interrogate

The darkness of the forest began to grow.
This hurried a young dwarf, who was eagerly trying to return to his camp in time for a fair amount of sleep.

He doddled on, happily bobbing his body from side to side.
It seemed like he was in good spirits.

All appeared well and he was almost there.

until
- - -
wham!

His body was thrown back with a violent thud as something came into harsh contact with his face.

He laid there, groaning . . . . he rubbed his pained nose . . . it was throbbing as it swelled up by the minute.

He quickly tried to recover. He sat up in a sitting position.

but. . as he looked up, mumbling in a painful manner, his face went cold. His mouth ran ajar.

four men slowly appeared as if from no where, walking out from behind the trees.
they started to surround him. they looked at him as if he were their prey.

one man with a black trench coat.
another with a disturbing smile-shaped scar across his mouth.
another with a mask.
and one with a hood.

The hooded man knelt down . . . his arms dangled over his legs . . . and he suddenly got up close to the dwarf.

"ahh . . . . . . . . . "
he hovered his nose over him and breathed in his scent.
". . what have we here?"

Here is where the tiny man began to tremble.

The hooded man cocked his head to the side after he held his body still and started to sniff the air.
something about the dwarf intrigued him.

". . . oh . . . . something about you screams to me . . . . . . "
he sniffed.
". . . almost . . . "
again.
". . . as if . . . "

He got so incredibly close. the dwarf began to panic.

the hooded man then whispered.
"- - you've been in contact with something different."

The coated man now got close. he made a wickedly satanic grin.

"or someone."

the little man quivered at the sight of the four.

he tried to get up.
" I - - - I s-sincerely ap-apologize, me-men . . I was just on my way to my c-camp. . "

But the scarred one stopped him. he kicked the little man back down to the ground.
the dwarf yelped.

"you're not going anywhere."

The dwarf gasped and widened his eyes.

The fearsome fiend smirked, wickedly.

"I believe . . . you've got something you're not sharing with the rest of the class."

The three fiends laughed at the torment they were bringing to the dwarf.

the fourth, the masked one, simply stood in silence.

The scarred one's smile returned.
then he unexpectedly leaped on top of the little man.

With lightning quick speed, he whipped out his switchblade.
He brought it to the young dwarf's face. particularly his mouth.

the dwarf sent out a scream before the blade came into the slightest contact with his skin.
he looked on in horror as he faced inevitable death.

"NOW- -"

The hooded man stood up. he started to pace.

"Let's see . . . . . where do we start?"

He rubbed his scruffy chin, thoughtfully.

"Ah! Yes . . . "

He snapped his fingers and pointed at the small man.
his smile was just as wicked and twisted as his comrades'.

"Where is the girl?"

"GIRL?!"

"Yes, girl, you little cur."

"She's rather valuable to us and we would like her back."

"I- - I- - I don't know what you're--"

"Please don't try to lie."

The hooded man shook his head.

"We're rather what you call professionals when it comes to lying."

He bowed his head, menacingly.

"It's part of the business."

The coated man cocked his head like a puppy.

"don't play the fool, munchkin. see, we really don't care whether you live or die.. and our clown friend here would have the utter most pleasure slicing you into tiny pieces to feed us all for dinner tonight."

He got closer.

"we'll get creative. we can skin you . . . we can tear out a few things . . . here and there. . . we can do as we please."

he smiled.

"you'll be a realllll tasty snack . . . "

the little man panicked.
"I swear, I don't know anything about a girl!!"

"Oh my. . "
spoke up the coated man, dead-eyed.
he turned his head away.

"seems the adorable little tiny man is going to have to do the boring thing and. . . die."

"NO NO NO NO, PLEASE! I SWEAR UPON THE HEAVENS, I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, I SWEAR!!!"

The scarred one licked his lips, ready to cut into the dwarf.

he was growing impatient by the minute.

"girl or no girl . . you're mine."

"PLEASE, PLEASE, HAVE MERCY!"

The dwarf wiggled.
but the clown took pleasure in his struggle.

"Ooohhh, I'm gonna have fun with this one."

He brought the knife and his face even closer.
his eyes grew wild with excitement.

"He's a fighter."

The masked man then approached the dwarf.

He tightly pinned his arm under his boot.
he looked down at him, callously.

"last chance. tell us where the girl is. now. or do you wish to die?"

"NOOO!!"
The dwarf cried.
"I DON'T KNOW ANY GIRL!!!"

"Enough talk, enough talk."
the scarred one rambled, smacking his lips in anticipation.

"Calm down."
The hooded one spoke.

but it did little to ease the scarred one's impatience.

The hooded one shook his head in disappointment.

"how sad . . . you'd rather keep secrets than save your own life."

The coated man chuckled, enjoying the situation quite thoroughly.

"lot of good that did you."

The masked one reached in and tapped the scarred one on the shoulder.

The fiend grinned demonically, ear to ear.
his eyes lit up.

"You wanna know . . . how I got these sc-"

"Just skip to the end."

The scarred one made a sigh.

he proceeded to lift his hand up and move the knife into the correct position.

His smile soon returned.

He tilted his head and fire lit up in his eyes.

a crazed, hungry, murderous fire.

"Let's put a smile on that face."

"NO!!!!"

The dwarf screamed ever so loudly and desperately tried to break free.

The scarred one gave one final lick to his lips and went in for the cut.

when . . .

in an instant, a dark blur appeared out of no where.

and the scarred one was thrown to the ground.