A Call To Arms (A Crown The Empire Fanfiction)

I'd rather die.

Benn's P.O.V.

"I can't find her anywhere." I whisper to myself

I wander around the deserted building calling her name.

"Soleil. Soleil!"

Where is she? She was the only recruit who wasn't at count and because she is new to this place I figured she must've got lost on her way to the basement.

"SOLEIL!"
I had made it my mission to find her.

From the corner of my eye I see a trail of red coming from one of the bedrooms. Immediately, I feel my stomach drop with fear and expect the worst. I follow the blood trail into the bedroom and see it leads to a spot on the floor near the closet. The closet door is broken and falling off the hinges.

Everything fell into place.

She must have panicked. Hid in the closet because she didn't know what else to do. Been found, injured by the scarecrows and captured.

Damn.

Knowing that doing anything else at this point would be completely worthless, I turn to head back out the room and towards the basement to remain in hiding with everyone else.

As I turn towards the door, I notice a tall dark shadow across the room, near what would've been a window in any normal bedroom but is just a dent in the wall here. Its presence seeming to make the atmosphere in the room colder. The shadow seemed to swallow the majority of the room making me feel enclosed and trapped and therefore anxious.

My heart skipped a beat, I gasped for breath then composed myself in the ways I had been trained.
In a split second I turned and darted towards the door. The tall dark figure, as if foreseeing my actions, pulled out what looked like and small hand gun and pulled the trigger.

An electric charge worked its way up my spine, paralysing me as I crashed to the floor and sending waves of pain up and down my body. I tried to scream for help but I couldn't move. And, as if to emphasise and mock the fact that I could no longer move of my own accord, uncontrollable spasms snaked their way down my nerves making my muscles twitch and my limbs to hit against the cold, hard flooring countless times causing more waves of intense pain to wash over me.

I can feel myself dipping in and out of consciousness.

Dipping in and out of reality.

Although my eyes were open, I had to strain to see but this became more and more difficult with the few seconds of consciousness I had felt.

Resistance is futile at this point.

I lay there, wishing I could scream to relieve the intolerable pain, until I finally passed out into a deep sleep where the pain of the shock is omnipresent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wake up, startled and confused at my new surroundings. I don't know how long I have been asleep but across the desk from me sat another one of those horrifying scarecrows.

"Answer the fucking question, recruit." it said in a menacing voice

"What question?" I ask "I just woke up, I have no idea whats happe-"

"I don't need your life story, recruit. What is your fucking secret, recruit? Why do people keep disappearing into your building?"

"I don't know." I lied, as if I was going to tell these creatures anything. I'd rather die. "I honestly have no idea what any of this is about."

"TELL ME!!!!"

"I said. I. Don't. Know."

"BRING THE WATER BARREL!!!!" the scarecrow screamed to something standing at the doorway.

The thing at the doorway disappeared outside for a minute, during which time the scarecrow across the desk from me stared darkly into my eyes, its craziness and maniacal nature showing how it was enjoying this, sending shivers down my spine. It came back with a barrel, filled with water, that was about 3 foot tall and 2 foot wide.

The scarecrow across the desk got up and slowly circled the desk until he was directly behind me. "I'll give you one last chance before your head is under that water for 2 minutes. What the fuck is YOUR SECRET?!?"

With every word, his voice got louder and I could feel the spit landing in my hair.

I stand up and turn around, and press my forehead against it's. I make complete eye contact with it and slowly spat these words back at it: "I am not afraid of you. You can do what you fucking want with me but killing me won't get you the answers you want. I don't know a single thing about this 'plan' you're talking about so tell me when to hold my breath give me some goggles so I can see under water." I smirk, sit back down and fold my arms like a stubborn 6 year old.

Within the space of 5 seconds I had been dragged off my seat and around the desk to the barrel. I took in as much oxygen as my lung capacity will allow just in time for my head to be forced under the freezing cold water.

The first 1 and a half minutes were ok. Obviously, I had been trained for all different types of torture back at RHQ, water torture included. I had managed my breathing but the voice above the water startled me when it said:"30 seconds, recruit" causing me to lose focus and let some valuable air loose.

The next 30 seconds are going to be hell. My lungs burn as if they are screaming at me to pay back their oxygen debt. My throat burns as it longs for air to be passed through them again. I can feel my pulse and heart rate slow down with every passing second. My vision blurred. My head throbbed. I lost all the energy I once had. All because of that scarecrow.

"10 seconds, recruit"

Slower heart beat.

Lungs ablaze.

Vision, non-existent.

Head feels like a thunderstorm is inside it.

Scrambled thoughts.

"5 seconds, recruit"

Intense pain. My head, neck and shoulders still being held down by this fucking scarecrow who was surprisingly strong considering its puny structure.
"3"

"2"

"1"

"Time"

I am dragged by my hair out of the water, gasping for air and choking on water I somehow managed to consume with a closed mouth.
I had never been so grateful for air in my entire life.

But something wasn't right, I was still feeling light headed and I couldn't quite catch my breath.

Slowly, I feel myself drifting out of consciousness but before I went away, I made a vow to myself to never reveal anything about the runaways even if my life depended on it. These people can scream at me and torture me all they like.

I'd rather die.