The Unjudged: The battle for Cromer by Phil Hurst

Author:Phil Hurst [Hurst, Phil]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-03-01T22:00:00+00:00

Marcus and Kamar and Sam

S am was part of them now.

- So we’re all trapped in your head?

- Our head.

- Why aren’t I dead?

- We are.

- So why am I here?

- We’re not sure.

- Where are we?

They looked around. The head had been dried out and was in a small, see-through plastic container. A clear gel held them in the middle of the box, allowing anyone to inspect the head from all sides without handling or damaging it. The head itself had degraded following its time in the water. There was only a small amount of hair left, but the skin that had been peeling off and rotting was being held in place by the pressure of the gel. The Tumi implant was visible through a hole in their neck. Something had knocked it loose, and a single wire was suspended where they had been decapitated.

They took a moment to take in their surroundings. Someone, with little apparent respect for their situation, had placed them in a bathtub. Everything in the room was white with the exception of a dark blue shower curtain, which was folded with precision at the end of the bath.

- Well we’re not as wet as we used to be.

- That’s supposed to be a positive development? How do I get out of here?

- By here, do you mean the bathtub?

- No I mean your head.

- Our head.

- Our head, then. How do I get out?

- We don’t know.

And they all fell silent for a moment. They tried to understand what was happening to them and what they could do to fix it. Finding no solution, they looked around the bathroom. They looked at the detail in the grouting, the dust behind the toilet and the limescale around the tap. They understood the force that needed to be applied to push the soap off its dish and how much energy would be needed to press the switch to turn the shower on.

By the time Lana and Jennifer entered the room, the souls in Marcus’ head knew how everything worked. They didn’t know why they felt the need to understand that given they had no control over it. But they also noticed they had memorised the organisation of mechanical interactions in the bathroom within minutes.

Two women walked in. One was Sam’s mother, and the other was someone none of them had seen before. Sam tried to scream to his mother, but he made no noise. She didn’t notice. The others all felt the effect of his exertions and expressed their amusement.

- That doesn’t work. Don’t you think we tried that?

“Lana, why do you have a head in a box?” Jennifer asked.

“It’s in a box because Marie noticed this,” Lana picked up the box and turned them upside down. They felt the movement but were unaffected by it. They had looked at the how the lock keeping the box closed was put together and were confident in its integrity.

“What’s that?” she was looking at the small black wire dangling from what used to be Marcus’ throat.

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