The Winter Tyrant-Chapter 60: Interrogation

The smoke and gunfire had cleared. Bandits lay dead in the snow outside the foundry. Their corpses quickly glazed with a layer of frost as the last vestiges of warmth left their physical remains.

Meanwhile, inside the foundry, Brooke was facing an increasing crisis of faith. Her employees, their families... Her people were losing the will to continue the struggle.

And it was completely reasonable. The ranks of their security personnel had thinned, the bandits kept coming, wave after wave to provoke, test and aggress.

What little in terms of firearms and resources they had left was quickly running out. Food and water were disappearing by the day. All of this compounded into a single terminal event.

She sighed and shook her head, looking over the ledges that were increasingly in the red. Not for income earned through production and commerce, but through lives lost and resources spent on their daily survival in this frozen apocalyptic world.

There was no doubt in her mind... They could not hold the position. She knew what she had to do. But it was the fear that gripped her heart— fear of the unknown, fear of the possibility of total death out there in the snow; that prevented her from making the decision.

Just as she was internally debating that which she subconsciously knew what must be done; a knock resounded from the door. The voice of her assistant followed, practically cracking beneath the weight of the words she struggled to speak.

"Miss Carver... We have a bit of a situation..."

Brooke rushed over to the door, opening it to reveal her aide, her gaze wavered, her hands shook, not with the cold off the unheated hallway, but instead with the anxiety that wracked her nerves.

The warmth of Brook’s hands as they pressed upon the woman’s shoulders, steadying her resolve with a warm but forced smile.

"It’s okay Kelsey, take a deep breath and form your thoughts. As long as we’re not in imminent danger, there is no need to rush things."

Kelsey, the aide, sighed heavily. Inhaling and exhaling steadily as she forced her heart to settle into a calm state. Then and only then, when she regained her confidence did she meet Brooke’s gaze.

"We got one of them... alive... and stable. He’s currently being held captive in the supply closet in the west wing on the third floor. I thought you would want to know...."

Brooke’s eyes did not open wide with shock at this revelation, instead they narrowed with resolve. She patted Kelsey on the shoulder twice before walking off.

"Thank you for informing me of this matter, head to the foundry and make sure rations are distributed appropriately. We need the people to remain calm if we are to get through this, and nobody is better at public relations than you."

She didn’t wait for a response, instead Brooke headed immediately to the supply cabinet that her aide had mentioned to her.

---

A bandit was tied to a chair. Spit mixed with blood and a few loose teeth lay puddled on the floor beneath him. His face was a mess: bruised, swollen, and a few cuts were present.

He had clearly been interrogated by amateurs. It was perhaps because of this that he didn’t break, instead as his breathing became slightly shallow. He chuckled in between another volume spittle cast towards the floor.

"Is that all you’ve got? Pathetic..."

The interrogator raised his fist and was just about to throw another punch towards the restrained prisoner when Brooke’s voice emerged from behind him.

"Cease!"

The security guard immediately relaxed his fist and stepped aside, mocking the prisoner as he did so.

"You’re lucky the boss lady has a heart.... We’re not finished here."

Then prisoner simply cackled as Brooke approached him, his lecherous gaze cast itself towards her chest, which was concealed beneath the warmth of a champagne and fur lined overcoat.

"Well, what do we have here? A beautiful young lady has come to tend to my wounds? Aren’t I a lucky man?"

Brooke stared stoically at the man. Though her eyes betrayed the disgust and disdain she was feeling.

Still, her voice was cold, and unemotional. A long practice she had earned after hours of debates with a particularly difficult and foolish contractor she had once been forced to deal with on a nearly daily basis.

"As you can see, we are more than capable of defending ourselves. What will it take for you to go back to your people and get them to leave? Surely there are better targets than us for you to plunder."

The bandit laughed and shook his head, spitting onto the floor once more before speaking.

"You think yourselves capable? Until now, we have been toying with you. But we’ve discovered your weaknesses. You have too few men, and even fewer guns among them. The next assault will breach these gates, and then your ass is mine little girl."

Brooke’s eyes flashed with defiance, but also a hint of uncertainty, not that the bandit had detected it. His swollen eyes were too focused on her figure, possibly imagining its exact shape beneath the layers of thick and heavy cloth that concealed it from him.

She clocked this instantly and used it to her advantage.

"And how do you know we haven’t been fooling you? To take this facility will cause you far more harm than it would to go attack somewhere else. Our position is far stronger than you or the world outside understand."

It was a bluff, a well placed one, but one that quickly snapped the Bandit’s attention away from Brooke’s body, and towards her eyes. Where he noticed the trace of doubt within them instantly.

He broke out into laughter as he realized this.

"Oh, you’re good! I almost believed you for a second... But your eyes betray you, doll. You have no idea what is going on outside these walls do you? If you think your position is strong, then you should understand that strength is now relative. And compared to those monsters in Paradise Falls, you are a bunch of hares pretending to be wolves."

Paradise Falls... It was a residence that Brooke recognized at some level. Her family’s company had provided much of the material towards its construction. And she had been in a position directly to oversee those transactions.

Monsters? That was an intriguing and subtle line of speaking that she instantly latched onto.

"You’re afraid of them, aren’t you?"

The bandit didn’t even bother to bluster. He almost instinctively spat out his honest thoughts on that particular subject.

"Of course I am... We all are... Lorenzo and his gang were among the most well equipped of groups like ours. And they were wiped out to the last man. You think you were targeted directly because of what you have? No... we found your little enclave while we were running as far away from the north as we can reasonably get within the ruins of this city. Even if it costs us a few more men, taking and fortifying this position is worth it to us. We can’t be nomads for much longer, and our boss knows that. So, no, we don’t fear you, or your bluffs. Not when Paradise Falls lays a fortress in the north."

Brooke didn’t say anything, not at first. She didn’t know who Lorenzo was, but the words that this bandit had used hinted that he was respected among the more criminal elements that had survived the end of the world.

And if Paradise Falls had wiped out him and his men, then at the very least they were not friendly towards bandits and raiders. If that were the case, then perhaps they could be reasoned with.

She nodded her head after thinking this matter through to a conclusion. And walked out without saying another word.

That is until she reached the doorway, then she turned around and looked at the security guards, giving them a subtle nod.

"Take him out back and bury him with the others."

The bandit’s eyes widened in shock as he watched Brooke ruthlessly order his execution, he had not in the slightest expected such a pretty face to have such cold resolve.

"You can’t be serious! Hold on! Wait, a second! I’m more useful to you alive than dead!"

But Brooke was already gone, and the men who had beaten him until now simply smirked with wicked delight.

After all, this bandit had killed two of their friends before he was captured. And now was their time to gain some justice for the slain.

Meanwhile, Brooke went back to her office, and quickly overlooked the books. Finding the exact location of Paradise Falls and whatever information she could gather on its layout. She had made a decision. One that would either save her people or damn them.

But it was a gamble she needed to make, and if she needed to sell her soul to the devil to gain salvation for her people, then so be it.