Venomous [Engl.]

4. Unavoidably

2 days later...

Mr. Tender, a huge, sturdily built bobcat with an unsympathetic face and even more unsympathetic arms and paws, marched sullenly down the long corridor and wasn't very amused about the work which Mr. Walket had given him.
"Of course, of course, just let the lower workers do the dirty work. It's such a hobby of mine." He kneaded his fingers with a loud crack. "Well then. Let's go."

Bill was raising his head immediately when he heard footsteps. Someone opened the door and heavy feet entered the room. Without a word, someone stepped behind him and cut through the hand and feet shackles.
"Get up!"
Bill didn't dare to resist. He didn't want to risk an unequal fight like last time. As long as he didn't have a weapon, trying to escape was pointless.
Someone kicked him with a foot from the side. Bill growled menacingly, but he obeyed.
With a loud groan, he stood up. His knees trembled a little. Suddenly someone grabbed his wrists and pressed them behind his back. Shortly afterwards, Shortly afterwards his hands were tied together again with a rope. He winced when he felt a revolver in his back.
"Just do what I say and this thing won't go off either." The guard increased his pressure. "Do you understand?"
Bill nodded defiantly. Then the guard, still with the gun in his hand, reached for the blindfold and took it off. Bill blinked. He dared a quick look behind and caught a glimpse of the face of his tantalizer behind his back, but then the bobcat gave him a hard push.
"Forward!"
Bill wanted to ask where he was being taken, which he tried to utter through the gag, but he couldn't expect an answer.
"Nothing is asked! Get moving! Do you think, I take you for a walk for fun?"
Together they left the cell. Bill glanced alternately to the right and left. For the first time, he could analyze his environment with his eyes. The floor of the corridor was made of rubbery hard flooring. The walls were all painted cold white, decorated with several thick metal doors. They passed several of these metal doors in the corridor. The gun still in his back. No long time and they stopped in front of one of these metal doors. Bill got a queasy feeling in this stomach.
The guard unlocked the door and actuated a light switch in the hallway.
"In you go!"
Bill hesitated.
The bobcat was getting impatient and grabbed his arm.
"Go now! I don't have all day!"
Bill almost stumbled into the room. After he had regained his balance again, he looked around in the room with irritation. The room was small, the walls sterile and white. The cold neon light from a fluorescent tube light gave a eerie sight. At the end of the room was a toilet and next to it a sink. Right next to the door hung an iron chain with hand and ankle shackles.
The guard took the metal tangle from the wall and walked up to Bill with it.
"Turn around!"
Bill had no choice. He turned his back to the guard, and shortly afterwards, he felt the cold rings on his hands and feet. When the guard had finished, he untied the handcuffs. Bill groaned softly as the rope fell to the floor. He rubbed his wrists, where the iron chains hung now.
The guard picked up the rope and walked backwards to the door with the gun pointed at him. "You are allowed to wash yourself briefly or to go to the toilet. That's all. Got it?!"
Bill narrowed his eyes in disgust.
Before the guard closed the door, he gave another warning: "And don't touch the cloth in your mouth!"
Bill sighed inwardly. He would have liked to take the gag off for a moment at least.
"You have exactly 15 minutes," the guard blustered. "I'll pick you up, whether you're ready or not."
With a loud clanging, the door slammed shut.
Bill hissed menacingly, but what else could he do? At least they gave him enough privacy to relieve himself. At least he hoped that no camera was watching him.
While he was sitting in the bathroom, he kept looking around as inconspicuously as possible. But there were no objects or anything that could have given him the idea of using them to escape. Even the toilet brush was missing. And a roll of toilet paper was just lying on the floor, without holder. Except the toilet, there was only the sink. No soap, no towel. Not even a mirror.
Bill did everything with a bitter gesture. After washing his hands with water and shaking them out as best as he could over the sink, he slowly walked up and down the room.
The whole area was a mystery to him. He had no idea how the building looked like, and he had no idea where he was in what part of the country.
Was he in a city? Hardly likely. He hadn't heard any city noises along the way. It had to be in a lonely area. But where exactly? How far was he from his hometown? He didn't even know how long he had been unconscious.
Had someone watched how they kidnapped him? Were someone looking for him?
Bill was frightened when someone suddenly opened the door without knocking.
"15 minutes are over! Come along!"
The guard pointed his gun at him again, so that Bill allowed his hands to be tied behind his back with the rope without resistance and the hand and foot cuffs were removed.
Then they went the same way back into the cell. After the bobcaat had bound the Gila monster back to the pillar and had blindfolded him again, he left the room and left the lizard alone.

One more day passed. Bill's stomach ached terribly with hunger. From time to time, he made moaning sounds, but there was no one who could hear him.
When he was afraid, they would want to let him die of hunger, footsteps approached his cell. Bill froze when the door was opened. The sound of footsteps filled the room, then they stopped abruptly.
The blindfolded Gila monster didn't dare breathing for a moment.
"Well, are you going to be a good guy now?"
Bill bit into his gag with rage when he recognized the voice of the silver lynx. More footsteps circled around him. He could feel the cold eyes which stared at him. The mocking laughter that followed made his hands clench into fists.
The silver lynx narrowed his eyes in suspicion. The Gila monster was weak, but it had still enough energy to offer resistance.
He grinned mockingly. "You will learn to obey. In this house, everyone loses out to us sooner or later."
Bill wanted to protest, but because of the cloth in his mouth, he couldn't speak one clear word. And none of his captors seemed to want to hear that either. No one took the cloth from his mouth. No one let him speak.
In the same moment, Bill's stomach rumbled loudly.
The professor grinned quietly. He put his paws in the pockets of his white coat and walked slowly up and down in the room.
"If you are willing to cooperate with us," e began in an ominously cheerful tone, "then you will get some food and drink. If not..."
He didn't finish his sentence deliberately. Bill could imagine what he wanted to say. And it annoyed him immensely that the cheeky guy was right. It was useless to die this way. If he did what he was asked to do, he might have a chance to flee.
The silver lynx smirked when Bill nodded.
"Fine, that's a wise decision."
He waved the guards closer. Bill wasn't sure, but he guessed that it was the same guys who dragged him out of the cell before. But this time, no one said a word. They unleashed the lizard from the pillar. Then the whole procedure started like the last time, but this time it didn't hurt so much. After milking his venom, they ushered him back into the cell, without troubles.
After they had secured him back in his place again, they left the cell. But before they closed the door, Bill called out muffled noises after them.
The metal door slammed shut with a loud metallic crack.
"Tell Tender he should bring him something to eat," he heard them say. "But not much."
For the first time since he'd been here, he felt a little relief.

Several hours passed until someone unlocked the door again. Heavy footsteps entered the room. Someone put down a tray or something similar on the floor in front of him. Then the unknown person stepped behind him.
"Eating time."
Bill recognized the voice of the guard who had guided him to the washroom yesterday. He quickly loosened his shackles from the pillar and forced the Gila monster to kneel on the floor.
"On your knees. Quickly!"
Bill swayed a little because his feet were still bound, and the guard didn't seem to want to take them off. He rubbed his wrists while the guard was removing the blindfold around his eyes. Blinking, Bill eyed the plate that was on the tray on the floor in front of him, with a glass of water and two loaves of bread. Not much, but better than nothing.
A familiar clicking sound let him froze. With wide eyes, he watched how the bobcat aimed a gun at him.
"I will remove the gag now. One wrong movement and I have to tell Dr. Docan that he lost a patient. Got it?!"
After a brief nod from his counterpart, the guard stepped behind the lizard and untied the cloth. As soon as the gag was removed, Bill gasped for air. His mouth was so dry like sandpaper. He stuffed everything in his mouth what he could find on the plate. Then he washed it all down with the glass of water. With a deep sigh of relief, he looked over at the guard, who was still standing in front of him with his gun pointed at him.
"How much longer are you going to keep me here?"
The result of the question was a violent slap in his face.
"Prisoners aren't allowed to speak!" The guard growled at him. "They are not allowed to talk, they are not allowed to see anything, only breathing and working!"
"And eating."
Again, he received a resounding slap in the face.
"Don't talk!"
Bill rubbed his cheek with disgust. The plate was compelely empty now and his unfriendly conversation partner went behind him again.
"Open your mouth!"
With that, he grabbed Bill's jawbones brutally. Shortly afterwrds, the lizard tasted the familiar cloth in his mouth again and the blindfold was tied around his eyes again. Then he was forced to sit back against the pillar. The guard tied his hands together as usual and left the room.
Bill couldn't see him anymore though his blindfold, but he followed him with rage filled eyes until the door was closed.
For a while, Bill cursed all people in this place, but he had to cooperate. He had to avoid dying of hunger until he had a plan.