Tomorrow's Money (We All Go to Hell)

Chapter Four

It was light that woke him up the first time. Ironic.

He blinked, squinted towards the brightness. He had been slipping between sleep and a lonely terror, and it was growing difficult to tell the difference. The cold, dark room was identical to his dreams.

He was silent as his eyes slowly adjusted to take in the silhouettes in the doorway.

There were three of them. The two on either side were two familiar masked Draculoids, dressed in white and with black blasters tight in their hands. He hardly even looked at them; run-ins with them were far from uncommon back in the Zones. The centre figure, however, caught his attention.

“Leave us,” Korse said, sneering down at him. His bald head sharpened his smirk; his old-fashioned tunic darkened his eyes.

As the Draculoids disappeared, Korse entered the room, light from the hall behind him pouring into the darkness. “Bullet Beam, correct?”

Beam only glared.

“That’s right, save your breath.” Korse laughed softly. “You’ll need it.”

Beam ignored the man. His eyes flickered to the open doorway; if he could distract Korse long enough, he could make it through the door and down the hall in a few seconds. After that, if he could find a gun, maybe he could get out into the City and hide until he could contact the Killjoys-

“I wouldn’t give it too much thought if I were you. You’d be electrocuted in a second.”

Beam looked up.

“Don’t you remember?” Korse tapped his wrists. Beam looked down to the thick metal bands around  the base of each of his hands. His hands raised to his neck- another one. Two more were chained to his ankles.

“What are they?” he asked. His voice cracked from lack of use.

“Electrocutors. There’s another around your waist too.” The bald man raised a tiny remote from his pocket, pointed toward the door. “I can control any of them with this. They’ll all go off if you pass the door.”

Beam glared.

“That’s right.” Korse paced in front of the boy, still sitting against the wall. “I thought you and I could have a bit of a talk before we bring anyone else into this. Sound alright?”

Beam ignored him again.

“Oh, I’ll get you talking.” Korse looked down at the remote. “So you live with the Killjoys, don’t you?”

Beam was silent.

“Where you were compromised?”

Nothing.

“Alright, then.”

Beam watched the man click something on the remote. For a minute, nothing happened. Beam smirked.

Then

sharp, fear and pain and agonizing, tantalizing, oh god stop stomach clenched brain clenched heart clenched and he couldn’t breathe couldn’t think help stop oh my god please-

Beam opened his eyes. The metal ground was cool under his cheek, a sharp contrast to the flaming feeling in the rest of his body. His eyes felt swollen; his wrists felt detached from the rest of his body. They burned, like his chest and lungs. He struggled for a complete breath before letting himself lay panting on the cold floor. His yellow jacket was too tight; his black pants and boots were too heavy. His hair felt matted against his forehead.

“You know, for a Killjoy, you certainly can’t handle much.”

He looked up. Korse was standing over him, smiling a little too widely. “Ready to keep talking?”

Using every last ounce of strength in his body, Beam raised his head just high enough to launch a mouthful of spit onto Korse’s feet.

This time he blacked out smiling.