The Beating Machine

By Arthur J. Fudge II

In Association with Media Slayer Productions

It was a cold dark night when Alice entered her dream world. Though she was fast asleep she could feel the cold sting of the wind on her cheek from the window that was left slightly open. Her thoughts quickly passed away from this as she began to realize more of the images in her dream. This wasn't the wonderland that she had seen in the past, no this time it was something different. She knew deep in her heart that something was awry as the tunnel she fell down was vastly different from the first few times she entered Wonderland. As the dream began to form she realized that she was standing in a cold dark room. The grey slate bricks formed the room from top to bottom and cold rusty bars were placed on all the windows. The door was non-existent, only a series of chains haphazardly placed in the way as to prevent anyone from leaving.

This place was like nothing she had seen before. Before she could finish examining her new surroundings she realized that there was a series of footsteps coming towards her direction from down the hall. The footsteps echoed with a hard thud followed by the screech of something scraping hard against the floor. Alice started to feel cold sweat form on the back of her neck as the footsteps drew nearer. There was nothing she could do now; the only thing left was to face this beast.

As she looked deep into the eyes of this monster her hands began to shake and her legs began to tremble, her knees bowed slightly and she began to urinate on herself. It was nothing like she had seen before. This monster was the combination of two people sewn together. The left hand was a long battle axe that scraped against the floor as the beast walked and his leg was made from the limb of some unknown animal.

"Come with me you wrenched whore!" the best screamed and gargled. His voice was mangled and barley intelligible.

Before Alice had a chance to speak she was grabbed by the wrist and dragged down the hall. Her dress began to tear and she lost one of her shoes in the struggle to free herself. As Alice was dragged down the hall she started to hear the voice of someone familiar

"No… that's impossible… she was banished!"

Her fears came to light as she saw the face of the Queen of Hearts.

"You bitch! You were banished from Wonderland!" Alice shrieked.

"We aren't in wonderland dear… this is something far worse." The queen said in a clam but pompous voice.

Alice had no time to argue back as the best slammed her down into an iron chair and began to quickly chain her legs and arms together. While Alice desperately tried to struggle the Queen began to smile, with every passing moment her wretched face grew more and more amused at the sight of what was happening.

"It's over Alice, just give up… tonight your life is mine" The Queen said as she approached Alice. She quickly slapped Alice angrily on the face.

"You little cunt, you took everything away from me, now I will take everything away from you! I have devised a very interesting device. It is called the Beating Machine, and guess who my first victim is?" The queen began to smile and laugh. The very thought of trapping Alice was a pleasure long awaited ever sense she was banished from Wonderland.

"You will nev…." Alice's words were cut short as she was gagged. The beast grabbed the back of the chair and dragged her near the opening of the device. It was a strange machine. It looked like a small room with a doorway. Inside there was nothing but bright white walls stained with blood and other bodily fluids. The stench was so foul that it would have made Alice puke if she had anything to eat earlier that night. Though the queen said she never had a victim in this machine, it was obviously tested many times before. Tonight would be the grand opening of her new torture device.

Before Alice had time to flinch or struggle it was too late, she was tossed inside of this machine. She landed flat on her face with the chair pressing hard into the back of her neck. She had landed into a pile of putrid blood that covered her face, neck and hair. The stench was overwhelming and Alice began to tear and scream. All that could be heard were the muffled noises of her voice behind the doorway of the machine and the gag placed around her mouth.

The queen wasted no time, there was no speech to be made, no plan to unveil, this was the hour of her revenge and she quickly ran over to the switch of the machine and began the cycle. The machine hummed quietly at first but then a loud grinding noise came quickly after it. Thousands of needles shot from the ceiling of the room and pierced deep into Alice's skin. Blood quickly drew from the wounds and as she struggled harder to escape the pins burrowed deeper into her skin. The machine became quite enough for Alice to hear the queen laughing and choking. She seemed to be in tears with her amusement of what had just happened.

The quite hum began again and the grinding noise quickly came. Alice braced for more needles to fall from the ceiling but quickly realized that a large bucket of rotten food was dumped all over her and the floor of the room. Before Alice even had a moment to think of what it possible do could, the rats started pouring into the room. From all sides she was being swarmed by these beasts. At first they ate only the food on the ground but once they tasted her blood they quickly turned their tastes onto something fresh. Alice screamed at the top of her lungs but nothing was coming, nothing was working. Her vision became dark and the pain began to fade, her breath drew short and her heart began to slow.

When Alice awoke later she was in a strange room again. It was bright white and covered in what seemed to be dried blood. There was a puddle of old vomit drying on the floor and she appeared to have urinated on herself. She tried to struggle to stand up but realized that a restraining jacket was placed on her. As she wondered around the room she noticed the bars on the windows and the door appeared nonexistent with only a glass barrier between her and the outside hallway and some tape on the door that was unreadable. There were men walking up and down the hallways with shots in their hands. Alice had no Idea where she was or how she ended up here, all she knew is that she was terrified to the core of her soul. Was this a part of the Queen's plan? Did she do this to me?

Before Alice was able to finish her thoughts a knock on the door startled her and awoke her from her thoughts.

"Alice, we need you to remain calm, we are here to clean up your room. If you act out again we will sedate you again" The man said calmly.

Alice nodded her head in compliance and four men entered the room with a mop bucket, soap and some warm towels. They quickly cleaned the up the mess and washed Alice's face.

"Someone will be here shortly to change you and give you a proper bath." The man said to Alice in a gentle voice.

"Where am I?" Alice said sharply.

"Alice… do we need to go over this again? You're in the hospital…"