"I'm going to ask you one last time," Hatter informed White darkly from somewhere beyond the dark room he was chained it. It sounded like Hatter was speaking through an intercom system. "Where is Alice?"
"I already told you Hatter," White coughed through his broken ribs and bruised abdomen. His throat felt like it had been scraped raw from his screams of pain, and even if there were lights in the room he doubt he could have detected them; his eyes were swollen shut. "I called her at the cemetery and I haven't heard from her since then."
"Keeping secrets eh?" Hatter mused. "That's okay, I won't tell anyone else. Katty, go ahead and give him a little more of the bat would you?"
White gasped as Katter Pillar drove the aluminum bat into his stomach for what seemed like the millionth time in the past twenty minutes, and he could feel the tears streaming down his face from his swollen eyes. He was drooling and bleeding everywhere as he hunched forward in the uncomfortable metal chair they had chained him to, and he wished with every inch of his being that he could wake from this nightmare and be back in bed, safe and uninjured and able to escape the madness of the Hatter.
"Stop," White begged brokenly. "No more."
"Tell me where Alice is," Hatter sneered.
"I DON'T KNOW WHERE ALICE IS!" White roared through his agony. Something metal clicked into place, and within moment a splitting pain was ripping itself through his sanity, starting at his right knee.
"This is your last chance rabbit," Hatter muttered darkly. "Tell me where Alice is."
"Cheshire probably took her!" White choked. "He told me to stay with his friend to keep out of your way and that was all I heard!"
"Well don't you feel stupid?" Hatter giggled as another clicking sound made White flinch in fear of more pain. "You walked right into Cheshire's trap. He knew I'd find you here."
"There you go then!" White gasped for air. "He gave me to you so you wouldn't go looking for him! Long enough to hide Alice away anyway! That's what I'd have done if I were him!"
"Well, since I don't have any other leads," Hatter smirked, "I guess I'll follow yours. Katty go ahead and unchain him for now; when we find Alice I'm sure we can use him to convince her to give herself up a whole lot easier."
"'Aye 'aye sir," Katter Pillar grunted, setting his bat down and reaching into his back pocket to retrieve the key for the padlock holding all of White's chains together. White was bent over his knee sobbing brokenly, and the moment his chains slid away he fell to the floor face first. He didn't care; the pain had him as little more than a quivering pile of bundled nerves and emotions all screaming at once. His hair was matted and knotted from all of Katter Pillar's instructed pulling, his suit was torn and stained all over, and his glasses had been smashed long before he'd been dragged into this torture chamber. When he'd first been dragged in he had seen Tweedles' corpse resting in the corner, mutilated and reeking to high heaven. The smell had him vomiting even now.
"Get up now yeh little baby," Katter Pillar growled, grabbing White's elbows from behind and hoisting White to his feet. White cried out as his weight fell on his injured knee, and when Katter Pillar began shoving him forward to walk he collapsed. Realizing he wasn't going to get anywhere Katter Pillar sighed and threw White over his shoulder easily, carrying him from the room. White could hear Hatter in the room they had now entered; he seemed to be talking on the phone with someone.
"You found her car? Good man! What parking garage did you say it's in? Ah, I believe Cheshire knows the owner if I recall correctly. Let's go pay this little Dodo a lesson. No, we don't need to bring the guys along. I've always wanted to play with this guy; he and his damned books have driven me up a wall since I met him. What? Look, I don't care if he's got a family, he interfered and he should damn well have known better. Alright, alright, fine! Bag him and go. Leave his family alone, just bring him here. Perhaps White can talk some sense into him." Hatter hung up and began to laugh. White couldn't stop coughing, and the sickening taste of his own blood was scaring him.
"Hatter sir, I think we should take this guy to see someone," Katter Pillar suggested uneasily. "I think I may have gotten a little er…excited with the bat sir. He doesn't look like he'll make it through the night."
"You're probably right," Hatter smirked. "But if we take him to a hospital we'll be interrupted for sure. Oh, I know!" The familiar sound of a gun being loaded made White's blood run cold. "We could just kill him after all!"
"What about the girl sir?" Katter Pillar asked gently, setting White down on the floor and laying him out. White couldn't open his eyes. His heart was racing, his fluid-filled lungs were burning, and worst of all he was absolutely terrified. Not like this, White begged. Please, not like this!
"Phooey, I doubt it would have worked anyway," Hatter scoffed. "Although…" Hatter heard the gun being shifted. "If Alice were to find out I killed another one of her friends she'd be much harder to persuade." He drew in a deep breath, as though he were deeply troubled. "Oh Katty, what am I going to do?"
"I could do it for you sir," Katter Pillar offered readily. "I mean, I've done everything up to this point. You could just tell her I went the whole mile, you know?"
"Good man," Hatter grinned, handing the gun to Katter Pillar eagerly. "Go for between the eyes would you buddy? He's less likely to survive that way."
"No problem sir," Katter Pillar smirked. White swallowed a final mouthful of blood, knowing any second was going to be his very last breath. Alice, please, you need to run! Wherever you are, you need to run like hell! Don't let this psychopath get to you! The hammer of the gun clicked. Oh god, I'm going to die! Blinding pain. Darkness.