Wired — Excerpt from 'Razor Wire'
I pissed myself while Max was wrapping me in the razor wire. He was walking round me in circles, uncoiling the wire as he went, and although he didn’t say anything, I saw his face as he passed in front of me and I knew I disgusted him.
I could hear a voice chanting quietly over and over again: ‘Please don’t do this, please don’t do this, please don’t …’ I knew the voice was mine. I knew he wasn’t listening. I just couldn’t stop.
My face was covered in tears and I could taste snot. I couldn’t wipe it away; he was up to my shoulders now, having started at my ankles, and even if my hands hadn’t been tie-wrapped behind my back, they were now cocooned in the evil wire. My ankles were tie-wrapped too; it was all I could do to stand there, but the thought of falling … I could feel the blades, hundreds of them, cutting through my clothes and into my skin. The slightest movement was agony. Max was wearing big, thick gloves, gauntlets that went almost to his elbows, and still he was careful.
‘You done yet?’ Ant shouted from the van. He was parked up on the bridge, looking down on us. So close to a main road and yet it could have been another planet. Where he was, in another hour traffic would be streaming past taking people to offices, shops and factories. Where I was, I’d be lucky if anyone fought their way through the undergrowth in a month. I would be able to hear the traffic; no one would be able to hear me, no matter how loud I might shout. As for the dog walkers, the path they followed was far enough away. I’d probably be discovered by one of them long after I was dead, when some hound or other got its nostrils full of the sickly-sweet scent of decay.
‘Five minutes,’ Max called back, then he met my eyes for the first time. ‘Just got one last thing to do.’ I watched him bend down and reach into the big holdall he’d produced the roll of razor wire from.
My guts turned to ice when I saw what he took out of there.
I could hear a voice chanting quietly over and over again: ‘Please don’t do this, please don’t do this, please don’t …’ I knew the voice was mine. I knew he wasn’t listening. I just couldn’t stop.
My face was covered in tears and I could taste snot. I couldn’t wipe it away; he was up to my shoulders now, having started at my ankles, and even if my hands hadn’t been tie-wrapped behind my back, they were now cocooned in the evil wire. My ankles were tie-wrapped too; it was all I could do to stand there, but the thought of falling … I could feel the blades, hundreds of them, cutting through my clothes and into my skin. The slightest movement was agony. Max was wearing big, thick gloves, gauntlets that went almost to his elbows, and still he was careful.
‘You done yet?’ Ant shouted from the van. He was parked up on the bridge, looking down on us. So close to a main road and yet it could have been another planet. Where he was, in another hour traffic would be streaming past taking people to offices, shops and factories. Where I was, I’d be lucky if anyone fought their way through the undergrowth in a month. I would be able to hear the traffic; no one would be able to hear me, no matter how loud I might shout. As for the dog walkers, the path they followed was far enough away. I’d probably be discovered by one of them long after I was dead, when some hound or other got its nostrils full of the sickly-sweet scent of decay.
‘Five minutes,’ Max called back, then he met my eyes for the first time. ‘Just got one last thing to do.’ I watched him bend down and reach into the big holdall he’d produced the roll of razor wire from.
My guts turned to ice when I saw what he took out of there.
