Part One
Zach grasped at the collar that was around his neck. He'd never been chained before, so he found the experience to be utterly humiliating. What was worse, the chain attached to the wall in such a way that he had to be on his knees, sitting up as straight as a board. He'd choke to death if he tried to sit down completely or stand up. He already found himself uncomfortable, fidgeting every few minutes.
He tensed as a door clanged open, his eyes wildly searching for the face of his captor. A woman dressed in black jeans and a white T-shirt entered. She looked ready to kill.
"Hello Zach."
He kept his mouth shut, breathing heavily and glaring up at her. She clicked her tongue a few times and squatted down in front of him, holding out a knife as if they were having a show and tell.
Eventually she stopped admiring the thing and held it up to his shoulder blade. "Let's try that again."
His body stiffened as he forced out a nearly inaudible hello back. It wasn't good enough. She slowly pressed the blade into him, watching with child like wonder as the blood trickled down his skin.
"When I talk to you, you answer the first time. You respect me. I am your salvation, kid. Don't forget that."
She got up and left the room, leaving Zach alone once again. He wasn't scared. At least, not yet. He would be okay. He knew Drew would come for him. They got mixed up in shit like this practically every other week.
Now that he was alone Zach allowed himself to groan at the growing cramps in his legs, wishing he could somehow switch positions. His feet were beginning to go numb.
Eventually the door opened again, and with it a plate of food. It didn't look like much, but the growling in his stomach told him it didn't matter what it was so long as it was something. She placed it on the other side of the room and came back to unchain him.
"Walk to it." She flashed her knife, daring him to try anything funny. "You fall, you start over."
When the chain released Zach used his hands to push himself up, a fire spreading through his knees upon finally being on his feet. He refused to let on how badly it hurt. He took a step, nearly buckling under the weight. Zach held his breath, focused on making it to the other side. After the first few steps were out of the way it wasn't so bad, and he picked up the food off the plate, eating it hurriedly.
She watched him the entire time in fascination, a knowing smile playing across her lips. When he finished she said "Shatter it."
Zach frowned at the bizarre request but listened nonetheless, grabbing the plate and merely dropping it onto the floor, watching as the glass shattered all around.
He moved his gaze from the glass back to her, waiting for more direction. She was standing with her arms crossed by the doorway, knife in hand. "Count the pieces."
Zach listened, kneeling down and using his fingers to sort the glass shards of the plate into piles. "Twenty seven."
She loomed forwards, her nails digging into his wrist as she threw him against the wall. "Let your 27 minutes of hell begin."
Her hand was around his throat like a chokehold, keeping him in place as she freely let her knife glide onto the blank canvas of his skin. It wouldn't remain that way for very long. Zach suppressed a cry, feeling the blade cut him open and leaving his skin bloody and burning. He tried to wedge his fingers between his throat and the grip of her hand, desperate to get an inch of space so he could take a breath of air.
She let her knife clatter to the ground and made contact to his ribs with her knee. He didn't have time to react as her fist flew into his face, his head bouncing off the wall and making him see double.
