Chapter 126: Judgement (2)
Who would believe Gerald if he tried telling someone? Who would believe him if he claimed that an industrial strength rubber band just magically appeared around his neck? Any sane person would assume he was lying, or had lost his mind.
Jack enabled his remote-presence technique and saw that Gerald had just returned home and was standing just inside the entrance to his apartment.
Jack pushed the linked template changes and watched as the big rubber band appeared round Gerald’s neck with a loud SNAP! Gerald’s eyes bulged, and he started clawing at his neck.
Oops? Maybe I should have gone with a weaker rubber band?
It looked like the man would choke to death if he didn’t get the black band off his neck. It was digging into his neck and the man was unable to get his fingers completely under it, only managing to roll up one edge.
He watched as Gerald stumbled into his kitchen and grabbed a knife off the counter. Then stopped, probably realizing he’d have to stab himself to cut the band off. Next, Gerald started opening drawers frantically before finally finding what he wanted. A pair of scissors.
Sinking to his knees, Gerald clawed at his neck, trying to pry up just a sliver of the band he could snip with the scissors. Failing again and again, face turning blue, he finally gave in and jammed the tip of the scissors under the band and started snipping, drops of blood dripping down his neck.
With a gasp, he managed to cut enough of the band that he could squeeze a finger under it. Then with one finally cut the band snapped, leaving a rapidly growing red welt on his hand and a slowly fading deep red mark on his neck.
Slumping to the floor in relief, and dropping the scissors, Gerald uttered his first words of the whole incident, "Fuck me! Which god did I anger?"