Links to the original post and the story so far (in order) can be found in the Tale of Two Pizza's Archive Post
Danny stood with Barry and Charlie in his office looking out over the town. They said nothing as they watched the usual convoy of delivery vehicles snake down the road towards the gate. This time they held no pizza. With his usual cunning Danny had decided the best way to round up the remaining Bandits would be to spring their trap. The three trucks each had a squad of four armed and armored men ready to jump out and drive the bandits back. Danny had also sent a group on foot ahead of them to take position in the woods and capture or eliminate any bandits that attempted to escape. The disturbance Rachel had made would hopefully remain unnoticed until it was too late.
The three men were silent, all three of them knew that Otto's attempt to escape and the presence of the bandits signaled some deep plot against Danny Rupert and all of his people. They were prepared to take the necessary steps to protect the humble town laid out below them. As the last of the trucks disappeared out of view along the road it was Charlie who broke the silence.
"Danny, I'm truly sorry for what I did, I should have known how much you value all my hard work and the quality of my pizza's. Seeing the quality Frankches can produce made me doubt myself, and having Otto always hanging around praising him put me on edge. I would never attempt to poison you after everything you've done for me! I hold no grudge or hard feelings for my confinement. I hope I can still bake for you!" Barry looked sideways at him as he spoke, surprised that Charlie was apologizing after how he had been treated. Charlie seemed not to notice.
Danny let the words hang in the air, continuing to gaze at the road where the trucks had disappeared, then sighed. "Charlie, I never believed you were trying to poison me. The ruse had to be maintained in order to discover the true perpetrator- I wasn't sure if it was Otto or Frankches himself. Things seem to be moving beyond our control now, we may have to move quickly." He looked from Charlie to Barry and back again. "Otto's betrayal seems to have revealed who I can truly trust. Rachel, and you two. She should have some more information for us shortly!"
Rachel, the engineer, eyed her three captives. They were securely bound and blindfolded in chairs in the middle of the interrogation room. Two of the three were already injured- more pain probably wouldn't do much to get them to talk. They were tough. She had quickly learned that the man whos hand she had crushed and shoulder she had dislocated was one of the leaders of the group. His name was apparently Techno Tommy.
Most interrogators would have interviewed them all separately. Rachel knew better. She knew that fear was a much better motivator than pain. She had done nothing at all to the uninjured man so far. Had asked him nothing. She focused on Tommy and the man whose foot she had put an arrow through. His name was Jason. Between their screams and sobs they had answered basic questions about themselves, what their plan had been, how long they had been stealing Pizza Deliveries. They had even told her about their Pizza Raves.
"Now Tommy, tell me how you know Otto." She spoke softly, almost kindly, holding the mans shattered hand gently in hers. "You seemed to know him quite well."
"I... I don't know him. I met him once." Tommy protested, squirming against his bindings in a futile effort to pull his arm from her. She squeezed, gently at first, steadily increasing the pressure, feeling the smashed bones in his hand grind against each other as she did. Tommy began to groan, the noise rising to a shriek.
"Where did you meet him Tommy?" She asked firmly as soon as she released her grip. Tommy just sobbed and panted. She knew she was running out of time. Pain added to pain could only incentivize so much. "How about you Jason, how do you know Otto?" She heard the third prisoner whimper slightly after she spoke. She glanced over at the uninjured man and saw that he was shaking in his bonds. Good. He was almost ready. "Do you hear me Jason?" she said sweetly, moving towards him. She gently tapped his bleeding foot with hers and brought her face inches away from his. His breathing was ragged already but he didn't answer her. She stopped tapping and stood on it instead. He let out a piercing scream until suddenly his head lolled forward on his chest.
"Please... I'll tell you everything... Please." Rachel turned towards the third man.
"Don't you..." Tommy started to speak but Rachel silenced him with a blow to the temple, knocking him out. The third captive flinched as he heard her strike and then her footsteps approaching. He whimpered as they stopped directly in front of him.
"Lets start with your name." Rachel said.
The rules for this week remain the same as previous weeks!
I'd like to continue building on the story of the Pizza Baron and his post apocalyptic world. Each week I'll pick a winner that becomes the next piece of the story and wins 20 $PIZZA and a 5 SBI sponsorship from me. I may award additional prizes if I feel multiple entries expand the story well.
Each week I'll write a post announcing the winner and then I will write another chunk of the story and open it up again for the next weeks competition. I'll compile the winning entry for each week. If we reach a conclusion of the epic tale of the Pizza Baron I'll divide another TBD amount of PIZZA among all the winning entries throughout the whole story and publish the finished story here on Hive with all the contributors as beneficiaries. If this goes well we might have the first open source blockchain novella on our hands! 😂
The first weeks contest established a secondary storyline that may be tied back into the main plot if you so wish!
Bear in mind this is an experiment as well as a competition so we will see how many entries I get and how well it goes!
Rules:
Entries must be more than 200 words but less than 1000.
Entries must use the hivepizza tag
Entries must comment on this post with the link to their entry
Entries must fit in the world/scenario that has developed from the previous weeks contest(s). You are free to develop characters, introduce new ones, invite aliens to the feast, I don't care as long it makes some kind of sense in the context! The Pizza Baron should remain relevant to the plot!
(I've named it a Tale of TWO Pizza's for a reason HINT HINT)