Dungeon

CHAPTER 21 - THE SPANISH GAMBIT

Bryan slowly got up from the ground and prepared his insides for a speed run, but his ears prompted him to halt. He looked around and was surprised to see that the laser lights and gunshots were no longer in sight or to be heard.

"Why is it silent? They're gone?"

Ethan looked stumped and shook his head. Before he could raise his head from the ground, a voice spoke in English with a heavy Spanish accent that made him lay down again. By the clarity of the voice, he sensed that the speaker was just inches away from his legs, in fact standing right beside where both of them lay.

"Get up, put your hands behind your head, and walk. Don't make me regret my decision to take you into interrogation rather than blowing up your heads."

Bryan and Ethan obediently followed the instructions, and when they turned, they were surprised to see a guy around their age dressed in official formals. His hair was smoothed backwards, and his knuckles were red from hours of boxing. Bryan's eyes scanned through the name tag, which hung proudly on the boy's blazer. Juan.

He gave them a cold look and motioned them to a patrol car, which was parked right outside the shattered windows. Bryan prepared to walk but stopped short when he saw Juan's hands pulling something out from inside his blazer pocket. Before he could warn Ethan, Juan hung a metal collar around Ethan's neck and pressed a small button on it.

Ethan felt like his whole body was inflicted with shock waves. His body writhed, and before he could figure out what was happening, his eyes closed, and he was plunged into total darkness. Bryan took a step back, and a look of horror swept across his face. He looked menacingly at Juan and took a step forward towards him.

"We didn't do anything! He followed what you asked him to do, and what did you do to him?"

Juan smirked and motioned to a few Spanish guards that stood beside the car to take the body away. He turned his attention back towards Bryan and put a similar metal collar around his neck. "Oh, nothing much, just a small safety measure."

Before Bryan could reply, his body gave way to the rippling shock waves, and he too fell into the forest of darkness. Juan picked him by the shoulders and walked towards the car, slumping Bryan on the seat next to Ethan. Bryan's sub-conscious mind felt the whirring of a car, and slowly it too faded away.

Bryan wandered across his mind, searching for a light to illuminate his path, but a gentle and feeble voice drew his attention. His mind tingled with a sense of identification, but his body seemed lost. He fixed his ears and urged his body to make out what the voice was trying to say to him.

Bryan...where are you?

A sudden gush of realization hit him as his body registered in resonance with his mind. Jessica! He tried to move towards the voice, but a splash of water forcefully opened his eyes. The sudden gush of light seared his body with a plunging pain, but his resilience to look forward sawthed the pain immediately.

He looked around and saw that he was strapped to a metal chair with a pair of wires running throughout his body. He felt his hands and was surprised to find them free. As he prepared to get up, Ethan's hands pulled him back down.

Ethan glowered at him and put the bottle of water down, which he used to wake Bryan. "Are you nuts? You wanna die that bad? Your hands might be free, but there are wires containing piranha solution attached to your veins."

Bryan observed his hands and found the pair of wires. "Piranha solution? They attached fish sauce?"

Ethan rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth. "No, you idiot! Piranha solution is the name of an acid that is a mixture of sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide. Since it's highly hydrophilic, it can consume you within seconds!"