Excruciation
N.
1. To inflict severe pain on; torture.
2. To inflict great mental distress on.
Everything is all a blur of pain. In my legs, my arms, my brain. When I couldn't take anymore, it would stop, only to start again. When it finally stopped, it was abrupt. And then there was more pain. This was different pain. This was accidental.There was a loud thud, one that caused a shudder to go through the wall right before it cracked and fell in pieces. My arm felt like it was on fire. Probably because it was.The explosion had sent burning pieces of wall over the room, one landing on my wrist. I was tied down with chains, and all I could do was jerk and scream. So I did.
I didn't feel the fingers on my wrist with the key, releasing me, or the voices trying to get me to stop jerking while they got the piece of burning wall off. I only stopped when the pain went away. I was panting for breath, and I could smell the burning flesh that had to be mine. “Shay. Shay it’s okay,” a voice whispered near my ear. A hand wiped the tears off of my face, and someone on my other side helped Alyssa, who had told me it was okay, get me off of the bed. I hissed in pain, taking deep shuddering breaths.
Evelyn asked across me “What the hell did they do to her?” Alyssa shook her head and mouthed something. Evelyn nodded and continued helping me.
I jerked out of their grip and snapped “I’m fine!” Amanda was at the door, watching, with a big gun.
“Just let her walk herself. If she gets caught we’re not saving her again.” Both of my best friends stared at Amanda, but I just nodded.
“Good. You shouldn’t have wasted your time on me this time. Did you get Leah?” I asked coldly. I didn’t care anymore. I didn’t know who I could trust if I couldn’t trust my own father. I wondered if they knew yet. If they knew it was my father that ordered me tortured. He wanted to know those codes. He didn’t realize how strong I had become without him. There were two people in the world who knew those codes, and both of them were in this room.
We started walking out into the hallway, which was completely empty except for a few bodies strewn about. This was strange. Where was everyone? Or was this just a floor no one but those necessary to the torture of prisoners came to?
Alyssa shook her head. “We’re still looking for her. She wasn’t being tortured on this floor like you.” I shook my head, shooting a glare at the back of Amandas head. She was the head of this mission, of our group, and she had been the one to send Leah in. It would be her fault if Leah was dead.
“Since they tortured you for two days, we’re assuming that they didn’t get to her, or that she told them only you knew.” Amanda said quietly, peeking around the next corner.
“How did you guys get in here, anyway? And give me a gun.” I took a gun from Alyssa and stayed near the back of the group. I wasn’t walking fast, so I had no choice.
“Tara.” Evelyn whispered, standing near me.
“TARA did this?” I asked, surprised. Tara was the second to last member of our group. She was the genius. Well, one of them. She had been working on explosives in case we couldn’t get into the building quietly. Apparently they had worked. The last time I had talked to her, she was frustrated because her explosives weren’t powerful enough to get through plaster and the walls of our own buildings, much less THIS government facility.
“Yeah, pretty impressive isn’t it? When you got caught, she felt a lot of pressure from yours truly, and did this.” Evelyn winked at me, and I smiled for the first time.
