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Chapter One
The hot July heat beat down on Kris’ back, his body begging him to stop or slow down and rest in some cool place. But Kris trudged on, desperate to reach his destination. He knew the consequences of stopping to rest for even a second. That, he couldn’t bear. Even the mere thought of it made him quake with fear; and that fear is what propelled him forward. Step by step he accomplished his goal.
The figures of buildings and cars began to manifest themselves in the distance, and Kris gave a crooked smile. His very purpose relied on that sight, and he quickened his pace to meet it. Blistering heat began to seep its way through his shoes, and slowly the heat began to cook his feet. Every fiber of his body screamed for the relief it knew was to come and bade it come faster. But Kris knew better than this, and so intensified his pace. The cargo he carried in his back was much too precious to stop for even a fleeting of moment in the now intensified heat. For even a second could mean .
Only the satisfaction knowing his employer would greatly reward him for his hard work kept him going forward.
“All that money, mine; All mine!” Kris chuckled to himself.
Money was his greatest desire, and the simple trade he had gotten himself into paid quite well. Of course the risk was just as high, but he took the chance, and most of the time it rewarded him like a king. He had enough money to own a small country, but more was the key, he wanted more. Always more, he couldn’t help himself. The thrill of the work, and the payout at the end of it all just kept him going.
The blacktop stretched before him, leaving the dirt road behind him. He didn’t remember the name of the little town he was going to, but he remembered what he had to do when he got there. He was to go to the White Eagle Hotel and go to room 303b and knock twice, once and then twice again. His benefactor would open the door and let him in, exchange the goods for the money and then they would part their separate ways, unless the man wanted him to do another job, which he would do of course if he was offered.
Cool shade began to cast its lonely shadow towards him as he drew near to the buildings that lined the outside of the sleepy little town. The temptation of the cool barely made him slow his gate, but he was able to increase his speed so as to reach the White Eagle before the prescribed time expired. Looking at his watch, he noticed that it was drawing close to when he needed to be at the room.
His eyes danced across the signs that hung above the streets he walked down, none began to show White Eagle Hotel, and soon he became slightly panicked at this. The very fact that if he wasn’t there at exactly the right time, he would be ed or worse, almost made him wish that he hadn’t taken this job. This had been the first time his benefactor had been this violent about the consequences of failure. Finally a giant eagle loomed in his line of sight, and unless there was an eagle attraction around this dump of a town, it had to be the White Eagle. He sprinted to the front doors and plunged to the desk, out of breath and gasping for air.
A cool breeze met his sweat drenched skin, and he let out a sigh of relief, and then gasped in the frigid life giving air.
“Room 303b please!” he gasped, “Someone’s expecting me.”
The clerk disappeared from behind the desk for a moment and then came back.
“Very well sir, it’s two floors up, down the hall and take a right. You can’t miss it.”
Kris thanked the clerk and then walked to the stairs, careful to go up them at a moderate pace until out of sight of the clerk. He then tore up the stairs and raced down the hall, looking at his watch before knocking out the code on the door before him.
“3:41. Hmm, I’m early. I guess he won’t mind.” Kris said as he knocked twice, once and then twice again.
The door opened slowly and revealed the man who had hired Kris. He was a tall gentleman, thin and slender, with rich brown hair and ice white eyes that seemed to cut his own gaze down.
“You’re early. I told you to come on time.” The man said.
He turned to go inside, and since he hadn’t closed the door, Kris entered as well, closing the door behind him. Inside it was dark, much darker than Kris had expected. He could hear heavy breathing from inside the room, but he hadn’t thought the man to be sick, or winded enough to breathe quite like that.
“You came nineteen minutes early,” the man said, “I would like to know why before I *ahem* give you the money.”
Kris began to explain why he was early, “My car broke down on the way here and I had to walk. I thought I might be late so I hurried as fast as I could, I nearly couldn’t find the hotel and so I tried harder, when I found it I was early.”
“Is that so?” the man said, a hint of sarcasm on his breath.
“Yes,” Kris said, “I wouldn’t lie to you.”
“I don’t doubt that you would.”
Kris could hear the man moving around in the back of the room, but it was too dark to tell where he was moving to, or what he was doing. He felt nervous that he couldn’t see, but he felt as if he had no power, no choice in the situation, so he just stood still as a statue.
“I…I brought your goods. It’s all here,” Kris said, un-slinging the pack from his shoulder.
“Let me see,” the man said.
Kris headed in the direction of the man’s voice and held the bag out. Much sooner than Kris expected the bag was ed from his hand. He could here his employer rustling through the bag.
“Hmm, well, it seems to be all here. Wait, I will get you your reward.” The man said.
Kris could hear a sinister laugh from the area that the man was in. This made Kris very uneasy, although he didn’t know why. It seemed that things were turning from bad, to worse. He brought the goods on time, well, early. So this uneasiness seemed to make him much more nervous because it was uncalled for.
Suddenly his head began to ache increasingly, and then everything went black, not that it was much of a change from the dark room. For what seemed an eternity he was stuck in limbo, unable to do anything, say anything at all. Slowly a tunnel began to take shape in his vision, a red light coming closer and closer.
A grating voice began to wake him out of his sleep, “Wake up sleepyhead.”
A haze was left hanging over his vision, the red tunnel still coming nearer every second. It seemed as though the haze was increasing with every second, just slowly engulfing his vision. Just as quickly as the light came, it began, it began to fade.
“I said WAKE UP!”
A fist came out of nowhere and connected directly with his stomach. The wind was knocked straight out of him. He gasped for breath as he came out of his fog. The first thing he noticed was that he wasn’t in the hotel room anymore. At least that’s what he thought. The room had an eerie red light casting all over the room, making very leering shadows all over.
Kris tried to move, but found that he was bound to a chair. He tried to scream for help, but his throat was gagged.
“I see you’ve finally decided to wake up.” A voice said, echoing from behind him.
Kris strained to see if there was a shadow, or some form of person behind him, but he couldn’t. His eyes searched the room to try and see if he could find a person in the shadows in front of him, but it just wasn’t working.
“Now, now, now, aren’t we a bit feisty!” the voice said.
A sharp pain grasped at his side, forcing him to arch his back. Kris didn’t understand what was happening. And that voice, it wasn’t familiar. It was much more grating, vicious. He couldn’t understand what he had done to deserve this.
“I know what you’re thinking,” The voice said, “you’re thinking, ‘Why am I here? What did I do to get myself in this situation?’ Well I’ll tell you! You got here early. I told you on time, not late, not EARLY!”
When the man shouted, ‘EARLY!’ the sharp pain coursed through every fiber of his being, fear through every part of his mind. Suddenly it stopped, giving Kris a chance to breathe again.
“You got what you wanted didn’t you?!” Kris shouted back in a weak voice.
The strain his body was bearing was hard, and it was crushing down on him fast. He didn’t think much more of this could commence before he finally expired; all that beautiful money gone to waste. Into someone else’s pocket. Almost as if the man could hear his thoughts, a pile of money, glorious cash in hundred dollar bills plopped onto the table in front of him, all neatly held together in stacks of thousands by a strip of paper indicating the amounts on them.
“Is this what you were looking for?” he scoffed, “This, worthless pile of paper?”
“It’s not worthless!” Kris shouted back, hurt that he would even say such a thing.
“IT IS WORTHLESS! Do you have any IDEA how many lives you’ve ruined because you wanted more money? You’re a pig, a thief and a er. I don’t even know why I let you live.” He rasped, freezing Kris’ emotions on his face.
Kris didn’t know how to respond to something like this. He hadn’t thought of what he was costing other people, only what he was gaining for himself. Thoughts of the money were crushed by the weight of this fact. All this time he had been ruining families, causing , creating addicts. Breaking the law. Tears began to fall as the weight crushed his dreams and hopes. He knew he could never be forgiven for what he had done.
“You’re right. You can’t. You’re just like every other scumbag on the planet; worthless!”
Jolts of electricity flooded his veins, causing his body to jerk back and forth relentlessly; he himself not even being able to stop or control his own functions any longer. Heat and pain wrapped itself around every nerve and ripped the very possibility of comfort from his grasp.
“Why, why are you doing this Carlos?!” he shouted, knowing it wasn’t Carlos.
“Carlos isn’t here right now. He never was you foolish, foolish man.”
His captor came around to the front, showing him a gruesome white mask, almost like a hockey mask except much more horrifying.
“Carlos never existed. If you knew your clients better, you would have known that. You can rot in hell for eternity.” He turned to flip the switch, and then turned back, “Oh, and Kris, tell Satan that Angel sent you.”
Maniacal laughter erupted from the shadows as the volts past through his body again, stealing the life from his body. Kris felt dragons’ breath on his head and neck as he was pulled from his body and sucked through a tunnel of fire. | 