The Demented Z (Book 2): Desolation (Book 2) by Derek J Thomas Page B

in fear.
  His eyes locked on the shears and he began to
tremble.
    “If you answer my question I’ll cut off all of your fingers
and gouge out your eyes.”   He reached behind
the kid’s back and grabbed one of his wrists, lifting his hand up next to the
shears. Looking out toward the group, he
said, “Now we do it the hard way.”
    Before he could cut off a finger, Kelly stood up and said,
“Leave the kid alone. It was me.
  I arrived with Tom.”
    Looking down at the kid, Lincoln smiled and said, “Aren’t
you just lucky.”   He let go of the kid’s
wrist and walked over to where Kelly stood.  
“Well, well, well...you must be his wife.  
If I remember right, Tom said family, not just wife...so...”
  He looked around, rubbing his chin.
  “I’m thinking there were others with
you.”   Looking behind Kelly at Sam
hunched on the floor, he said, “Maybe a little boy.”
    “Leave him!”   Kelly
shuffled backwards, directly in front of Sam.
    Grinning, Lincoln sniffed the air in front of Kelly, licked
his lips, and said, “As much as I’d like to have you darling, I think I have a
better plan.”   He turned back toward the
door. “Trips!
  Grab the kid.”
    “Nooo!”
  Kelly screamed.
    Hank stepped forward.  
“Take me. Leave him out of it,
he’s just a kid.”
    Lincoln neared the doorway, stopped, turned, and then walked
over to the teenager he had terrified earlier.  
Drawing the pistol from the holster on his side, he pointed it at the
kid’s thigh and pulled the trigger. The
boom was deafening in the small space.  
The large caliber pistol ripped a giant hole in his leg, blowing red and
white chunks out the back. The boy’s
face went ghost white and he fainted to the ground, never letting out a sound.
    Everyone stood in silence.  
Kelly hunched down next to Sam, wrapping him in her arms, sobbing.
  Little Sam buried his face into her lap.
    “One more word and the next shot is
in the head...and another person for every word after that.”
  Lincoln shouted.
  He swung the pistol around, pointing at
several people’s faces. “This is not a
democracy. This is not a debate.
  This is not up to you.”
  He looked over at Trips.
  “Grab the kid.
  Anyone makes a peep, shoot them and the
person next to them.”   After that he
stormed out of the room, leaving everyone trembling and quiet.
    A couple of the men raised their rifles at the group while
Trips walked over and pulled Sam out of Kelly’s arms.
  He screamed, sobbing and kicking.
  Tears poured from Kelly’s eyes as she
struggled to breathe. She reached out
with her arms, kneeling on the floor, pleading with her eyes.
  Sam desperately reached back for her, terror
and tears filling his eyes. The thugs
left the room, Sam in tow.
    After the large metal door closed the room sat in silence,
interrupted only by Kelly’s sobbing. She
had collapsed to the hard tile, hysteria taking over.
    From outside the door loud scrapping and banging could be
heard.
    Dennis moved across the room, listening at the door.
  Muffled voices could be heard through the
thick steel, along with the clangs of metal on metal.
    Hank stepped over to the instrument cart and began looking
over its contents. Finding a pair of
what looked like high tech wire cutters, he spun around
and used his bound hands to dig through the contents until he grasped the
clippers. He turned to the person next
to him and said, “Spin around.” Back to
back it was a bit awkward to get the zip ties cut, but once one of them was
free he quickly worked his way through the remaining
people, freeing everyone’s hands.
    After removing Kelly’s zip ties, Hank kneeled down next to
her. She never moved, still crying inconsolably.
  “We will get him back.”
  He wasn’t just saying this to make her feel
better; he really felt that they would get Sam back.
  They had been through so much and were always
able to find a