Chapter 3
Hannibal watched as two guards strapped the limp Clarice into a seat on the other side of the glass. The straps of the electric chair dug into his arms and legs and yet he looked round with a calmness impossible for a man about to be executed. Quite a few people crowded into the rows of seats but all of them kept a distance from Clarice and the guards. These were people who had worked with her before she had left with Hannibal, none of them could look her in the eye now as they filed in ready to watch the execution of the infamous Hannibal the Cannibal.
Clarice Starling looked around her, her eyes glazed over with confusion as she tried to remember what was happening, and then as her eyes met Hannibal's they began to clear. She tried to swallow but a lump filled her throat, she felt emotion well up inside her and tears beginning to fill her eyes and then they disappeared leaving only room for anger and hatred. Her anger grew as a grinning face appeared in front of hers. "Poor Clarice, about to loose her cannibal husband!" he crooned and that was it Clarice lost it. The guards had not yet finished strapping her down. She tugged her left arm hard, pulling it from the guards grip and brought it round to hit him directly on the pressure point of the first guard's neck. He slumped instantly to the floor. Her arm continued and caught the second guard under his nose. Instinctively he let go of her and grasped his face. As he did Clarice freed her right arm and unhooked the guard's gun from his waistband. Throughout this the other man had started to back away obviously not wanting to get caught up in the fury. Clarice caught him edging away through the corner of her eye and spun round aiming the gun at his chest. "Stay where you are! Put down any weapons!" He hesitated then stood defiantly still. Clarice stood up and took a step towards him. "I will shoot you, I have nothing to loose right now and if I did shoot you wouldn't be the first person I killed. Although I am sure you know all about that!" Clarice looked at him a grim smile played across her lips. Slowly he reached behind him and bent down placing his gun on the floor, he pushed it across the floor to Clarice. "Now lie down with your fingers interlocked behind your head! You too!" she shouted turning briefly to look at the guard.
Hannibal smiled as he watched Clarice. He had known she had a feisty temper the second he had seen her She had huffed, yanking her sodden coat off her back. He had realised something else in that second too. Clarice Starling was the only person who would ever understand him. Why? Because deep inside of her she felt exactly the same things as he did, somewhere in the back of her mind the same thoughts surfaced but she hid them, kept them locked away in a dark corner of her consciousness. Hannibal had done nothing but allow her to let these thoughts and feelings enter the light. It was for that she would give her life to protect him; and him her. But that was not what Hannibal wanted!
Clarice looked round, only one person remained standing. The group of people on the other side of the seating were lying face down on the floor, the one door into the room was blocked, no-one was coming in but Clarice's eyes flashed constantly towards it.
"Clarice?" The voice was faint at first, then it repeated itself; harsher this time. Clarice's head whipped round.
"What do you want Ardelia?" She kept her teeth gritted. The pain in her side was excruciating now but she couldn't let anyone know that.
"I tried to find you, I was worried about you! We all were! Why are you doing this?"
Silence. Clarice's eyes dropped to the floor. Ardelia read it wrong and took a step forward. A bullet flew past her, narrowly missing her head.
"Why do you think I am doing this? Not one of you care if I live or die, this is a show to you. A chance to gloat at Clarice Starling as she watches her husband fry. Well it's not going to happen! Right now I am the one calling the shots not you, there is nothing to stop me killing all of you now!"
"I think you'll find there is!" Her next words were cut out by an ear-piercing scream and the crackle of electricity. Clarice had forgotten one thing! They couldn't get to her; but they had something which mattered a lot more.
