Thread: The Ruin of Mankind

If the raider had been concerned at all about her threat, then he certainly didn't let it show. Cali felt like the prey being sized up by a hungry predator while he stared at her through the metal bars, the whole room filling up with the scent of cigarette smoke. The bounty hunter was accustomed to being on the opposite side of that equation, and the role reversal certainly did not sit well with her at all. She despised not being able to do a damn thing to improve her situation, instead being forced to sit there in that cage, drowning in her own frustration and helplessness. Perhaps worst of all was the complete uncertainty in regards to what was coming next. Obviously, Cali had at least a general idea of what her captor planned on doing to her, but that didn't prevent her mind from stressing about the specifics. She'd done her best to avoid staring at the little black box held in the man's hand while he was facing her, unwilling to show that she was frightened of being shocked again, but the threat of it constantly lingered within her head. If Cali could at least know if and when Red was going to shock her, it wouldn't be nearly as bad, but not knowing meant that she was left perpetually on edge, her body tensed in anticipation of the harsh punishment that could be inflicted upon her at any moment. As she watched the raider stand, turn his back and peel off his duster, revealing even more of the herculean physique that she'd already gotten much more than a taste of when he'd mounted and brutally beaten her until she could no longer move, Cali was visualizing herself plunging a large knife right in between those two pronounced shoulder blades. The myriad of tattoos covering most of the brute's arms were nothing too out of the ordinary, especially for raiders since they certainly loved their ink, but something else behind Red caught the bounty hunter's keen eye. A trio of worn picture frames propped up on the nightstand next to the bed. Squinting and leaning her head forward slightly, she confirmed that the photos did indeed belong to Red and not to one fo the office's previous inhabitants, or even to whomever the office belonged to before the war. For some reason, it came as a bit of a shock. The raider was older than her, old enough that he must have been a young man already before the world went to hell, so Cali should have realized that he'd had a life before all that, but still. The dichotomy between the smiling young man surrounded by his family that she saw in the second photo and the heartless brute who stood before her now seemed so extreme that it was impossible to consolidate the two into the same being. Her eyes wandered back towards the now topless man as he began to speak. His pectoral and abdominal muscles were so incredibly well defined that they seemed to be forged from steel, unlike anything else that Cali had ever seen before. She had no idea whether or not he was actually telling the truth about the drug that Red described actually existing. It definitely seemed like a stretch, but just the thought of having her memory wiped away was enough to send a frigid tingle down her spine. Not finding out was by far her preference in that case. She also took note of the pair of metal tags hanging from around Red's neck while he threatened to electrocute her to death. It only confirmed what she already knew after seeing the picture of him surrounded by a bunch of other soldiers, and it also helped to explain how he was so much better than most other raiders Cali had encountered. To think that years ago, just after the war, her father had taught her that she could trust anyone with a golden badge or a pair of silver dog tags if they ever got separated and she found herself alone. Maybe it had been true then, but there had been plenty of time for humans to devolve into animals since then. The aroma of cooked boar made Cali's mouth water almost immediately as the leader's second in command walked into the room carrying a pair of trays. Her empty stomach growled loudly, but of course, she knew that it couldn't possibly be so easy. Even after Red had shooed the bald man away and leaned down to place one of the trays in front of her cage, she knew that it would come attached with strings and a price, and she was right. Before she had a chance to react in any way, the high voltage surging through her body ripped a scream of agony from her still very sore throat. Her hands shot up to grab the collar, trying in vain to pry it away from her throat as searing pain continued to wrack her body. Shaking and spasming as she fell on her side, Cali could only continue to shriek louder and louder as the raider kept the button of the remote held down, this time refusing to let off like he'd done back in Bloodridge. The cage rattled loudly as she kicked at it wildly with her feet while trying desperately to resist the urge to surrender, but even she had her limits. Cali hadn't the faintest notion of how much time had gone by - thirty seconds, a minute, maybe more - but the pain finally became too much to bear. GGHHAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! YOU!! YOUUUUU!!! NNNNGGGHHHHAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! she howled involuntarily, still clutching at her collar with her fingers while writhing violently on the floor of the cage, unable to even breathe. Would the raider actually let off as promised, or would he fulfill his earlier threat of pumping his victim full of electricity until either she or the collar ended up fried?