Edward dragged himself across the ground. He didn't speak. He didn't dare. He had to be as silent as possible. And it was hard to be quiet when every movement hurt another part of his body.
He kept telling himself that he couldn't allow himself to be a part of this trap.
Alchemy was out of the question as the arrays on the collar were ultra-sensitive to alchemy. Or so Gideon, his kidnapper, said after breaking his wrist.
"What a pathetic attempt at an escape."
Edward grunted as a foot came down hard on his back. He bit his tongue against a frustrated shout.
"I'm honestly impressed at how far you got, though. With a broken wrist and all."
"Get off bastard! Get your foot off of me you creepy bastard!" Edward shouted. He thrashed under the foot that pressed him down.
"First, you need to apologise for calling me a bastard. It's very unkind. And, second, you don't get to tell me what to do." Gideon pressed his foot down harder against Edward's back. "That's the beauty of being in charge. No one can boss you around. But with you, that isn't the case. You are mine. My little military puppy."
"DON'T CALL ME LITTLE, BASTARD!!! OR I'M GOING TO BEAT IN YOUR FACE!!!"
Gideon growled and pressed down hard with his foot so that Edward could hear his back cracking like he was stiff.
He bit his lip against a frustrated shout. It was more out of the pain of the foot digging uncomfortably into his spine than fear of punishment. He wasn't to keen on another broken bone, though. But he had to decide if he thought frustrating Gideon was worth it.
"That doesn't sound like my apology, Edward." Gideon glared down at Edward.
"It's not one, so that's not surprising," Edward snapped back furiously.
"Where is my apology? I'm not asking again."
"It died. Actually it was dead long before it was even formed."
There was an audible hiss. "You think you're so smart, don't you? Well, that's not exactly true, is it? If you were really smart you wouldn't risk testing me. Seems rather idiotic to me to act that way."
"Seems like the only idiot here is you, you bastard."
Gideon lifted his foot, roared in anger, and threw the tip of his shoe into Edward's side. There was a tell-tale crack of a rib, before he reached down and grabbed Edward's jaw and slammed him against the wall. "I don't want to hear you call me that again!! I've put up with that foul tongue of yours for long enough. So apologise now!!!"
Edward shook his head. "Never to you."
Gideon glared. He forced Edward's mouth open.
Edward tried to bite him as Gideon's hand yanked his tongue. Edward was jerking his head away, but he froze when a razor-sharp blade was slipped out of Gideon's sleeve and used to slice deeply across Edward's tongue.
Edward screamed. He swallowed pouring blood.
As he screamed, Gideon finished the cut, removing the tongue entirely.
Edward choked on the blood as it gurgled in his throat. He was sucking in breaths of blood. He couldn't breathe at all. His eyes were screwed shut against the pain.
He rolled onto his side and threw up large quantities of swallowed blood. His vision was beginning to fade. He still tried to breathe but his lungs weren't cooperating. He finally slipped into the darkness that was creeping in.
He heard Gideon's voice muttering as he slipped through. "Pathetic. I'll be lucky if the Colonel wants something so useless."