Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The cold had seeped into her bones.
Alisa sat in the corner of the freezing room they'd left her in, her limbs bound tightly to her body with coarse ropes. Her clothes had been torn to shreds, barely enough to cover her modesty. The left side of her face was swelling up, throbbing with pain, and the gauze had been torn off her missing eye. Icy air stung the empty socket, making her bite down on her already bloody tongue to keep from screaming.
She could still feel liquid, both dried and not, staining the inside of her thighs. It was a horrible sensation, the men's bodily fluids and her own blood sticking to her most intimate parts. She felt absolutely filthy.
Alisa couldn't feel her arms anymore, numb from her injuries and the ties cutting into her wounded flesh.
Wouldn't it be easy to just...die.
She closed her eye, her head lolling forward onto her mostly-bare chest. Her dark hair fell over her face, her braid having come completely undone, her long locks sweeping down her shoulders and back. A vicious kick in the side from one of the two men flanking her quickly brought her back to reality, teetering on the fine line between consciousness and death.
I don't want to fight anymore.
She'd been beaten, raped, tortured. She'd endured Vanguard's attacks and discovered that her twin brother was a mere artificial. She'd had her brain reprogrammed and her memories tampered with. She'd watched her dog die in front of her. She was on the verge of completely giving up, her spirit crushed to smithereens.
Surely my end is near?
"Chin up, brat," one of the guards spat, smacking the butt of his rifle into her forehead. Alisa felt the skin split, rivulets of sangria liquid running down her face. She could barely feel the pain anymore; her entire being was too numb with agony for that. She lifted her head, slowly and carefully, her sluggish mind making a feeble attempt to formulate a way to slip out of her binds.
All she could think of, however, was that she simply didn't want to live anymore.
What happened to Red? And Cheng Xin?
She'd never find out. Alisa's remaining eyelid fluttered. It was so tempting to give in to death's call. She had nothing left to fight for. She was useless, unable to help anybody in her current state. Her normally quick brain was hazy. She couldn't feel her limbs anymore. Her lower half burned like fire with the destruction the men in black had inflicted on her.
Dear God...
She clenched her fingers into limp fists.
I know I've never been a religious person...
Her head fell onto her bosom again, remaining there despite the kick delivered to her stomach. Her boots were gone, torn off her feet and taken away.
