The Red River [ON HIATUS]

Chapter 3

As soon as the van stopped moving I knew we were here. I could smell blood and I could feel the agony in the air. This place couldn't be mistaken for anything but a place of torture. When we were taken inside the torture chamber, a chill ran down my spine. Machines and weapons were scattered about, all designed to kill. The air was freezing, making the pain worse for their victims. Feeling defenseless, my eyes examined every inch of the chamber, looking to formulate an escape plan. Zedlin and I were taken into a room and restrained. Zedlin was strapped to a metal chair across from me, where I was chained to a wall. All I could think about was how I let this happen. How was I so careless?   The chocolate haired man from before, Malikhi was his name, came up to me with a cold smirk on his face.

 “You’re going to want to see this, it’ll be the last time he’ll know you as his friend” He whispered into my ear.

My face crinkled in confusion “What the hell are you talking about?” Malikhi let out a low chuckle and turned away from me.

 He walked to the center of the room and signaled to a man near some controls. The man hit a button and some sort of helmet lowered onto Zedlin’s head. A look of panic spread across his face as he pleaded with his eyes for me to help him. No matter how hard I pulled and tugged and struggled against the chains, they wouldn’t budge. I need to get out of here, I need to help him. I let out a strangled yell of frustration as I was still locked in place.

 “Let him go!” I yelled at both of the men in the room.

 Malikhi stormed over to me with ice in his eyes contradicting the ‘smile’ he has plastered on his face

“There’s nothing you can do. He’s being brainwashed, and soon you’ll be nothing to him. He won’t even remember your name”

 I felt fire build in my body and hate took over all of my senses. “If you do anything to him or his mind, I will fucking end you and you will regret this day till your last, dying, breath!” I seethed.

 As soon as the words left my mouth an arm was brought up, and a fist connected with my jaw. Having nowhere else to go, my head ricocheted off of the wall, sending waves of pain rippling through my head. I tasted the metallic tang of blood on my tongue and spat on him. That of course didn’t help my situation. Malikhi brought his arm back, ready to hit me. I braced myself, ready to take the blow, when a voice from across the room interrupted.

“Malikhi, there’s something wrong with the machine” The man from across the room called, looking a bit helpless.

Malikhi wiped my blood off of him and stormed over to the man and started yelling at him. With every button pushed, there were a few sparks and a spasm from the machine. The man’s face filled with fear and his body tensed as he was spoken to. I couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying over the sound of the machine. All I could make out was “Useless …. Damn machine ….. nothing right ….. do it myself”. Then with a frustrated grunt, Malikhi hit the machine and the noise stopped. My eyes flicked over to Zedlin’s and I could see it in his eyes that he was afraid, but his face showed no emotion. With a push of a button, the machine started as the helmet on Zedlin’s head started to whirr.

“NO!” I screamed as all the emotion drained from Zedlin’s eyes and Malikhi stared at me with a smirk.

After a moment, the machine stopped. The helmet was taken off of Zedlin’s head, and he was unstrapped from the machine. As he stood, Malikhi walked over and told him to unchain and seize me. Almost immediately, Zedlin marched over to me and unchained me. The relief on my face was gone as soon as he slammed me against the wall and bound my hands together.

“ZEDLIN!” I yelled at my friend trying to get him to remember me.

“Zed, come on, it’s me!” I panicked “You remember me, don’t you?! Z, PLEASE!” I cried

“If you don’t stop resisting I will be forced to put you out” Zedlin said to me with no emotion.

“Put me out?” I didn’t know what to do. Zedlin was always the stronger of the two, so I knew what he was capable of, but I couldn’t stop trying. I couldn’t give up on him.

“You wouldn’t do that to me, right?” I tried “Not to your friend, Z, your brother? YOU HAVE TO REMEMB-

My yelling was cut off with a fist, Zedlin’s fist, colliding with my face and I was out