Chapter 3

The Tourniquet

     “What’s your name?” A gruff voice echoed across the black void.

     The fog began to clear.  Faint screams were still echoing around the void.

     “Let me ask again.” The gruff voice echoed. “What is your name, girl?”

     “Colleen.” Responded a softer voice that was much closer to her. “Her name is Colleen.”

     Kyle.

     The great black void disappeared and the screams began to fade as Colleen opened her eyes.  The world was still echoing around her and everything was just barely coming to focus.  She could feel that her hands were tied behind her back to the metal chair she was sitting in.  As the world came into view, she could see a burly, mustached man sitting in a chair backwards.  He was glaring at the person in the chair next to her.  Colleen turned her head and saw Kyle was tied hand and foot to the chair next to her.

     Kyle didn’t look so good.  Blood was running down his face from several places under his hair, his lip was split, and there were numerous blood stains, bruises, and cuts all along the side of his body that Colleen could see.

     “I didn’t ask you.”  The burly man replied in his gruff voice.  A man behind Kyle pistol-whipped him across the face.  If Colleen wasn’t so groggy, she would have screamed aloud. “What’s your name, girl?”

     “C-C-Coll-C-Colleen…” She stuttered as the man rose from his chair.  As she spoke, Colleen could feel that her lip was split as well.  Her face felt tight and bruised, and she felt that one of her teeth was missing.

     “Well, now girl.  That’s better.”  The burly man smiled at her perversely. “So, tell me.  What should we do with you two love-birds?”

     “Who’s we?” Kyle grunted painfully.

     Colleen flinched as Kyle was pistol-whipped across the face again.

     “No.”  The burly man said softly. “Not your turn for questions.  Its my turn.  What - should - we - do - with – you?”

     “L-let us go?” Colleen said softly.

     “You’re not having fun with us?” The burly man chuckled. “No.  I’m not going to let you go, girl.  But,”  Colleen started shaking as she felt the cold tip of a gun pressing up against her neck. “I am going to ask you a few questions and maybe a favor or two.”

     A dark cold feeling washed over Colleen as she felt the bore of the gun barrel pressing into her neck.  They knew exactly who she was.  And she was in trouble.  She would be put against what she had been warned about.  She would be between staying alive and being branded a traitor.  Or worse, she would be between keeping Kyle alive or being branded a traitor.  It was so easy to give your own life – but what about someone else’s?  Colleen knew she couldn’t do it.  And she was betting that the man in the chair watching her shake, knew that too.

     “Wh-what do you mean?” Colleen asked, trying to play off that she didn’t know what he was talking about.  Maybe they’d think she got hit too hard in the head.

     “Tell me Colleen, what is it exactly that you do?”  The burly man asked.

     “I – I – I…don’t…know…” Colleen replied in what was hopefully a memory-less tone.

     “Really?” The burly man frowned.  Colleen felt the cold tip being pressed harder into her neck. “Do try to recall.  Or I’ll have to start calling your bullshit.”

     “I - I – Don’t…know…I know my name…but I –“  Colleen knew she was pressing her luck, but she had to try.

     The burly man nodded and the man behind Colleen struck Kyle across the face again.  Colleen flinched in shock.

     “Remember now?” The man asked.  Colleen just stared.  The man nodded again.  Colleen closed her eyes as Kyle screamed in agony. “How about now, girly?”  Colleen shook her head.  The man nodded.

     “I CAN’T REMEMBER!  FOR CHRIST’S SAKE – BEATING HIM WON’T MAKE ME REMEMBER!” Colleen screamed before Kyle was hit again.

     “Oh really?”  The man replied softly as he held his hand up to stop the other man from hitting Kyle again. “It says on all of your paperwork that you’re a broker.  You hold a city’s entire economy in your hands.  Remember any of that?”

     Colleen shook her head.  He was baiting her.  She knew it.  But she couldn’t bite.  It would be more than her life if she did.

     “You’re kind of young to be a broker.  But you’re not married.  Not yet.”  The man paused and dropped Colleen’s wallet on the floor. “Remember any of that?”

     Again, Colleen shook her head, trying to look puzzled.  He was getting to her.  And she could tell, he knew it.

     “You live alone, except for when you’re with this man.  In fact, you were completely alone without him.  Remember?”  The burly man rose from his chair and began pacing around her, while the other man started to load the clip for his handgun.  Colleen shook her head only slightly, horror clearly passing through her eyes.

     “Well, here’s a new memory for you, my blonde little liar.” The burly man brought his lips right to her ear as he whispered.  “Ponder this for a moment.  If you really don’t know anything – I’m just wasting my time keeping both of you around.”

     “…Please…I…don’t…”

     “-Remember?  Yes, I heard you say that already.  What I have yet to hear –“ The man stood in front of Colleen as the other man popped the clip into the gun and pointed it at Kyle’s head. “- Is the truth.  Okay, pumpkin?”  Kyle, whose head was drooping in his chest, was too beaten to notice, but Colleen snapped.

     “FOR GOD’S SAKE!  I’LL DO WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT! BUT KILLING HIM WON’T GET YOU A DAMN THING!” Colleen screamed.

     “Ya know what?  You’re absolutely right.”  The man tilted his head towards Colleen.  She heard someone moving around behind her.

     PAIN.

     And then nothing.

 

*-*-*

 

     Eric Banter sighed heavily as he flicked his cigarette over the edge of the concrete balcony he was leaning on.  He hated these damn meetings.  Another new tax.  The people weren’t going to like this.  And he had to sign off on it.  He could say no.  He could refuse to sign it with everyone else.  But he knew, as did everyone else - it was necessary.  The greater good.  He just had to keep telling himself that.  Everything he did was for the greater good.

     He leaned over the railing, cradling his head in his hands.  He hoped he didn’t start a damn fire with that cigarette.  Probably should’ve just stepped on it.  Hell, he probably shouldn’t even have lit it.  He didn’t want to smoke it anyways.  He was just buying himself time before he went back inside.

     He always had to ask himself when it came to these meetings – was he really doing what was right?  He knew inside, that some part of everything he had done was unstable.  Actually, the more he thought about it – the more he realized the entire thing was beyond unstable.  But was it the right path?  Who knew.  He had to chalk this one up to fate.  No one could foresee what was going to happen.  No one could have predicted what did happen so far.  Especially not with these tax laws.

     And his pain inside was always two fold.  It wasn’t like he was just getting money approved.  He was ordering a lot things that carried a bit of a darker nature around them.  As the laws got sent done for approval and initialization, there was always the “black section”.  No one except the parties involved and the top approval chain knew what was in that section.  Since the law got broken into pieces anyways when it got sent down, no one else even cared.  They just thought it was some other piece of the law that didn’t concern them.  Some ridiculous numerical method that they were glad they didn’t have to see.  It was so much worse.

     Eric shuddered violently as a chill ran down his spine when he recalled all of the things that had gotten themselves into the ‘black section”.  Dark things.  But not as dark as what today’s was.  And he could see how close this would bring them to chaos.  And he knew they all hoped that everyone wanted to avoid chaos.  He also knew that today, him and 13 other men were laying into effect – a political suicide pact.  They would never be in office again when the aftermath finally hit them.

     The greater good.  He just had to keep repeating that to himself.  He only hoped that the Citizen Movement was not as popular as it was vocal.  He was about to sign off on the entire fate of a nation.  Who had come up with this plan?  Eric could almost laugh to himself about how crazy it was.  Was he honestly going to go back into that room and sign away his future?  He had a family.  He had kids.  Could he honestly give up his job?

     The greater good.  He wanted his nation to still be around for his children.  He wanted his children to not have to be at the mercy of other nations, because too many tax laws went into effect.  It was the path that they were headed – unless somewhere in the line – something was done to stop it.  And Eric and the others had already agreed, they had to stop it.  Too much had gone unnoticed.  Too much had happened.  They needed to push people back into the desire for change.  The only probable was that Eric worried they had waited just a little long to do it.  People cried out for change, and with more backbone than ever.  The Citizen Movement had escalated until it was almost beyond control – it had become its own society with sections and leaders and groups amassing all on their own accord.  If they put this “black section” into effect – the Citizens could revolt.  He was hoping, along with thirteen other men and women, that most people would just cry out for a political reformation.

     But it was going to bring them so close to chaos.  No great benefits are made without great sacrifices and risks.  That’s what one of his advisors always said.  And this law was loaded with all of that and more.

     And to top it all off, Eric had his own moral issues with this “black section” as well.  He was basically sending a man to die – if not hundreds.  Could he really sign his name on that piece of paper like a death sentence?  It was like the pen would be drawing a collection form Eric’s soul.  He knew that one man’s life for the benefit of the country was an easy price to compare – but it was just so hard to pay.  Especially when it wasn’t his own life.  Eric picked his head up and stood up, wiping his brow.

    Hell, Eric thought, it might be his own life.  After all – he was knowingly about to sign a paper that would frame himself and everyone in charge of the government.  They might all end up like that real estate broker – at the end of a very short rope.

     Eric stepped back into the meeting room, sat down and took a deep breath.  The bulky document was sitting right in front of his chair, laying on the table like an innocent book.  The top page was the ratification page.  It was blank and just calling for signatures.  He didn’t look, but he could feel everyone was watching him.  Eric sat down and sighed heavily as he lifted his pen.  Eric signed shakily and pushed the document to the middle of the table for everyone else to sign.

     “May our children come to forgive us of our deadliest sins.”  Eric whispered as, one by one, the rest of the table signed the document.

Author's Note

Cahpter 3. Enjoy!

Reviews

[PhoeniX]

hmmmm....more taxes... and the citizen movement, im not sure what they do exactly . are a they a group that are against all the reforms that the government is doing?

and kyle and colleen, it looks like theyre in something real deep