Squares
"And now I'm lost, too late to pray. Lord, I've paid the cost, on the lost highway" - Hank Williams, Lost Highway
It was Friday night in San Francisco, and Lloyd Cartwright had a date.
Twenty-three-year-old Lloyd worked as a bag boy at the E-Z-Shop grocery store, and it was there, just a couple of days prior, that the prettiest girl he’d ever seen slipped him her phone number while handing him a tip.
When Lloyd called her, she said her name was Lucy, then after chatting a little, they arranged to catch a movie. Lloyd figured she might want to go see From Here To Eternity, the new Burt Lancaster movie.
But Lucy - had something else in mind.
She told Lloyd there was a travelling drive-in movie theater set up at Kirby Cove, a little overnight camping area just north of the Golden Gate bridge.
On Friday night, it was showing ‘Moulin Rouge’, the one with José Ferrer and Zsa Zsa Gabor. Lucy said she missed it the first time around, and she wanted to see it real bad. Then since Lloyd didn’t mind watching old Zsa Zsa doing the can-can for two hours, he told Lucy he’d pick her up at seven.
Lloyd arrived with time to spare, and found his date looking pretty as a picture. He felt like the luckiest son of a gun this side of the Mississippi as he drove her out to the cove, and Lucy sure did seem excited to see him too!
But after crossing the bridge, turning down a road lined with trees, then breaking into a clearing which served as the drive-in, Lloyd discovered they were almost entirely - alone.
There was a huge sheet of white canvas hanging from some wooden scaffold, along a truck and trailer which served as the screen’s transportation.
There were also two huge walls of speaker units, the largest Lloyd had ever seen. But there wasn’t a single other car to be seen.
Lloyd paid the fifty cent entry fee for both him and Lucy, then occupied the center spot, best seat in the house. Lucy kept talking about how romantic it was, how they were all alone apart from the workers.
Lloyd started feeling all hot under the collar, and was suddenly a lot less concerned with the fact they were alone.
When Lloyd wondered aloud if the drive-in sold any popcorn or soda pop, Lucy said yes; and since she knew exactly where to buy them, she asked Lloyd to wait in the car while she went to buy some.
Lloyd protested.
It was a first date, and he was a gentleman, so it behooved him to pay for their snacks to prove he was a man of means. Lucy compromised, took Lloyd’s money, then told him she’d be back in a jiffy.
Lloyd watched as Lucy walked towards the semi, and the large trailer it pulled, before disappearing from view. He then waited, and waited, and he waited some more. But his date was nowhere to be seen.
Yet just as Lloyd was about to climb out of his driver’s seat, the drive-in’s spotlights shut off suddenly and in unison, and he was plunged into darkness.
Lloyd watched as the giant canvas screen lit up with the logos for Romulus Films, then British Lion, as fantastical fanfares blared from the speakers.
He rolled down his window, then called out into the darkness, telling Lucy she was missing the start of the film. But neither she, nor any of the drive-in’s attendants, were anywhere to be seen.
Lloyd thought it awfully strange that Lucy was missing the opening of a movie she’d wanted so badly to see. But he also figured she could hear the music, and she’d be back in the car with their popcorn and sodas in no time.
He settled into his seat, watching as the production companies’ logos were replaced by a shot of the iconic red windmill, and a caption that read ‘Paris - 1890’.
Colourfully costumed characters walked to and fro as music continued to play. Then suddenly, the film stopped, the music ceased, and the giant canvas screen turned bright white again.
Lloyd looked around, wondering what kind of god damned dog and pony show they were running.
Yet just as Lloyd was beginning to lose patience with both the drive-in, and his date, another movie began to play.
Lloyd watched as a large black box appeared in the center of the screen. Then after three earsplitting pips sounded from the twin walls of speakers, the large black square seemed to melt into a multitude of monochrome cuboids.
The small black and white squares branched out into veins of alternately flashing shapes, each one switching from black to white and back again as the lines began to shift and turn in on themselves.
The speakers began to blare again, this time with a discordant chorus of metallic voices that had a melodic sort of rhythm to them. The noise was so loud that Lloyd wanted to roll up his window, or cover his ears.
But he suddenly found he could do neither.
With his eyes locked on the screen ahead of him, and with the images and sounds overwhelming him, Lloyd Cartwright began to feel somewhat - distant from himself.
The sounds were still there, clawing at his eardrums, but they began to sound almost muted. The same could be said for Lloyd’s vision. He felt withdrawn, like what he was seeing with his own eyes was merely a movie, up on a drive-in movie theater screen.
Lloyd couldn’t move, he couldn’t talk, and he couldn’t for the life of him take his eyes off the screen. He watched those little black and white squares dance back and forth, again and again, melding and blending together ‘til it looked like the squares were reaching out of the screen towards his car.
Lloyd made the first of several efforts to regain control of himself, but each time, found he had no means of doing so. He was trapped, in his own body, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Lloyd’s eyes remained glued to the bizarre spectacle on the drive-in’s screen for what felt like thirty minutes, as he tried over and over to regain control.
Then suddenly, the images disappeared, and the drive-in’s spotlights lit up the clearing again. Lloyd naively hoped his faculties might return to him - but they did not. He sat there, still feeling like he was watching himself from afar, as he heard someone’s footsteps in the grass outside his car.
With his eyes still locked on the screen, Lloyd couldn’t see who opened his car’s door, or who gently pushed two fingertips onto his neck to check his pulse.
But it was a man that spoke first.
“Control, subject is under. Awaiting test command”.
It sounded as if the man was talking into a radio of some kind, but Lloyd didn’t hear a response.
“Test command confirmed. Stand by”, the man said, before clearly and loudly enunciating the phrase “BLUE SHEPHERD”.
Lloyd’s body began moving, as if controlled by some exterior force he couldn’t identify. He got out of his car, closed the door behind him, then stood upright before a man wearing thick, shaded goggles, along with some kind of wireless headset that had the appearance of ear defenders.
When the man took a few steps backwards, Lloyd took a few steps forwards, then when he repeated the motion, Lloyd mirrored him.
“Test command successful”, the man said, “now leading the subject to the trailer”.
At that, the man continued to cautiously tread backwards, leading Lloyd’s puppeted body towards the large trailer at the rear of the clearing.
Once again, Lloyd tried to regain control of himself, but he was paralyzed to do so. He was too far away, too weak and tired to catch up with himself. Leaving him no choice but to simply watch, as he followed the masked man to the trailer.
After opening up the trailer’s double doors, and pulling down the ramp, the masked man in the thick black goggles led Lloyd into its hold.
The walls were lined with cans of film reel, along with charts and diagrams depicting shapes composed of monochrome squares.
“By God, it worked”, a wiry, middle-aged man said. He was flanked by two, black-clad gunmen who regarded Lloyd with indifference.
“Give him your gun”, the elder man said, turning to one of the gunmen at his side. The gunman obeyed, unholstering his pistol, then when he held it out, Floyd watched himself as he took it from the man’s hand.
It was only then that Lloyd noticed how, behind the three men in front of him, there was a girl curled up on the floor. She was facing away from him, with her wrists tied behind her back, but Lloyd recognized her dress.
It was his date. It was Lucy.
“Get her on her feet, then stand behind the subject”, the elder man said, joining the gunmen in putting their backs to the trailer’s walls, and revealing the bound Lucy.
One of the gunmen dragged her to her feet, then stood her in front of Lloyd. She had a gag in her mouth, and had been crying.
Lloyd watched as she whimpered, legs trembling as her eyes darted around the trailer.
“Issue the command”, came the voice of the elder man.
“RED DRAGON” said the first without hesitation, “RED - DRAGON!”
In an instant, Lloyd cocked the pistol, then watched himself as he pointed it toward Lucy’s head.
She screamed through her gag, dropping to her knees and issuing muffled pleas; while unheard, somewhere deep down inside of himself, Lloyd Cartwright let out a scream of his own.
He watched as he lowered the pistol, lining it up with a face twisted up with terror. Then as the command sounded in his ears for a third and final time, he pulled the trigger.
As Lloyd felt the cold, steel trigger beneath the pad of his finger, he felt his mind begin to fracture. He’d never known such terror, frustration or helplessness before, and expected to lose his mind completely once Lucy’s liquid brains burst from the back of her skull.
But when he jerked his finger, and pulled back the trigger - nothing happened. He then tried again, and again, and again. But still the gun wouldn’t fire.
Lloyd watched himself as he began a series of stoppage drills, ensuring the pistol was clear and capable of operating.
He had no such knowledge of firearms, and watched in hysterical bemusement as he handled the pistol like a seasoned veteran. But when he watched himself eject the pistol’s magazine, he suddenly understood why it wouldn’t fire.
It was empty.
“WHITE MOTH” Lloyd suddenly heard. His arms dropped to his sides, the pistol still in his grip, as behind him, the elder man began to express his pleasure. But that’s not what drew Lloyd’s attention.
What had his inner monologue stunned into a double silence, was the sight of a now calm Lucy, rising to her feet - on legs that seemed surprisingly stable.
Lloyd felt one of the gunmen taking the pistol from his hand. The other walked over to Lucy, untied her hands, then took the gag out of her mouth.
Lucy very nonchalantly asked if they were done. The elder man neglected to answer, and instead praised what he called her “convincing performance”. As she walked past them, and out of the trailer, Floyd wished there’d been bullets in that gun.
After another command of ‘Blue Shepherd’, Floyd was returned to his car. The elder man followed, reassured by the man in the black goggles - that the process was entirely reversible.
“When he wakes up, it’ll all seem like a dream he had”, were his exact words. Floyd believed he’d remember it as the exact opposite.
Once he was back in his car, Floyd stared blankly at the huge, off-white screen again, until the drive-in’s floodlights shut off, and the clearing was again plunged into darkness.
He watched as the screen lit up once more, with that same large black square degenerating into countless others. This time, it ebbed and flowed with waves of alternating blacks and whites, and Lloyd expected himself to drift off to sleep at any moment.
He waited, and waited, as the black and white squares continued to dance, but Lloyd didn’t start to feel drowsy, and he didn’t lose consciousness.
He continued to wait, feeling a dull panic start to rise. Then suddenly, the film ended.
Lloyd watched himself as he sat in silence, then heard a voice calling out from behind the car.
“Why isn’t it working?!” he heard the elder man suddenly demand. It was a sentiment Lloyd echoed personally, but silently.
He heard the door open up next to him, then a cautious hand gently prodded his shoulder.
“It - it appears we’re having problems with the wake-up code” came the voice of the man in the black goggles.
“No shit you are”, the elder man spat, “and what about him?”
“I was - hoping for some direction on that, Sir”, the younger voice said. There is a pause, then the elder man speaks.
“Provide adequate cover” he said, “then liquidate him”.
“Yes, Sir”, the younger man said. And with that, Lloyd’s fate was sealed.
He tried once again to regain control of himself, as he was dragged from his car seat, and into the open the trailer.
He then tried half a dozen more times as he was carried from the trailer, and out onto an open bridge. But all Lloyd could do was watch, as he was unceremoniously - tossed over the side.
He broke almost every bone in body when he hit the water, an agony he was unfortunately not spared. Then as he sank, deeper and deeper, Lloyd finally began to feel consciousness wane.
Until the cold, and the pain, and the water - finally faded to black.
Wow! Another great story, Sam. Thank you.