entered any of these buildings?”
“He turned off between the third and fourth storage buildings that way. I don’t know if he went in either.”
Japohn’s heart leapt. Down to two possible targets, it was no longer out of the question they’d find Karil, and maybe Bacoj. “Thanks. Come on, Vax.” He broke into a run with the Imdiko on his heels.
* * * *
Bacoj winced as the vid recorder’s light speared his vision. Its glaring spotlight was far from the least of his worries, however.
Karil had beaten him bloody. Then, as Bacoj lay half-conscious, the Nobek had stripped him naked and smeared sensitizing gel all over his bruised body, mixing it with the blood without care. Bacoj was a knot of raw agony, and he gasped breathlessly as Karil set up his vid equipment. The gag had been removed, but his screams for help hadn’t brought rescue.
“People in this area mind their business. It keeps them alive longer. You go right ahead and yell. When I start hurting you for real, you can beg for mercy too. I want to hear every word of that.” It was one of the few coherent statements Karil had managed as the drug pulled him farther and farther from the real world.
Even over his anguished heaves for air, Bacoj heard the Nobek muttering to himself in a happy tone. The few words he deciphered through the roaring in his ears made no sense. Most of the man’s speech was garbled. Karil lurched about as he clumsily set about his task, laughing in sporadic bursts. He seemed particularly delighted when he glanced at Bacoj, like a child anticipating a present. The Elate he’d taken was inhibiting the rate at which he worked, but he was making progress all the same.
I’m going to die at the hands of this ridiculous, strung-out jackass. On top of the physical misery, Bacoj felt humiliated. There would be no dignity in his death, and for some reason, that infuriated him the worst.
The room grayed out on occasion. Each time, Bacoj hoped he’d stay gone, that he wouldn’t have to wake up to face the horror of his coming murder. Unfortunately, consciousness kept returning, spurred by agony too great to ignore.
Then came the moment he’d dreaded. He’d drifted off again, once more pleading with his beaten body to let him stay in the dark, to grant him a far easier out than what Karil planned. Seconds or minutes later, he jerked awake with a scream. White-hot misery sent sharp bolts through his chest.
Karil stood over him, poking his chest with a knife. The point didn’t cut deeply, but it felt as if acid was eating holes in Bacoj’s flesh. He screamed again.
Karil giggled, a bizarre sound to come from such a brutish creature. “Wake up, lover boy. It’s show time.”
He drew the knife down from the middle of Bacoj’s chest to the base of his primary. The cut was shallow, barely more than a scratch, but the sensitizing gel amped up the pain until it was horrendous. A strangled scream squeezed out from between the Dramok’s clenched teeth.
Karil giggled again. “Your shrieks are music to my ears. Now how should I go about this? Do I slice your cocks into ribbons to start the festivities? Cut them off and shove them in your mouth? Hmm, maybe that should happen later. But not last. No, the pipe comes last. Guess where that will go? Want to guess, fuckboy? No? Okay, I’ll let it be a surprise.”
He shifted, moving down the length of Bacoj’s feet, which were bound once more. “Let’s warm up by cutting off your toes. We’ll build slowly to the big crescendo. You want to give Vax a decent show, don’t you? Let him have his money’s worth.”
Karil sat on Bacoj’s legs. He grabbed the Dramok’s smallest toe. The cold blade set against it. Bacoj squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself for the coming torture…as if that were truly possible.
Something buzzed. Karil started and looked toward the door as the lock beeped. “What the hell?”
The door hissed open, and a huge, angry Kalquorian burst into the room, his face so inhumanly bestial that it took Bacoj a second to recognize him.
“Japohn!”
The brutish features darkened with fury as the Nobek stared at Bacoj and Karil. The howl of rage that erupted couldn’t have originated from the throat of a civilized being. It was primitive, animal, without a note of rationality.
Karil shot to his feet and roared in return. Both men shot