Saturday, February 16, 2008

The blood in my mouth tastes of you

Strapped dirty and naked to the rough hewn torture table, still damp with the fluids of the last to lay here, she cricked her neck to eye the transformer with contempt. The barbed electrodes, clipped harshly to all the usual spots, bit pleasingly into her flesh, the well defined discomfort a distraction from the torment to come. From deep within she tried to summon the rage she'd need to survive this.

Markov motioned to the serge uniformed girl standing by the devices. Her dark hair had been cut with blunt scissors. She avoided Katherine's eye as she dialed up the voltage. Katherine liked her oversize cap. It confirmed the absurdity of the current situation although irony would be little use to her here. She closed her eyes and then opened them again to fix on the ceiling, pretending it showed the stars. She bit her lip as if to complete the circuit and she was wracked with broiling, churning pain. She blinked rapidly, her only concession, and tried to tell herself she'd paid for worse than this before now.

She tried to breathe, her lungs filled with blood. She smelt her own flesh burning. Markov stroked her lithe, writhing belly and she stared at him, that was really going too far. She spat at him but her spittle described a pathetic arc like a doomed sattalite to land on her ribs and did nothing to cool her. Markov withdrew, still there were no questions. What did they want from her? All her comrades were dead, their brutalised corpses trucked round the villages to be exhibited in the squares as an example to others. Her brothers in the forest skulked in their holes, waiting for the planes from Britain and America they knew in their hearts would never come. She counted down the seconds but there was no end to her torment. She strained, suddenly panicking, at the thick leather straps pinning her wrists and ankles, then at the collar round her neck. She stared, wild eyed now, round the room. Markov and the girl were gone, the iron door closed behind them. She could smell her flesh burning. Smoke began to curl from the buzzing apparatus. She spasmed once more, in frustration with so much more than this. Her urine flowed helplessly. She lay back for the rest of the ride.

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