Survivor

Chapter 14

  Shepard
I shut my eyes and clenched my jaw as I tried desperately to control the pain that rushed though my body, which in turn made it hard to relax my aching muscles.
"What will we do to you next?" The Asari drawled out as she paced the room.
Every passing moment seemed like an eternity where I could only hope I could gather enough strength in me to fight until someone comes.
Garrus will come. He always does. I could only rely on that hope and thought. He's coming.
Another kick to my back made me clench my jaw tighter and my muscles tense against my will.
"No sleeping, bitch. You have a long day ahead of you and I want you awake for every single moment."
"Trust me, I'm not sleeping with your stink and incessant voice like acid grating through the room," I ground out through my teeth.
I slowed my breathing again, my N7 training aiding in pain management yet again. I did a mental checklist of what was still functional. My legs, mainly my left would be workable, though strenuous activity with the right would agitate my gunshot wound in my right side.
My head ached from the knock I gave to the Asari, but I didn't think there was any signs of concussion.
My wrist was definitely broken, if not shattered, as was my hand, so my left hand was unusable besides for steadying.
"I'm back with the bag," the Turian, Tiberius announced.
  "Finally, you damn idiot. How long does it take to get a damn bag?" Batarian.
  "I was disabling the cameras, if you must know."
  "Yeah? It takes that long? What-"
  "Enough." The Asari sounded irritated and I heard someone open the bag.
  "Is this kit complete? Juice and all?" Asari.
  "Of course. I don't bring incomplete supplies." Tiberius.
  "Good." Asari.
  I heard someone approach me and tensed up.
  Something cut through my tee shirt, which left me in my sports bra that thankfully covered me well.
  I felt something cold and sticky applied to my stomach, above my navel and another to my right ribs, a quarter of the way up them.
  "Alright, now that they're on, you can know what those were," the Asari said, almost in a bored tone. "Those were electrical patches. I have the controls here. See?"
  A sharp pain went through me as she activated them for a moment.
  "The reason they're there are for maximum pain impact without killing you. Torture, if you must call it that. If I would have put them too close to your heart, it would have killed you too soon. Here, it's perfect. Probably will still screw with your heart, but it's inevitable anyways. This is for while I decide what to do with you next and between ideas.
  "Jonus, have fun with this."
  I  heard footsteps approach as the Asari's retreated.
  My heart sank. This must be the Batarian.
  Just as the realization hit, the electricity ripped through my body, which made my muscles contract painfully. This also irritated my injuries and I couldn't hold back the scream as the pain tore through my body.
  My body contracted into a ball further so my knees were pressing to my forehead and my back was arched out from my core muscles contracting so much.
  Finally and abruptly, it stopped and I struggled to catch my breath with sweat already forming on my skin.
  I was grateful for my skin being exposed on my torso, because it was the only thing that let me cool enough.
  I could hear the Batatian, Jonus laughing behind me.
  I wanted to spit an insult at him, but my mouth was too dry for me to do anything more than gasp for air.
  "Round two!"
  The electricity jolted through me in quick bursts now, almost making my body move as if I were having a seizure instead of being tortured.
  I bit back the scream that burned in my throat and clenched my hands instead where I could feel my nails about to pierce my skin.
You've beat worse, you can do this, I thought to myself. You've just got to hold out until they let down their guard, they think you're weak.
Finally, the next pulse I had been expecting didn't come and I laid there panting from the pain and heat radiating off my body.
"Don't kill her yet, Jonus. It might be harder with that but it's still possible."
I could hear what I assumed the Asari come over to stand behind me and I braced myself for the kick.
Sure enough, it came, right behind my wound and I cried out, unable to bite back that scream.
"See? Hard to kill her."
"She's hard to kill even without something helping keep you on track," Jonus muttered.
"Even so, let's not chance anything. Maybe she's not at tough as they say."
I gritted my teeth but forced myself to concentrate on my breathing and pain management.
"So, Shepard. Besides those electric pads on you, how many times have you been burned?" The Asari asked.
I could smell the distinct scent of metal heating and I squeezed my eyes shut.
"Come on, Shepard. How many? Every time you don't answer, you're going to get burned."
Someone grabbed my arms and rolled me onto my back roughly, but I controlled my breathing and clenched my jaw.
Suddenly, searing pain radiated from my stomach as the hot metal burned me and was held there. I couldn't hold back the scream that tore out of me and I fought to keep myself from thrashing around and furthering the burn.
Finally, it was lifted and I gasped for air, my breathing harsh and fast with my eyes stretched wide open.
"How many times, Shepard?"
I worked up enough spit to send in the direction of her voice, but by her laugh, I missed.
"So sad, the great Commander Shepard reduced to nothing but a child on the floor."
The searing pain hit my stomach again and I ground my teeth together for a moment before I couldn't contain my scream anymore.
The hot metal pulled away and I felt the Asari straddle me before she leaned forward with the hot metal pressed against my left cheek.
"It would be smart of you to answer my questions."
"Maybe if your questions weren't as stupid as you. Do you really think a soldier is able to keep track of how many times and how they were wounded?"
The metal pressed further to my skin and I sucked in a breath through clenched teeth.
"I wouldn't smart off, if I were you. It's not very wise when you're the victim in this."
The metal retreated and I took my chance.
I twisted my hips so the Asari was thrown off of me and I jumped to my feet and ran.
My outstretched hand caught the left side of the doorframe soon and I corrected to the right so I made it out into the hall with the shouts of the angry Asari telling her goons to catch me.
I ran faster as I ignored the pain in my side and wrist, before I barely slowed in time to hurry down the stairs.
Unfortunately, going down the stairs wasn't my strength and I took a tumble halfway down. I slipped under the railing and landed on my ass, which sent pain through my body, especially in my waist.
I whimpered and staggered to my feet as I heard my attackers thundering down the stairs.
I found my guide rug and ran on it toward the door, right as I heard it slide open.
I shouted in surprise and jumped back with my arms shielding my face before I stumbled back to the ground on my ass again.
"Samantha!" I recognized Garrus' voice immediately and let out a sob of relief.
I felt his body move in front of mine as my attackers came rushing toward us with shouts of anger toward me.
"What the hell?!" The Asari exclaimed.
I felt Garrus' body move with the shot he fired from his pistol before I heard a body fall to the ground. "Get down on the ground, now or you two are next!"
I heard more footsteps behind us as more people rushed in announcing themselves as Citadel Security and I relaxed, leaning against Garrus for support as my eyes drifted shut.
"Samantha?" I felt him turn and his arms wrapped around me. "Spirits, what the hell did they do to you? Stay with me, Sam. You're safe now."
I felt my body going limp even as I hoped to reply to him. Thank him for coming, for being there always, but I couldn't even part my lips.
I felt him lift me into the air and whimpered in pain and he apologized over and over again as he carried me off.
The last thing I remembered before I passed out was him loading me into a Skycar and telling me I would be alright.

((A/N: Chapter 14, guys!!!! I hope it's finally getting good for you guys lol I actually had fun even though I struggled a little with these last two chapters but I hope it was worth it! Next one should be interesting, too! Well, the rest of the book should be interesting lol anyways, if ya liked it please don't forget to vote and comment!!! Thanks so much for reading!!!))