Chapter Number Three - From A Time Long Since Pass

"Tell me what I want to know, and all this unpleasantness can be left behind," Shade demanded in a calm tone. The subject before her hung from meat hooks which ripped through his shoulder blades and hooked under his clavicle. His fresh wounds bled profusely, creating little rusty streams that ran down his fully exposed, body, down the metal chain, and over the concrete blocks, which pooled beneath his feet. Gravity and his weight conspired against him.

He saw her eyes softly glow pale yellow as she slowly circled around him. Through the cracks of the dark shed, he saw her lick the dagger clean of his blood, "I'm a KNIGHT, bitch, I'm never going to tell."

He heard her rustling through a couple metal tool boxes behind him. He gulped and thought about ways to escape. He heard knobs squeaking open and a clicking sound and realized she was trying to light something. Her leather boots echoed as she stepped in his vision. She wielded a cutting torch in her left hand and a cattle prod in her right.

"Ha! If you think you can make me talk with that, you must really be an amateur!" he mocked.

"Good, keep up that bravado. I don't want you passing out on me," Shade stated apathetically.

She poked him the cattle prod and giggled as the man's body jolted with seven million volts of electricity. Poke. Scream. Poke. Scream. Poke. Yell. Poke. Cry. Poke. Gurgle. Poke. Scream. She repeated the process for a couple of minutes. The KNIGHT's body jerked and twitched involuntarily and his hair smoked.

"Where. Is. Grey. Zamanova. Whulphe?"

"I," he began and labored, "I won't tell."

"Goodie!"  Shade chimed and discarded the cattle prod behind her. She opened up the valve on the torch and the small orange flame grew four times in size. "I like my men," she grinned devilishly, "well-done!"

She set the flame on his toes on his right foot which started to cook instantly. He screamed   howled   in agony. With all his strength, he tried to remove his feet from the hot flames, but the cement blocks impaired his movement.

Shade inhaled the intoxicating aroma of cooked meat, pain, and fear, "Where. Is. Grey. Zamanova. Whulphe?" she questioned again.

The man choked on his tears and foam in his mouth, "Fuck you!" he spat.

Shade picked up the chained hooks from the ground and impaled them into his hips. He cried out in pain. She tightened the ratchet lever hoist of the chains. She grabbed his right leg, and in one motion: unsheathed her dagger, sliced off his leg below his knee, and sheathed the dagger. The man howled, not only from the slice but also from the concrete blocks pulling his leg out of socket from his hip. Shade cauterized the wound to keep him from bleeding to death.

"Is keeping him alive worth your life?" Shade inquired. She noticed the man start to loose consciousness.

She rolled her eyes and pulled a syringe from her pocket. She placed the needle in his neck and depressed the plunger to keep him awake. Adrenaline fueled through his veins and with it came the pain.

"No sprecken," he laughed weakly, his bloodshot blue eyes glazed over.

Shade sighed. "Well, I guess it's on to my new toys."

He saw her disappear into the darkness and a few seconds later, a light turned on to illuminate another section. He stared in horror. His wife and ten-year-old daughter were bound and gagged on the floor; their cheeks wet with tears.

"Don't! Don't you fucking touch them!" he shouted, "I'll tell you!"

"Love," she crouched beside the whimpering brunette woman who looked no older than Shade, "Love always baffled me. Before you came into the picture, he was strong and brave, but now that you and she are here, he crumbles like cheese." She placed her dagger in the woman's hands. "Now, for wasting my time, you kill her   your daughter   or yourself."

"He's in Portland! Portland, you bitch! Leave them alone!" he blurted.

Shade turned to him then returned her attention to the woman, "You can save yourself or save your daughter. Your daughter, she would have to live with this scar for the rest of her life or you, you who could start a new family." Shade stepped back and let go of the woman's hand.

The woman hesitated for a couple of moments, closed her eyes, and stabbed the young girl. The little girl screamed in pain.

"Whoopsie!" Shade exclaimed, "You kinda missed her heart. It is probably a good idea to keep your eyes open where you can see where you're aiming."

The woman was crying and through blurred vision found the heart of the little girl. The woman stabbed her through the smiling sun on the girls shirt.

"No!" the man howled.

Shade removed the blade from the woman's hand and cut the woman's gag, "Why did you kill the girl?"

"She. . . she wasn't my d-daughter. . ." the woman cried.

A smiled cracked Shade's confused expression, "That's cold hearted."

The man hung limp and lifeless. "Just kill me," he begged as Shade approached.

"Nope! It will be much more fun to let you live your life in regret, agony, and hatred! And when you kill yourself, that just adds one more soldier to my mother's army." Shade walked passed him, opened the warehouse door, and left down the sunny alley.

The sound of sirens in the distance filled the KNIGHT's ears and a single tear rolls off his cheek to mix with the pool of his blood.