The Ink Infection [Brief hold and Editing]

Chapter 12

I was still in a haze when my senses came back. I was lying on the cold stone floor, sprawled out between two tables. I sat up, rubbing my left cheek with my hand. My cheek felt bruised as I had been lying on it for a long period of time. Wincing, I observed the room I was in. 

Everywhere, people were all sleeping on the floor, their faces on the ground, passed out. At the far end, I saw Cody, his puffed face in my direction.

"Cody," I tried to say, getting up from the floor.

I instantly fell to the floor. Something pulled me down. Something heavy. I looked at my ankles and saw a chain that was wrapped around them, which was chained to the floor.

I looked back at Cody and tried to break the chain from my ankles. I shook it, rattled it, and tried pulling on it. The chain stayed the same as before, and I gave up, sinking back into the ground.

Now we surely couldn't escape. They made sure of that. I closed my eyes and waited for everyone else to wake up. It was lonely and depressing to be the only living person in this huge room. 

The room I was in was different from what I had remembered last time before falling unconscious. The walls were made of metal, and tables were spread out in rows. Next to the tables were cells with a figure inside them. I couldn't tell who was inside the cell, but they were dormant.

I heard a loud rattle and looked behind me. Cody was awake and was trying to break free.

"It won't break," I told him wearily.

He looked up, shocked, and whispered, "So now they've got us for sure. We can't move an inch now."

I chuckled sadly and nodded my head.

"You bloody creatures! Let me out!" someone shouted, shaking their chains very loudly.

A loud zap came from somewhere in the room, and the voice became quiet once again. Cody looked at me with wide eyes, darting back and forth between me and something to his left.

"H-he-he g-got el-electrocuted," he stammered, his whole body shaking.

"Hey, don't worry. As long as you do what they tell you to do, you're going to be fine." I told him, trying to comfort him with words.

"I-I'm scared." He whimpered, crawling into a ball. "You don't know what they did to me when I was sleeping," he choked out.

I furrowed my eyes. "They did what?!" What did they do to poor Cody? AND while he was asleep? So that no one but him would know what happened?

What did Cody do to receive such punishments? He was just following my ideas... I should be the one getting punished, not him. He has already been through a lot, though. I could tell that Cody's mind was still young, although his physical appearance looked like a grown man.

I scooted my way towards Cody as much as I could without straining my ankle. I put a hand out towards him.

"It's going to be alright. Yeah?" I softly said.

He looked up from his propped-up knees.

"I want to go back home," he said, shivering.

"Me too, Cody. We'll go back home after all this is over." I replied to him

"Now, that is unlikely." A voice said from behind us.

I whipped around and saw Mr. Laurison towering over us.

"I remember you," he said, squinting his eyes at Cody, who tried to move as far as he could from Mr. Laurison.

"What do you want us to do, this time?" I growled.