The Sixth | Ekko

Chapter Twenty-Four - Flashback #4

Warning: This chapter contains graphic descriptions of experiments and gore. It includes very dark and disturbing elements.

-        Zaun, 11 years ago

The man in her nightmare was like one of the monsters in the story books she'd steal from Mylo's trunk and read in secret. The mad kind. The ugly kind. The kind that leaves an awful indent in your mind. She could only see half of his face, the other half wrapped in bandages. He was a slinky-looking thing, tall and scrawny. She could see him despite her head being strapped down to the table she was laying on, preventing her from being able to turn it.

Momo begged her mind to release her from her current visual hell, but her pleas went ignored. It wasn't until the man with half a face held up a red-hot number six did the realization hit her that this wasn't a nightmare conjured by her imagination. This nightmare was real, and she was the protagonist forced to endure it.

"This will hurt," he warned, holding up searing red metal shaped as a '6'.

She watched in panic from the corner of her eye as he slowly brought it closer and closer to her, until finally she felt a pain unlike anything she'd ever felt before. Her body began to tremble uncontrollably as she wailed loudly, fighting against the restraints and begging them to give and allow her to move away from the torturous burn on her neck.

The man pressed the stamp made of mage metal onto the young girl's neck, burning the number into her flesh. He watched as the surrounding skin sizzled and released steam.

The pain was like her blood was being turned into acid.

The smell of burning flesh entered his nostrils, but his hold didn't falter. Not until he received the desired result.

When he pulled back, he studied the newly formed burn mark under her left ear. The mark was an angry red colour around the edges, skin flayed. But the '6' swirled with purples and blues. It would become a permanent mark, displayed on her skin but indented to her soul.

Satisfied, he returned the metal piece to the anvil before turning back to her.

Momo cried endless tears.

He was surprised she hadn't lost consciousness. Most of the others had. Even the oldest among them, the doctor, couldn't keep her eyes open.

With his boot, he unlocked the wheels on the table legs and started moving her to the other end of his laboratory.

As they moved, Momo caught sight of something dangling from the ceiling. Blinking a few times, she soon discovered it was the deformed corpse of Vander. She screeched at the morbidity and began recoiling helplessly against the restraints.

"Don't worry child. I'll make great use of him," the man said before coming to a stop in front of a heavy metal door.

Momo whimpered when she felt the man's cold fingers brush against her skin as he unfasted the buckles pinning her to the table. She made no effort to move, her limbs stiff.

"Come on now, it's time for you to meet the others."

Momo rolled off of the table and yanked herself to her feet. She ran off in the opposite direction, only for her knees to buckle and plunge her to the floor. After letting out a startled 'oof', she pushed herself up and stumbled a little further before something whacked her over the head, sending her spiraling into darkness.

When she woke up again, her eyes could only remain open less than a second. It was too bright. It felt like both of her eyes were being pierced by the light.

"Oh, she's awake," someone said. A boy.

More voices spoke afterwards, all jumbling together into something she couldn't decipher.