Five Minutes In Hell
-Chapter One-
Bryce woke late one night, hearing someone enter his studio.
"Edison?" he asked, putting on his bathrobe and walking into the main area of the lab.
It wasn't Edison.
A man whom Bryce did not recognize moved toward him, advancing rapidly. Bryce backed away, trying to reach the door. Somehow he made it into the corridor. The intruder followed.
Realizing that he would never get away if he stood around waiting for the lift, he raced for the stairwell, the older man continuing to pursue him. He opened the stairwell door and started to run down the steps when a hand shoved him from behind. He tumbled down the remaining steps and landed on his side at the foot of the stairs, his right leg broken beneath him.
The intruder slowly descended the stairwell, drawing a dagger from his vest pocket.
Bryce stared up at him in horror. He couldn't understand why this man wanted to kill him. Didn't understand why no one had challenged his presence at the network. Did the others want him dead? The thought shook him and he began to cry.
The man crouched down beside Bryce, moving the bathrobe to reveal his broken leg. The bone was snapped in two, the lower half jutting out through the broken and bleeding skin. Smiling sadistically, he dug the dagger into the exposed marrow.
Bryce let out a howl of pain as the knife bore into the bone.
"Please," he said after the man withdrew the dagger. "Stop. Just leave me alone."
The man took a lighter from his pocket and held it to the exposed bone. Bryce began screaming at the top of his lungs, while the man laughed wildly. Finally, after what seemed forever, the man pulled the lighter back from the burned bone.
"Why are you doing this to me?" Bryce asked painfully.
"You're so much fun to play with," the sadist laughed. "Shall I tell you how I got in here?"
Bryce could only nod. Talking hurt too much. His throat was raw from screaming.
"Edison Carter let me in. He's responsible for your pain." he told Bryce as the boy lay there in a sobbing heap. "Shall we go again? We wouldn't want to disappoint Mr. Carter, would we?"
He pushed the tip of the dagger against the exposed and burned marrow, eliciting a scream that was silenced by the fact that Bryce had already screamed himself hoarse.
At that moment, the door slammed open. There was a single gunshot and then silence for several minutes.
"Bryce!"
Bryce looked up. She was hard to see through his tears, and the fact that his glasses had come off when he'd fallen. But she was still recognizable.
"Theora," he said, gratitude in his voice. "You're here late."
"I couldn't sleep so I came in to get some of tomorrow's work done. You know how unpredictable Edison can be."
"Don't even talk to me about Mr. Carter," Bryce said, bitterly. "If he hadn't… but he wouldn't do that. Would he? He'd never. The guy must've been lying."
"Let's just get you to the hospital for now. That leg needs to be repaired."
"He said Edison… " Bryce sobbed, "But I don't believe him. Edison would never… I…"
"I'm going to leave you for a moment to call an ambulance. I'll come right back. I promise."
Bryce closed his eyes and allowed himself to black out.
He was jostled awake several minutes later by the paramedics as they loaded him onto a stretcher. He screamed in pain.
"I'm sorry," the lead paramedic told him He looked at the dead body beside the wounded teenager and called into his dispatch. "Send a car for a body bank pickup. Network 23. " He disconnected his call, then turned to Bryce. "We'll try to hurt you as little as possible. What happened?"
"He pushed me down the stairs. Then he…" Bryce shuddered and began to cry again.
"It's okay," the paramedic said, seeing the burns on the exposed bone. "I can see what he did. We'll try to make you as comfortable as possible."
"I'm going to pass out," Bryce told him.
"We need you to stay awake for just a few more minutes," the paramedic said as the loaded Bryce into the ambulance. "I know it hurts, but we need to see that your condition is safely stabilized beforehand. Your friend, what's her name?"
"Theora," Bryce told him.
"Theora is following behind us in her car. You're going to be alright. Just stay with us until we reach the hospital."
"Okay," Bryce promised, gritting his teeth as tears ran down his face.
Theora picked up her car phone as she followed the ambulance. "Edison. Meet me at the medical center. We have a crisis." She hung up as a million thoughts entered her mind.
Who had let the sadistic bastard in? Why had he targeted Bryce? Had he been hired specifically to harm the teen genius? Would he have eventually killed Bryce when he ran out of ways to torture him? She guessed the answer to that last question was 'yes'. but she had no answers for the other questions.