The One Word That Won't Make You Dead

by Eckhouse

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Interrogation was a lost art. Ever since Gorbachev, glasnost, and the general demise of all things Eastern, there had been a fall off in good, thoroughly menacing interrogations. The best ones could last for days – you recall one Soviet minister who sat in the room with you for twenty hours doing paperwork, before even asking you a question.

Today is all about impatience. Maim the subject until they can’t physically speak, and do it very quickly. Pointless. Physical abuse only shuts down subjects, driving them so far inward that they wouldn’t tell their own mother what’s being done to them.

These guys, however – the ones that have had you on the rack for nine hours – appear to be classically trained. There will be a permanent scar on your temple from the barrel of the Walther that’s been grinding there for the last twenty minutes. And there’s a word from you that they want, and you see on their faces that without that word, you’re of absolutely no value to them. You really have no choice.

“Ascot.”

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Comments

Average Reader Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

  1. The One Word That Won't Make You Dead

    THX 0477's Buddy Icon THX 0477

    Posted 6 months ago

    Great job with the calm philosophizing over the finer points of torture, and then dropping the reader into it. Random word choice at the end, begging a lot of questions. And bold choice with the second person point of view…it seems to work in this one.
    LoA

  2. The One Word That Won't Make You Dead

    Mycroft's Buddy Icon Mycroft

    Posted 6 months ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    That’s really clever – it’s only after you’ve appreciated the professionalism of the interrogators that it comes back and hits you with the fact that they are brutally torturing people. Good sense of quiet menace throughout the whole thing, too.

  3. The One Word That Won't Make You Dead

    atllta's Buddy Icon atllta

    Posted 6 months ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Agreed on the second person narrative, very unique among Ficlets. If only there was more room to set the scene after the torture philosophy : )

  4. The One Word That Won't Make You Dead

    Saint Chuck's Buddy Icon Saint Chuck

    Posted 6 months ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    I agree, very clever. Very professional approach to torture, followed by a quick twist at the end, leaving you wondering.
    LoA

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