The Viand

By B T Coll

Who or what are the Viand? When Nathan awakes to find himself shackled to a steel cage, he struggles with the realisation that he had been kidnapped. He soon discovers that there are dozens of men kept captive, like him, in cages within a large warehouse. Why have all these men been kidnapped and by whom? With his life in danger, an opportunity to escape presents itself and the battle to survive commences. Can he survive? How will it end?

• Language: English
• Publisher: B T Coll
• Release date: May 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310677588

Book preview

THE VIAND

B T Coll

Author’s Note

The Viand: is a work of fiction. Names and character and are entirely fictitious.

Copyright B T Coll © 2017

Smashwords Edition

All Rights Reserved

Chapter One

Nathan Roberts awoke, not only with a blinding headache but also with a very nauseous stomach. He felt more than a little groggy and rubbed his eyes, trying hard to focus on his surroundings. As he struggled to sit himself up, he was surprised and shocked to find that his feet were shackled to a long chain and he was butt naked. What the hell? Where was he? As his eyes became accustomed to the darkness of the room, he could dimly see that he was in a cage and pulled himself to his feet and began to pull at the bars. He found the cage shaking underneath his feet and new that it was suspended off the ground. Hey, what’s going on? he screamed, suddenly realising that he had been kidnapped. A dark shadowy figure came running towards him and before he knew what was about to happen, he was prodded with a steel baton, which sent an electric shock through his body and he fell backwards, hitting his head off the steel bars of his prison.

Now finding himself shaking, he managed to pull himself up into a sitting position. Once again, he tried to focus his foggy brain and come up with some sort of reasoning as to why he was in this situation. As a Law Enforcement Officer, he knew that he had many enemies, especially within the drug cartels in Chicago, where he was based. Could one of these gangs have kidnapped him? He shook his head. What would they gain from keeping him hostage?

Through a small opening in the roof, above his head, he saw the night sky lit up by the moon. He looked again and was more than a little confused to see that there were two moons in the sky. How could this be? Where his eyes playing tricks on him? Trying hard to remember what had happened the night before, he found it hard to concentrate and guessed that he must have been drugged. His stomach felt nauseous again and he wondered what kind of drugs they had given him. He shook his head to try and get rid of the dizziness that he now felt but it didn’t work and he soon found himself on his knees, vomiting onto the floor.

A few minutes later, he wiped the sickness from his mouth and moved over to the front of the cage to sit and think. The last thing he could remember was working out at his local gym. He didn’t remember going home, so they must have overpowered him somehow, when he was at the gym. He had visited his local gym every day for the last month, trying to get fit in order to return to duty. He had been on sick leave for over seven months, after being shot trying to apprehend bank robbers. Although the robbers had managed to get away, they had dropped their loot, thanks to his quick thinking but he had received a shot in the chest that narrowly missed his heart and broke several of his ribs. At 34 years of age, he had been in good physical health until this incident and had never been injured before in his ten years as a Law Enforcement Officer. Perhaps it was these robbers who had kidnapped him but why? He hadn’t seen any of their faces, as they had all worn masks and there was no way of identifying them, so why would they go to all this trouble? It didn’t make any sense. Was this revenge for them not getting their money?

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard whimpering in the darkness but he couldn’t make out if it was an animal or a human. Anyone there? he asked and the whimpering suddenly stopped. He heard the rattle of chains and wondered if someone was in the room with him. Is there anyone there? he asked again, as he was sure he could hear someone or something moving around. Hey. I want to speak to someone. Get your boss. he now shouted with frustration, as he pulled himself into a standing position. No-one answered, so he banged the steel bars with the chains, over and over again. Electric shock or not, he was determined to find out what the hell was going on.

A few seconds later, he heard a loud bang, as if a heavy door was being opened and waited with anticipation for his kidnappers to make an appearance. He heard footsteps approaching. I want to speak to someone. he shouted, continuing to bang at the steel bars on the cage. The footsteps quickened and suddenly a huge floodlight went on, which lit up the whole room. For a few moments, he was blinded by the bright light and shielding his eyes with his hands. He saw two figures walking towards him and as his eyes became accustomed to the light, he saw that the men were dressed in black and had black masks over their faces. "I want to speak to your