THE ENFORCER

next to her didn't move. Her husband didn't have to wake for another half hour and he was the type to wait until the last minute to get up. She hated that about him, the

e job, they wouldn't survive. Even if they ate ramen once a day for a week, he had to go. Not that she wasn't tha

h when he rolled over and

d back anxie

meaningless, but for both of them it was safer that they stayed married. Her, because she wasn't considered mentally capable under

ce of their arrangement, not the dingy grunge of cement walls and low, drop ceilings. Nothing. Gwen tuck

He rolled up from the mattress, stari

dn't bother looking at him.

cked a piece of her lank mink-brown hair behind her e

ion validate their mental health status. Someone she mistrusted completely. They had the undisputed power to give her freedom or to make her wait behind the walls of the Instit

t before, leaving their meager meal for

handsomely fit and still strong, a worried look upon his face. "You have to try to get yoursel

rupted. "Paul isn't there

mpness, the cold sweat. He was too good for her, but again, what did it matter? They were hiding, their own sacred li

ir home. Decayed buildings and streets. Hives of dejected poverty-stricken individuals. The

g from the bowels of hell. Crews of trained killers, self-righteous demons of progress, and no one from the east side trusted them>. She doubted anyone who had an ounce of preservation in the

ere everywhere,

complacency ending. "You need to snap out o

n who worked in labor and the deprecation of a man who once used his mind t

an she didn't love, but that would doubtless have happened anyway. Gwen didn't think she had the capacity to

woman gone crazy, her bipolar induced by the stress all around her. She almost snorted out loud, yanking one of Scott's nicer shirts over her head. It hung loose to

in times past she could have gotten away with smoking it; now it would mean her execution. She needed more. She'd never gain it

m, t

ware of everything, swarming into the dank little byways, heading

forcers. The little ones would chase the dirt bikes until they were gone, throwing sto

money and wasted riches. She loathed the smell of Irish Spring so

Rich, enti

ed in the Physical Wellness, Gender Law, and Mental Health Conservation division. The nurses and their staff that made

city. The east end was notorious for its depravity, the nightly shootings and drug deals gone wrong, a stealthy underbelly that thrived when the sun went down. Better to hide w

bet

tory to reach its dramatic climax. Waiting for the Enforcers to find them. To escort them to a mock jury created by the men and women they fear

ng himself up as he went. Ready to scathe him on how he never washed up

go to that meeting looking like you crawled straight out of a sew

ritation. "Now the compliments begin. I wonde

Stalling won't help. Come on." Reaching into the bathroom sideways, h

l be

und if you don't hurry up,

Wellness division would surely send someone out to investigate, and she and Scott's tenuous marital situation would fi

to clean her shoulder length hair and overly thin body, and she did it in record time. Being late wasn't

r him and stared sightlessly out the large front windows. She had money on

ies all over the world, affected by pivotal changes in finance, life sources, climate changes and other maladies that perplexed even

s for his radical means for saving them all. His methods were often cr

lord. A man with no conscience who would do anything to rise to the heavens and kiss the stars. He played god. He was

ld she even go? Where in the worl

ingers to the scarred hardwood floor, alerting her to the

nd her and grabbed her C-2 health-status and identification card, placing it in her pocket. Her keys, attached to a cord, went around her neck and under

ithout notice. They were late on their rent again. Their landlord, used to degenerates renting from him, only cared that they paid. But with her need for the blunts that kept her mind at ease, the price on the drug risen to an

he kept it for her. Thank the stars above for Scott, her private savior, the only one she knew anymore with a heart so true. Without him they wouldn't survive. Her auburn-haired man of mercy, handsome and kind, but not her own to keep. He was her husba

hide in, but impossible to afford. With their meager funds, they would be out on the streets in no time, no matter where they roamed. From city to city they traveled,

ed less than a hundred miles apart. The Institute, the largest mental health facility in the country, and the place she was b

ture no longer accepted in society, the home for those of Scott's orientation and others like it

mindset of the greatest nation on earth, but Gwen knew differ

would analyze her and never let her leave. And, like th