Again Stella wondered what her Father had used on Maggies bottom to make it look so sore. Maggie thanked Tom as he finished gently rubbing the lotion ...nto her sore bottom. Thats OK sis he said you'll be sore for a couple of days but that should ease the burning sensation. **********************************************************************It was about a year after Stella had heard Maggie getting punished with the thing that made the Snapping noise. That Stella herself had her first encounter. They'd allowed her to exercise for the first time since arriving. She'd walked barefoot around the ward and even briefly into the surrounding gardens.Each night, she was secured to the bed and headphones placed upon her head. Tiny voices whispered in her ear, too quiet for her to make out the words. Overlaid with that was a low subsonic hum that matched her alpha rhythm perfectly. Slowly, she started to come to terms with her captivity."Why are you doing this to me?" she asked casually, lacking. "She showed me a bag of white powder which I presumed was coke or heroin.My pen moved again. "Why have you still got it, mum?"She bent down and picked up a rubbish bin from beside the bed, tearing open the bag, she tipped the powder into the bin."I just wanted to let you see me doing it, Johnny, it was important."A tear appeared in her eyes as she read what I'd scribbled."So are you, mum."I went home a week later, but to be honest, I felt like shit, as well as the broken jaw, I'd got a broken. So I walked back to Uncle Willard's house, got back in his truck, and drove to Victor.Everybody there was dead, too. There was one guy sitting in his car, at a non-functioning traffic light, but he was stone-dead. I checked a couple of houses, and although the doors were locked, I could see people inside, dead in their beds.What the fuck would account for this?I drove back to Cripple Creek, stopping a couple of times along the way to check on mineshafts I passed. Maybe if being underground had.