Read Now We Are Monsters (The Commander) for Free Online

alive six months past my transformation, more than you could say about five of the six Arms who transformed before me.
    From my usual defeated position on the floor, licking her stinking tennis shoes, I spoke.
    “Ma’am, I do,” I said, around my fear.  Fear was necessary; if I didn’t drop my aggression and let loose my fear of her, the beating would continue until I lost consciousness.  Assuming I could lose consciousness.  I had never pushed things that far.  “May I have permission to present my ideas, ma’am?”  I had thought this through in the airport and realized I could play a very dangerous game: I indirectly controlled, at times, Keaton’s punishment and torture by sending out the proper signals, even if they weren’t real.  The trick didn’t always work, but it did give me a way to bargain with her.  Until I freed my inner beast before the California spree and started to understand what made an Arm tick, I had only two choices: fight back or instantly submit.  Neither involved any real communication.
    “Fuuuuck me.”  She aimed a kick at my head, which I knew from our months of fighting and submission rituals meant it was time for me to stand.  I avoided the kick, got up, and retreated to a bowed position on one knee, still signaling fear, submission and respect. “You and your goddamned ideas.”
    “Ma’am,” I said.  Paused.  “I discovered something inside myself in San Francisco: I don’t tolerate competition.  My instincts demand I be the dominant one.”
    “Took you long enough, bitch.”  I knelt primarily because of Keaton’s height, a touchy half foot shorter than mine.  I never got anything from her while standing that she hadn’t planned on giving me first.
    “Ma’am.”  I nodded, truthfully afraid now.  I couldn’t look up to study her reactions, leaving me vulnerable to any verbal mistakes.  “I understand you and your actions much better now, as well as my own.  I understand why I annoy you and why you do this.”  I waved my arms.  I meant the beatings and humiliation.
    She had to put me in my place.
    “Go on.”  Angry.  Intolerant.  Yes, I had made progress, but no, she didn’t like the fact I understood her methods.
    Mighty fine line I walked in this dangerous game.
    I chose my words carefully.  “I believe I know how you might fix the situation, ma’am.”  I kept my mind clear of thought-spoken words, as Keaton could read minds.  She swore it wasn’t anything supernatural.  She said she would be teaching me the mind reading trick sometime soon, so I believed her now.
    Keaton tapped her left foot on the floor, impatient.
    “If you set a firm graduation requirement for me, ma’am…”  I let my voice trail off and snuck a glance up.  I didn’t see my death coming toward me, just Keaton, standing, angry and thinking.  Two points for me!
    “You remember our agreement, Hancock?”  Oooh, my name.  I had her attention.
    “Certainly, ma’am.  ‘You’ll obey me absolutely, do anything I ask of you.  The only way you get away from me is if I say you’re done, or you die.  I’m going to enjoy hurting you.  You will not complain.’”  Love that Arm memory.  I remembered everything, save for when low juice interfered.  “Yes, ma’am.  I understand the agreement.  In your position I would accept nothing else from a prospective student.”
    My comment brought her eyebrows together, or so I imagined.  Keaton leaned forward, tensing.  Had I been too cheeky?  To me, asking for a graduation requirement fit within our agreement.
    Barely.
    Hey, I’m pushy.  Live with it.
    “What do you think is appropriate, Hancock?”
    She stayed tense, reading my cocky nature, shallowly buried underneath my fear.  Her tense hesitation did its trick and I began to sweat fear in earnest, losing, at least for a moment, my hidden cockiness.  “Ma’am, that’s not for me to say.”
    Keaton relaxed; I had passed her test.  “Okay, then,