The Hunt (18 page)

Tyner smiled as if he were humouring a child.
“Mara, Mara. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that the only men who like being dominated are queers. The fact is, it's natural for men to dominate women. Nature decided this by making us physically stronger than you. This is why women like it when men behave aggressively, why they're turned on when men punish them. You don't think you're turned on because decades of feminazi brainwashing has convinced you women are equal to men. Thank God we now have a new society in which the damage is being undone. You're still thinking the old way, but soon your body will learn the lesson I'm teaching it.”

Mara remembered Mary Green's letter. She knew geeks loved conspiracy theories. Perhaps letting Tyner know what she'd discovered would make him feel a kinship with her.
“Let me tell you something about your new society,” she began. “In the apartment where I was hiding, I found a letter written by a woman who'd been living there. According to her, the police started clearing all the homeless out of Kilburn one week before the 2059 bombings. You see what that means? The government must have known about the bombings, or even been responsible for them. All to provide an excuse for the Hunt.”

Tyner looked mildly amused.
“I'm not even going to bother telling you how crazy that sounds, Mara. Now the doctor has suggested you could do with an evening off, and after listening to your paranoid rant, I'm inclined to agree with him. What would you like to do? We could watch some television.”

Mara looked down at the pizza.
“Could I just be on my own now?” she asked quietly.

Tyner was obviously disappointed.
“Fine. If you don't like my company you may go to your room.”

Mara walked out without saying another word, and Tyner followed her. After opening the bedroom door, he said,
“Have a good night's sleep. I'll see you tomorrow morning,” and left her alone in the darkness. Removing her robe, she climbed onto the bed and attempted to find a comfortable position. Lying on her back proved too painful, so she tried resting on her side. There was a ceiling-mounted light, but with nothing to read, there wasn't any point turning it on. As Mara stared into emptiness, heavy metal began playing loudly in the living room. She'd always hated heavy metal, and thought it somehow appropriate that a man like Tyner would be into this kind of thing. The throbbing beat shook the walls, recalling the relentless fury with which Tyner had struck her. She could almost feel his anger. Mara supposed she should be grateful Tyner hadn't played something she liked. Hearing Mozart or Leonard Cohen or Billie Holiday under these circumstances would have tainted them irretrievably for her, though she doubted anyone who listened to Billie Holiday would have been quite so eager to torture women. She'd heard of concentration camp commandants relaxing by playing Schubert on the piano. Did that really happen, or was it a myth? She found it much easier to imagine fascists listening to that celebration of raw brutality issuing from the next room. Tyner had turned the volume up as high as possible, preventing Mara from sleeping.

As she lay there, memories of the things which had been done to her that day, alongside thoughts of the things that would be done to her tomorrow, came crashing in. She tried to fight them off by focusing on the mental image of a blank wall. Eventually, Tyner turned the music down. Mara spent the few hours of sleep available to her that night dreaming of a familiar voice telling her to wake up.

Chapter 12

Wednesday March 28th

The sound of the door opening jolted Mara awake. The first thing she saw was Tyner entering the room, a smile on his face.

“
I'll give you half an hour to pull yourself together. Then we can have breakfast.”

He shut the door without waiting for a response. Mara sat up in bed, pushing the hair out of her eyes. She knew what this madman was planning for today, had heard him discuss it with the doctor. She stumbled towards the bathroom, urinated and brushed her teeth, then took a shower. It did not leave her feeling refreshed. Pulling on her robe, she sat on the edge of the bed, her anguish growing with every moment. Burying her head in her hands, she began to sob. Tyner discovered her in this position. Ignoring her distress, he barked,
“Let's go!” and held the door open.

Mara walked into the living room, where a mug of coffee awaited her. Tyner sat next to her on the sofa and said,
“I've only made you coffee this morning, because we're going to do something that involves the use of a ball gag, and I don't want you vomiting while you have it on.”

“
Great,” replied Mara as she drank the coffee.

Ignoring her sardonic tone, Tyner continued.
“I'm very pleased with the work we've done so far, but today I want to take things onto, like, another level. I assume you have some idea what's going to happen. Before you start complaining, read this.”

He passed her a printed form on which names and dates had been written in the blank spaces provided.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is to certify that
Mara Gorki
was examined by
Dr. Alex Roberts
on
March 27th

2068
, and is deemed fit to withstand electric shock treatment as part of the Hunt

commencing
March 23rd
and ending
March 30th
. Signed:
Dr. Alex Roberts
.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“This is insanity,” observed Mara to herself as Tyner took the letter and placed it in his pocket.

“
Now I know you like to claim you can't take the things I do to you in the playroom, but this time you've been examined by a doctor and certified fit to receive electric shocks. So do you agree with this medical professional that you can take electric shock treatment, or do you want to offer, like, an amateur opinion on the subject?”

Mara looked at him and said,
“Don't worry. I know there's no point arguing with you. I used to think you didn't see me as a human being. But that wasn't the problem at all. The problem is that you aren't a human being. You're...I don't know what you are. Even an animal wouldn't behave this way. You...you...”

Mara was barely able to breathe, and Tyner stroked her face, saying,
“Calm down, calm down.” He didn't seem angry.

When Mara began breathing more normally, Tyner suggested she use the bathroom.
“Electric shocks can cause loss of bowel and bladder control, so it's best you be as empty as possible.” He escorted her back to the bedroom and said, “I'll give you twenty minutes.”

Mara found she actually did need to have a bowel movement, her first since the Hunt began. When Tyner returned, she was sitting on the bed waiting.

As soon as they entered the Playroom, Tyner told Mara to take off her robe, and moved her gently, but firmly towards a padded bench that looked like a gynaecological examination chair. Knowing she had no choice, Mara sat in the chair and placed her legs in the stirrups. Tyner fastened restraints around her ankles and thighs, then walked to the chair's rear, commanding Mara to lean forward and open her mouth. As she did this, a red ball gag was forced between her teeth. Tyner tightly secured the gag's strap, explaining, “This is mainly to prevent you biting your tongue. The fact that it stops you nagging is just a bonus.” He smiled at her, as if this were their private joke. After securing restraints around Mara's stomach, arms and neck, he went to a nearby table and picked up an electrical generator. Wires ending in alligator clips were connected to it. Tyner untangled the wires and attached one of the clips to Mara's left toe. After checking the generator's settings, he pressed a button. Mara felt electricity surge through her body. She tried to scream, but could not. Tyner shocked her four more times, relishing the way she struggled futilely against the restraints, then removed the clip, fastened it on her left nipple, and delivered another five shocks. To finish up, he attached the clip to her clitoris. By the time he removed the ball gag, she was unable to speak. Tyner used a tissue to wipe her mouth, and said, “Now rest for a few minutes while I prepare your next challenge.”

Mara watched helplessly as Tyner laid a mat on the floor by the wooden horse, and tugged on some ropes hanging from the ceiling. He left the room, and came back a few minutes later with a glass of water, which he allowed Mara to drink, holding her head and slowly pouring the liquid into her mouth. When the glass was empty, he removed Mara's restraints and helped her climb off the chair. She had trouble standing, and almost collapsed.
“You seem a little unsteady,” observed Tyner. “But don't worry. What's coming next will enable you to take the weight off your feet. Lie face down on the mat.”

Once Mara was in position, Tyner ordered her to place her hands behind her back. Using a length of thick string, he bound Mara's wrists, then began tying a rope suspended from the ceiling under her arms. When he'd finished, he tugged on the other end of the rope, pulling Mara into the air, and slowly lowered her onto the wooden horse. Mara was now straddling the upside down V, and as the full weight of her body pressed down on the wood's sharp edge, she began sobbing. Tyner secured Mara's legs tightly in the restraints attached to either side of the horse, then left the room. As with the cross, a mirror had been positioned before this device so its victim could observe herself. Mara tried shifting position, but the limited amount of movement permitted by the restraints meant that all she succeeded in doing was spreading the pain to a slightly different area.

Mara had no idea how long she'd been on the horse. Time had ceased to have any meaning. She now inhabited an eternity of suffering in which each moment was as unendurable as the last. When the door again opened, she could not have said if she'd been on the horse for an hour or a day. Tyner entered, Dr. Roberts close behind him. The doctor took one look at her and said, “Let's get Miss Gorki down from there so I can examine her.”

Mara almost wept tears of joy. She could not have endured another minute of this. Tyner was plainly frustrated.
“She's almost at the mid-point of an eight-hour session, and I'd really hate to break it. Can't you examine her where she is?”

The doctor frowned, but said,
“I guess it'd be okay.”

As Tyner left the room, Mara began pleading with Dr. Roberts.
“Doctor, I can't take any more of this. I beg you, please let me down.”

The doctor was examining Mara's body with apparent professional disinterest. Taking a stethoscope from his medical bag, he reached up and checked her heartbeat, observing,
“Your heart is beating quite steadily, all things considered. I see no reason to intervene. I realise this is extremely painful. It's undoubtedly designed to be. But I guarantee it won't cause any permanent damage. After you've been up there five or six hours, the pain starts to diminish and numbness sets in, so it won't be as bad as you think. Was there anything you wanted to report?”

Mara stared down at him in disbelief.
“Look at me!” she screamed. “Look what's being done to me! How the fuck can you allow this? What kind of doctor are you?”

Roberts seemed genuinely offended.
“I can assure you I am doing the job assigned me to the best of my ability. If I were to say you are not capable of enduring another four hours on the horse, I would be lying. Do you wish me to lie?”

“
Yes, doctor. I wish you to lie. I wish you to lie, because under the present circumstances that would be the only sane course of action you could take.”

Snapping his bag shut, the doctor stormed out without saying another word. Mara expected Tyner to return immediately, but it soon became obvious she wouldn't see him again until the time came for her to be taken down. She could no longer even pretend to understand what motivated him. If he derived a sadistic thrill from seeing her in agony, why didn't he stay to watch? Tyner reminded her of the merciless but also emotionless torturers in
Pasolini's
Salo
, incapable of even taking a perverse pleasure from their sadistic activities. He was like an alien life form, motivated by desires and impulses impossible to comprehend. He'd repeatedly told her he was doing these things so she could test her limitations and learn something about herself, and she had to admit that, in some hideously twisted fashion, he truly believed this to be the case. And what made it worse was that she lived in a society which regarded his behaviour as normal and hers as deviant. She could be sent to prison for making love to Yuke, but the state went out of its way to accommodate scum like Tyner, who had created elaborate philosophical rationales to justify torturing women. The British government had even perpetrated an act of mass murder to provide an excuse for the Hunt. As the pain between her legs increased, she began screaming at the top of her voice, “It's a nightmare! A nightmare! A nightmare! A nightmare! A nightmare!”

But there was nobody to hear her.

As the doctor predicted, she eventually started to feel numb, and by the time Tyner returned she barely cared whether or not she was released. Tyner looked up at her in admiration, saying, “I want you to know how proud I am. I'm going to take you down now.” After undoing the leg restraints, Tyner grabbed hold of the rope and pulled Mara into the air. As she was abruptly wrenched away from the seat she'd occupied for the last eight hours, she cried out in agony. Tyner lowered her to the ground and untied her. She lay there in a foetal position, her hands pushed between her legs in a futile attempt to ease the pain. Tyner again stroked her hair and said, “Rest here for a while. I'll prepare some food.” He was gone almost half an hour, but when he returned Mara still hadn't moved. He lifted her up, helped her into the robe, and gently led her out of the playroom.