Book 2: Preventing Londinium

Tortured

I see an important-looking member of the New Militia walking into my room. 'Clearly another General." I think to myself, before he drags me into a dark room with a single chair in it. I am strapped to the chair, with my wrist, ankles, and lower torso strapped down. A man in a futuristic adaptation of a medieval executioner's outfit walks in and grabs something from his desk. A 2010s style taser. Out of nowhere, a muffled voice fills the room from a hidden speaker. "Level 1 may now begin." it calls out. I very quickly realise what that means. "WAIT!" I yell, but the Executioner doesn't listen.

*Zappp*. He tased me for nearly 15 seconds. I am gasping for breath, and, as soon as my breathing rate returns to normal, he does it again. *Zapppp*. This time it was 20 seconds. He walks back over to the desk and places the taser down, replacing it with a fire poker. The voice calls out to me, telling me that "Mr Elshire, there are 10 stages to this torture room, and everytime you refuse to answer our question, we will make the suffering worse. Now, where have you hidden Karim's old gauntlet?". I have determined where the hidden camera is, so I turn towards it and say "Do your worst.". The next thing I hear is "Level 2...commence!". Barely milliseconds later, the poker is being jammed into my gut, scarring me. Next, the Executioner jams it directly into my chest. I scream in pain every time. The man replaces the poker with some gloves that have metallic claws on the edge, and presses a button on the desk. Suddenly, the chair I am on modifies itself so that I am facing downwards on my front with my back conpletely exposed. The man places the tips of his fingers at the top of my back, but he pauses. He looks at the location of the camera, and the voice asks me, "Do you remember yet, James?". But I am stubborn, and I simply reply with "No...no I don't think I do.". As soon as I said this, the voice instructs for level 3 to begin, and the man drags the claws down my back, which ends up giving me 5 long cuts down my back. "ARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!" I scream, as blood pours out of my veins as thought it is the Red Sea itself. The Executioner prepares pliers, and resets my chair's position.

But just as the voice begins to announce Level 4, the lights all go out, and I feel myself being launched towards the back of the room, with my chair being broken as I collide with the wall. The lights begin to flicker back to life, and I see a hooded figure battling the Executioner. However, the mysterious person is soon slammed into the wall. I stumble as I attempt to stand up, but luckily I hold myself up against a wall. I pick up one of the chair's damaged legs, and limp over to the Executioner. While he isn't looking, I raise the chair leg above his head, and jam the damaged section into the back of his torso diagonally. He retaliates, and right hooks me onto the floor. But before he can finish me off, the other man grabs the clawed glove and jams the claws into the mans throat. He removes his hood and face mask, revealing that it's Jake! "Up you get James, we have to get out of here! Sarah's waiting outside for us in a chopper, so let's get a move on!" he instructs, helping me to my feet. We exit the room and head towards the stairs, but a guard runs into the corridor, so Jake barges me into another room. Unfortunately, the guard locks us in, and presses a button on his gauntlet. A small tube descends from the ceiling into the room that we're in, and fires a dart directly into Jake's stomach. He curls up in agony before ripping the dart out, and grunting.

The dart must have the same anger serum that Karim gave me, because Jake looks at me with murderous intent. He charges at me and begins to strangle me. Luckily, I spot a dagger on his belt, and stab him in the shoulder with it. I kick him to the floor, and place my right knee on his neck. He tries to escape, but I lower my knee even more until he eventually collapses and the serum wears off. I help him up as he thanks me, and use his dagger to break through the door. The guard from earlier spots me and aims his pistol at my head. Fortunately, Jake pushes me away from the bullet and throws his dagger at the man's head. We reach the stairs and see Sarah at the top. We both sprint towards the helicopter, when suddenly an explosion goes off, sending me flying through the open side-doors in the helicopter. Luckily I catch onto a handle on the inside of it, and pull myself in.

However, I realise that Jake is hanging onto the roof, because he got sent flying backwards rather than forwards with me, and Sarah says that we have to leave him behind or we won't survive. But I'm not leaving him behind again. "NO! I'm not letting him die!" I exclaim, as I run over the collapsing rooftop and reach Jake. I reach out my hand, and pull him up. We rapidly head back towards the chopper, but before we get there, Jake is shot near the tailbone, and he can't feel his right leg. I let him use me as a support, and I help him into the helicopter. I hop in, calling out to Sarah. "Get us out of here!" I command. She flies us out of here as I assist Jake into a seat, and shut the doors.

I attempt to carefully climb through to the front of the helicopter but, due to my injuries being unattended to, I proceed to collapse right next to Jake.