He landed on his back on a painful mix of hard packed dirt and ice. The hole wasn't deep, perhaps three feet, but before he could do more than reach out with his arms, a shovelful of snow landed on his face. He wiped away as much as he could and swallowed the rest. He lowered his arms and tried to undo the gag.
A snow shovel smashed into his face.
He turtled.
"Leave the gag," it said.
It was looming over him, looking down, the snow shovel poised for another strike.
"What do you want?" Paulie said. The words came out garbled but distinct enough to be understood.
"Do as I say and live," it said. "Do else and no."
"I'll do whatever you want," Paulie said.
He wanted to see his friends and parents again. He couldn't believe how much he wanted to see them again. He felt the onset of fear paralysis. He still tasted vinegar. He prayed in his head to a God he didn't believe in to save a life he didn't care about, making promises he knew he wouldn't keep.
"Take snow," it said.
Two more shovels of snow fell on Paulie's face. He couldn't see. Two furry fingers pushed themselves and snow so deep down his throat he gagged. He fought to keep his own tongue from choking him. His eyes watered. The heat of his body melted the snow, and the water filled him. More snow fell. Furry fingers pushed more of it into him, making more water, as a chip clip closed his nose, and through eyes breaking through a crust of snow he saw it and that he was drowning.
He threw himself upward.
It punched him down, grabbed his right hand, and bent a finger backward, breaking it.
Paulie screamed through the snow and ice water in his throat.
The water pouring from his eyes was tears.
The spider gag kept his mouth open. It worked methodically. "You raise hands again, I break another. Understand?"
Paulie moaned, "Yes."
"You be good boy now and drown," it said and cut across Paulie's neck with something that felt like a razor blade. Warm blood flowed down his skin. "Do not panic. If you do as I say you live... I say drown. This was control slice... after you drown I slice your body up and down... so much... do not pretend... sliced dead."
The words faded.
The pain and the fear fell away.
The lights knocking on Paulie's closed eyelids—ended, and Paulie was drowning...
Chapter 11
Neon tigers stalked stegosaurus through a maze of eroded stalagmites. Organic skyscrapers sprouting leaves burst through a layer of broken nut shells. Hens laid glass eggs filled with the embryos of cities. White ladybugs orbited protons. Paulie sat on a mountaintop on a bench made from spray paint. He looked over at the discarded cans. The cans blinked.