The five naked Animals shuffled their way down the corridor. The walls and flooring were identical to those in the room they had just come from. Even the same soulless music-substitute was being piped in through speakers in the ceiling which were much lower in the corridor, making tinny and bland melodies sound, to Kennedy at least, even more like a crime against the concept of music or art in general. Surely the Government could afford to license some actual recordings, or even just stick on a radio station? But perhaps the soporific blandness of the music and the mind-numbing boredom of waiting were all part of the strategy to sap any fight or spirt the Animals may have left in them when they arrive and make them docile and compliant for this final stage?

They turned a corner and saw another uniformed official like the one who had ushered them in standing by another door but this one was not the ordinary wooden type as might be found in any office or commercial building, this was a steel door, split in the middle to slide open. It looked so much like an elevator that Kennedy assumed that’s what it must be. She even heard Rosie chuckle “Going up!” under her breath, suggesting that she had drawn the same conclusion and earning her a sharp look from the official. The only slightly off thing Kennedy noticed was that the office-style carpet in front of it seemed damp. She was just starting to ponder what this could mean when an electronic sound somewhere between a buzzer and a horn blasted out and the light above the door which Kennedy had barely noticed turned from red to green. The doors hissed open and a cloud-like spray was blasted down from the top, creating a curtain of vaguely chemical-smelling mist that must be walked through to enter the room.

“Go through.” The official ordered with a curt nod. Follow instructions and no talking!” The teenage boy led the procession through, followed by Rosie, then the young man who had been separated from his girlfriend, then the sweet, plump pre-teen girl and finally Kennedy herself bringing up the rear. As she followed the younger girl through, Kennedy couldn’t help screwing up her nose a little. The spray made her think of hospitals and the room she found herself in only served to reinforce that idea. It was lined entirely with white tiles, floor, walls and ceiling. It was not especially big and clearly not where any actual killing went on. There was an inspection station to each side and another door very like the one they had come to on the far wall. Yet another uniformed official stood by this door and beside him, Kennedy was mildly surprised to notice, was the man in the black suit, his briefcase by his feet and his hands clasped together in front of him like he was standing guard. His cold, grey eyes scanned all the newcomers and Kennedy gave a little shudder and she felt, rather than saw, the way he looked her up and down.

Each inspection station had a large information board behind it showing a child, an adolescent and an adult, male on the left and female on the right, reminding the workers of the inspection steps that must be followed and of the grading criteria. Firmness, muscle density, tightness and blemish-level to name by a few. As part of each station there were three pegs on the wall holding paper wrist-bands like the ones often used at festivals or conventions to prove that someone was there legitimately. These strips did not have any writing or barcodes on them. Instead they were a solid colour – either green, yellow, or red, just like a traffic light.

Surely for the benefit of the Animals who would receive them rather than the inspectors who were hardly likely to forget, charts either side of the far door made it very clear what the different gradings meant. The chart was divided into three strips in the same colours as the bands. On each coloured bar was printed in bold lettering what the colour meant then below in smaller letters the uses the grade made the meat suitable for. Kennedy read them as much out of boredom as out of any real interest, welcoming something new to look at other than the propaganda posters, even if it was only a few lines.

The green bar was titled “PREMIUM GRADE” which is described as “Suitable for whole-cooking and commercial use.” The yellow declared itself “STANDARD GRADE”, “Suitable for standard processing, retail sale and home use.” That, Kennedy knew, meant cuts of meat sold over the counter in a butcher’s shop or in the supermarket. Finally the red was labelled “SUB-STANDARD GRADE” and warned “Extreme processing or industrial use only.” Extreme processing. That likely meant ground up for burger and hot-dog meat, or perhaps used as mince in really cheap microwave meals. Industrial use could mean anything from prison or army food to pet feed or even recycled as fertiliser. Kennedy definitely did not want to end up with that grade but could not decide which she would rather be awarded out of the yellow or the green. The green was more prestigious, for sure, and she assumed anyone that was granted that status was expected to feel proud of it but she couldn’t help thinking like yellow sounded like a lot less hassle.

The inspectors themselves, two fairly burly men, were likely butchers as they were naked under their clear plastic disposable contamination suits. Both had shaved heads and wore gloves and filter masks over their mouths and noses. Kennedy couldn’t help feeling mildly insulted – first the bug-spray then these two acting like she had super-cooties or something! She had already been judged for human consumption upon arrival, after her watch had been taken from her and before she took her seat in the waiting room, so all these precautions seemed ridiculous. Still, she had never worked in a place like this, certainly never would now, so she had to suppose there was some good reason behind it that she simply wasn’t privy to.

There was no clock in this room either but a large digital display above the door they had come through was labelled “SHIFT CHANGE” and it’s glowing red numbers were counting down second by second. It currently read “01:34:51” and Kennedy idly wondered if she would still be alive by the time these particular inspectors finished their shift.

Although they had walked in one at a time, they were all standing in a slightly awkward huddle as the door hissed shut behind them and the mist spray stopped. The inspectors pointed at who they wanted and called them forwards. The teenage boy was called first to the male station and Rosie to the female.

This was something Kennedy felt was worth paying attention to, if only to know what she should it expect when it was her turn. The chosen Animals were ordered to stand about a foot away from the wall with their legs slightly more than shoulder-width apart and lean forward with their hands flat against the tiles. The inspectors then crouched and began a brusque, dispassionate inspection from the ankles upwards, roughly but expertly handling the living bodies as if they were already cuts of meat. Although it seemed like Rosie might actually be enjoying the man’s big, gloved hands on her body, there was no flicker of anything other than absolute professionalism from either worker. Kennedy supposed that, even if getting to feel up dozens if not hundreds of naked women and girls every day, or men and boys if that was what you were into, would likely lose its novelty by the end of the first week and it would have to be an especially, outstandingly attractive specimen to make the men or women carrying out the inspections consider their job a particular treat and Rosie, bless her heart, was nobody’s idea of that. The inspection concluded and the boy was given a green band, Rosie a yellow, then they were both ordered to go stand by the door.

The younger girl and Romeo, as Kennedy has rather facetiously privately christened him in the waiting room were up next with the man earning a yellow band and the girl green. That made two of each so far and Kennedy figured she would be the tie-breaker. By the time she was summoned to the inspection station on the left, Kennedy knew the drill and assumed the position without needing to be told. The inspection dropped into a crouch and began to roughly squeeze her legs from bottom to top, followed by her rump, then her belly, her tits, such as they were, back and shoulders then finally her arms. Standing up straight again she held out her right arm, curious to see what grade she would be given and slightly pleased to be getting something back in the familiar place of her watch, even if it was only paper and not metal.

To her surprise, the inspector did not reach for any of the three on the wall but instead looked questioningly towards the man in the suit who gave a curt nod of approval then picked up and opened his case, taking out a white band which he handed to the inspector to put on Kennedy’s wrist. What was this? She wondered, looking at it in confusion. Had they run out of red or something? Nope, there were still plenty of all three standard colours on the pegs. She checked the notice again in case she had missed something but no, there was no mention of white.

“Excuse me?” She asked the inspector. “What does this mean?”

“No talking!” Barked the official by the door.

“Yes but I just wanted to…” She began to protest but she cut her off again. Sharper and more insistent this time.

“No! Talking!” Kennedy closed her mouth, realising she was not going to get any answers in this room. At a nod from one of the inspectors, the official pushed a button on the wall and the far door hissed open with another vapour-curtain obscuring their view of whatever was beyond. “Go through.” The official ordered in clipped tones. “Space yourselves out and wait for the next door to open.”

Still confused about her apparent lack of classification and wondering even more intensely who the suited man was and what he was doing there, Kennedy shuffled through the doorway with the others, in the middle this time between Rosie and the boy. The white bands seemed to be something a little special, or unusual at least, since the mysterious man apparently kept them under such close guard rather than letting the inspectors have them at hand to choose from and apparently had to approve their use.

The room they now found themselves in was sterile and tiled like the last but empty of anyone but them. Not even an official standing watch by the door. It was also round, which seemed peculiar, and roughly every third tile of the floor, ceiling and continuous wall had a silver disc that looked like a vent, drain or shower-head embedded in it.

“What do we do?” Rosie asked to the room in general once the door they had come through closed. “Just wait for the next one to open?”

“He said to spread out?” the plump girl who had been judged premium reminded her. “I guess we should do that?” They all agreed and shuffled around until they were all in their own little space where they could hold their arms out straight by their sides without touching anyone else. Kennedy found herself in the middle of the room.

“Congrats on the green!” she smiled at the younger girl, since there was nobody around to tell her off for talking. “Happy with that?”

“Yeah!” the girl smiled. “Wonder where I’ll end up?”

“Maybe one of those fancy restaurants where they cook the animals in front of the guests?” Kennedy suggested.

“Could be!” the girl agreed. “But what’s with yours? Why is it just white?”

“Your guess is as good as mine!” Kennedy admitted. “Oh! Something’s happening!” It was the sound they heard first, a hiss coming from all around them, then swirling clouds of mist began to shoot from the vents above, below and around them. At first Kennedy thought that they were being gassed and that they would never leave this odd, circular chamber alive, their bodies collected for processing by butchers waiting on the other side of the door but quickly she realised that, as unpleasant as the vapour around her smelled, it was not toxic. It was just more of the same stuff they had walked through upon entering and leaving the inspection room. It felt damp against her skin, cold, but not exactly wet. This was some kind of final cleansing, she realised, removing any outside contaminants they may have walked in with them so that the meat processing area could be kept completely sterile.

The smell of the vapour changed around them, as if cycling through different stages. The bitter, medicinal smell was replaced by one that was almost cloyingly sweet, like cotton candy, its sickliness making Kennedy nostalgic for the chemical smell of the first one then finally a sharp citrus scent that was actually pleasant and refreshing. The hiss turned to a whirr and the vapour was sucked back through the grates then the five found themselves blasted by hot air until their skin, if not quite their hair, was dry again.

“So… Is that it?” The boy asked. “What now?” Before anyone could speculate, the exit door hissed open and they stepped out into a room that was just as big as, if not bigger than waiting room but with no benches this time and with the same gleaming white tiles on every surface. At the far end of the room were three of the metal sliding doors, each with a light above it which was red while the room beyond was occupied and turned green when about to open. That same alert sound as they had heard before entering the inspection room could be heard in the distance when the lights turned green.

The door frames bore the colours of the three wrist bands, green, yellow and red, and in front of each door was a queue of people wearing the corresponding wrist band standing on grey circles on the floor. Every time the door opened, the person at the head of the queue would step through and everyone behind them would move forward to the next circle. The yellow line was by far the longest, with green coming second at about two thirds as long then finally the red which only had a very few people in it.

“Oh great…” Kennedy rolled her eyes. “More waiting!” She had thought that the door in the waiting room led to the final stage of processing but now she saw that the batches they had been called though in were just for inspections and everyone ended up here, waiting their turns one at a time. Curiously, she looked around for the family with the two boys who had gone in just before them. The parents and one of the boys were in the yellow line, the dad first, then the mum, then finally the boy, while the other boy and his sister were in the green line.

At least the rule about not talking no longer seemed to apply here and, while there were officials around to make sure everything ran smoothly, they did not seem to mind if people chatted in line, calling out to friends and family in other queues generally behaving far less formally. The music was back too. It was only when she heard it playing through the speakers at various intervals along the long side walls that Kennedy realised it had been absent from the inspection and decontamination rooms. Great! The propaganda posters were back with a vengeance here too, just in case any of the animals waiting their turn should begin to doubt The System and their place in it. As well as the colourful posters which depicted proud and smiling naked Animals in various positive contexts there were slogans in large black vinyl lettering stuck onto the tiles. Messages such as “THE SYSTEM BRINGS STABILITY AND PROSPERITY FOR ALL”, “THE SYSTEM IS ESSENTIAL FOR LIFE” and “MAY THE SYSTEM ENDURE FOREVER”.

The way this room worked seemed pretty self-explanatory and Rosie, the girl, the young man and the boy all took their places at the back of their respective lines.

“Hey!” Kennedy saw Rosie tap the boy in front of her on the shoulder then proudly show her own yellow wrist-band. “Snap!” They boy grinned and Kennedy couldn’t help thinking what a genuinely nice person Rosie seemed to be. Sure, she was clearly hugely irresponsible and would definitely be wearing to spend too long around but she seemed honestly to want everyone around her to be happy and would go out of her way to cheer them up, which made all of her less admirable qualities very easy to forgive.

Once again, Kennedy felt confused. In limbo. There was no white line, so door with a white border. No signs explaining what a white band meant or what people wearing them should do. Sighing, she approached one of the officials, hoping that they would be more forthcoming than the one on the inspection room.

“Excuse me?” She asked politely. “I’m not sure where I’m supposed to go?” The alerts went off in the distance, followed by the sounds of the doors opening and closing, and the lines shuffled forward.

“I see!” The official looked her up and down then nodded approvingly. “Good choice!” he grinned, as if giving the young teen a compliment.

“Um… thanks?” Kennedy smiled despite her confusion. “But where do I…?”

“Over there, in the corner.” He pointed to the back, right hand corner of the room. “Wait there and someone will be along to collect you.”

“Okay.” Kennedy nodded, wishing that the official would volunteer more context to help her understand her situation but he was already walking off. Doing as she was told, she went over to the corner where only one other Animal was standing, a boy of around her own age who looked just as confused as she was.

“You got one too?” he asked as she approached, holding up his wrist to show the white band. “Do you know what they mean?”

“Not a clue, sorry.” Kennedy admitted. “I was hoping you might?” The boy shook his head and leant back against the wall. Standing next to him, Kennedy did the same. Lack of attraction to others did not mean she could not appreciate good looks when she saw them and this boy was objectively beautiful. With his curly blonde hair and blue eyes he looked a lot like Bobby, but not quite. He was taller, for a start, his chest a little broader, and his all-over tan suggested that he had frequented similar resorts and beaches to Kennedy and her mum. No embarrassingly white bottoms for them!

“I’m Logan.” He introduced himself with a brief but friendly smile.

“Kennedy.” She smiled back, deciding not to delve into the metaphysics of names and personhood for the second time in one hour. “Volunteer or lottery?”

“Lottery.” Logan confided with a resigned shrug. “You?”

“Same.” she replied. He nodded but said nothing.

Another batch of Animals came though from the decontamination chamber and joined their respective lines which moved one circle forward shortly afterwards. There was nothing Kennedy could do now but wait.


To be continued...