SHORTS FROM THE SHELF features short serialized fiction by author Shannon Muir, administrator of SHANNON MUIR’S THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF, that may be later released as part of e-book or print collections. The story line featured over the next  fifteen days is “Beyond the Shining Stars”. This is part 8 of 15.

Sam felt his head throb as he slowly came to. Bad of him to let his guard down. He realized and regretted that he should have become more on his guard the moment he didn’t recognize the security guard. However, in his concern for family, Sam let his guard down, and paid a cost he hadn’t suffered for some time for a mistake worthy of a rookie.

The place looked like one of those bad movie sets where people are taken and tied to chairs under a single, large solitary light to make them squeal. Maybe a few boxes off to one side, but usually in a room devoid of anything else. The captive would then be roughed up by a few people looking for information, usually the goons of some bigger player.

Sure enough, as he struggled with his hands, Sam realized that he was, indeed, tied to a chair. Whoever did it sure knew their knots, as there wasn’t much room to move. He hoped that his motions hadn’t made things worse.

He squinted to try and make out the walls around him, to get some hints of where he might be. Farther in the distance, he could make out the shapes of other objects.

The kind of objects you’d find for equipment on a movie or television set.