“Who are you?” the man squeaked out.

“You can call me The Dark Hillbilly,” the captor closest to him answered, circling menacingly.

“Oh. Wh- why do they call you that?”

The Dark Hillbilly grinned down at his victim. “Because I can be very… sinister when I don’t get what I want. Now, where’s the money?”

“I don’t know!” Tears formed in the man’s eyes.

The Dark Hillbilly chuckled. “It’s a shame it has to play out this way. Allow me to introduce you to Mr. Payne.”

The man was shaking now. “Mr… Pain?”

“It’s, Payne. With a Y,” Nathaniel said as he slid on the brass knuckles. He roughed the man up for a few minutes. “Are you ready to talk now?”

The man just cried, blood dripping from his face.

“Look, you’re lucky you’re just dealing with me,” Payne said. “If I don’t get the info, you’re going to have to answer to him.” He nodded to a dimly lit corner of the room where a lone figure reclined in a chair, smoking a cigarette. “That there’s Ed. He’s mostly harmless. Mostly. Just don’t piss him off.”