HUNT, OR BE HUNTED

CHAPTER 31: THE EXPERIMENT

The chains that held me down scraped against my skin as I desperately tried to break out from their rusty grasp. My wrists were cuffed, and so were my ankles. I felt like a wild animal, being chained down so that I wouldn’t hurt anyone.

“What are you doing to me?” I tugged on the chains, biting back a yell as the metal cut into my skin.

“I’m simply going to make you lose it, that’s all,” Seth said. “All you have to do is let it all out. How simple is that?”

“What?”

“It’s really very simple,” Seth was right in front of me-if I wasn’t cuffed, I would have landed a hard punch on that face of his.

“What do you want, Seth? Why are you doing this?”

“I’m carrying out an experiment,” he said, clicking his teeth.

“What, so now I’m your lab rat?”

“Ah, ah,” he wagged his index finger at me. “I never said anything like that.”

“How do you expect me to lose it?” I asked him. “I have total control over myself. There is no way you can make me lose it.” I narrowed my eyes challengingly at him.

He eyed me for a moment, studying me as if I was an insane person. And then, all of a sudden, he burst into hysterical laughter. So did his men, who were standing all around the cavern. “That’s the joke of the year.”

I felt insulted. I wanted to make him suffer, make him pay for every single thing he ever did.

“Now, where were we?” he cleared his throat, and turned back to look at me. “Right, about making you lose it.”

“What was it with Bane the last time, huh? You planned to do this to him, is that right? That’s why you let him out?”

“I trusted him, that bastard. I mean, he doesn’t look like the type who would actually lend you wimps a helping hand. But things seemed to have gone the other way round, so…oh wells,” Seth shrugged.

“You can’t just simply earn one’s trust,” I snapped. “Bane did the right thing-he let the good guys free.”

“No, he let the monsters run free. Why do you think I’m keeping you here, huh? It’s for your own good! What if you go around murdering people? Won’t you be better off here?”

“I’d rather die than be your prisoner,” I snarled.

“Well, that’s ironic, because you are my prisoner, yet you don’t look as if you are about to give up on life. All your words are bull, Jared. Let’s just get to it, shall we?” he smirked, rubbing his hands together.

“What are you going to do to me?” I watched his every move as he walked towards one of his men, and whispered something inaudible to him. The man nodded, and left.

“Just wait,” Seth said, and moments later, the man returned. He was holding something long in his hands. From where I was, it looked like a spear similar to the one I had seen in the woods, the weapon that had killed the bear.

Seth smiled as he picked up the tool, and then fixed his eyes on me. “Show time,” he said, and plunged the weapon deep into my stomach.

The pain was unbearable. I wanted to scream my lungs out and tear myself out of the chains holding me. I just wanted the pain to stop.

“Lose it, Jared. Just lose it,” Seth mocked, and he twisted the spear violently to the right. I heard a disgusting sound as the weapon tore open my skin. God, why did it hurt so much?

“What…the hell…are you doing…” I gritted my teeth in agony. I could feel my shirt wetting with my blood.

“I’m provoking the monster inside you,” he replied casually. “Just let it out, and the pain will go away.”

“You can’t do this…” I closed my eyes as he pushed the tip of the spear deeper inside my abdomen. I was pretty sure he had damaged some major organs.

“It’s simply a test to see how strong you are at controlling yourself. If you manage to go through all this torture without losing it, I’ll let you walk out the door.”

Seth sounded so confident-it was as if he knew that I couldn’t control it. “This is madness…” I was breathing hard, and my head was turning foggy.

“You are losing control…” Seth stifled a laugh. “And this is only just the first step.”

“No,” I shook my head. “You can’t-” my words slurred as I felt warm blood trickling down my leg.

“I can do whatever I can. I’m saving your sorry arse,” Seth stepped back for a moment, and pulled out something from his pocket.

“What-” I raised my head weakly, only to receive a gunshot to my right shoulder. I cried out loudly, staggering when he shot me again.

“You are holding it in pretty well,” Seth stopped shooting after the fifth bullet was embedded inside me. “Let’s see how long you can suffer the pain.”

I was bleeding badly from all the wounds, but there was something inside me that told me not to give up. If I lost it, all hell would break loose, and I would have no recollection of anything that happened. I was already on my knees, my blood pooling on the dusty ground.

Seth was gripping another weapon in his hand-it looked like some kind of samurai sword I had seen in movies. I had only begun to open my mouth to say something when there was a sharp pain at my torso, just under my throat.

“Imagine being cut open alive,” Seth said as he ran the blade slowly across my skin, drawing blood. “Imagine not being able to die while you are being dissected.”

“You…devil…from…hell…”

I had never felt any pain like this before. The agony never subsided, but seemed to have worsened. I felt as if I was being cut open alive, and that my insides were already exposed. At that very moment, I just wished my life would end.

“Give up already?” the son of a b- was smiling from ear to ear. He was obviously enjoying himself.

“You do know…that if I lose it,” I paused, struggled to catch my breath. “I will kill you, right?”

“I am very well aware of that,” he nodded. “But then again, you are not that strong.”

“I swear…I will kill you…”

“Let’s see you do that,” he threatened menacingly. And that was when I felt it. A burning rage inside me, a fire that could not stop flaring.

I tried to ignore it, but failed.

No. Please, no.

Time froze. So did everything else around me.

The burning sensation was too intense. I had no control over it, no control over myself. No control at all…

I lost it.