Dante concentrated. It was hard to talk right now, with the milk flowing through him. He had to concentrate. He looked at Adam and Andy, he wasn’t sure which one was which. “Cam…yew…underthand…me?” He said, focusing on each word. Then he took his thumb out of his mouth and tried again. “Can…you…understand…me?”

Their heads turned to the sound of Dante’s voice, but they didn’t react otherwise. “Hi…” he waved to them. Neither of them waved back. One smiled and babbled a little, then fell over on his stomach. The other’s attention drifted and he crawled to the other end of the pen as if Dante hadn’t said anything. Even Midori was more intelligent than these two. They were placing him with the bottom of the barrel babies, no doubt. Infancy would seem a blessing, a sweet release when compared to the loneliness of being with these two.

Dante crawled over to a corner of the playpen. There he found a large teddy bear sitting in the corner. It was a big one, like the kind you’d win for 10,000 tickets at a carnival. It’s right ear was stained darker than it’s left, more chewed up too. Dante gave in to the urge to compare and contrast.

Yup, right ear was definitely better. His saliva glands kicked into high gear, and Dante began working up a fine drool. He held the body of the bear close to him for comfort. It was good. It was soooo good. If only everything in life (after-life…whatever) could be this simple. A little voice in the back of Dante’s mind told him it could be. Dante jerked up a little at that thought.

Dante wanted to start humming Infant Sorrow’s “Furry Wall”, but decided against it. Humming might be taking it too far for the Judy’s tastes, even if it was a song from a movie about a fictional rock-star. He didn’t want to give the Judy’s any excuse to send him back to the Newborn Room. Almost anything would be better than that.

Dante instead adapted by taking a more meditative mind-set. His body was comfortable so he could allow his mind to fixate on other things. The fact that it was comfortable doing something completely ridiculous was a moot point. He breathed in slowly, and out quickly, focusing on each breath till he had control. He began to be able to think clearly.

The Saint had lied to him. Dante had been certain that he would at least be with Lysa, and not mind fucked. Then again, the Saint never made any such guarantees, only that he would be returned to the main nursery. The old prick also never guaranteed that the Judy’s would forgive and forget; only that he would be treated as he was from the beginning (like a crawler instead of a newborn) and that the Judy’s would pick up where they left off (but not forgive and forget.) Dante had assumed- or been led to assume- that he still had a fighting chance in this place.

Dante felt angry. That bastard Jude had played him for a fool. It would have been worth going back to the Newborn Room if it meant swinging on the bony butthead and breaking his nose. It felt good to be angry. Righteous even. Dante might not have a fighting chance in this place anymore, but Jude wasn’t the only one who’d fight a losing battle to the bitter end.

His reverie was interrupted all too soon by a Judy’s obnoxious chirps and coos. He opened his eyes. It was green dress again. “Looks like Dante’s found Teddy!” Her again. Whatever variation on a theme this Judy was, it was definitely annoying. She came to the side. “Come over here little guy, Mama Judy’s got something for you.”

Dante had to bide his time, to figure a way out of this. Best not to rattle cages right now. Grudgingly, he crawled towards her. It took him longer than it should have because he was dragging the bear with him in his mouth. The big clunky thing slowed him down. “Awww how cute! Some-one-thinks-he’s-a-puppy”, Judy sang. This gave Dante an excuse to growl, and he took it.

He was being practical though. He remembered the comment about “keeping hydrated”. If he bit down on the bear, the bitch wouldn’t be able to shove a ba-ba in his mouth. The bear was his insurance policy against surprise attacks. That and it felt sooooo good to be chewing on its ear.

Green dress dropped something at Dante’s knees. Dante took a closer look at it. It was a toddler book, foam padded, thick with only a few distinguishable pages. The kind that parents read to their kids and expected the kids to teeth on when they were done. “It’s my favorite book,” the Judy said as Dante picked it up. “I wrote it myself. I give it to all my babies when I first get them, and you’re no different.”

Dante wearily turned it around in his hands, examining the front cover. The front cover had a picture of a baby reading a book. The book in the picture had the letters “A B C” written on it. The title of the book was “YOU CAN’T READ.”

Dante opened the first page as he chewed on his teddy’s ear. The first page was blank. So was the second one. So was the third, and fourth. Dante closed the book and looked up at Judy, still smiling at him. “Good baby!” she said. He looked back down at the cover and realized that the text had changed.

Instead of the words “YOU CAN’T READ” on the cover, Dante could only make out scribbled lines. Even the ABC’s on the book had changed to nonsense scribble. He looked up to the alphabet wall, only to find that the entire alphabet was replaced by meaningless symbols. The letters hadn’t changed, Dante realized, he had lost the ability to read!

The Judy dangled another baby book in his face. Dante got a full view of the book before he snapped his head around the other direction. He couldn’t read the title, but the book had a picture of a large red circle next to a little blue circle. Oh God! What had he just lost? Shapes? Colors? Opposites? WHAT?!

Dante yelped and closed his eyes as he scooted back across the pen- leaving the teddy in the process. He bumped into a tower of wooden blocks- presumably alphabet blocks, not that Dante could tell anymore- and burst out crying.

“Awww” the Judy taunted as he curled up in the fetal position, “wussamatta baby? Did da big bad book scahe you?” At one point in time, Dante had thought that the three wards of this Judy were all weaker willed than him, that they were suicides who had given up on life before coming here to Limbo. Maybe they weren’t. This Judy was vicious. She wasn’t any run of the mill, either. It was like she was a specialist in breaking people down to their. And now she was on consult and apparently giving tips to the others.

He was aware of her presence when he felt her footsteps in the pen. He heard her declaring both of the regressed boys wet and felt her checking his own diaper. “Wet”, she said. “but you all can wait till after lunch for me to change you.” Neither of the regressed seemed to mind the decree, or even notice their privacy being violated.

Had he really wet himself already without noticing? That was phase one of reaching the threshold. Then again, maybe she was lying. He felt dry. Maybe that’s why he wasn’t being changed. Maybe the bitch was lying to him to shake his confidence and make it harder for him to tell the difference between wet and dry. Make him fail before he actually had.

The Judy in the green dress loomed over him now, with a milky ba-ba in her hand. He already had milk going into his system, why was she holding another one. Was she trying to make him overdose? Was it her intent to keep him constantly milked up so he couldn’t rebel? Dante closed his lips tight and drew them in. He found himself flipped over and his behind swatted, forcing him to go limp. He was force fed the ba-ba as Mama Judy rubbed his tummy and tickled him and blew raspberries.

She was enjoying this. So was he, (against his will, part of him screamed.) He had never tried acid mixed with ecstasy, but Dante was pretty sure this is what it must feel like. Before he knew it, the Judy had declared that it was lunchtime.

Dante soon found himself in a highchair on the far right of the kitchen feeding setup. Clad only in his diaper, he waited as more babies were brought in for the meal to begin. Finally, the blonde Judy in the nursery scrubs, his longtime captor came in with the three girls. Amy; who he barely knew, Midori; a giant rugrat yes- but one he had grown to like, and Lysa; looking physically drained and exhausted.

She was placed in a highchair at the other end of the room, so that she and Dante were as separate as possible. She too was wearing nothing but a diaper and her naked breasts were barely concealed by the bib that was tied around her neck.

“Sorry we’re late, guys,” scrubs Judy said. The other Judy’s just nodded. She was usually late for lunch, anyways.

“What happened to baby Lysa’s pretty clothes?” green dress Judy asked, sounding way too scripted for it to be coincidence.

“Oh, I gave her a choice,” her cohort answered, also too scripted, “she could either wear the pretty outfit we had her in, or she could wear nothing but a diaper. She likes this better, I think. What about Dante?”

“Oh I haven’t even dressed him up yet- good baby” she said as she spooned mush into Dante’s mouth. Dante swallowed uncomplainingly. The milk was still affecting him and he was intent on listening to what they were saying for some kind of clue, a weakness, any valuable peace of information. “Anyway,” she said “-good baby- I figured I’d just leave him like this for the rest of the day. I’m feeling a little lazy, and he wasn’t complaining.”

Liar. Dante had asked in his limited capacity for more clothes. Then again he hadn’t rebutted…don’t defend them!. All of this was just a show of power, anyways. Dante puffed out his cheeks in frustration, holding his breath and counted to ten so he didn’t erupt. (Thank whoever he could still count to ten.)

“Good baby!” the Judy feeding him praised. “You made poopies for Mama Judy!” He had?! Dante shifted around. Sure enough, he could feel himself sitting in his own mess. He had pooped himself and not even realized. Maybe it was all of the angel milk, or maybe it was some kind of infant muscle memory, but Dante felt himself sliding unusually fast. The first step towards the breaking point was using your diaper without noticing. He had been free from the Newborn room for half-a-day, and he was already back at that point.
After a few more spoonfuls of baby-food, Dante was fed a milky ba-ba refreshing the infantile feelings coursing through him. Dante was taken back to the play area. Mercifully, the Judy laid him down on a changing table and stuck a paci in his mouth. He sucked contentedly while the Judy went to work.

“You know Dante,” she mused for a moment, “if you were a big boy, you would have eaten all by yourself. Instead, instead Mama Judy had to feed you in your highchair.” Dante started to suck harder in exasperation. He could see where this was going.

“If you were a big boy, you would have asked to go potty, instead of using your diaper,” she continued, untaping the diaper. “In fact, even if you were a big boy stuck in diapers, you would have been very upset at making such a mess. Instead you sat in a wet diaper most of the morning, and sat in a messy one halfway through lunch without even a sniffle.”

She lifted up Dante’s legs. “If you were a big boy, after using the potty, you’d wipe yourself, and pull up your big boy pants. But Mama Judy has to take your diaper off, clean you up with BABY wipes. And sprinkle your cute little tushie with BABY powder so you don’t get all rashy.” Dante grit his teeth onto the pacifier. Talk about blaming the victim. Dante couldn’t help any of this and she knew it. “If you were a big boy,” she kept going, “you’d still be wearing the big boy pants you woke up in. But Mama Judy has to put a new diaper on you cuz you made a big accident in the last one. But that’s okay, you’re just a baby.”

She picked Dante up and toted him over to the crib, laid him down and tucked him in. “You’re not a very good big boy, Dante,” she concluded. “but you’re a wonderful baby.” She kissed him on the forehead. “Oh, and one more thing, baby.” she whispered in his ear. “The last two milky ba-bas that I gave you, didn’t have any special milk in them. Everything you did as soon as you got over to my little play area, was all you. Good baby.”

Dante got no rest during naptime.

He was taken to a different play area with unfamiliar babies around him. Still the layout was similar enough, and he could point out which ones were the survivors. They were the ones who seemed to be the most distressed; the ones getting the most attention from Judy’s. People who Dante didn’t even know were being cracked down on. He made one mistake, not even on purpose, and now the entire nursery was suffering for it. Praise the justice of the Divine.

Dante crawled up to a survivor, a young boy, younger than even Kevin who was swearing up a storm as a Judy patted him on the head and walked away.

“Hey, dude,” Dante said as he approached. “What’s going on here.”

“The fascists have stepped it up another notch! That’s what!” the boy spat.

“I’d kill for something to suck on right now, but they won’t let me have it. Says I have to be a big boy! They want me to say it! They want me to tell them that I want to be a baby! Goddamnit I can’t do it, but I’m losing my mind here.”

“I think that’s the point,” Dante said dryly. Dante had long gotten over children speaking like middle aged sailors here.

“Heh, good one, buddy,” the kid said, “Name’s Victor, what’s yours?”

“Dante”, he answered.