Socially Appropriate Distancing - Part 2

Author: bigsmile21
Title: Socially Appropriate Distancing - Part 2
Date: 25 April 2020

**Thank you for the strong feedback on the original. I've written two more installments, with the last one concluding the story. Please stay safe during these uncertain times, and enjoy!**

When he'd arrived at the building, Officer Hawkins transferred the cuffed Freddy to another cop, meanwhile lifting the packaged John onto his shoulder. The new officer was shorter than Hawkins, but had his own wrap-rifle slung over his shoulder. He escorted Freddy into the building, swiped a key card to access the elevator, and pressed Floor 2.

A quick elevator ride later, the officer pulled Freddy into a hallway bathroom and told him to strip so he could change into an inmate uniform. Freddy was spun around, felt the handcuffs loosen, and again told to strip. He rubbed his wrists, enjoying the movement again. He slipped off his shoes, socks, and slowly pulled off his shirt and jeans. He paused, then pulled down his underwear. The officer told him to stand feet together, hands by his sides. Freddy complied. He heard a rustling sound, but instead of getting an inmate uniform tossed to him, Freddy heard a metal click and a force shoved him forward. Black rubber tentacles were quickly wrapping around his torso, cinching his feet together and arms locked by his side. The impact of the wrap-rifle shot moved him further down the bathroom, but with his feet tied Freddy tripped and fell, his head clonking on the floor. Freddy was out cold, but the rubber continued to wrap around him.

He woke up some time later with an excruciating headache. His skull throbbed against the rubber wrappings, still encasing him. He couldn't see or hear anything. He tried to move his legs, his arms, his neck, his anything. It was like trying to bend a slab of concrete; it just wouldn't move. He felt heavy and out of breath, so he paused. He took a deep inhale and let out a yell as loud as he could. He couldn't open his mouth, and the strict rubber made it hard to expand his chest much. Continuing would tire him out as much as the struggling did.

Freddy sat in silence and pain for what felt like hours. Every now and then he'd gather enough strength and frustration to try squirming against his bonds, or yelling to get someone's attention. And every time met with the same exhaustion and silence. He was working up a sweat, which he could feel dripping underneath him. He had to be careful in case the rubber didn't leak, or in case he had to pee.

Suddenly, something bumped against him. Freddy jolted, but that amounted to hardly any movement. Then another bump, like a boot tapping against his thigh. He froze, not sure if this was Officer Hawkins or the other one. Someone was saying something, but his hearing was muffled. Outside the rubber, Officers Hawkins and Case were standing over Freddy.

"You say he put up a fight, huh?" Hawkins asked

"Yes, sir." Case replied. "Tried to go for my rifle when transferring out of his clothes."

"Didn't seem like a fighter to me," Hawkins said. "But corner an animal and it'll bite back." Officer Hawkins nudged the rubber outline again. He'd have to put in more effort than expected to train his newest Buddy.

He stepped back, looking at the rows of cubicles. This floor was filling up fast. While that meant more Buddys to choose from, this would turn into a logistical nightmare soon: cops would have to be pulled off the streets to be able to monitor all these culprits. Then there's feeding, hygiene, and he wasn't sure how to even begin with meeting bathroom needs.

There was a lot of pressure from the mayor to make this containment project work. While he was ahead of the media's questions now, all it would take was one snooping reporting to expose any "unethical detainment" practices. He supposed there were still plenty of empty cubicles...

"You'll be in change of securing culprits to cubes." Hawkins said to Case. "I don't want to come in and have a bunch of rubber slugs crawling around the floors. And start coming up with a credible filing system. Map the cubicles to the culprits, or link their names to the people who used to work in each cube, I don't care so long as I can find anyone we bring in." There were limited wrap-rifle casings, and currently he'd have to remove the entire rubber casing to identify anyone.

"Yes, sir." Case said, "I'll have something for your by tomorrow." The two cops began walking towards the elevator. The elevator dinged, and another wave of rubber-wrapped people were being brought in.

Back at Freddy's cubicle, the nudging against his leg had stopped. The muffled speech he'd heard had stopped. Freddy felt alone. Freddy was alone. Well, unless you counted his nearby "cellmates", each in their our rubber casings. Each six feet apart.