FicWad

Elise came in, sure enough, ten or so minutes later.
"Boys." She said, smoothly.
"—Yes." Neil replied, almost cutting her off.
"Social hour."
"We're not going to go." Neil said.
"I think you should go, Neil...after the stunt you pulled today."
"I want to get to have some more time getting to know Kole. I feel social hour will…overwhelm him."
“It’s up to you, Kole. It’s your first social hour, you’ll have to go eventually.”
“I think I’ll stay here.” I replied.
“Alright. I’ll be back right afterwards for lights out.”
“Okay.” I said.
Then she left, and Neil took a few minutes of hesitation.
“Well, what are you waiting for?”
“I’m waiting for the footprints to go away.”
“Alright. It’s been at least seven hours, your censor chip should’ve been activated by now. Is it?”
“No.”
“Good. But, we have to do this right away.” He said. He then took the so-called “needle” and went to the pillow and pulled a long piece of string off the ends of it. “This is gonna hurt like hell. Are you ready for this?”
“…I think so.”
“Are you ready for this?”
“Yes.”
“That’s the answer I was looking for.”
And I remember this much: the excruciating pain of the needle opening the wound. It felt like it was on fire. The prickling sounds and the pants of Neil’s breath were enough to making the sensation even more anti-climatic and the pain was just building. It was the feeling where you just wanted to just burst it all open and the pain would stop. And the blood, oh, the blood, and…
That’s when I passed out.
When I woke up, I was on the bed. Neil was at my side, it took me a little while for the shapes to configure for me to figure out it was him.
“Surgery complete, kid.” He said.
“Really?”
“That always happens, the victim K.O.s. You’re all stitched up and everything. Swallowing is gonna hurt, but I did it just as the guy before you, Goddard, did to me…and he did a fine good job.”
“How did you learn?”
“I stayed awake during mine. A few people have. It’s called the noitavicaed process. It’s deactivation process backwards.”
“Oh. Noitavicaed.” Noy-ta-vi-s-uh-e-uh-d. What a weird term. I swallowed. And it stung so bad. It was like swallowing acid.
“Fuck.” I said.
"Yeah, it hurts. Don't it?"
"Yeah."
"So, did you have anyone before you came here?"
"What do you mean?"
"A boyfriend?"
"Oh...once. His name was Tay Josita. It was...it was a long time ago. Well, not that long ago. We lasted a few months, but things got complicated."
"Another man?"
"He didn't love me anymore."
"Oh. I had a few girlfriends, but they either cheated or just left. I go for slow and steady...but a lot of girls don't. I've hooked up with a guy or two in there, but...it's not enough to keep me goin."
"I gotchya. It's nice to have another gay or, bi person in here."
"Yeah."
"How many times do you think the noitavicaed process has been performed?" I asked.
"Hmm. I don't know. How long has New America been around?"
"About seven months now."
"Seven months? That doesn't match up with your story."
"Yeah. I hid out for a while with a group of people...including my best friend, Felicity. It took them three months to find me. And it took about a month for them to decide what to do with me...I was inside a prison cell. They tried to talk me into New America. But I just screamed, and yelled, and the last think I remember was being injected with a needle, in a really white, blank room...I figure I was out for a month or so. They have a lot of people they need to put in here."
"Oh. Wow. But, I mean, since it started...someone probably figured it out."
"Yeah."
"You should probably get some more rest. It'll heal up like magic in the morning."
"Thanks, Neil."
"No problem."
And then, I tried to roll over and get some sleep. Neil scruffled the back of my head, and then went up to his bunk. It was times like these when New America didn't seem totally obsolete.