Chapter 7

As the wave of agony faded, Charles pushed himself to his feet and then scrambled up onto the stage. Quickly he strode towards where Clyde was bound. As he walked past Connie, he grabbed hold of her by the arm. Forcefully, he dragged her to her feet. Then before she could protest, Charles forced her along with him.

"What did you just do?" Charles demanded to know when he came to a halt opposite Clyde.

"Answering my own question!" insisted Clyde glaring angrily at Charles. Then his expression changed and he chuckled aloud. That was a mistake. Clyde winced with pain suddenly, his face becoming contorted. It took a minute for him to recover.

"Fucking bitch!" screamed Clyde when he opened his eyes again. "You busted my shoulder!"

"Be happy that's all I busted, you fucking bastard!" Connie snapped back.

"Enough!" Charles cried out, giving Connie the eye. Then turning to Clyde he said, "I want to know what you just did?"

"Well, I'm not going to tell you asshole," Clyde sneered in reply, "and there's not a thing you can do about it, which by the way answers my question. Even if you know that somebody out there is controlling people, somebody other than us three, there isn't a bloody thing you can do about it. You'll never know what that person did unless it happens under your fucking noses."

"Look you piece of shit," Charles growled raising his fist in a threatening manner. "You're only alive right now because I wanted it, so if you don't start answering our questions, you're going to start wishing that Connie had killed you."

"Threaten me some more, Charlie boy!" Clyde spat back, looking at Charles with loathing. "I know you don't have the stones to do it, so fuck off. Now as for Connie here, well ... she surprised me. I would have never have guessed that a virginal book reader like her could muster the energy to wallop a guy. I must have done something to piss her off real good."

Connie reacted immediately to Clyde's taunt. Unbridled rage erupted and she lashed out cursing and swearing.

"You fucking bastard!" Connie shrieked vehemently, spit spraying from her mouth as her barely contained anger boiled over. "You fucking piece of shit!"

As she spoke Connie swung her hand at Clyde. Her blow clipped him on the chin.

The blow had scarcely touched Clyde, but that didn't matter. Clyde had flinched as Connie had flung her fist at him. He had tensed his body and that was bad. The pain made him wince once more and cry out in agony.

"Stop it!" yelled Charles grabbing hold of Connie and pulling her away as he spoke. "Stop it right now."

"Maybe she didn't like who popped her cherry this morning!" Clyde said tauntingly, as he recovered from the blow. "Didn't you know incest is best?"

"You fucking bastard," cried Connie, struggling to break out of Charles' grip. "I'll kill you, you fucking, god forsaken bastard!"

"No," Charles screamed, pushing her further away from Clyde. "We still need him!"

"No ... we don't!" snapped Connie in reply.

"Look," Charles said, lowering his voice so that only Connie could hear him, "he's playing you Connie. The more you and I fight, he wins. We've got to get answers out of him. I need him to answer some questions. Then and only then, you can have at him. Considering what he's done, I don't think anyone will fault you for killing him. All right?"

"No it is not all right," replied Connie, staring violently into Charles' eyes, "but I'll give you five minutes. If he doesn't start cooperating, then he's mine!"

"Fine..." sighed Charles, letting go of Connie as he spoke. "Just keep out of the way until then. Okay?"

"Okay!" answered Connie, as she stepped away. As she did, she reached down and reclaimed the baseball bat from where it had fallen on the floor.

"All right then," Charles said, walking back towards Clyde, "now for some answers."

"Hah!" snorted Clyde. "You can dream on Charlie boy, you're not going to get anything out of me."

"Look Clyde," Charles said in a calm manner, "you're our prisoner. You're not going anywhere and you're in need of medical aid. If you cooperate, I'll call a doctor and get you looked after, if you don't cooperate, well then you'll have to deal with Connie, and you know she'll kill you."

"True," said Clyde softly, canting his head towards where Connie was standing. As he did, he winced in pain once more, and then bit his lip.

"Fuckin' bitch hurt me bad," Clyde muttered as he gazed back at Charles, "so, when this is over with, she's going to be mine!"

"Now who's dreaming?" Charles asked.

Clyde just chuckled to himself, before wincing in pain once more.

"Look," Charles said in a worried manner, "why don't you answer my questions, and while you're doing that I'll send for emergency services? Come on Clyde ... what do you say?"

Clyde hesitated. He gazed at Charles for a moment, and then he glanced over at Connie. Finally he nodded his head.

"Fine ... I'll answer your questions," Clyde muttered softly, "and you can call for your medic."

"Good!" Charles said, a smile forming on his lips.

Then he hesitated not knowing what to do. A frown replaced his smile. Clyde saw the frown and grinned with satisfaction.

"Can't think how to do it, can you?" Clyde taunted. "What a dork! You can't call 911, because nobody is going to pick up the phone. Most people are still fucking their brains out and those who did go to work don't know how to do their jobs without somebody to tell them what to do, so if you're going to call emergency service, you have to do this."

Charles and Connie winced in pain for a second.

"The bastard!" Connie shrieked furiously, taking a step towards Clyde and then pausing as Charles glared at her.

"What the..." Charles said angrily, turning his attention back to Clyde.

"Don't panic dork," Clyde laughed between gasps of pain and agony. "I just placed the call myself. Didn't you realize that you can give commands without words? All you have to do is to think what you want someone to do. I just ordered the local emergency services to get over here, so relax, it could take a while.

"Fine," Charles grumbled, glancing from Clyde to Connie and then up towards the entrance of the auditorium, and then after a moment, back at Clyde. "Then we have time for questions and answers."