Into the Flames → Liam Dunbar [2]

Chapter Thirty-Six

"I remember it so vividly. I mean, every time I close my eyes, even if I just blink, I see it all over again. I see them, and I feel the pain all over again. It's the worst pain anyone could ever imagine. Just, just imagine being burned alive, over and over again; that's how I felt. Just constant fire.

"I suppose that's what they were meaning to do: to get immune to the fire. They had to get me used to it, and I guess that's how they decided to do it. You know those frogs? The poisonous ones? They can withstand their own poison because they're immune to it. I think that's how they were thinking.

"And after all that was over, a whole different kind of pain was endured. There were needles after needles that were being poked and prodded into my skin. Each one giving me – I don't really know how to explain it – it was like an acid. Yeah, that's it, like a corrosive acid was spilt on your skin, but they were injecting it into my blood stream. It probably wasn't acid, but that's what it felt like.

"They had these restraints. I guess they were iron, otherwise I would have broken straight through them. I pulled and pulled on them trying to get away from them and out of the horrible place, but each time my skin touched them, they burned. I remember getting a glimpse at my arms, and they were red, and raw, and bleeding. They burned my skin so badly that I could physically see the bone because all the skin and muscles were burned away.

"It was the grossest thing that I had ever seen, and it took me a few moments to realize that that was me. It was just me, not me seeing a picture of someone else, I was the one in that situation. It wasn't a tv show or anything, no that was real. I cried even more as the pain registered in my mind. If I recall, I actually puked all over the one Dread Doctor. He – it, whatever the hell they are, they were – when it leaned over to inject me with something else, I couldn't stop myself, and I just vomited all over it.

"The surgeon – that was the one – it hovered right over me. The lifeless eyes that could barely been seen behind the mask stared right at me, right into my soul. It was like all the oxygen in my lungs was suddenly pulled out, and I felt like I was suffocating. I thought I was going to die, right then and there. I also thought that maybe that would be the better option anyway. But all it did was set down the syringe and it left the room, the other two following behind it.

"It gave me a few minutes to recover. I tried to assess all the damage they had done. My neck was raw and swollen. I couldn't count how many shots they gave me. Apparently none of them were right, because they kept injecting ones a little different each time.

"I screamed and screamed for help. My throat was dry from how much I was screaming, both from pain and in hopes someone would find me. And someone did: a boy named Theo. He was two years older than me. I was ten, almost eleven, and he was thirteen. He looked so innocent back then. I know he wasn't. He was old enough to understand what was going on.

"He came over to me, and he didn't say anything, but he stood by my side and just stared. I yelled and pleaded for him to help me out, but he just stared. And that's when they came back: the loud steps of their heavy black boots on the cement. Theo didn't run. He didn't hide. He just stepped back and watched them work. He left when my screams got too loud for him.

"I passed out after that. When I woke up, I was somewhere else, somewhere completely different. My head was pounding, and my legs were as wobbly as a new born. I could barely stand up, and even if I could get up, it wasn't much use. The room was pitch black in there. I almost had a heart attack when the florescent light flipped on.

"That same boy showed up. He was dressed differently, and I assumed it was a new day. He still didn't say anything, but he helped me walk to one of the benches pressed up against the wall. The shirt I wore was bloody, ripped, and drenched in sweat. It was barely being held together. But Theo, he unzipped his sweater and handed it over to me.