The Light, the Dark and the Ugly by Bryan Cohen Page B

dark blood gushing down his face. “You’ll suffer. And then you’ll die.”
    The guards slammed the door behind them, blocking out all sources of light. She wasn’t sure how much time went by before she started thinking of her loved ones. Her basketball team, her parents, Dhiraj and Jen, Erica, Ted and Travis. She wouldn’t see any of them again if she didn’t make it out of that chair.
    Natalie pulled with all her might, but it wasn’t enough to get either of her wrists free from the restraints. She leaned back in the chair and kicked forward. Try as she might, she couldn’t get enough momentum to get the chair off its hinges. She nearly had her legs over her head to push off the back when the door opened again. Natalie rolled herself back into a sitting position to get a look at her visitor.
    Somehow, the man before her was larger than any of the guards on the plane. He pulled a rope upon entering and lights came to life along the walls. There was nothing inside the room other than her chair. The walls ominously displayed streaks of blood. She couldn't see the source of the rotting corpse smell, which was probably for the best. The light showed off the man’s numerous facial scars, despite his thick beard. With every elongated step the man took toward her, Natalie felt her heart pick up at least 10 percent.
    “Who are you?”
    The man answered with a running slap that caused her jaw to temporarily come unhinged. Natalie shifted it back into place and scowled.
    He smiled. "My name is Pluric, and I'm the one asking the questions. What does Ted know about Kit Kable and the General?”
    Natalie pulled against her restraints. “What? You’re not gonna buy me dinner first?”
    This time, the man slapped her with the other hand. The pain lasted for a few moments, but it was no worse than the multiple elbows she’d gotten as her team's star center.
    The man cracked his knuckles. “Tell me what your friend knows.”
    Natalie relaxed her body and smiled. “If what I know is so important, why don’t you just get a mind-reader in here?”
    This time the man grinned before he spun through the air and his foot whipped into Natalie’s face. She hadn’t had a chance to brace for it, and the kick caught her in the side of the eye. She could already feel the shiner starting to form.
    The man bowed toward her mockingly. “Actually, I am a mind-reader. I just like hurting people.”
    Natale thought back to when Redican invaded her mind, and she mentally tried to scramble her thoughts. She tried to picture a pure white nothingness, squeezing her eyes shut.
    The man laughed. “Don’t worry. I'm just here to make a few alterations.”
    Natalie felt something slide around in her mind. It was the mental equivalent of the rat man putting his hands on her. A few moments later, her eye and shoulder hurt worse than anything she’d ever known. The stinging sensation in both body parts made her twitch.
    It was so painful, she couldn’t stop herself from screaming. “What did you – do to me?”
    She opened her eyes to see the man only a foot away from her face. “I took your pain tolerance down to zero and sapped all your endorphins.” He pushed a finger into the bruise forming beside her eye.
    Blinding agony took over her face. She'd had a broken leg in middle school and a stab wound the previous year, but she’d never cried from pain. Until that moment.
    The tears streamed down her cheek. “Please. Please stop.”
    The man wore a sympathetic look. “Of course. Just tell me everything Ted knows.”
    Natalie tried to focus on Ted or anything that had ever comforted her, but the memories kept slipping away. “I can’t.”
    The man’s shoulders slumped. “That’s too bad.” He pulled a knife from his belt. The light from the sharp blade reflected into Natalie’s eyes. “I guess we’ll just have to keep playing, then.”
     
     

Chapter 14
     
    Erica ripped the keycard reader out of the wall, slammed the door in