Ever After #7: Waves of Scales

Chapter 6.2 The Warrior

“Come here,” Asceia said. Rick Corpus and Mr. Santos moved and walked towards her. “Face each other. You can speak, but don’t move.”

Rick Corpus gasped for air. “Please! Let us go! I’m so sorry!”

“I...I will set your people free. They are in the chambers and unharmed!” Mr. Santos cried.

“I let you both talk, not to beg for your lives, but to hear your screams.” She stood beside them.

“Please, I’ll do anything you want! Just let me go!” Mr. Santos struggled, trying to free himself from the voice of the mermaid.

“Yes, you’ll do everything I want,” she telepathically said. She looked at directly their eyes and used her voice when she spoke, “take off your clothes.”

“Please, don’t do this!” Mr. Santos begged while removing his suit against his will.

“I’m begging you. Please, I will stop this project!” Rick cried as he took off his laboratory gown.

Asceia watched them unbutton their top and dropped them to the floor that was covered in blood, they undid their belt and drop their pants. Their shame of being seen as naked was never their primary concern as they fear the most what was going to happen next. They pulled down their underwear to their feet and together with their pants, they pushed them aside, wiping the bloody floor. Their skin was exposed to the cold air circulating the room, and they shivered. Their lips were pale. And the beads of sweat forming on their face instantly dried.

“Please! Listen!”

“I doubt you ever listened to my people when they begged for their lives,” she telepathically said.

“My men will come here at any second---”

“Do you hear yourself? Your men will never stand a chance against me.” She turned around and approached the small stainless steel medical table where various surgical equipment was placed. She picked up two scalpels and brought them back to them. “Take one of these.”

Reaching and taking one of the scalpels, Mr. Santos finally knew how this will unfold. He knew his life will end today and he’ll have the worst way to leave this world. At that moment, he realized he doesn’t deserve to be this pathetic to plead for mercy. If he will die today, he wanted to die with honor and pride. He doesn’t want to go down without a fight as he was treated like a weakling. “You will never get your people out of this bunker alive.”

“A desperate and afraid man will say anything just to feel good and boost his ego,” she said to his mind, “one way or another, you’ll suffer.”

“I’m sorry, okay? I apologize for what I have done to you and your people. Please!” Rick continued to beg. His eyes were swollen and red, and he was still sobbing.

“Enough...” She raised her hand to shush them. “I want you to skin each other. Make it slow and enjoy every second. Don’t stop, not until there’s no more skin left on your body. You can cry, scream, or beg all you want if it helps.”

They were both dumbfounded. Their mind doesn’t want it to happen, but their body says the opposite. Mr. Santos gave in first, he complied to feel the pleasure of enchantment. He reached for Rick’s left shoulder and started peeling off the skin of its shaking body using the scalpel. His ears were deafened by his screams and struggle. He wanted to stop, to end this madness. But he can’t, now that he also felt the blade of Rick’s scalpel tearing the skin off of his left arm. They were enduring the excruciating and burning pain that they never felt before. They were both screaming, in rage and pain. But behind their wails, they wished to die quickly than to suffer.

Despite the noise made by the two, Asceia heard the heavy footsteps of armed men coming to her location. She quickly head out and greeted the men rushing from the left corridor with an order, “Kill yourselves.”

The guards were still running toward her, but they placed the muzzle of their rifles under their mouths and pulled the trigger. Shots fired and it seemed like fireworks were exploding in that place. The lifeless bodies of the guards fell to the floor: some were still gasping for air, trying to live; some were shaking, puking, and coughing some blood; and mostly died right on spot. Their blood mixed and painted the floor. And the walls of the corridor were decorated with spattered blood.

She can still hear the screams of the men she left in the laboratory when another group of men came flooding the corridor from the other side. This time, she didn’t bother to speak any words, instead, she let out a scream, just enough for the sound waves to break or crack the floor, walls, and ceiling. And her attack shattered the bones, flesh, and organs of the men. They were carried by the force, swept and piled in the corner, and just like the first group, their blood coming from their mouth, nose, eyes, and torn flesh poured down to the floor.

Wasting no time, she walked the corridors. Her footsteps were imprinted on the pool of blood that was about to solidify, and also left clear footprints of blood on the clean floor, leaving a trail. All of the scientists and doctors she encountered along the way died. She ordered each of them to smash their heads to the wall or stab themselves with anything sharp. No one could touch her. The others who witnessed the havoc she brought ran as fast as they can to go away.

“Asceia!”

She turned around after hearing a familiar voice. It was Troy, he was with Frejean and a woman wearing a uniform for those who work for this corporation. She stopped and looked them in the eye to connect to their minds.

“Why are you here? How come? What happened?” she asked.

“We’re here to help you. We need to leave now,” Troy said, approaching her.

“I need to find my people first.”

“I know where they are, let me help,” the woman in her late forties, standing beside Frejean, offered.

“Don’t worry. She’s with us. She helped us escape.”

“Then let’s go.”