I have never seen so much blood in all my life, have you got any towels?

What the hell did I need towels for? My bloodletting sacrifice had only just begun a couple hours ago. I planned on the sadistic torture to continue for a long time.

My previous studies of the ancient Mayan rituals referred to as chulel would come in handy and result in the horrific hemorrhagic shock of my victim. I possessed none of the Mayans' tools which included bone awls, obsidian blades, and maguey thorns from an agave-like plant. I had already slit his cheeks, lips, tongue, arms, chest, torso, and legs. The white bones of his ribs were exposed. I debated peeling the skin completely off his body.

Victim? Perhaps that remains too strong a word. I could consider others like trash, or perhaps the utterly ridiculous codswallop that lay bound before me. Thank you Collins English Thesaurus for that particular British slang term. In this situation, the insult fit well.

Kenny moaned in savage terror as I made my next incision across the bare shin of his leg. Twenty-three others over various portions of his body preceded the slash. Panic, in all its terrifying and shining glory, glowed on his mutilated face. Hysterical fear illuminated his eyes. His anxiety grew broader, and more palpable, with each ticking second. We had a lengthy road left to hoe.

"This is why I dragged your stinking carcass out here in the middle of this insignificant, podunk, Arizona desert, not far from Tombstone. You know what's funny, Kenny? A tombstone will be the only marker to prove your worthless existence ever occurred. Out here, no one can hear your shrieks no matter how high-pitched your wails become, just like you did to my baby girl, old buddy. Marlena was only twelve years of age."

"I'm sorry, George," Kenny cried. A stream of unstoppable tears cascaded from his eyes. His ragged breath grew harsh. I felt no sympathy as I watched him begin to drown in a sea of his own irresponsibility. However, I enjoyed the waterfall.

"Save your emotions, Kenny. You're going to need all the strength you can muster until you finally beg me to kill you dead. That, I fully intend to do, but not until you suffer much more than my daughter did, you pathetic son of a bitch!"

Drawn in tight, my lips formed a frown on my furrowed face. The inner corners of my eyebrows angled up. I lowered my gaze and turned away reaching for the pinchers and red hot lump of coal contained therein. Kenny's belly would soon be branded...again. I intended to burn right through the mucus lining in his stomach. The chains fastened to his wrists and ankles restrained Kenny to the sacrificial alter. My serrated hunting knife had removed his nose. The longer I left the coal in place, well, you get the picture. Kenny received much more than that.

"I trusted you, Kenny. At least enough to leave Marlena in your care while I had to leave town on short notice. And, you, you violated not only my trust, but Marlena's tender body in ways no girl should have to endure. I will never forgive you for your atrocious, lustful, actions. NEVER! I won't get graphic. You know what hell you put her through."

"I didn't mean to harm Marlena."

"You didn't mean to harm her no more than I intend to let you live for your vileness. Castration is coming up. Then, maybe, just maybe, I'll complete this task and put you out of my misery. Or, perhaps, I'll leave you barely alive, struggling for your last breath, and let the buzzards and coyotes feast on your remains."

"I was tried and found innocent."

"Not in my court. Here, I am the judge, the jury, and your executioner. You won't get off on a technicality like you did there. They should have convicted you, Kenny." I thrust out my hand to procure my knife for my next planned act. Its row of sharp points along a jagged edge functioned best in a back-and-forth, saw-like, cutting motion. Grasping the cutlery, I proclaimed, "Now, we shall continue."

I have never seen so much blood in all my life, but what in the hell did my murderous intentions need any towels for?