(PART 2)
"You must be new," a woman's voice came from his left.
Dan looked over, and, to his relief, a young woman just slightly shorter than him was standing in the plastic box to Dan's left. She had red hair, and was wearing a crude toga made out of what looked like the same soft fabric that Dan was holding onto.
"Oh Jesus, I thought I was the only one," Dan said, gripping his chest. "How many are there?"
"Welcome, stranger. To Aware Storage. Look around," she gestured, to the rows of boxes to their sides, and above, and below them. "I think it's at least 100. I've personally met 13 others. Counting you, that's 14." She rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
"Aware? I've been seeing that word here. What does it mean? Aware of what?"
The woman shook her head.
"If I tell you that, 'you don't want to know,' you won't be able to avoid asking me more out of curiosity. I'll just say this: first, it's complete hell, second, there is no way to avoid it, and third, enjoy every single moment of time that you have when it's not your turn."
She had a far-off-glazed look on her face. She then burst out in a brief nervous laugh.
"I really mean the 'enjoy your time' part! Look at this great food they give us - " she pointed at the three plastic cylinders in his room.
"You see, one is green, one is blue, and one is black? Unscrew the lid of the green one."
Dan unscrewed it, and found an odd meal: a tiny shred of a spinach leaf, a tiny shred of well-done steak, and a tiny crumb of bread- it smelled like fresh-baked Italian bread. It was an enormous quantity of food - enough for 3 hearty meals.
"It changes! And yes, we get fresh ones every day. Yesterday it was salmon, rice, and apple, the day before, aged cheddar, brussel sprout, and chicken. It's funny, I've become partial to the huge pieces of herbs that we get with it as seasoning. That took some getting used to."
"Every…day? How long have you been here?"
"Two months and 3 days. It should be… August 3rd now," she said.
"You're spot on," Dan said.
"Good to hear. I do mental exercises to keep me sane," the woman said. "I decided I'd rather live with these habits than end up like your neighbor."
Dan looked to the cell to his right. He didn't see anyone at first, but then he noticed that the fabric supply that each cell had was bunched up. He walked over, and looked more closely. There was a bundled human form in the far corner of this person's cell. It was shaking. Dan could hear faint muttering.
Dan walked back over to the woman.
"What happened to him?"
"The same thing that happens to us all in here. He's just been here the longest of anyone I've talked to."
"How long?"
"A year. He snapped completely about a month ago."
Dan looked to his right, and shuddered. He tried to think about what could break a person's brain like that.
"Don't worry about him. That probably won't happen to us," she said, looking down briefly as she said this. "Just, enjoy your steak right now. That fake interview takes hours. You're probably hungry by now," she said. "And there's water in the blue bin. Unscrew it, just like the green one."
"What's the black one?" Dan asked.
The woman got the same far-off look on her face as before, and looked like she was getting almost light-headed this time.
"That's the toilet. The screw lid is a bit rough on the edge, if you have to sit, but they give you a totally clean one the next day."
Much to Dan's relief, the lights shut off at night. He thought about trying to escape at night, but he was too tired to do it on day one. Dan found a comfortable position when he folded the cloth a particular way, and was happy to notice that there was more than enough cloth for this to be a bed, and, he thought, a source of material to make a toga like the woman had done. He wondered what had happened to the clothing the woman came in. He closed his eyes and told himself that he would escape soon, somehow, and this thought let him drift off to a few hours of sleep before the lights in the room were turned on again.
Giant hands came in to replace all three bins. Dan was surprised to notice that he had an appetite. He unscrewed the green bin and found shreds of well-cooked pork, raw carrot, and what must have been a tiny portion of cooked pasta.
"Not bad," he said to the woman after they ate breakfast close to each other.
"This one's new, I think it's soy sauce on the pork -" she stopped talking in the middle of her sentence, and looked up. A subtle whirring sound from a distance started, then a much louder mechanical sound came from below his cell.
Dan looked down and noticed that the tracks that he were on had wheels on the edges that were slowly pushing the plastic bins down the length of the room.
"Looks like the breakfast crowd is in. The first event after Tuesday recruiting is The Wednesday Rise and Shine Meetup." She had a pained look on her face. "So much coffee."
"For us?"
"No, coffee for the guests. Just wait. You'll see."
The whirring stopped.
Dan looked out at the whole room, at all of the cells of other trapped people across the way. He was now about two cells' lengths' further from the electronic door that Thomas had walked him in on.
"Does that mean we're next?"
"No, we're on the second row from the bottom. It's not our turn until the two rows above us goes first."
"How long does that usually take?"
"It depends on how much demand there is."
Dan finished breakfast, drank some clean water, and used the black toilet bin for the first time.
Then he sat in his cloth and waited for the cells to move again. Club music started up in the distance. It sounded like 70's disco for the morning crowd.
They moved several times in a row about an hour later. The 6th time, Dan's cell went up a ramp structure.
"We're on the second row, aren't we?"
"Yes," the woman said.
"When -"
"I am now 39 bins away from being On Deck. You are now 40 bins away from being On Deck."
She could see the look of terror on Dan's face.
"Don't worry. You'll survive this. We all do. The guests aren't allowed to kill us," she said. "Let's get to know each other. Much more fun than just waiting, trust me. Waiting more intently this whole time doesn't make the inevitable stop coming for us. They always get what they want from us."
It was well into night time, and the club was now blasting 90's rave songs, by the time the cells had moved 39 times. The woman's cell was now next to a steel-rimmed opening in the wall that lead into a long, dark tunnel.
"It was nice meeting you. What's your name? Mine is Laura," the woman said.
"Dan," he replied. "Should I wish you luck?"
She laughed out loud. "Sure. Wish me luck," she said, and the whirring started underneath both their bins. "See you on the other side," she yelled.
The whirring didn't stop after her bin went into the dark passageway. Dan's was now going too, and then the bin behind him with the muttering man.
The whirring was so loud now that Dan couldn't hear either of his neighbors. He couldn't see anything in the pitch darkness. He could feel his cell changing direction and rotating, going up some very steep climbs, and the righting, then turning around again - it was all dizzying. Dan held tight onto his cloth and tried desperately to predict what this "hell" was that this conveyor belt was taking him to.
There was a pneumatic sound, then Dan's cell turned around and was seemingly raised many feet, then, there was a louder than average click.
Dan heard a familiar recorded voice ring out above him, "Stall ready for use."
That was the voice of the electronic toilet that Dan had used the day before. Dan's stomach dropped out again, and he realized what this machine was. Why the toilet he used yesterday didn't have any water in it- so the victim wouldn't drown before he could be re-used. Why it was so dark - so Dan wouldn't know what he was doing to the victim.
He remembered the sign above the bathroom that he used. "Unaware". For the weirdos who didn't want to actually see the victims.
Why all of his surroundings were either machine washable, or disposable - except for himself, a real, live, thinking, breathing human being, trapped in this smooth plastic cell.
He felt awful. He had pissed on a tiny stranger the day before, without knowing it. And now, it was his turn. He took the bed-cloth off of him, and tried to plan an immediate escape before he would become the next victim of this madness.
He went to the wall, and felt for anything solid he could grab onto to climb. Nothing.
The club music was so much louder now. Dan could still hear foot steps get closer and closer, and then an enormous metal door open and close behind the stall's next customer.
Dan's heart was beating like a hummingbird. How could he avoid this? There had to be a way. This couldn't be his life.
"Welcome to the Desire Nightclub Bathroom Chamber," the electronic voice above him said. "Please do not kill your tiny! This incurs a hefty fee and will result in a ban from the club," the voice said.
"Hello, tiny!" the giant customer said in a gravelly voice, as the toilet lid opened at the same time that Dan's cell's lid smoothly slid away. Dan saw the interior of a well-lit bathroom, lit more like a mall bathroom than a club.
Above the toilet wall, Dan could clearly see the underside of the face of a muscular, 30-something man with ample body hair on his built body. He was wearing just a leather harness over his chest, and studded leather shorts, and dripping in sweat from the dance floor. He was bald, and grinning ear to ear with excitement.
"Aren't you a cute one?" the customer said, grabbing his crotch. He adjusted his huge package.
Dan looked around, now that his cell was more lit. There was nothing that he could grab onto to escape. There was no avoiding his fate anymore.
"I complimented you, is that really so scary?" the giant teased.
Dan saw one thin pneumatic tube just a little bit above the wall of his cell that he might be able to jump and grab onto if he got a running start. Dan ran and jumped towards the tube. He didn't make it anywhere close to the target.
"What are you doing, little athlete?" the giant said, amused. "Are you trying to escape me? But I'm the customer. I'm always right." the giant said.
"Has nobody taught you your place yet?" he asked, and spat a loogie at Dan.
Dan dodged out of the way, and stared up at the mountain-sized customer. This monstrous man would not help him escape, even if Dan could grab onto that tube. This customer had other plans.
"Your place is in my toilet, speck," the giant customer said, as he unzipped his fly. His huge dick flopped out casually and Dan gasped at its size - it was like an enormous Oak tree to him, even flaccid like this. A thick stream of piss shot out of it like a stinking fire hose, and Dan ran away from where it fell. The sound of the high pressure piss filling the hard plastic cell was rattling, and it echoed against the plastic interior of the toilet. Dan was on the edge of the cell now, panting, but dry, staring up at his tormentor.
"Haha, of course you want to play chase," the customer said, and aimed the stream directly at Dan. Dan tried to run away, and the two played a brief game, until the customer's aim caught up to Dan's tiny speed, completely drenching him in the acrid, stinking, warm liquid. Dan gasped, and stood still, knowing that he couldn't outrun it anymore. He stood still, his arms crossed, facing the back of his cell, as the piss surrounded and bounced off of him. There was no reason to pretend he could avoid this anymore. The piss pooled around him, and eventually, enough of it filled the little cell that the whole thing was now covered in a thin layer of the liquid, about ankle-deep to Dan.
When Dan noticed that there were no dry parts of the cell left, he let out a yelp of anguish. His beloved, cozy fabric was now an enormous piss-soaked rag. The watertight capsules were bobbing in the shallow, warm, yellow pool that filled Dan's entire living space. There was no denying that his entire environment was now nothing more than a toilet bowl to this huge club-goer.
"Mmm. Nice," the customer said at the tiny man's scream, and he smiled.
"If that's how you feel about the easy part, you're really not going to like what's coming," the giant said. He unbuckled his black leather shorts and, agonizingly slowly, rolled them down. He patted his belly three times, and Dan could only now hear loud sounds of indigestion coming from the customer's gigantic abdomen.
The giant flipped a switch on the toilet, and bright lights switched on beneath Dan's cell floor. The electronic voice cheerfully said, "Lights and Camera On." Dan looked to the right and now saw that two small webcams were set up both beneath, and to the side of, his cell.
The giant could watch what was about to happen next on a screen next to his seat. When Dan realized this, he retched. He wasn't just a toilet accessory, he was an instant porn actor, completely against his will. He went to the side camera, and got down on his knees, and begged.
"Please don't do what I think you're about to do. Please. I will give you money. I will give you anything I have!"
"It's really funny that you think you have a say about this," the giant said. "Now shush," he said with an air of finality, and he turned his body around so his ass faced the toilet.
Dan stared up in disbelief and horror as the giant ass cheeks came closer and closer to the toilet bowl. He wanted to look away, but he couldn't help but stare as his tormentor's enormous twin mounds of flesh fully covered the toilet seat opening. Dan could see the giant's huge cock and balls dangling near the front, but what he was more concerned with was the huge anus that was now positioned directly above the center of his clear plastic torture chamber.
Dan tried to figure out the place in his cell that was furthest from that asshole, and he stood there, directly against the wall to the left.
The sound of the nightclub music was harder to hear now that Dan could also hear grumbling from behind the customer's round, several-feet-wide anus. A deep rumble echoed through the giant, before he twitched and the anus made a deafening fart, the volume of an explosion to Dan. The vibrations let out a torrent of awful gas into the chamber, and made huge waves in the shallow pool of piss. Dan could not believe the smell. With an ass this huge and no fresh air, Dan was concerned about passing out from this industrial quantity of methane
"Excuse me," the customer said, faking bashfulness. Dan could hear the sound of his voice traveling through the giant's body.
Knowing that the customer was anything but sorry infuriated Dan, and he screamed in anger. He could hear the sadistic giant chuckle in response to his yell. Dan stared at the giant's balls, and noticed that they were moving in a way that meant he must be tugging at his cock.
The sick bastard was getting off to this.
Another, smaller fart came out, and then Dan stared intently at the anus as it dilated slightly, pushed open from behind by a thick log of dark brown shit that slowly came out into the bright light.
Dan retched again.
"No…" he pleaded to the camera.
He heard a moan of pleasure from above as the huge customer jerked off to Dan's horror.
The shit came out faster now, as the giant put effort in. He grunted, and the sequoia-log-thick turd drooped further and further from the ceiling of this torture chamber, until gravity pinched it off from the anus, and it dropped about twice its length to the floor of the plastic bin. It landed with a loud thud in the middle of the cell, splashing piss onto Dan, who was too mortified with the horrendous smell and size of this monstrosity to be able to move.
"AaaAAA!" Dan screamed, and re-positioned himself so that the turd's closest end, which had landed towards the front of the cell, was a little further from him. He only had time for this mental calculation before another log slammed into the first, falling the opposite way, smearing the cell wall opposite him with greasy, dark filth.
Dan yelped again, and thanked the stars that it landed that way, but the stench was still unbearable. It smelled worse than he could have possibly imagined.
As he was staring at the second turd and catching his breath, Dan felt the giant jostle the toilet towards him a little, right before the third shit fell. Before Dan had time to react, the brown log fell towards him. The turd knocked him to the ground, smothering him. Dan turned his head to the side and held his breath instinctively, but his entire body was underneath this huge log, thicker than him - too thick for him to wrap his arms around, if he wanted to. He had the wind knocked out of him and for a moment, and he felt completely humiliated. He considered staying there and suffocating.
Dan could hear the giant moaning, far above. He sounded like he was coming.
"Yes," he said, shaking the whole toilet structure with his yanking and masturbation thrusts. "You've been destroyed by my shit, speck," the giant said, between grunts. He then let a moan and stopped moving for a moment.
Dan couldn't die this way. He couldn't let the giant win.
He shimmied to the side, and with the last breath in him, squeezed out from beneath the disgusting log. He stood up and ran towards the clean water capsule - he still had a little left. He unscrewed the lid, and dipped his hands in, and started to try to wipe the shit off of his face.
With each dip of his tiny hands into the water capsule, the water got more and more fouled, and his hope became more distant. But he stood up for the camera, and pointed at it, and shouted -
"You don't win-"
Right as he said "win", a loud mechanical sound whirred, and the lights and camera turned off. He saw the giant's naked ass raise off the seat, right before the toilet lid and cell lid closed in unison. Dan was plunged into darkness again, and could feel that the cell started to move away from the toilet, as before.
"Thank you for your patronage," the electronic voice of the toilet said, now a little far in the distance.
Dan tried to stay to the walls, and tried to navigate away from the turds, as all of the fouled contents of this dark little hell chamber sloshed around wildly as the conveyor tracks clumsily moved him in every possible direction. By the time the cell stopped moving again, his face was once again specked with shit.
The cell had come to a rest on a conveyor belt in a well-lit room. Dan's eyes were closed from pure dread at what was next, but Dan heard a giant man say, "I know you're new to this. I'm about to splash you with water, so hold your breath. We'll have you cleaned up in no time."
The cleaning took about 45 minutes, but by the time he was done, he could actually smell something other than shit again. He was even given the materials and tools to bathe himself thoroughly as the last step, and the soap was smooth, and lavender-scented.
"It was sandalwood soap Monday," his neighbor Laura said the next morning, after they had both woken up again in the Aware Storage room.
"Rose soap the day before that," she said.
Dan just stared at her when she said this to him. She had spoken of this soap variety with a hint of pleasure in her voice.
The last thing that Dan wanted to know was what the soap scent would be tomorrow.
