Blood Iris

Chapter Seven

I woke with a start. I tried to move my arms and legs, but they were bound to a metal chair. A metal chair. Oh no.

I looked down at my body and saw the wires stuck to me in various places. The dread in my stomach grew as I realized what was going on.

An electric chair. They were going to try to torture information out of me. Information that I didn't have.

I began to panic. My breathing became more rapid and I frantically looked for signs of people in the small dark room. I saw no one, just a cart with deadly-looking tools on it.

I struggled, trying to escape the impossibly tight bonds around my waist, wrists, and ankles. All it did was bruise and cut my skin.

The door behind the chair slammed open. I heard multiple footsteps and strained to see behind me.

Kara's face came into view. She was smiling, and it was not a pretty sight. Especially when you were strapped to a chair that could deliver volts of pain through your body, and she had the controls.

The next two faces were familiar and unwelcome. The two girls who had attacked me in the train station. I tried not to react to the girl with the scarred cheek. I didn't need any more anger directed at me while I was strapped to a metal chair and very vulnerable.

Kara glided over to the controls for my chair, while my two attackers took their place next to the cart. She stroked the buttons and switches, each movement making me more and more sick with dread.

"So, Victoria," Kara's deadly gaze found mine, "it's been a while, hasn't it? I haven't seen you since you left on your first mission. Is that right?"

She must have seen my eyes widen slightly from fear, because her smile grew menacingly.

"Oh yes. I know all about that. Nothing is classified to me. I know all about you. Everything you've done." She paused and stared into my terrified eyes. My fear only made her more confident. "You've been a bad girl! Not very obedient are you? A rebel. Well, Victoria, you won't disobey me when I'm done with you."

"You don't know me." I said, trying to push my fear down, deeply under all my other repressed feelings. "You don't know how much pain I can take."

She looked slightly startled by the confidence in my voice. She had only expected fear and submission. It was what she thrived off of. This new confidence vibe threw her a little.

"Well, well, well, it seems that you do live up to your reputation after all." Her face was composed again, it was if I hadn't affected her at all. But I knew differently. I could see through the lie on her face. I had shaken her, she just didn't want me to see it. "This will be a fun challenge! I haven't had a challenge in ages."

She leaned close, her crazy eyes too close. "We are going to have lots of fun together!"

She laughed her haunting laugh as she turned her back, striding back to the control box.

"Tell me what I want to know." She didn't turn around.

"What do you want to know?"

"Wrong answer!" She flipped a switch and pressed a button.

A dizzying pain swept through my whole body, sending my brain into overdrive as it tried to comprehend all the pain. When it stopped, my scream echoed throughout the room.

"Why did you leave us? Did you really think you could get away?" Her tone was cold.

"I did get away. Don't you remember? I was gone for almost a year. Didn't you miss me? I was gone for longer than any of you!" My voice was raw from screaming, but I still had enough to yell at her.

The pain returned, tripled in intensity. My thoughts became jumbled as every cell in my body felt the sharp pain of the electricity.

When she stopped, it took a lot of willpower and strength to form coherent sentences. "You- you're just jealous." I managed to get out, my voice trembling.

At this she spun around, a triumphant smile on her face. "Jealous? Of you? Ha! Absolutely not."

"No." I managed to get out. My voice was breathy and it shook with pain. "You- you're jealous that I- I was- was able- t- to get out. You want- you want to- to esc- escape like I d- did."

I saw her freeze through my red and puffy eyes. Then she shook her surprise off and replaced it with anger. She was angry that I figured her out so quickly and that she couldn't get over her feelings. She was mostly angry that she couldn't escape.

As I watched her anger grow, I realized I was wrong. She wasn't angry, she was furious. That was really bad when I was at her mercy and strapped to an electric chair.

I watched with horror as she spun in her place, flipping all the switches up furiously. Her closed fist slammed the red button down.

The pain was excruciating. I couldn't think or feel. I was consumed by the cloud of numbness. I wasn't numb to the pain, rather I was paralyzed, unable to do anything but accept the pinpricks of pain coursing through every inch of my body. Except they weren't pricks from pins, they were gaping wounds from knives, tearing through my resolve.

By now I was crying in between the blood-curdling screams. My tears mixed with the blood streaming from my nose and ran down my face, staining my white tank top.

It finally ceased after what seemed like hours but could only be moments.

My body still shook violently with the aftershocks of the waves of electrical agony. When I could finally breathe again, I opened my eyes. Her face was close, too close to mine.

Her words and tone chilled me to the bone, "Wrong answer."

I tried to look away and glance at her stoic side-kicks. For help? For maybe a look of sympathy or pity? Probably none of those.

She wretched my face back so I was staring into her eyes. "Don't ever speak to me that way again."

I couldn't reply. Even if I wanted to. I could barely breathe, let alone talk.

"I think that's enough for now. We'll finish this later." Her voice was deadly calm, promising that there was more to come, and I knew I probably wouldn't like it. They left the room, leaving me with my torturing thoughts. It seemed that I could never escape myself.