Gregg Hurwitz - The Tower

When he finally reached Level Two, Tommy was ready with a complaint.

"Greener, you gotta listen to me. This food's fuckin' killing me. It's hurting me, it really is. Cruel and unusual, eh? It's bad for a man's soul to eat like this. To eat this. Bring me one good meal. One plate of fusilli, sausage and tomato sauce with oregano and basil. I'll make you a rich man. You know I can. One plate, Greener, one plate."

"I'm sorry, Tommy. Can't do it. But I did specially prepare this loaf for you. Unfortunately, I cut off the tips of my fingers making it, but you'll enjoy those, I'm sure. It'll remind you of old times."

"You mameluke." Tommy wrung his hands as he paced his cell. "It used to be you could bribe a guard. What happened, the Democrats back in office?"

"Sorry, not allowed to tell you. Remember, the 'no access to outside information' rule?" Greener glanced over at Safran, who was staring through the bars. Dried blood from a recent nosebleed had crusted around his lips and down his lower cheek. "Well hello, my little beacon of sunshine. A pleasure as always. Today's specials are-"

"Food. The food. Give me to it."

"Well, a little pronoun confusion going on, but I think you've earned your loaf anyway for your charming display of social skills. Come on, guys, let's give him a hand."

"Can you believe him, this guy here?" Tommy shook his head and gestured painfully at Safran as Greener clicked the button to lower the platform. "All the criminals in the world, I get stuck next to fucko over here."

The platform stopped on the first level and Greener unlocked Unit 1A, the main storage area. He grabbed a couple of slickers before swinging the door shut and relocking it.

"Jesus Christ!" Greener yelled as the elevator rose. "For a bunch of fuckin' criminals, you'd think one of you'd have a goddamn sense of humor." He snickered to himself. "Mr. Greener, you've just won the chance to be a prison guard. Where are you going to go? Well, Bob, I think I'll waste my life away in the Tower! That's right, ceaseless fun for the whole family."

As he came up on Level Ten, he noticed the last loaf by his foot. "Oh yeah, Atlasia. You want this? Last call. Come on, I'm gonna eat it myself."

Allander still lay facedown by his unit door, not moving. Greener called up the Hole, "Hey, Hackett! Hackett!"

There was no answer from above, just the rising wind sucking across the top of the Hole. He decided Hackett was probably leaning over the parapet, watching the waves crash against the stone.

He reached the metal arm through the food slot and prodded Allander before jerking it back out. No movement. He looked for an indication of breathing in the rise and fall of Allander's back, but there was nothing. He prodded him again. Finally, he relaxed, letting the arm come to a rest on Allander's back. He turned and shouted up the Hole, "Hey, Hackett, I think we got a dead one!"

The minute Greener's eyes left him, Allander seized the end of the metal arm. By the time Greener turned back, Allander was poised like an alligator. He faced Greener, glowering in the darkness.

"What the fu-"

Allander yanked the end of the metal arm with incredible force, pulling Greener by the strap around his wrist. Greener stumbled forward, losing his balance. As he fell, the elevator control slipped from his left hand and slid across the platform through the food slot under Allander's door. Allander gathered it with his hands like a hockey goalie embracing a puck.

Greener struck his chin on the steel bars of the platform floor. He shook his head, trying to clear his vision. The prisoners in the cages around him, sensing that something extraordinary was happening, began to scream with excitement, thrashing against their doors. The tightly wrapped rain slickers rolled around the platform, bouncing off the unit bars.

Allander clicked the big red button and the elevator started up. Greener hung doubled over the edge of the elevator as it left the Level Ten platform. He dug his hands at the elevator where it met his crotch, hoisting his body up briefly to orient himself. The last thing he saw was the rush of Level Eleven coming down behind his head. The powerful elevator rose quickly under his stomach as the eleventh level caught his lower back and severed him at the midsection. The air left him in a wet grunt.

The upper part of Greener's corpse fell to the Level Ten platform with a dull thud, landing in front of Unit 10A. Allander still lay on his stomach, a look of subtle amusement on his face. The twitching torso was splayed grotesquely behind its crooked neck, both of its arms outstretched worshipfully to Allander.

"I know, my little friend, I know," Allander purred as he managed to free the metal arm and pull it inside his cage.

Glancing up, he noticed Greener's keys dangling over the edge of the elevator, still attached to his pants. They swayed back and forth from what had formerly been Greener's crotch and legs, which remained somewhere around Level Eleven. Allander clicked the bottom red button and giggled obscenely.

Spade also noticed the keys, and he began moving madly around his cell as the elevator lowered, bringing them nearer and nearer.

"Atlasia. You forget that shit I said. You forget it. You let me out of here. You let me the fuck out when you get ahold of those keys. Don't you leave me caged up in here."

Allander ignored him and reached for the keys with the metal arm, which he had been holding reverently. The pronged end of the arm caught the ring easily. As he backed it away, the chain slid out of Greener's gory midsection.

Even the prisoners who could not see Greener's corpse had joined the clamor. Ironically, Claude Rivers, the only one with a good vantage point of what was happening, was dozing away in his cot.

"Hey, Greener, you all right down there? Move your ass, it's starting to rain and we gotta get the Hatch sealed." Hackett's voice echoed down the Hole.

Allander tensed up and the metal arm struck the top of his food slot. The keys lost their hold on the end of the arm and fell to the platform. They barely caught, dangling halfway over one of the flat steel bars.

"You promise. You give me your word you'll let me go when you get that bitch or I'll yell like a beast to high heaven."

"Interesting simile," Allander hissed.

"What the fuck's keepin' you?" Hackett bellowed from above. "You throwin' a party, or what?" Because it was dusk and a storm was coming in, it was too dark for him to see down the Hole.

"I'm not joking here," Spade growled. "I'll fuck you."

"Sounds ravishing," Allander said dryly.

The other inmates moved frantically about their units, trying to figure out what, exactly, had happened.

Leaning against the Hatch, Hackett heard only the crash of the waves against the side of the Tower and the noise of the stirring prisoners. He gazed up at the dark clouds gliding ominously through the sky.

"Must've dropped a fuckin' loaf down the Hole," he said, settling back against the railing and lighting up another cigarette.

Spade cringed as Allander reached for the keys with the arm. "Come on, Atlasia. You got this. You got this now."

Allander struck the keys with the metal arm, but he missed the ring, and they shifted dangerously on the edge.

"You motherfucker! You gotta be careful."

"Your perception of the obvious is admirable." Allander stabbed at the keys again, this time hooking the ring with the prong. Slowly, he brought the arm back, moving it hand over hand until the keys dangled just outside the bars.

They were right before him, just out of reach. He lowered the tilt of the arm and pulled it back sharply. The keys flew through the bars to his hand. Allander gazed at them affectionately for a moment, overwhelmed at all they represented. They glittered in the darkness.