Locked Up Again (Part Two)


"The answer is no," Tobias said.

"Please," Keegan said. He had called his friend the next day, after plugging the phone line back in, thinking that if anyone could help, it'd be him. "I'm asking you… no, I'm begging you."

"I'm sorry," Tobias said. "We spent a total of two years down there, and you're wanting me to go back?"

"To rescue my friend!" Keegan pleaded.

"I don't know your friend… how do you know if he's even in there?"

"Trust me, I know," Keegan said, looking at the newspaper article. "He's there." There was silence on the other end for a moment.

"I'm sorry," Tobias repeated. "But I can't go back. I just… I just can't."

"He's been in there for two weeks!" Keegan exclaimed. "He'll be stuck there for a lot longer than we ever were if we don't help!" There was more silence.

"Keegan, please," Tobias whispered. "I… I get nightmares of that place. You don't understand what…"

"Tobias, I do understand," Keegan said quickly. "Which is why I need you on this."

"I said no," Tobias said even more quickly. "I'm going now. Good luck with your friend."

"Tobias…" Keegan said as his friend hung up. He stood there listening to the dial tone for a few moments before hanging up. He stared at the phone, thinking. Then, he picked it up and dialled a different number.

"Hello?" Asked a man's voice.

"It's me," Keegan said. There was silence. "I need your help. When can I come over?" Another moment or two of silence.

"This afternoon. 1:00. My office."


Keegan walked into the building, holding the forms in one hand and the small, spherical device in the other. He stepped into the reception area and walked up to the receptionist. Suddenly he remembered a story he once read.

In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house in you can get yourself to. When you reach the front desk, ask to visit someone who calls himself "The Holder of the End". Should a look of child-like fear come over the workers face, you will then be taken to a cell in the building. It will be in a deep hidden section of the building. All you will hear is the sound of someone talking to themselves echo the halls. It is in a language that you will not understand, but your very soul will feel unspeakable fear…

"Hi, how can I help you?" The receptionist asked.

"I'm here to see Doctor Marshal," Keegan said, his heart pounding.


Inside the office, Keegan explained what he had discovered the day before and why he required Marshal's help. Marshal stared at him solemnly, his face pale.

"So… why do you need my help?" He asked. "You know what I did." Keegan nodded.

"Yes… and I forgive you for that, you were just doing your job the way you were supposed to." Keegan sighed. "You know how the institution works, you know what they do, and why, and how. You know that place inside and out, you can help break Seth out from the outside while I… help. Besides, Tobias can't… won't help me. You're my only hope." Marshal sat down, watching him for a few minutes. Keegan nodded after a while and held out the spherical object. "This is what will take us to the other universe. This might take a day or two… are you really sure you want to help me?" Marshal sighed and nodded.

"No one said redemption was easy," He said, reaching out his hand. Keegan nodded and placed the spherical object in his palm, hanging onto it.

"Here we go," Keegan said, pressing a button. There was a bright blue and white flash of light…



Then they were somewhere else. Marshal looked around. The office looked identical, almost completely like his from their world… except for the fact he was now a brown-furred otter anthro, and there was a sexy red-headed tigress standing in front of him, wearing tight jeans and a red shirt that clung to her curves.

"Up here," Allison said, motioning to her face. "We don't have time to ogle at my breasts… as impressive as they are." She muttered, blushing under her fur a bit. "Can you access Seth's medical records?" Marshal nodded and sat down at the computer.

"You said your friend was a white wolf?" He asked. Allison nodded.

"White wolf, named Steph," She agreed. Marshal nodded. He stopped as he found her file and read it.  "Well?" Allison asked impatiently. Marshal typed a few commands and the files started to print out. Pulling them into a folder, he stood.

"Follow me," He said. "She's here."


Allison quickly followed behind Marshal.

"I want to show you something," Marshal said, motioning to a few windows. Allison peeked in to see various patients in several different restraints; some in straightjackets, others in strange sacks rigged to the wall, some even to the ceiling. Allison paused at one room where four different women were being held, three in pneumatic suits, the other in some sort of full-body straightjacket. She noticed a barcode right below their waist, something she hadn't noticed before… probably because she was too busy escaping. Two of the girls in the room had a pink and blue pneumatic suit, respectively, the third had a mixture of red and white.

"What do the barcodes mean?" She asked.

"That's something I wanted to show," He replied. "The way things work here… it's not on a first-name last-name basis. Patients are assigned numbers, letters… a barcode. While they're here, we make our own record of them; of their behaviour, their habits, etcetera. Patients don't have names here. Only doctors are privileged to know and use them, but guards and nurses… they aren't authorized. It's supposed to deter friendly relationships between staff and patients. Doctors use names to work with the patients. It helps," Marshal said.

"So… that could be anyone in there, and no one would know?" Allison asked.

"Nope. Even doctors have to go through special channels to get the names. So, if a doctor is treating a patient and doesn't care to know his or her name…" Marshal sighed. Allison didn't comment.

"What about the colors of the restraints?" She asked.

"That's to signify their status," Marshal started again, turning down another hallway. "It's a spectrum from violent to non-violent. Bright pink and green are usually the most violent and are a major security risk, while the darker colours like blue, black, or purple shows a patient is capable of non-violent behaviour, therefore are a low-security risk." Allison paused for a moment as she spotted another patient with red and white restraints.

"And red and white?" Allison asked. Marshal took a few moments to answer that.

"That means that they were an employee, and that they have been institutionalized," Marshal finally replied. "Sometimes willingly, but more often than not, they are… forced." Allison didn't say anything to that.


"Here we go," Marshal said. "Patient 2431. Species, white wolf. Institutionalized two weeks ago yesterday." Allison peeked through the window to see the wolf girl in her flashback. She was leaning against the padded wall with a bored expression on her face. Encapsulated in a dark blue pneumatic suit, she noticed that Steph was mostly free; no gag or muzzle, and no restraints on her legs. She could walk around and stretch if she wanted to.

"Why is she mostly unrestrained?" Allison asked.

"Good behaviour," Marshal replied, reading the reports. "She's been responding well to other patients, although she is still quite disturbed. She keeps on professing she's a guy. At night some of the nurses hear her calling out to a girl named Tara." Allison stared at Steph sadly. This was her alright. "She'll be freed from the suit the day after tomorrow. Hopefully she'll be released next week."

"No, she won't," Allison said. "Marshal, I need your help in getting her released." Marshal shook his head.

"I can't," He said. "I'm not her doctor." Allison sighed.

"Well, there goes Plan A," She said. "Who is?"

"Me," Said a gleeful voice behind them. Allison turned, freezing. The Abyssinian cat grinned down at her. "I'm Dr. Reidman," He said, stretching out his hand. Allison stared up at him in fear. After a moment, Reidman turned to Marshal and took the folder out of his hands. "What are you doing with my patient's records?" he asked Marshal. "And why are you letting a civilian wander the halls?"

"This patient is Allison's best friend," Marshal said. "I… know Allison professionally, and so I thought it would…"

"Never mind. Just as long as it doesn't hurt the patient," Reidman said. "I don't really give a shit. I'm close to breaking her and making her think this whole alternate reality deal is a crock of bullshit. Don't fuck that up for me," He said to Marshal.

"Can you… listen," Allison said, sucking up her courage. "Can you please release her? She's really… she's sane, she's never done anything to hurt anyone. Really. I've known her for a really long time, she's okay." Reidman stared at Allison for a few minutes before opening the folder.

"Look here," he said, pointing to a picture of a grey wolf anthro, male. He was covered in scratches and some bite marks were apparent. "Do you know who this is?" he asked. Allison shook her head. "That's the patient's husband. She was so out of it that she attacked her husband and several police officers. It wasn't until my crew showed up that we managed to slow her down. Not stop her, slow her down, she took out four of my men before we managed to tranquilizer her. So, do you really think I'm just going to release her a week early based on your say so?"

"N-no, but I…"

"Do you have a Ph.D, and M.D., and a whole wall declaring you one of the best psychologists ever?" Reidman asked. "I don't think so," he laughed, turning and walking away, clearly amused by the thought.

"I forgot how much I hated that guy," Marshal muttered.

"Do you have him in our world?" Allison asked, staring at the hallway.

"Yeah," Marshal said, smiling a bit. "He's the janitor." Allison sighed.

"Well, that was Plan B down the drain," She said. "Now it's Plan C, the one I was hoping wouldn't be the case…" She handed Marshal a bunch of papers. "Keep these on you. Look at them when we're in private." Marshal nodded.

"What's Plan C?" He asked. Allison shook her head.

"I need you to go away," She said. "I'm going to do something stupid. When you come back, I need you to volunteer to be my psychologist." Marshal stared at her.

"You can't be…"

"I have to."

"Don't."

"I have to."

"There has to be another way…"

"There isn't," Allison sighed. "It's this, or we're screwed." Marshal stared at Allison. Seeing that she was determined and wasn't going to budge on this, he turned and left, waiting.


Reidman returned.

"Listen," He said to Allison. "I know you miss your friend, but I need you to leave now. Visiting hours are around noon to five-thirty." Allison turned slowly, eyes filled with anger and hate.

"You son of a bitch," She growled, fur standing on end as she unsheathed her claws and leaped on him.


Marshal waited. He heard an alarm go off and a voice on the intercom announce something that made his stomach drop.

"This is the Head, Doctor Reidman!" Reidman's voice shouted. "I need security down here right away! Code 19!" Marshal swore. Code 19 was an escaped and violent patient. Marshal ran, clutching a tranquilizer syringe in his hand. He rounded the corner to see Allison pounding on the Abyssinian cat as if she was rabid. Three security men ran in and pulled her back, while Allison continued ranting and screaming, flailing. Marshal stepped forward and injected the tranquilizer into Allison's neck; within seconds the tigress was unconscious.

"I'll take care of her treatment," Marshal quickly, but firmly, said to the guards, who nodded. "Put her in the waiting room for now." The guards carried her off as a couple nurses checked on Reidman.

"The hell was that, Marshal?" He exclaimed, his neck cut fairly badly from Allison's claws. "How the hell do you explain that?" Marshal remained silent for a moment.

"People go… crazy under stress," He suggested. "Perhaps seeing her friend in such a dire situation just made her… snap." Reidman remained quiet.

"I'm going to treat her," Marshal's boss said.

"No," Marshal said. "You can't."

"Why not?" He exclaimed.

"You'll make it worse," Marshal said. "She sees you as… the reason for all her friend's problems. From what I've known of her, she seems to be the kind of person who cares for her friends deeply. Your patient's problems are her problems. Therefore she sees you as the reason for everything going wrong. If you try and treat her, you'll just drive that point home." Marshal paused for effect. "Let me treat her. She knows me, she trusts me. She'll open up to me, and I'll be able to fix her." Reidman glared at Marshal, but sighed.

"Fine," He said. "But goddamn it, you have one bitch on your hands."


Steph was alone, again. There was a brief struggle outside, but she didn't really care. Sighing, she tried to scratch her back, but her arms were pinned up so high that she couldn't feel them, not really. Stretching her legs, she counted the squares of padding on the walls, thinking of Tara and thinking all the things she left behind, the things that she wished she could see. If Steph could even just see a picture of Tara…

Suddenly, something new. The door opened and she straightened up, scared. What were they going to do now? But it wasn't anything like that. A tigress anthro was thrown in, landing on the padded floor softly. Her mouth was blocked by a ball gag that went behind her teeth, a straightjacket that wound around her upper body, and leg restraints that kept her legs pinned together. Steph wondered just what this person had done to deserve such a treatment… the tigress began to wake up. Looking around, she spotted Steph and her eyes widened. Steph watched, confused. Who was this person? Did she know her…?

The girl edged closer and Steph edged away until she was backed into a corner. The tiger girl leaned forward and pushed the gag out of her mouth with her tougne; it must not have been tied very tightly for her to do that, Steph realized. Then, the next nine words that came out of the tiger anthro's mouth startled Steph to the core, as they were words she thought she would never hear, and never even dreamt as possible.

The first was: "Seth."

The next were: "It's me, Keegan."

The last sentence was: "I'm here to rescue you."