NightWhere

Chapter Fourteen

Rabbit in a Cage

Travis had a feeling that something was wrong. Deadly wrong. He remembered tending bar. And then there had been someone coming in and asking him to go to a club…a place where he’d be comfortable…

And the next thing he knew he was waking up in a dark, cold place. His back was stiff. He couldn’t feel his legs.

And then he heard the voice speaking somewhere nearby.

“Now,” the voice said. “Make him wake up.”

The pain was almost instant. It cut across his belly like a steel ruler slapped down hard. He felt cold and then fire in the same breath. Travis opened his eyes.

Wide.

“What the fuck?” he cried out, and around him he heard a dozen people begin to laugh.

“What the…” he echoed, but nobody responded.

The pain came again.

Travis saw something glow in the far corner of the room. Then another light grew closer. And another.

It looked as if a dozen candles had been lit, and little by little, they moved in tighter.

Travis could see the faces behind the candles now. Faces with dark eyes and creased brows and smiles that looked more hungry than amused.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“Just your pain,” someone answered.

And that’s when the hurt began.

When he woke up, they were still there. Waiting to begin again.

The ugliest one spoke.

“Here’s what we need from you,” the Watcher said. “We need pain. You need to bring it. You need to feed us. And in return…”

“What?”

“We know what you want,” the voice whispered.

Travis felt a stir. If they would just tie him up and make the world change in his head… All he wanted was someone to make him feel used.

“Think harder,” the voice laughed. “We will make you feel more than used. We will make you feel dead.”

“Pass?” Travis said, growing more and more afraid as the pale lights closed in, illuminating faces that did not smile.

“Too late” a voice said. “Once you’re in NightWhere, there are no passes. Or safe words. Everything is dangerous.”