A Fragile Thing || Far Cry 4

Chapter Four

As the days passed without any sign of Yuma, Ajay started to become more and more paranoid. It unnerved him how deeply she could get inside his head. It unnerved him more than he cared to admit. And it ate at him that he had believed the lies, even if only initially. He had believed they were real, wholeheartedly. Only the tiniest feeling deep down inside him had seen through the façade, had kept him from giving Yuma vital information on the Golden Path. But he didn't know how much longer he could hold out. He couldn't trust anyone or anything. Not even himself.

Four days. It had been four days by Ajay's rough count since he had been taken. No food. No water. Barely any sleep. And that relentless cold that meant he couldn't rest even when he had a moment's peace. It was all taking a heavy toll. Ajay's strength and resolve were waning.

Later that night, Ajay was sitting in a daze of delusional paranoia when footsteps mixed with hysterical shouting echoed down the corridor. He rushed to the cell door, peering as far down the corridor as he could see. It didn't take long for two guards he had never seen before to drag a third man between them towards the cell opposite his. The prisoner struggled violently against them, but was no match for the two of them combined. They jerked open the cell door and flung the man inside, locking him in and striding away without a backwards glance.

The heavily bruised man pushed himself to his knees and seemed to realize for the first time that Ajay was watching him. The man gave Ajay a weak smile and sat himself in the middle of the cell propped up on his arms, his legs stretched out before him. Then he studied Ajay further and his eyes lit up. He flew to the cell door, pressing his face against it, hands grabbing the steel bars on either side. "You! You're Ajay, aren't you? Ajay Ghale!"

Ajay said nothing, instead offering a wary look in return.

"Everyone has been talking about you. And now fate has led me to you. I was thrown in here for hunting sambar on Pagan Min's 'royal lands.' Can you believe that?! Like he doesn't have anything better to do than hoard all of Kyrat's meat for himself. So I told myself that if I ever got out of here, I would join the Golden Path. And here you are. The son of its founder right in front of me, like a blessing from Kyra."

The man's hopeful gaze was met only by Ajay harsh stare. "Shut up! Just shut up." Ajay was clutching his head between his arms, chanting silently to himself. It's not real. It's not real. Eventually, the words rose unbidden from his throat until he was shouting at the man across from him who seemed frightened by Ajay's outburst. "It's not real! It's not real!" He was done with the cons, done with the lies. A name sprung from his lips before he even knew who it was. "Yuma!! Yuma, I know it's you!" he bellowed into the open air. Swiveling and surging to his feet, Ajay faced his empty cell, a maniacal rage spreading across his face. "Why don't you come out and face me yourself, you coward! Stop hiding behind these phantoms!!"

The man behind him started laughing as the walls melted. The hallucination dissolved faster than it ever had before. In seconds, it was gone.

Ajay blinked and found himself strapped to a wooden chair, hands bound behind the back and ankles tied to either leg of it. How had he gotten there?

"What—?" he asked as he lifted his head.

Just as a fist smashed into his cheek. The punch left his ears ringing and it took a moment before he could look up again. One of Yuma's regular guards was standing a foot away from Ajay, fists clenched, ready to strike. This guard was smaller than the other, but lithe and powerful. The look he was giving Ajay was more ominous than his menacing pose. A look of such bloodlust that Ajay's stomach rose into his throat. Further behind him, on the other side of the cell, was Yuma's lieutenant, one of his hands bandaged and bruised. And between them, silhouetted by the light from the hallway, was Yuma.