Claws

Hell

TW: TORTURE AND SA IN THIS CHAPTER

APOLLO

     Fig Newton talked me down from the ledge.
     "It's going to be okay, Apollo. Just breathe." The old bird murmured.
     I was breathing, alright— too fast, too shallow, and too much. Anxiety consumed by body as I had my first panic attack in months.
     Chest heaving all too heavily, I let my walls come down. Sobbing, I pushed myself into the corner of the kitchen and let my emotions pour out. I was enraged, heartbroken, and terrified.
     "Apollo." Fig Newton addressed, growing just a hair closer, "I need you to listen to me." My panic attack didn't stop, but I focused what little brain power I had left on my friend. "Some humans are going to take you. Do not fight them. It'll only make what's about to happen worse."
     "Wh-What's going to happen to me?" I managed to stutter out.
     Fig ignored my question. "Promise me." they pushed, "Promise me you will not fight them."
     "I-I pr-promise." I stammered.
     My friend took my gory, bloodied hands in theirs, holding them tight until Luka's mutilated form was carried away and the house was evacuated by all but the two of us.
     Not long after, three heavily-armored handlers entered the house baring hunting-rifle-style dart guns. White and of string-bean form was Onyx and Obisian's Master, Troy. Freckled and red-haired with 2C curls was Lavender's Master, Tadhg. Finally, there was Imani, Cornbread's Mistress. She was a light-skinned African American woman with navy, waist-length braids.
     "Fig, OUT!" Imani commanded, and Fig Newton scrambled away from me like his life depended on it. In no time, colorful darts were shot into my body, decorating me in red, yellow, and blue feathers. It wasn't long until my frame was slumped against the wall, unconscious.
When I came to, I was in a metal cage, the bars of which were several inches thick and covered with a layer of metal mesh on either side. It was cramped, barely large enough to accommodate my body, which screamed with pain.
Groaning, I turned over again and again in my cage, attempting to outmaneuver the anguish. It was a dull, aching pain at first, which grew until the sensation was similar to being set alight, entrapping my entire body.
At my growing sounds of pain, a human approached my cage. A glance up from my agony revealed that it was Tadhg. The man removed a small metal box that permeated the wall of the cage, placing two horse-sized pills in it and sending it back through.
"For the pain." Was all he said, a thick Irish accent coating his words.
Shaking hands took the medication from the long and thin metal box. Placing the pills on my tongue, I swallowed them dry with tremendous discomfort. The pain radiating throughout my entire body was reduced some within the next half hour.
     With a groggy mind, my thoughts migrated to my Master. Guilt about what I had done was starting to sow its seeds in my mind. It wasn't overpowering, not yet, anyways— the taste of his flesh was still in my mouth. Savory and juicy, it had tasted like a well-seasoned, tender steak, but a whole lot fresher and more.... interactive.
     My mouth was watering again. It had been too long since I'd eaten a proper meal. It was too bad that it had to come from my Master.
     I drifted off to sleep in my tiny cage to the thought of mutilation and carnage.
     Rattling on the bars of the cage woke me up from my slumber. Drugged haze gone, and pain subsided, I noticed that I was in an unfamiliar basement. Scent told me it was the mansion, and sight told me that it was in its dimly-lit bowels.
     Cold, white-with-gray-speckles linoleum sat beneath the wire bottom of my cage. Brick walls covered with soundproofing foam lit with occasionally-flickering, low-quality incandescent lighting gave the room I was stored in bad energy.
     On top of the new location, I had acquired new binds— someone had outfitted me with a black-and-silver basket muzzle, Kevlar mitts, and matching steel-toed boots.
     A cuckoo whistle and a "Here, birdie birdie!" caught my attention. A white man with greasy, shoulder-length brown hair tapped on the bars. I recognized him as Will, the mansion's housekeeper.
     My head cocked, hitting the side of the cage as it did so. Will chuckled, humming with a farce sweetness, "What'd you do to get thrown down here, little one?"
     I hoped to scare him off by saying, "I ate someone alive."
     "Ooh!" Will laughed, "You're a feisty one. I don't supposed I could take you out to play?"
     A low growl rose in my throat. "I will rip your fingers off and feed them to you."
     "With what?" Will's tone grew dark. "You're without all of your claws and fangs."
     I gulped down my fear and bared my fangs from underneath the basket muzzle. The sound of Will's chuckling filled the room, hitting the walls and being sucked in.
     "You'll be a lot of fun to break." He purred.
     "Fuck you!" I spat. It wasn't my first time dealing with this type of human, and I had grown to hate them more and more with each encounter.
     "Come on, Apollo, it's time to come out and play." Will sang, taking a small key from a necklace around his throat and unlocking various mechanisms in the door of the cage. I was starting to feel very uneasy.
I scooted into the far back corner of the cage— maybe a foot from where I had previously sat, and a huge grin decorated Will's pockmarked face. The door of the cage opened with a squeaaak.
With a come here motion of his fingers, Will beckoned me forwards. When I didn't come, he huffed, and reached for an unremarkable metal pole. Well, it was unremarkable until I noticed the metal noose on the end. A catch pole.
The catch pole was thrust into the cage, where itself and I danced back and forth as I attempted to evade it. Not long after, however, it found its way around my neck, where it tightened with the push of a button.
I was yanked headfirst out of the cage, dragging along the floor as Will pulled me. Without a second to spare, I hissed, spit, and fought with my mitted claws. The pillow-like devices on my hands made my struggle worthless.
Will guffawed at my attempts to attack him. "It's like you're trying to kill me with pillows!" He exclaimed, pushing me to the ground with his catch pole.
Not long after, I was being handcuffed with real metal cuffs. I had never been subjected to the human devices before. The discomfort emanating from where the locking mechanisms pinched tightly against my wrists was irritating at first, but intensified when I struggled against them.
"Aaaand you're done for!" Will sang blithely, "Welcome to hell, birdie."
The cocky human was taken out by a swipe of my right wing. Feet flying into the air, Will's skull smacked against the linoleum tile. Struggling to scramble to my feet, I went to stomp on his throat, only to be tripped by the catch pole around my neck. I cascaded to the floor as the human was rising from it.
Again, I was dragged by the catch pole, choking on the metal wire as linoleum passed me. Attempting to stop our progression, I kicked at the floor, toeclaws scraping against the steel of the boots I was restrained in. Talons joined the fight, and again were stopped by the layered Kevlar of the mitts.
I was helpless.
The scent of rotten vegetables engulfed the air as I was dragged through a metal doorway to the right and into another room. A sound of metal sliding on metal was followed by a click as the catch pole was loosened. Instinctively, I struggled for freedom, but was held fasted by a quick fistful of hair.
"Didn't think I'd let you get away that easily, huh?" Will hummed as if enjoying a pleasant afternoon stroll.
Scrambling around on the slick floor, I took hopeless shots at the human's face with mitted claws. A lightning-fast punch was thrown by the greasy man's free hand. Not a second later, pain and blood exploded from my now-crooked nose. A pathetic yelp hit the soundproofing foam and was absorbed.
Too fast, the fist clenching my hair slammed the back of my head into the impossibly-hard linoleum once, then twice, and three times.
Nausea took root in my flipping stomach. Vision faded in and out. Blinking once, then twice, and three times, my sight was partial restored to a blurry mess.
The next thing I knew, I was affixed opposite of the metal door. My body was forced to the ground by the catch pole, which had somehow become attached to me again. A floor-level hole in the wall ate half of the catch pole to secure me at ground level, where I laid defenseless on my back. Not an inch of slack was afforded to my already-raw throat.
Did he release me just to bash my head against the floor?
Will fastened my ankles together with leather restraints as I struggled to fight for clarity.
The human fished a pocket knife out of the jacket pocket of his navy janitor's uniform. Slowly, surely, and as if he was taking his time, he sharpened the blade against a small whetstone. Once he deemed the knife sharp enough, he approached, my head still spinning from earlier.
Crudely, my clothes were cut off piece by piece, until I was in nothing but my restraints and collar— boots, mitts, muzzle, and collar were not a look.
Just as carefully as Will sharpened his knife, he carved into the flesh of my thighs. At first, I could tolerate it, and used the sensation to center my fuzzy head. Then, the knife got deeper, and faster, and twisted and turned. He was drawing on me.
This torture was unlike anything I had withstood before. It wasn't fervent or chaotic— it was slow and steady. Methodically, the tip of the blade was plunged just barely deep enough into my flesh to bring streams of blood to the surface. It would twist in spirals, carving out circular pieces of flesh from my outer thighs. Sinking my fangs into my tongue and whining was all I could do to mitigate the agony.
"What's wrong, Apollo?" Will hummed, breaking his silence, "I thought you were tough. They said it'd be hard to break you."
I kept my mouth shut in favor of ignoring the human. That didn't last long; the knife was plunged deep into my right thigh, expertly avoiding veins and arteries. My tongue was released and a bloodcurdling scream left my mouth.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" The human shouted happily, "Scream, birdie, scream!"
The screaming turned into gargles and sobs as Will twisted the blade.
Luka lied.
     When I woke up, I was in my cage again. For the next week and a half, that was life— sleep, torture, and if I was lucky, half-rotten meat every few days.
     Violent gags filled the room as spoiled meat was forced down my throat on a slender wooden spike. Bite-sized pieces were maneuvered between the bars of my cage, the mesh having been removed after my mitts had been strapped on.
     My captor kept me nude except for my mitts, boots, and handcuffs. Every second or third day my muzzle would come off for fifteen minutes so that meat could be shoved down my gullet.
     Another piece of rotting meat was forced down my throat. I found it barely more tolerable to leave my mouth propped open so that the disintegrating flesh could be pushed down my throat and past my tongue; it was easier than starving to death.
     Too soon after gagging on the rotting meat, it started to come back up. Involuntarily, it forced its way out of my mouth and onto the wire floor of the cage beneath me.
"You ungrateful brat!" Will hollered at me, "You better eat that, or you're getting another beating!"
Too slow for the human, I went to do as I was told.
Violently, my cage was rattled. "DO IT! DO IT!" He shouted, "EAT IT! EAT IT! EAT IT!"
Regurgitated, rotting flesh was forced back into my mouth. I gagged it back up again, quickly scooping it back into my mouth with my mitted hands and shoving it down a third time.
The days passed by slowly. I spent as much time as I could sleeping, but much of it was spent being tortured by Will.
     One day, he gave me some pillow talk while running his knife down my forearm in horizontal strikes.
     "Dr. Fryre doesn't deserve you." The human growled as he dug deeper into the flesh by my wrist. "I could make you into the finest obedience bird Blue Moon has ever seen."
      "He might not deserve me," I spat defiantly, "But you sure as hell don't either!"
     The knife bit down hard into the top my wrist, meeting bone. "It might not be you, but one of these days, George will realize what a great handler I could be. I'll get my bird soon."
     "I sure fuckin' hope not." I snarled through the agony, "You'd be a horrible handler. You'd get your throat ripped out in no time."
     "Oh yeah?" Will stabbed the knife into my forearm, lodging it in between my ulna and radius, just barely missing critical blood vessels. My head rolled back in anguish and I whined uncontrollably. "Then why haven't you, little bird?"
     "Trust me," I groaned through the blazing hot sensation, "I would kill you the second I had the chance."
     "How cute." The human yanked the knife out of my arm, gently pressing the tip against my muzzle. "You think I'm scared of you!"
     "You should be." I growled out.
     Will let go of a startling guffaw.
Am I really in that pathetic of a state?
     "You have to learn that you're not the top of the food chain anymore, birdie. We surmounted you the second you became domesticated." Will carefully licked my blood off of his knife, looking into my disgusted eyes while he did it. "Maybe I should try something a little harsher."
Great job, Apollo.
     Leaving me in my usual position with a catch pole securing me to the floor, the sadist rose to rifle through a smattering of torture tools displayed on a rack upon the left wall. Will selected a flogger before returning to me. It was clawed with sharp shards of metal at the end of each tail.
Without a word, the human began to strike me along my left wing. A cacophony of whimpers, yelps, and whines left my muzzled mouth with each hit. Not too long passed before I found myself on a concrete floor back at the sanctuary, being flooded by the scent of rotten vegetables.
"Hey, Apollo!" Will called me back, "George told me your mind likes to wander. Stay here or you'll get it twice as bad."
Unsurprisingly, I began to dissociate again not long after. As the torture grew more intense, so did my trip into la la land. The harder the human hit me, the stronger the scent of his arousal became, and I wasn't sure if it was from Samuel or Will.
Tattered feathers were completely soaked in blood by the time Will was done with my left side. Apparently, evenness was important to the sadist, as he stepped clean over me to attack the opposite limb as well.
As Will crossed over me, it became apparent that he was the source of the scent. I could see the outline of a hard-on down his left thigh.
The torture wasn't easier the second time. Will struck me harder, and harder, and harder, until the claws of the cat o' nine tails were slicing feathers clean off.
Haughtily, the human commanded, "Beg for mercy!"
"Fuck you!" I yelled back.
A particularly hard whack left me whimpering and whining, but still too proud to beg the human for reprieve.
"BEG!" A whoosh of the flogger through the air, and the weapon cracked down against throat, creating lazy rivers of red.
"STOP!" I screamed.
"You can do better than that!" Will teased, cracking down again on my already-torn throat.
"Please," I gritted my teeth and put my ego aside, "Please, stop!"
"That's not good enough!" The scent of human arousal was growing overpowering.
"Stop! Stop!" My voice broke. "I'm begging you, please stop! It hurts so much!"
Will let out a groan of pleasure, grabbing his dick. I felt like I was going to be sick at the noise. The human panted and groaned, presumably having just creamed his pants.
Squatting down to my level, Will stroked the side of my face with uncharacteristic tenderness. The human sported a wet spot about a few inches from his crotch; he had definitely just come in his pants.
"What a good little birdie you are." He hummed sweetly. "That's enough for today."
My skin crawled from his touch.
That night in the cage, my dreams were filled with images of dismemberment and feasting. I was starving: the last time I had eaten was at least three days ago.
I tore Will limb from limb, taking bites as I went. Next came Luka, whom I tore the throat out of with my teeth. George was the third victim, having his nuts twisted off and shoved down his throat, where he choked to death on them. Finally, Kye fell victim to my hungry claws, which ripped through his ribs and cut his organs out of his chest.
It was pleasant.
After ten days, I was sure I was never leaving. It was almost the Sanctuary, but worse: it was only torture, no daily meals, nowhere to shower or stretch my wings, no doctors to mend my wounds, and especially no pack whose shoulders I could cry on.
     Will was right. I was in hell.
On the twelfth day, my captor took me out again to play with me, like he did every day; however, today was special. Today, Will had something fun planned.
Just like every day, I was strapped down. Just like every day, the sadist selected a new toy from the shelf— today, it happened to be riding crop. Everything else was, unfortunately, different.
     On my belly rather than my back, I knew what was coming the second he started caressing my ass with the riding crop. After some minutes of fighting, I decided to play along. Maybe it would be less painful that way.
It seemed that my cooperation was the opposite of what Will wanted, however, because as soon as I stopped thrashing and griping he walloped me on the inner thigh with the crop. Yelping, I went back to thrashing.
"Good bird." Will purred. "Struggle for me."
The tongue of the crop found its way into my crotch, where it stroked my balls unappealingly. The moment the crop left my skin for just a moment, I panicked. Will whipped down on my sack with frightening speed. The human moaned at both the impact and sound of my agonized screeching.
Tears filled my burning eyes. I knew what was going to happen, and I hated every minute of it.
     "Please don't." I whispered at the sight of Will placing the crop back on the shelf.
     "What's that?" The sadist asked.
     "Please don't!" My voice was a little louder this time.
     "Again?" He hummed.
"Please," I begged, "Please don't do it."
     Will kneeled next to my naked body, asking, "Don't do what?"
     It was a whisper. "Please don't rape me."
     "Don't you worry, Apollo," Will purred soothingly, "It'll be long and painful."
     A ziiiiiiip of Will's pants unzipping sent a shiver of terror down my spine. Just as I felt the human spread my cheeks and a hard cock press against me, there was a knock at the door. I let go of a tremendous breath at the sound.
     "GodDAMNit!" Will spat with rage. Putting his dick away and zipping his pants back up, the sadist made his way to the metal door opposite of me. Clearing his throat, straightening his clothes, and fixing his hair, he finally opened the door.
     Dr. Lawerence stood on the other side, a black leather leash hanging around his neck. "Good afternoon, Will."
     Begrudgingly, the sadist responded, "Afternoon."
     "I'm here to retrieve Apollo." The dark-skinned man said simply.
     "We're in the middle of something." Will growled, "Come back in an hour."
     "No, I think I'll be taking him now." The doctor insisted. "I'll go ahead and get him out of your hair."
     Will grumbled angrily before storming back to me, unfastening the restraints around my legs and unlatching the catch pole. The D ring on my collar was abused as Will dragged me to my unsteady feet by it. Procuring a small metal key from his pants pocket, the sadist unlocked the handcuffs adorning my wrists, letting the metal device fall to the floor with a clank.
     Dr. Lawerence slipped the leash from his shoulders, quickly walking over and clipping it to my collar.
I'm not a damn dog.... But I'll let it slide this once.
     "Where are his clothes?" Dr. Lawerence questioned.
     Will just shrugged.
     "....Okay, thanks." Dr. Lawerence grumbled, and switched to addressing me. "Luka thought this would happen, so he sent me with these." The man produced a pair of skimpy spandex shorts from his pockets— half of my Blue Moon agility uniform.
     "Better than nothing." I sighed, being handed the shorts. Several minutes passed with me attempting to adorn them as the mitts hindered my progress. Both humans watched and waited.
     When they were finally on my body, the doctor waved half-heartedly to the other human. "See you later, Will."
     Will nodded, but said nothing.