The Last Bargain

Chapter 7

Content Warning: The following chapter contains a depiction of mental trauma, cannibalism, and breakdown.

Maeve's POV:

Upon waking from a dreamless slumber, I felt my head throbbing with a pounding weight, Thud! Thud! Thud! My heartbeat resonated in the veins of my cerebrum. The air was thick with an unnerving energy that made me roused from my restless snooze. I opened my eyes, but the light was sharp; I had to shut my eyes tight, slowly opening my eyes; the sight that my brain registered was heart-rending. Knowing the naked body I'm witnessing are of my friends. I wanted to claw the eyes of every person that have sick thoughts about my octagon.

The chamber was smelling more malodorous than ever, stinking my senses with that odor. The light from a nearly broken light source was illuminating the chamber, realizing Anya was sitting there under a ray of fading light; her face was dull and unrecognizable. Something in my heart shifted, and I felt a piercing pain in my heart, witnessing my friends undergoing such horrible occasions.
Her feet were twisted at a frightful angle. Others were still unconscious. I tried to stand but failed successfully and touched the ground in an instant with a loud thud. Anya was roaming in her horrible dream, but the screaky voice of my fall broke the barrier of her gloomy, dim thoughts; our eyes met in an instant, and Anya's face turned sour. I couldn't stand or walk, and, nor Anya, so I started to crawl toward her; Anya started to do the same. How can crawling be harder than fighting demons in a realm?

After a great struggle, I finally reached her and embraced her in my arms; we couldn't help but breakdown with cries and hiccups; I don't know how many minutes or hours passed when I felt the warm touch of Urmilla, something resembling a tear felt on my neck. Their bodies were hot with blood seeping out constantly. I hugged back Urmilla. The crimson blood, almost black, was working as a clothing to cover our bare naked bodies with several visible wounds; I still couldn't handle seeing my friends in this naked state. How is it even possible to see someone in the eye like this when I have viewed them so respectfully all this time?

"I- I d-don't know what's happening-g anymore"
Urmilla choked and broke down while quivering.

"We will figure it out, believe me, we will figure it out"
I chanted when I also didn't know what was happening; I made my embrace more tight when I felt her shattering.

Anya stroked Urmilla's hair, trying to relieve her, and it was working lightly.

One by one we all came to consciousness. Riley was rigid in her place. I don't know what was going on in her mind, but it was clear that she wasn't ready and still wasn't ready for the future ahead. Honestly, no one was expecting anything like this. Her face was expressionless almost like a robot. I can't see her like this; it pains me sharply. Zee came into the frame, and she held Riley's face in her palm, stroking it with her fingers. Trying to coax her pain away. Riley clung to Zee swiftly, sniffed, and finally cried her heart out.

When we got back to our senses, and our cries subdued, we forcefully locomoted our defeated limbs with quietened shrieks and sat in a circle just like we just sat in college, but this time, the remaining dozen victims also accompanied us.

No one wanted to ever have this conversation so I started:
"It's clear they want us to be their little puppets of sex slaves"
Overthinking made me analyze past events, and I came up with this clear conclusion.

"It's also clear that they get pleasure from raping by dominating and torturing" Zee gave her clues barely, managing to sit.

"But when did it all start?" freesia questioned.

"We all knew something was wrong the moment Sir Ethan vanished and the Gmail was nowhere to receive"
Urmilla replied it was hard for her to talk with swellings on her jaw.