Big round of applause for all my reviewers so far! Sometimes ppl read my stories but they're too lazy to review and I think I'm losing fans. They don't know how much their reviews really mean to me so that's why I'm giving a shout out to the ones that actually take the time to review and let me know they're reading my work.

Jak fan, Ecohorse, GoodMorningBeautiful2005, mecca-dog, Luv2Game, Nefertari22, Jaksgirl.not (My first fan), Avacado Platypus (awesome description skills in her battle scenes), Johny (anom.), SilverEyes18, StormPhoenix, DL-Cinny-La-Mejor…big hugs to all. Some review more than others but hey, I know who you are. Thanks guys and enjoy. I won't be updating for another week.

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Chapter 10

She stared at her bare feet walking on an invisible floor in the darkness. It was cold and felt like walking on glass. It seemed as if her body was bare and she rubbed the sides of her arms as she walked aimlessly into blackness. Her eyes struggled to see anything that she could possibly find but there was nothing but infinite darkness. She called out but only her echo greeted her in return. Finally she saw a light, similar to the one in her nightmare except this light was more inviting. She walked toward it to see the back of a familiar shadow. She recognized his brown locks and the black ink upon his chiseled arms. She tried to call out his name but no voice came from her lips.

As she was about to step into the light, a line of sharp pain shot through her stomach. She dropped to her knees and held her stomach in an effort to end her pain but she felt it again. She raised her hands to her face to see where the warm moisture was from and she saw that her palms were covered in blood. The pain lashed at her navel again and she gritted her teeth, trying to reach out to the light and tried to whisper his name.

"Torn…" her raspy voice cracked through her dry mouth and cracked lips. The light was blinding her and she squinted her eyes as her eyelids lifted up painfully. A throbbing pain throttled in her head and she felt the fresh stings on her navel from when she was in darkness. She tried to lift her head but she felt weak.

The long black leather lashed at her bleeding navel once again and laughter echoed all around her. She winced in pain. She slowly raised her head up as her vision began to clear. Her wrists were bound and she felt like she was against a sharp brick wall.

Where-where am I? What the hell's going on?

Just as her hazy questions tugged at her mind, her memories suddenly flooded back into her and she had answered her own questions.

I was in Haven. I was kidnapped.

Her vision finally cleared as she stared up at a familiar face. His brown eyes showed pleasure and his green vest was spattered in crimson stains. His goggles were snuggly wrapped around his neck and his brown hair was sweaty. A sly grin spread across his face as he looked upon the powerful governor of Haven, now helpless and in their cruel hands.

"I was wondering when you was gonna wake up. I got tired of waiting so I decided to give you a hand with this" he took his whip and lashed it once again at her bare stomach already covered in about four or five bleeding cuts. Her jacket had been removed and her top was ripped and dirty. Her pants had been cut to reveal her smooth bare legs. She was guessing that he would whip those next.

"Edje" She gritted his name in disgust through her teeth as she withheld the pain.

"Wow, it is an honor. I feel glad that you remember my name. It'll be a nice memory before you meet your death" His smile widened as he made his sarcastic remark.

Ashelin growled at him. Her eyes shifted and scanned her surroundings. She was in a large auto parts warehouse. The wood was old and there were few windows. The windows were higher up onto the open second floor balcony and some of the light bulbs were flashing. There were numerous barrels, rusty metal scraps, empty auto shells and boxes piled up everywhere. Her eyes widened as she saw numerous men begin to emerge from their hiding places.

Shit! I had no idea that there was this many. Exactly how many followers did Mizo have?

Torn had shared the details he had discovered about the rebellion forming in Kras City against Rayn by Cutter. However he failed to mention anything other than that. She silently cursed herself for not prying him for more information. He said he didn't want to share any more information until he was sure the information related to anything or was vital. Maybe she wouldn't be feeling so confused if she knew more.

There were about 200 men. She never realized how practically all of Kras City was full of criminals. She was amazed how she truly thought Haven City was bad. At least Haven held some decent citizens. Kras seemed to be full of gun wielding thugs. It kind of reminded her of Spargus where everyone walked around with weapons and hunted animals and artifacts in the Wasteland.

"Would ya look at that? Everyone came out to see the princess wake up"

"Tell me, tell me where I am!"

"Sorry no can do. That would spoil the fun" His laughter triggered the other men to laugh as well.

She paused for a moment, staring at her wrists bond in metal cuffs to the brick wall. Her eyes got caught to the black watch on her wrist. She had a plan.

"Tell me, how long have I been out?"

"So you haven't realized, a day has already passed since we took you"

Oh shit! Has it really been that long? Torn must be running around the city going crazy by now.

"W-what time is it?"

"Lady, you think we got clocks in here?"

"Can you please look at my watch and tell me the time"

Edje laughed, "You know for a prisoner you sure ask a lot of questions and have a lot of requests. You think you can get royal treatment here? Especially with that stunt you pulled with the grenade"

She stared up at him pleading with her eyes, trying to look helpless and earn some pity. He sighed in defeat and shrugged his shoulders as he walked over to her wrist against the wall. The cover on her watch seemed to be off so his fingers searched for a small button to open it. He finally found it and pressed it, causing the cover to flip up and he glanced at it.

"Four in the afternoon"

Ashelin nodded as Edje backed away "Why aren't I dead yet?"

Just as Edje was about to reply, another man emerged from the shadows. It was Cutter. He was the one who had attacked her and she couldn't injure his face. She saw that her elbow sent a slight crack down the middle of his wooden mask. He took the whip from Edje and calmly walked up to her. He lifted her chin up to snarl at her and then released her. She felt his hot breath on her cheek as he spoke.

"What's wrong governor? Do you want to die?"

She turned her face from him and didn't answer. He pulled out his blade from his back pocket and began to lightly rip it against her bare leg. She felt it sting but her face showed no emotion. Pain was something she was already used to from the past wars.

"We'd like your city governor. Kras isn't enough"

She spun her head back to him, "I'd rather die before willingly giving up my city to the likes of you"

He cupped her chin again, "Wouldn't you like that? As a matter of fact, so would I…however we can't just kill you and expect that it is all over"

She looked up at him, confused and searching for answers.

"We need to get your second in command and the Eco racer that won the Kras City Championship"

"Hah, you think you can kill them so easily?" She mocked him with the weak smile she was able to form.

"Oh don't worry Ashelin Praxis, I have more up my sleeve than you think. You should know me better than that"

Once again she was confused, "What do you mean?"

He brought his body against hers, not caring that her blood was shedding on him. He whispered into her face. "Don't you recognize me? I didn't think you remembered when I saw you on the tracks but I remember you. I remember you very well"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

He backed away and let his sadistic laughter escape his mask. He slowly began to peel off the wooden cover from his face. She thought he wore it because he had a mutation or something but once he revealed his face, her eyes widened in shock. Her jaw dropped at the familiar face smiling deviously at her.

"Oh my God! You-you look just like him!"

Right after she had yelled out to him he rushed forward and jabbed her in her bleeding navel. The lights and colors of the room began to spin. The voices around her began to blur. She heard Cutter's voice in the distance.

"We can't have her knowing too much. You, set up the trap"

Once again her world grew black and she entered the cold darkness again.

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Yeah I beat up Ashelin in this story. Hey she could take the pain right? She's a tough girl. So Cutter has more to his identity than we think hmm and there's obviously a bigger motive to kidnapping her than just wanting her city. Also how does Mizo link to the fingerprint? All will be revealed soon. Not in the next chap but soon so look forward to it.