Chapter 1 Excerpt From my Latest Story:
“A New Empire”
Get an exclusive sneak-peek at the forthcoming story “A New Empire” below:
Copyright 2012-2013 William Petersen
Akako’s left hand was seized by the fingers in a large, flat set of pliers that gripped ferociously and painfully. The knuckles popped and bones audibly ground together. The blade of the sword slid quickly and precisely in a circle around his wrist. It was like being touched with fire.
Akako pissed himself and squirmed in place as his manly groan became a scream and then a boyish squeal. His legs, while loosely bound to the base of the chair, began bouncing up and down in a frantic, yet rhythmic pace, which kept time with the spastic jerks of the rest of his body.
The tip of the blade was placed perpendicular to the incision encompassing the wrist. Then, turning the blade upside down just under the skin, Chizo ran it up the length of the arm, all the way to the shoulder.
Two men in masks assisted by holding the resulting flaps of skin out, as Chizo deftly separated any lingering attachments, tissue or veins with delicately targeted swipes of the blade. The process went on and on, as did the alternating cycle of gasps, screaming and high-pitched squealing, until the skin was removed from the body, with the exception of the head, hands and feet. Several intermissions took place while the medication, transfusion and positioning of the body were checked and modified as needed.
After nearly two hours of meticulous work, Chizo stood in front of the bleeding, partially skinned mess of a man and again the masked men secured his hands with the modified pliers. Chizo sliced each hand off with a single, fluid movement. Akako’s body, at this point, was unable to process any more pain and stood as rigid as the muscles could get, without breaking bones. The limbs stayed fully flexed and merely twitched as each hand was lopped off, while the constant squeal was momentarily punctuated by a slightly higher tone in time with each severed hand. This was followed by each foot, in turn, and just as the life was about to drain out of Akako completely, his head was finally, and mercifully, severed. Chizo then drove the sword into the chest of the dead and bloody hulk, straight through the now motionless heart, which emerged from the other side of the torso, piercing the table as well.
At the same time Tanaka’s kidnapping was taking place, Japan’s Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, Yoshi Hokono, was leaving his home after returning for a lunch date with his wife and youngest daughter. He had taken too long and was now hurrying to get back to the office and get the rest of his day underway.
As Yoshi ran to the black sedan which sat running the entire time he was inside, he noticed the back passenger door was slightly open. This was odd, as there was never anyone in the back, other than himself. He quickly descended the last few stairs and grasped the handle of the car door, and with repeated familiarity, threw himself into the back seat and closed the door in a simultaneous motion.
Yoshi glanced at his driver to tell him to go, the three times daily routine, when he noticed the hole in the windshield, surrounded with bright and dark red patches of blood, as well as hunks of skull, skin and brain matter.
Before he could react, a metal object touched the side of his head, right in the center of the temple and his vision froze in place. His view jumped and then skewed and a black circle was rapidly closing in on his field of vision, which showed him the headrest of the passenger front seat and the bloody windshield in the distance. As the circle closed in tighter and tighter, Yoshi wondered if the bullet had gone all the way through his head and out the window, as with his driver. He hoped not, he didn’t want the first thing his wife and kids to see, upon emerging from the house, to be his brains.
*****
As he stood watching the blood droplets fall from the tip of his sword onto the floor, Chizo whispered, “It has begun.”
Stay tuned for more…
W.P.
Support New & Upcoming Authors 
