To Be Proud: Revamped

Chapter 16: Escape Mission

~Bona~

My body felt as if I was being toasted alive, which told me that at least I wasn't dead. Not yet. I could barely recall what had happened moments before I blacked out. To try and keep myself calm, I started to ask myself questions: What could I see? Nothing but pitch black darkness. What could I hear? The fidgeting of a doorknob. Wait, fidgeting of a doorknob?

I finally opened my eyes, trying to get used to the aforementioned burning sensation. I could still hear fidgeting, across from me, so I looked to see that the handle to the door was moving around. Someone was trying to get in, but they couldn't. After a moment it stopped, and I thought that I could hear voices. To try again at calming myself, I went back to the questions.

What could I see? Dark gray walls, cracked and worn. The floor had some sort of flora growing in the far corner. The door to the room seemed to be reinforced with some sort of metal. What could I hear? I did hear the doorknob not too long ago, I wasn't crazy about that, and I could've sworn that there were voices. What could I say?

I tried to speak, but I heard nothing leave my mouth. I tried again, but still nothing came out. I thought that I was going crazy, so I tried to reach up to my mouth to check for anything obstructing it. I froze as I heard the sound of metal against metal. I couldn't speak, and I couldn't use my hands to get anything off.

I started to panic. Suddenly, thousands of questions ran through my head as I thrashed around, trying to rid myself of the metal bonds. Where am I? What's going on? What's going to happen to me? Who would do such a thing? Why me, of all monsters? Are we even on Bone Island anymore? Where's Thwok? I froze, the last question sticking to me. Thwok, where was Thwok?

I thought of all the things that could possibly happen to him if he was even in the situation, each thought being worse than the last. I couldn't stand the idea of anything happening to him, especially if I wasn't there to stop it. I tried to get up, to reach the door and at least make progress in something, but I was pulled back if I ever got too close. Studying the situation further, I realized that my spine was chained to the wall behind me, limiting my mobility.

      "Easy there. Don't wanna snap your spine, now. Then you'd be in real trouble."

I spun around, looking for the sudden voice. To the left of me, I saw the same glowing spikes that I came across before I was knocked out. That lone eye looked me up and down, drinking in the sight before it. Uuduk, that creepy, "all-knowing" Uuduk. I went to turn to anger, but then I studied his situation closely.

He was chained and bonded as well, his hands cuffed and his spine bound to the wall. His mouth wasn't obstructed, clearly a given, but the tips of his horns were covered completely by metal caps that hugged on to the ends where the sounds he produced left. The smaller holes, however, weren't covered whatsoever. Other than that, he was practically a free monster.

      "You're confused. I understand that. There is an answer, I know it, but there isn't much time." What are you talking about, I wanted to ask, fearing what could be the inevitable. As if the thought I had was spoken aloud, Uuduk responded.

      "Look around for a second. Chains and cuffs? An isolated room with little to no lighting? We're trapped, captured, but I figured you'd already found that out. Our captors aren't here, not yet, so we still have time." I sighed to the best of my ability and took another look around the room.

The room was dark, so there wasn't much that could be seen in other parts of the room. I looked down at my hands, which felt fused together within the cuffs that encompassed them. Something felt off about the cuffs, and that prompted me to take a closer look. After trying to remember one of Thwok's ramblings about islands and native materials, something finally clicked.