Emancipation

At least if this whole thing blew up, Marie would be safe. Molly had to tell herself that, because otherwise it felt like they were taking a casualty. At least one of her friends was getting out of this. Thought without her mellowness Molly felt herself getting swallowed by Cleopatra and Stan’s urgency. She finally felt like the kid on this road trip.

They followed their map through the archives past rooms that read. “Biggest orgasm.” “The Complete collection of Contestant’s panties.” and just “Julie.”

Cleopatra was keeping a reentless pace. She took a few brief moments to find the best path towards Babs warehouse, and then an escape route. After that they were gone, no goodbye to Babs or Marie. She finally had her weapon, and she'd shove as many people in the hallway out of her way to get it.

They walked past all these doors with nothing more than a curious glance, until Molly went past a familiar looking door. The two went on without her but she found herself standing before a large double set warehouse door set. Above the door?

Simply: NPCs

“What is it?” Stan noticed her absence and turned back.

“I’ve been here.” Molly pointed at the door.

“Its just them messing with your mind.” Cleopata tapped her foot impatiently.

“No.” Molly took a step forward. “This is my memory. MY memory.” Her only memory. No matter what was behind that door she had to know. Molly put her hand on the push bar.

“Don’t get distracted.” Cleopatra commanded.

Molly ignored her and pushed on into the room.

“Christ.” Stan turned around and ran after her.

The warehouse was a massive unending complex that went a hundred feet above Stan’s head, and stretched beyond the scope of his eyes. The whole place was organized in aisles big enough to dive a 18-wheeler through, each with shelves that went up to the ceiling. These shelves were packed with human bodies.

No…

Mannequins.

“What is this?” Stan went from a sprint to a awed shuffled, the size of this place…

“Home.”

Stand looked to his companion, her voice was different it sounded digitized. Once again Molly was gone, but there wasn’t a character there to replace her. There was just another mannequin. No hair, no clothes, not even a face with which to emote. “Molly…”

“I’ve been wondering about them…” Cleo was standing silently at the threshold. “Ever since Nzinga told us about the guests at the hotel. I thought they were actors…”

“Cleo.” Stan hissed. He then put a cautious hand on Molly’s shoulder. “Molly how are you feeling?”

“Pretty fucking mad.” Molly said motionlessly. Her Non-descript plastic body was quaking.

“This doesn’t change anything for us.” Stan promised. “Everyone’s changed, you’re still our molly.” Stan knew more than anyone what it was like to be a prop created for this show. But he was one of a kind. She was…

“Molly is just an outfit this unit was wearing.” The thing once designated as molly said. “Not the first. This unit has lived dozens of lives…” they fluttered dully across her vision, smiles and tears from a dozen former friends. Did they remember her? Did they wonder what happened to Adam, or Hera, or Cindy, or Blue. Did they take solace that she made it back to her normal life, or did they revile her for tricking them? “how many times has this unit been **** to watch the guests tortured for the hosts amusement?”

“Molly…”

“Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?” She jerked and spoke, and Stan thought she was short circuiting.

“Molly!” He shook her… it… tried to snap her out of it.

“Leave her Stan.” Cleopatra whispered from the corner.

“Why give us memories? Why make us feel? If we’re just backdressing, why make us like this?”

Cleopatra spoke. “So the hotel feels real. So guests can fall in love with you, so you can fall in love with them. It’s just another hook the have to pull us in.” Cleopatra had long come to the conclusion that fir these people the cruelty was the point.

“I live.” Molly said. “Every time I live, and they just end my life and throw me in a new one each season. Not fair!” The manequin walked over to one of the shelves, where there was a computer waiting for her.

“What are you doing?”

Molly’s fingers slid across the screen.

_Activate NPC?

Confirm

Select Segment:

A-1 Through Z-10

Select Mod_el

Molly began to scroll through options. First Love Boat. An entire section of the rack transformed into flesh and blood human beings. Stan backed away in horror. Where once there was nothing but plastic, now there was skin, hair, even clothing. There was a whole variety of people in there. Black, white, man, woman, non binary. They were in swimsuits, and sailor outfits, and Anything Goes costumes.

Then she moved on. Portland.

The bright whites and blues of the previous selection dulled into a rack of people completely dressed in black. Their piercings and chains glimmered in the flickering lights of the warehouse.

Then she moved on again. Colorado.

Stan got a wave of nausea as he felt these people change before his very eyes. Not into strangers this time, but people he’d gotten to know from his month in the lodge. The couple from France. The cooks, the maids, the redhead behind the front desk… molly.

The mannequin then began to scroll through the cast list that had appeared on her screen. She selected herself… what it had been. It selected Molly, and clicked “Apply All”

Like a wave starting from the Molly that had been hanging on the rack, the entire section of the shelf became a teenager girl in trainers, soccer shorts, a white t-shirt and a Ponytail. Two hundred Molly’s dangled inert from their perches.

Activate Model A-1.

Suddenly the closest molly to them, stepped out of her slot, and smiled at the group. “Hey guys, anyone up for a game of soccer?”

The Mannequin stepped before the Molly and tapped her on the forehead. “Model A-1 awaken the others.”

The Molly wobbled for a second. “Sure thing, I’ll get the lodge ready to go!”

“Negative.” The mannequin gestured her arms to encompass the whole of creation. “Awaken, the rest of them.”

“Oh man…” Molly’s eyes scanned the vastness of their hive. “We’re going to need a bigger stadium.”

—--

“Fuck!” Molly ripped a papertowl holder off the wall, and through it through the nearest mirror. She looked at the shattered knives of glass on the floor with a deranged lust. There was too much inside of her! She had to get it out!

It was trying. She’d already thrown up, already screamed. It still felt like there was a snake in her stomach looking for an exit. “It’s too much! It’s too much!” She dropped to her knees, and picked up a shard. She exposed her wrist to herself.

Get it out, get it out, get it out.

Then she thought back to her plastic form. She probably wouldn’t even bleed. “AAAAAAAAAH!” She tossed the knifed away, and grabbed her hair.

Feet crushed glass just behind her.

“Stan…?” She tried, voice hoarse.

“The big oaf can’t even bring himself to enter a girls’ bathroom.” Cleopatra said, with a soft chuckle.

Molly stared down at her hands. “Have you come to tell me to hurry up?”

“No.” Cleopatra sat behind Molly. She wrapped one leg around Molly’s side, and sat the young woman down in the gap between her legs. She then wrapped her arms around Molly’s torso’ and rested her head on her shoulder. “You take as long as you need.”

“How can you be nice to me now? I worked for them. I hate them, and all this time I was one of them!”

“It doesn’t matter now. You’re with us now, I’m not going to let them touch you. We’re going to get you out.”

Molly cried out, and squeezed Cleopatra’s wrists. “There’s no escape for me. My home! My mom! I’ve been wanting to get back to them for so long. Why? Why make me long for something that’s not real? Why was I made just to suffer?”

Cleopatra choked up a little and kissed Molly gently on the shoulder. There was nothing sexual about it. Just two souls reaching out in this great void. “If you’re asking that question, it means you’re just as human as the rest of us.”