Undead Revolution (⛔☁️)

S2 - 3. [Don't You Want Ichor?]

 Everything was always worse when Jiang visited him. The man was always so high and mighty.

"This is how this works" Jiang said one day. Was it day? He couldn't tell how much time had passed. "Adrenaline acts as a catalyst for the serum, so we're going to have to make you suffer. If you're lucky, your mutant genes will activate and manifest in spectacular fashion. If not, well, we'll have to keep hurting you. In new and more painful ways, each more different than the last. Until you finally mutate. ...Or die"

Katsuki received a dark grin and was immediately on fire. A scream wretched from his lips. The burning didn't go away. It wouldn't stop.

He begged, sobbing, but it didn't stop. His arm... His arm had been slashed open. Why? Why, why, why, why?

"Oh" A voice moaned out. "That... That's great. Scream for me Katsuki, scream"

The writhing pain slowly quieted as his body adjusted. Adjusted? Was that the right word? Something had changed. Why wasn't he in pain anymore? What was happening?

"It's really is good to see you like this" His face twisted. "Imagine what your mother's face would look like. Oh, what a beautiful sight. Just as she always dreamed"

"What?"

The man walked towards Katsuki, not taking his gaze off of him. "I've seen you grow up. Your mother never quite loved you, I'm sure you noticed. Remember how she always went on work trips? How she was never around long? She didn't love you"

Katsuki's vision blurred, but he kept his eyes on the man's. "'Course. You're- You're fucked up an' blind"

Jiang grit his teeth. "You don't know when to shut up, do you?"

"Hell no" He said with a strained smirk. The man raised a hand to hit him but the ringing of a cellphone stopped him.

Jiang glanced at the caller ID and visibly stiffened. With trembling hands, he answered the call. As he listened in to the stern voice on the other end of the line, Katsuki took great joy in how beads of sweat formed on Jiang's forehead, his eyes darting nervously around the room as if searching for an escape route from the impending verbal onslaught.

The conversation was short but intense, so after he hung up, the man took a deep breath, trying to steady his nerves and steel himself for whatever was to come next.

"You're lucky. Very lucky" Was all the man said before he turned and strode away.

Who had called him? Who could've possibly made a man like Jiang so nervous?

Perhaps his boss? But... It had seemed like Jiang was in charge here... Maybe it was just this place he had control of; like a branch manager. Maybe there were more places.

Regardless, Katsuki didn't have time to dwell on these thoughts. This was a rare opportunity to try and escape, he was rarely left alone for this long.

Snap! He ripped his thumb backwards.

Katsuki winced as the bone in his thumb snapped, but he welcomed the pain as a distraction from the tense atmosphere of the room. With adrenaline coursing through his veins, he swiftly maneuvered his injured hand, slipping out of the loosened restraints while Jiang remained preoccupied with the aftermath of the phone call.

Once free from the constraints that had held him captive, Katsuki wasted no time. Ignoring the searing pain in his thumb, he moved with calculated precision, scanning the room for any potential means of escape.

His eyes fell upon a nearby ventilation duct, its grating slightly ajar. It was a tight squeeze, but it offered the promise of freedom from this hellish place.

Without hesitation, Katsuki darted across the room, his heart pounding in his chest as he reached the duct. With a grunt of effort, he pried it open further, just wide enough for him to slip inside.

The narrow passage enveloped him in darkness as he crawled through the cramped space, his muscles protesting with each movement. But he pressed on, driven by the singular desire to break free from the clutches of his captors.

「Of course, Katsuki was too busy to notice his thumb snapping back into place, but just to tell our readers, it was a grotesque sight」

After what felt like an eternity, Katsuki emerged from the duct, blinking in the dim light of the corridor beyond. He had escaped, at least for now.

But as he took his first tentative steps toward freedom, he couldn't shake the nagging sense of unease that lingered in the back of his mind. Who had called Jiang? And what did it mean for his own precarious situation?

Pushing aside his doubts, Katsuki focused on the task at hand: finding a way out of this maze of corridors and shadows and reclaiming the life that had been stolen from him.

With newfound determination, he set off down the corridor, his footsteps echoing in the empty silence as he traversed forward. 

Word Count: 833