Intelligence Kills

Chapter 14

Fourteen-

Sniper's Point of View:

Something was holding me down. Something felt wrong. I reached for my wrist and felt a sharp tug. I jerked on my wrist and still nothing happened. Fear started to settle in and jolt awake fully. I was strapped to a silver chair. The walls of the Council Room stared at me gloomily. My legs were held by bands of silver. My wrists were held by leather straps and my head was locked in place by another band of silver.

"You're awake." Akithro's deep voice startled me. I jumped, flinching as the leather bit into my skin.

"How are you feeling?" Kret startled me even more. Her spacy eyes couldn't look directly at me. Her dead white hair sat on her shoulders, greasy and immobile. Yulgale sat herself in a chair close by while Mace stood by the door and fidgeted with the hem of his shirt.

"When did I get here," I asked hoarsely.

"A few hours ago," she said. Yulgale's fingers tapped a steady rhythm on the table. The door opened and Roylar stepped into the room. He took a seat and twined his fingers together, looking at me with an expression mixed of curiosity and fury.

"You've caused us quite a bit of trouble, young man," Roylar said quietly. He and Akithro exchanged a glance. "I would've given you another chance but you kept on blowing them off. After killing Accord McMillian, we decided it would be best to just end it and bring you down here. We wouldn't want the humans to suffer any more would we?"

"We're human too," I retorted. Roylar smiled, shaking his head. A shiver ran down my spine. Both Roylar and Akithro were beginning to look like Kret. Their smiles were creepily identical.

"We are. You aren't," Roylar replied silkily. He stood and grabbed something from the fire. I couldn't see what it was. Mace's eyes widened.

"Roylar, I think that's a bit harsh," Mace squeaked out. He looked at me nervously. Roylar chuckled and shook his head again.

"No, Mace, it's not." Roylar returned to my full line of vision. "Mace told us of your little secret. You using someone as cover was clever, Sniper. I'll give you that much. But honestly, it didn't do that much for you in the end, did it?"

I swallowed. In Roylar's hand was a long, hot poker. At the end, the metal was bent into a cruel replica of the number seven. The end was a faint orange. Roylar followed my gaze to the end of the poker and he smiled slightly. "You see, Sniper, betraying us is not a good idea. I'm sure you've figured that out by now."

I bit my lip, struggling to get out of the binds. My chip was causing my whole head to throb painfully and no matter how hard I concentrated, I couldn't get any form of defense up. The only thing that happened was a little metal covering about an inch above the cuffs. I was seriously screwed as Roylar stepped closer. Kret stepped back to give him room. He lifted the poker up to my shoulder and held it inches away from the skin. For a second, nothing happened. The stench of burning skin filled the room and my whole body felt like it was on fire.

I tried hard to bite back the screams that were rising in my throat. The pain was unbearable. Worse than anything I had ever felt, including the knives that had been shoved up into my body. I started to shake uncontrollably and a groan escaped my lips. As soon as he heard it, Roylar pulled the poker away. He reached forward and prodded the fresh mark on my skin with his finger, forcing blood to run down my chest.

Roylar nodded to Akithro. I was unstrapped and shoved against the wall. Akithro held me in place, keeping my arms away from my back. I felt another searing pain rip its way across my shoulders, beneath the sheets of metal. More prodding and more blood. My knees collapsed on me and I fell to the ground. There wasn't a sound other than the quiet drip of my blood hitting the floor.