforting arm around her.
“I can’t bear it, I just can’t,” Jane wept. “They are awful creatures. And what they did to that guard…”
Jane burst into another gush of tears and Astrid patted her back.
“There, there,” she said. “There is no proof they did anything to the guard. He was probably sick and didn’t take care of himself properly.”
Jane snuffled. “You think so?”
“It is the most logical explanation. Look at them, Jane.” Astrid flicked a hand to the monitors. “They are chained and housed behind heavy glass walls. They can’t do anything except scare you to death, which they seem to do very well.”
Jane pulled away and gave her an angry look.
“So you are judging me too,” she shot.
“No.”
“Look at you, all cool and collected with your University education. You look down on simple girls like me. Well, Papa didn’t have money to send me to University, so you can keep your snooty ideas to yourself.”
Astrid crossed her arms and stared at the monitors. It did no good arguing with someone like Jane, who really did have few prospects if she didn’t go to college. Even secretary jobs were had to come by because computers did so many things now; only the very rich would spend money on someone to look pretty at a desk. And Jane, she thought uncharitably, just wasn’t that pretty.
It was a cross thought brought on by a difficult first night. It was disheartening to see these dragons battered by captivity and the hostile attitude of staff. Whatever crimes they were accused or convicted off, they deserved their dignity, at the very least. Astrid, having studied all these cases thoroughly, was not convinced they were the criminals they were painted as by the state. But she dare not say any of that, not here, and certainly not now.
“You can think that, if you want, Jane. I’m just here for the work. And I was assigned this duty. It wasn’t as if it was a choice.” Never mind that Astrid prayed for the chance to work in one of these facilities, just so she could get close to dragons.
“Right. Having to work off your student debt obligation.”
Jane’s tone suggested that Astrid was awarded a high honor, regardless. This told Astrid that Jane’s university problems weren’t just a matter of finance. She couldn’t qualify academically. Astrid tried to work up sympathy for the girl, but Jane’s scornful attitude made that difficult.
Astrid turned her attention back to Templeton Rawlins, who now lay on his cot with his eyes closed. He hadn’t made a move to clean himself and he lay there as if he hadn’t a care in the world.
Then he turned his head toward the camera and stared directly into it. For the briefest second, Astrid could have sworn she saw the reptilian eyes of a dragon staring at her. The irises were a magnificent gold with a darker ring of bronze at the edges, though the pupil was a dark slit through the center. He seemed to be staring directly at her.
She sucked in a breath, transfixed by the rare sight. Dragons weren’t known to partially shift, even when not bound by iron. Maybe it was just her imagination.
“Do you see that?” Astrid asked her companion.
“What?” said a disinterested Jane. She glanced over her shoulder to see Jane inspecting her nails. Astrid shook her head.
“Nothing,” said Astrid and glanced back at the screen. But Rawlins had turned his head away as if he knew that Astrid’s glance had turned from him. And when she caught his eye again, they were the warm caramel brown she had first gazed into.
The door to the security room opened and Mrs. Parks huffed in.
“You’re still here?” she said, as if she expected them to be elsewhere. “Well, we’ll go over your other duties now. Come along.” She tsked at the sight of Rawlins on his bunk with his chest covered in his spunk.
“Well, that’s one of those nasty creatures we won’t have to deal with soon. The commandant gave me the word. Rawlins’ execution order just came through.”