The Love Of Money - Episode 166
29-07-25 (17:35)
Introduction:
Marcus wakes up tied to a chair with no idea where' he
is.
Date and Time Unknown
❇❇❇The taste of blood.❇❇❇
That was the first thing I noticed as I came to.
I blinked.
Or, at least, I thought I blinked. I couldn't be sure
because nothing changed. Whether my eyes were
opened or closed, it was all dark.
I was pretty sure I was blinking, though. The backs of
my eyes screamed in pain every time I opened and
closed my eyes. My head pounded in sync with my
heart, which was doing double-time as I started putting
together the shreds of gauzy memory slowly swimming
to the surface of consciousness.
Crimson lights washing over the body of a girl clutching
her side. Her face was burned in my mind as clear as
day - wide eyes reflecting the fireworks overhead as
tears streamed down her cheeks. She'd been crying,
her sobs interrupted by rough coughing.
Her name... what was her name?
Charity.
I remembered ribbons of scarlet streaming from
between her fingers as she clutched her middle. Her
horrified screams still rang in my head as I recalled
images of holding her close while bullets flew around
me... the smell of gunpowder so thick in the air I could
taste it.
Was she dead?
Fuck!
Emily and Natashya had been there at the party.
Where were they?
Where was 1?
I felt the blood pounding in my head as I tried my best
to fight down the panic that threatened to consume
me. Images of Emily lying on the cold concrete floor
like Charity filled my mind. I could see Natashya crying
over her body and screaming for help... or maybe it
was the other way around. Shit. What if lost them
both?
Looking around uselessly in the pitch-black, I tried to
search for anything that would give me answers. I
realized I was sitting in a chair and tried to stand up,
and something tugged on my wrists. I felt the chair
being dragged behind me, throwing me off balance,
and I tumbled backward into my seat with a loud clang
as it landed on the hard floor beneath me. That's when
it dawned on me that my hands were cuffed behind
me, attached to the back of the chair.
"Hey!" I cried out. "Hey! Is anyone here?"
Complete silence.
"Hey! Can anyone hear me?"
I tried to stand up again, more aware of my
predicament this time. I managed to hop to my feet,
but the way my wrists were bound to the chair kept
me from standing straight like I'd intended, and I
teetered forward. I tried to put a foot out to catch
myself, but that's when I realized that my ankles were
also restrained. Each one was manacled to the
corresponding leg of the furniture.
Unable to correct myself, I almost face-planted on the
ground, only managing to roll to the side at the last
moment so my face didn't take the full brunt of the fall
as I crashed to the concrete floor. The chair came with
me, twisted in a way that put my arms in a bind,
leaving me unable to move them.
Still reeling from the headache gifted to me by
whoever had knocked me out, I felt the pain come
back with a vengeance. The guy who kicked me in the
face must have given me a concussion, and throwing
myself on the floor wasn't doing my recovery any
favors. I groaned in pain as I unsuccessfully tried to
right myself, pulling miserably at my bonds. All could
think about was Emily lying dead in a pool of blood or
Natashya missing half her head like poor Ray.
Fuck. Ray. I remembered his body falling like a limp rag
doll in front of me, missing the top half of his head. I'd
never seen anything so disturbing in my life, and the
mere memory of what had happened to him was
enough to almost make me vomit on the cold floor I
lay on "Where am I?" called out pathetically. "What do
you want?"
Still nothing.
"My sister was with me! Emily! And our friend,
Natashya! Can.... look, I just need to know they're alive!
Whatever you want, I'll give it to you. Just... I need to
know they're okay!"
God help me if Emily was dead. She had such an
unhappy life the last few years and had just managed
to get back on her feet.
And Natashya. Poor sweet, wild, wise, full-of-life
Natashya. She didn't deserve this.
And Ray... Ray was going to adopt a kid with his
husband. Fuck. What was I going to tell him?
Had Erin, Ashlee, and the rest been there when the
shooting happened? Were they all dead? Was I all
alone in some dark room while all my people were
fucking dead? Erin and that stupid mischievous grin.
Tiny, vivacious Erin, who always smelled like flowers
and looked like sin. I felt like vomiting again.
"Can anybody hear me!?" bellowed, panicking... scared
for the lives of the people I cared about. "Hey!"
A crash reverberated off the walls of what realized was
a mostly empty room, and a rectangle of illumination
flared across my vision, temporarily blinding me as I
adjusted to the blessed light. A single figure silhouetted
it, standing in the doorway like some kind of
mysterious angel or devil... I wasn't sure yet, nor did it
matter- as long as they had answers.
"Hey!" I said, squinting at the figure. "My friends! I had
two friends with me!"
The silhouette in the doorway moved toward me
without saying a word, its steps echoing on the cold
concrete floor like some sort of foreboding drumbeat.
Once the figure reached me, it grabbed one of my
pinned arms and hauled me off the floor and back into
a sitting position.
Judging by the strength of the grip and the grunt made
while picking me off the floor, the stranger was a man.
I squinted at him, trying to make out any features, but
my head was spinning, and it was too dark to make
out much anyway.
"Hey!" I shouted as I glared up at the stranger. "What
did you do with my-
My words were cut short as a fist slammed across my
jaw, sending my head careening back and causing my
world to spin. Before I could recover, I felt a firm grip
on my jaw as the stranger forced me to look up at him.
I felt sharp pain where' his fingers dug into my jaw, and
I blinked, trying to clear my head enough to process
what was happening to me. Don't forget to leave a Comment 
