Breathe

The Reunion: Part 11

C/W - torture, sexual assault, abuse 

She watched them remove the hood. The recognition hit her like a tonne of bricks. "LOGAN!!" She screamed. She took in his hollow face, black and swollen eye, bleeding lip and the terror in his eyes. Her eyes went wide in horror before turning back to the commander with fury when the guards put a fist into his stomach. He had a cruel smile on his face.

"So, want to cooperate now?"

"Ek sal jou bliksem," she spat. I'll beat you.

He continued to smile. "Doubt it. So, last time, who are you."

She glared at him. "Clearly you already know. My name is Safiya, and you'll pay for this." She felt warmth dripping down her leg and looked to see blood pooling at her bare feet.

Logan struggled again, trying to reach her. "It's okay, I'm okay. It's okay, I love you," she whispered to him and he started to calm down, eyes still wide, breathing heavily. When he stopped moving, the commander jerked his head and Logan's gag was removed. Instantly, a stream of profanity poured out. Lots of 'fuck you', 'I'll kill you' and 'you'll regret this'. The commander sighed and the gag was placed back in.

"Let's try this again, shall we? Every time you speak without being spoken to, every time you threaten me or my men, every time you swear, she" he walked to Safiya, "will get 5 lashings." Logan stopped instantly. "Got it?" he snapped, accentuating his point by pulling on Safiya's hair. She whimpered, tears in her eyes and Logan nodded earnestly. The commander came back and the gag came off again. "Anything to say?" Logan said nothing.

"No?" the commander taunted. "Not even if I do this?" he stalked back over to Safiya, fisting his hands in her hair again, kissing her roughly. She struggled, trying to push him off. Her captor laughed as Logan turned red and walked back over to him. "Better."

"Fok jou" Safiya swore at him. He simply laughed again and waved her off.

"Hoekom is jy hier?" he asked Logan. Why are you here? Logan didn't respond. "Antwoord my!" he screamed. Answer me!

"He doesn't speak Afrikaans, you little shit," Safiya spat at him.

Logan shot her a look, trying to silently ask her to calm down.

"5 lashings of what, anyway," she asked, ignoring the look she knew too well.

The commander beamed at her. "You don't know? I think you should tell her what happens if you don't cooperate," he nodded his head at Logan.

Her boyfriend paused before answering, "5 lashings... from a whip..." he couldn't meet her eyes.

"A whip?" she asked hesitantly. Logan nodded as another 3 guards came in. 2 carried in a metal table, adorning it with a range of scary looking instruments. The third one bore chains, attaching them to hooks jutting out of the low ceiling she hadn't noticed. Logan winced as the door shut with a bang, leaving the commander and his two guards behind.

"Please don't hurt her! I'll do anything! I'll tell you anything! You can do whatever you want to me just please leave her alone!" Logan pleaded.

The commander stroked his chin. "Well, I don't remember speaking to you. So, the question is, 5 lashings overall or 5 per word? 5 per word would mean your precious girlfriend would get," he paused, counting in his head, "120". Logan looked horrified and he desperately looked between the chains and Safiya. He whimpered, biting his cheek to stop from speaking as Safiya leaned back in her chair, breathing deeply.

She didn't open her eyes but turned to Logan, "He asked what you're doing here." She opened her eyes, turning back to the commander, staring him down. "Do it. Whatever you do to me, I'll repay in kind."

He chuckled. "I like your bravado. Ketting haar vas en hou hom vas." Chain her and hold him. Unlike Logan, she didn't bother to struggle as she was shackled and attached to the chains. Her shirt was torn off, arms spread wide, baring her now bare back to the commander and his table of nightmares. "I'm going to enjoy breaking you. In fact," she heard something being removed from the table, "I'm going to enjoy it so much, I'm going to take my time."

Logan was turned to face her, and she locked eyes with him, breathing softly, "I love you." He didn't say anything, just nodded his head at her right wrist. She glanced over at what he was trying to tell her, smiled sadly, nodded, and took steadying breaths. She heard the snap before the pain hit her. The coppery taste of blood coated her tongue as she bit down to stop herself from crying out. She barely had a chance to take another breath before the whip hit her skin again. Her muscles tensed as it came down for a third time. She looked up, seeing tears falling down her beloved's face. She gasped at the 15th as it broke her skin. The 20th tore a scream from her, blood leaking out. Logan was sobbing quietly, straining against his restraints, knowing any struggling would only make it worse. Silent tears slid down her face and she eased into her chains as the commander stopped and walked around to watch them.

Logan broke the silence that followed. "I'm here for the relief mission. We were tasked with the protection of the city officials. My duty was to stop any potential assassination attempts, and to prevent you from gaining power." His eyes didn't leave Safiya as he spoke. "We were here for 2 months before we were captured, and I'm guessing I've been here for another 2 months. So 4 months here and we are only meant to be switched out in another 2 months. We spend 6 months here doing protection, 18 months back on base doing updated training, and then come back for another 6 months. We do 3 cycles, so 6 years. Then the new batch comes. The theory is that 6 months is too short for anybody to be turned, and by the time they've spent 18 months back on base, if they have managed to be turned, they come back to our side."

The commander nodded, thinking this through. "What cycle is this for you?" Logan didn't answer immediately and he stepped back towards the table, drawing a flinch and corresponding wince from Safiya.
"This is my second," he spoke quickly. "I have one more cycle after this one." Safiya looked up, seeing such sorrow in his eyes. She knew he loved the army, he loved the training, his access and benefits, but he hated this side. They had been together long enough for her to know that he joined the army to try and help prevent war and violence. Now here he was, caught up in the middle of it.

The boss switched back to Afrikaans. "Praat hy die waarheid?" Is he telling the truth?

"Et het geen idee nie." She shrugged. I have no idea. "Dis nie soos die weermag my oproep en sê 'oh hey btw dit is wat ons dink nie okay totsiens'". She rolled her eyes. It's not like the army calls me up and says 'oh hey btw this is what we're thinking okay bye'.

A knife entered Logan's leg and he groaned.

"Ek het jou gewaarsku." He shrugged. I warned you.

She started sobbing, "Ek is so jammer. I am so sorry, I'm so sorry." Logan shook his head at her, trying not to reassure her. Trying not to tell her that he has been trained for this. To tell her that this was both nothing compared to what he has been through, but also the worst torture he had ever had or had ever been prepared for. He wanted to tell her that nothing could have prepared him to see her here, in enemy hands, bound, beaten and bleeding. To tell her how sorry he was to have dragged her into this whole mess. To tell her that the army should have protected her from this. That he should have protected her from this.

"Sien jy? Dis is die meeste wat ons in 2 maande by hom gekry het!" the boss man grinned. Do you see? That's the most we've gotten from him in 2 months!

She sobbed harder. Two months. He had been here for two months. She had only been here part of one day as far as she could tell. She couldn't imagine being here for that long. Safiya sank into the chains, this was it. Nobody was coming for them.