Left For Dead

Part Two

"Marissa…" Shocked, Wilson dropped the rose and instinctively reached out for her, but then someone else grabbed him from behind and held onto him so tightly, that Wilson could barely breathe. He could feel the person's breath on the back of his neck and it made his hairs stand on end. He grabbed Wilson by the hair and pulled his head back, as far as it would go.

"Relax, Pretty-Boy," the man said. "Now don't go trying to be a hero. You'll only get yourself hurt." He also had a knife and he lightly scraped it across the side of Wilson's face, only enough to inflict fear, but not cut. Wilson closed his eyes and his body tensed up. If the man had pushed the knife any harder against the flesh, Wilson would have been bleeding.

"Please, Glenn, leave him alone!" Marissa begged, more concerned for Wilson's safety than her own. She squirmed in the arms of her captor, obviously Glenn. "He has nothing to do with this!"

"He has EVERYTHING to do with this!" Glenn shouted, tightening his grip on her. "Find out who this prick is, will you, Dave?"

Dave, who was holding Wilson, reached into Wilson's back pocket and found his wallet and read his ID aloud:

"Dr. James Wilson, M.D. of PPTH; Head of Oncology."

"Well, well," Glenn 'mused. "A doctor. You have been busy, Kitten." He kissed Marissa on the cheek, much to her obvious disgust. He removed the knife momentarily to kiss her on the lips, but Marissa spat in his face before his lips could touch hers. Glenn was furious. He grabbed Marissa violently and smacked her across the face as hard as he could. She resisted the urge to cry and Wilson saw the big red mark on her face that he knew would eventually become a serious bruise.

"Don't hit her!" Wilson yelled at Glenn. He felt so helpless, with Dave's massive arms tight around his chest and stomach. The minute he tried to move, Dave put the knife to Wilson's throat.

"Want me to hit you instead?" Glenn asked. "Alright then." He pushed Marissa to the floor and approached Wilson, shaking his hand out. He made a fist, stepped back a little and lunged his fist right into Wilson's face, giving him a black eye and a broken nose. Wilson had never been punched that hard before and he almost caught himself sobbing.

"You broke my nose!" Wilson moaned. He knew it was broken. He had heard the horrible crack of the cartilage breaking and it was now throbbing.

"If you don't shut your mouth, Doctor, you'll have more to worry about being broken than just your nose." Glenn warned him and grabbed Marissa from off the floor. "Besides, it was too big anyway. I think it's an improvement." He laughed.

"Don't hurt him, just let him go!" Marissa pleaded again. "I'll do anything you want, just leave James out of this!"

"I think you've done enough," Glenn said. He pulled a needle out of his pocket and jabbed it into Marissa's arm.

"Get your hands off her!" Wilson shouted. He was in pain, but he wasn't going to let them get away with abusing Marissa. Even if he couldn't move, at least he could curse at them.

"One wrong move, Doctor, and you'll be leaving here with a toe tag." Dave warned.

"Yea and if we have to break your arm, you can put on your own cast!" Glenn laughed and Dave joined in.

"I do have a job, you know," said Wilson, no longer caring what they did to him. "My friends will come looking for me eventually. And my car is right outside."

At this point Marissa had passed out from the drug Glenn had given her and he let her fall onto the floor, without bothering to catch her. He approached Wilson.

"You think you're little Doctor friends will save you?" he said in a low voice. "Well, fat chance, Rich Boy. Where we're going, they'll never find you. At least, not alive." He grinned, maliciously.

Glenn moved closer to Wilson, picking up the rose he had dropped and sniffing it, almost sickeningly.

"How unoriginal," Glenn said, non-chalantly, breathing the words into Wilson's face. His breath was a mixture of booze and pot.

"What do you want from us?" Wilson demanded.

"Well, I'm sure you can guess what I want from Marissa," Glenn answered, licking his lips. "As for you, I'd like to see you bruised, broken and bleeding. In other words, DEAD."

Wilson gulped. He didn't even know these guys and they wanted to kill him. But why? Before Wilson could ask any more questions, Glenn pulled out a gun and hit him in the head with it. He was knocked unconscious.

Wilson awoke with a massive migraine, obviously caused by being hit in the head. He felt dizzy and nauseous. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious. He tried to focus, but his now black eye wasn't working and his other eye was a bit blurry.

Wilson suddenly became aware of the fact that he was bound to a chair in the middle of a dark room. There was only a bit of light shining through a crack in the ceiling, somewhere. It reminded Wilson of an old prison movie. He also saw a table in front of him with several strange objects laid out on it, including the rose he had bought for Marissa.

Instantly frightened, Wilson realized that the objects on the table could be used for several forms of torture. He tried to wiggle his hands to get free, but felt a sharp pain across his wrists. When he looked down, he saw that his hands had been bound to the chair handles with barbed wire and his struggling had caused the wire to cut through his skin.

Wilson noticed that his feet were bare and unbound. Moving his feet didn't do much of anything and he wondered why the kidnappers had taken off his shoes and socks. Looking again at the objects on the table, he tried to remember everything he could about the human foot. He could name all the bones, explain all the mechanics… oh no! Wilson remembered that the sole of the foot had more nerves per centimeter than any other part of the body, not including the reproductive organs. He also recalled reading about other countries using a whip on the bottoms of the feet as punishment. Alarmed, Wilson saw a thick leather strap laid out on the table. He panicked and struggled again, only making the cuts on his wrists deeper and more painful. Fearing that he might cut his hands right off, he gave-up.

Just then, Wilson heard a door open and close and footsteps approaching him. In a moment, one of the kidnappers was standing in front of him, this time, wearing a mask only over his eyes. Wilson didn't know which of the two it was, since they had been wearing ski masks before at Marissa's house.

"Hello, Doctor." he said. It was Glenn.

"Where am I?" Wilson immediately shot questions at him. "Where's Marissa?"

Glenn scowled and punched Wilson in the mouth. His lip split open and he tasted blood.

"I'll ask the questions, asshole!" Glenn spat at him. "And any answers I don't like," he ran his hands over the devices on the table, "I'm going to edit out."

Wilson eyed the leather strap and planted his bare feet firmly on the cold floor. He knew very well that it wasn't going to do much good. If Glenn decided to do something to his feet, he would no doubt succeed.

Glenn just kept staring at Wilson with a devilish grin on his face. Wilson wanted to look him in the eye to show he was not afraid, but he couldn't. He was afraid. He was scared to death.

If only I were more like House, Wilson thought. He knew his friend would be able to stand up to the assailants and look them square in the eye. He could win a staring contest with barely any effort.

"I promise to be gentle." Glenn said and then his accomplice, Dave, joined them. He also wore a mask only over his eyes, same as Glenn.

"Did you lock the door?" Glenn asked and Dave nodded. "Did she talk?"

"After a little… persuasion." Dave answered with a nasty smile and they laughed.

Wilson felt sick to his stomach. Was Marissa tortured the same way he was about to be? How could they be so cruel to a sweetheart like Marissa? She was so delicate, too. It wouldn't take much to hurt her, horribly. Wilson never could understand why some men were so physically abusive towards women. Even if they were psychotic. He had never even raised a hand to a woman.

"So," Glenn said, after several minutes and a private talk with Dave, one that Wilson didn't hear. "Marissa's been telling us lots about you, Dr. Wilson."

Wilson said nothing. He scowled.

"Let's find out if she was telling the truth or not." Glenn went-on, chuckling. He lighted a cigarette and circled Wilson.

"I'm not telling you anything!" Wilson shouted as loud as he could. His voice echoed in the dark room. "I don't care what you do to me!"

Glenn puffed on his cigarette.

"Oh, I think you will care," he told Wilson. "Because if you don't talk, I won't take it out on you alone. We'll just take it out on Marissa again… ten-fold."

Wilson didn't hide the tears that welled-up in his eyes. He had no choice. He lowered his head in defeat and then felt a burning pain in the back of his neck. Glenn had snuffed out his smoke on Wilson's neck, leaving a small red mark that would eventually form a blister. The pain caused a tear to escape Wilson's eye. Glenn waved what was left of the shriveled cigarette in front of Wilson's face.

"And that is only the beginning." Glenn declared.

End Part Two