-Lizzy walked off, staying in the shade cast by the ancient ruins surrounding the naked, stone pillar that I was leaning against.  I was in the shade too, but not for long.  My hands, bound in tight, thick cuffs, were just starting to feel the sun’s unobstructed rays.  My arms were stretched high above my head and held there by a heavy chain.  It wasn’t a recreational piece of bondage gear.  It was thicker.  It was designed to tow cars or tie down boats.  It was surely selected to send a message to me.

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I’m not really sure how Lizzy got me out of the train unseen.  Were we the ONLY passengers?  This could be more elaborate than I’d imagined.  Anyway, as I was passing out from oxygen deprivation and as the plastic of the bag clung to every contour of my face, I truly didn’t expect to wake back up again.  The minute or so of complete panic turned into the briefest moment of peace.  Just enough time to ask myself if I’d made a terrible mistake by coming along with Lizzy.  That I’d misjudged the situation…

When I woke up, I was laying in the warm sand.  Desert sand is coarse.  It’s like the sand on the man-made beaches around Lake Cumberland back home.  Not like the California beaches Lizzy was accustomed do.  My wrists were already locked in cuffs.  Lizzy was behind the pillar.  I lifted my head and made eye contact with her.  “Come her sweet girl,” she crooned, and she began pulling the chain, hand over fist.  I couldn’t resist at all.  I was dragged up from my prone position.  She handled my weight so easily.  Damn that bitch is strong.

“Hey.  Stop Lizzy.  Stop.  Let’s talk.”  Lizzy wasn’t in the stopping mood.  She hoisted me up off of my feet.  I dangled there, slowly twisting in the hot breeze.  “Please.”

CRACK!  Lizzy’s petite fist landed a hard shot to my side.  I had a feeling she’d want to tenderize me before I baked.  I spun.  I felt Lizzy hands on my waist, stopping me when I faced the pillar.

Thud.  THUD!  Two hard shots to my back took the wind out of me.  The placement of the punches was meant to cause more pain than damage and they were successfully painful.  I felt my shirt being ripped away from my body.  Lizzy was using a seatbelt cutter to easily slice the material.  I spun around again facing her.  And there was her elfish, crooked smile.  I swear I couldn’t tell what emotion such a smile was meant to express.

Wummpp!  Lizzy kicked me in the stomach.  An impressive feat considering I was now elevated above her.  She kicked me at about her own shoulder level.  While I was mentally congratulating her, she cut away my bottoms.  I was gasping for air and dripping sweat even though we were still in the shade.

Crash!!  Lizzy released the chain and I collapsed onto the ground.  This is when I first noticed that the “ground” beneath the pillar has a grated metal plate.  I felt it give slightly when I landed.  There was space under the grate.  A hole of some kind.

“AAIiyyyyeeeeee!!!”  It took a moment for me to understand that the screeching I heard was myself.  Intense electrical shocks were hitting me from everywhere.  It felt like every muscle was contracting and relaxing and contracting, over and over.  I heard crackling.  Even the air hummed from the powerful current.  It stopped.  Or rather, it paused.

“Lizzy.  This won’t change anything.  Lizzy.  Just listen.”  I was gasping.

“What was that?  What do you think you know, Tina?”  Curiosity was my only tool.  And it wouldn’t save me.  But maybe I could use it to speed things up.

“Whatever you’re doing, it won’t change anything.  It won’t change the fact that I was her favorite.”  I braced.

“GGEaaaaahhhhhh!!”  The shock came back.  Jesus, I wanted to die.  I was quivering and convulsing.  I was unable to perceive anything but the pain.  It was everywhere.  I could feel it in my toes.  If felt like a dentist drilling everywhere at the same time.

“How much can you take Tina?”  Lizzy stopped the current.  She grabbed me by my hair and pulled my head up.  “What is it going to take?  What makes you so special, Little One.”

Whack!  Her open hand struck me hard across the face.  She must have lost control because she nearly knocked me out with that blow.  And I know she wasn’t finished with me.  Lizzy sat on top of me, pinning my cuffed hands to my stomach.  She leaned all the way down on top of me and drove her thumb into the soft tissue between where the jawbone meets the skull.  It’s called the “mandibular angle.”  That area is filled with tendons and nerve clusters.  It takes very little pressure there to cause intense pain.  Lizzy was bearing down hard.  Her thumb was digging in, between the bones, rolling around.  It was agony.  I cried real tears.  There was nothing I could do, beaten and straddled and exhausted as I was.  The pain may have been worse than the electricity only concentrated in that one, tiny area, just the size of her thumb.  I thought I couldn’t take any more, and she kept digging.  I thought I’d die from the pain, but she did not stop, nor did I die.  I just learned new limits.

I must have passed out at some point.  Time passed.  It grew hotter.

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Now I’m here.  My head is killing me.  The steel grate I’m being forced to kneel on is unforgiving on my knees.  My ankles are bolted down to the metal with side enough cuffs that I can’t rise up, even though my legs are not secured other than the ankle cuffs.  I was stretched taught, with only enough slack to just lean slightly up against the course stone pillar.

Lizzy was out of sight.  I was alone with my pain and the elements.  This wasn’t exactly what I expected.  And I was starting to think I’d be here for a while.