Six Stone Souls (The Pack)

Chapter 27

Warnings: Torturrrrreeeeee/blood

     ~Vikk's P.O.V.~

Herobrine closes his eyes, and when they open, a bright flash emits from them. All at once, the entire roofed bedrock dome subsides into the ground. In its place, walls appear on all four sides of us, in a 50x50x50 cube, and a roof closes it off. A single line of blocks remain clear, to allow light to spill into the room, at the level of our heads. Then a metal pole it rising near the end of the room in front of us. Herobrine dissespears, and the ground all around the pole vanishes, so if you fell you'd fall into the void.

At first we're confused, but then suddenly a bedrock chain, with some sort of clamp on the end, is shooting towards Lachlan at breakneck speed. The collar clamp thing slams shut around his neck, and in a snap he's being dragged back towards the pole, coughing and choking as the unbreakable rock strangles him. The chain retracts all the way back into the pole, so Lachlan is suspended by only his neck, his back pressed up again the pole, and the void spanning out beneath him.

"LACHLAN!" We shriek, as he gasps, claws, and kicks, trying to pry himself loose. But he can't move.

All at once the five of us stumble forwards, only to be knocked back by some sort of invisible force field. Barrier blocks... Lachlan's eyes are wide in fear as he dangles above the void. Is becomes apparent the collar isn't going to suffocate or hang him, yet it's merely there to keep him in place. Lachlan then looks up, and past us, glaring daggers. We whirl around with faces of rage to see Herobrine standing behind us, smirking.

"What are you going to do?! Drop me?!" Lachlan shrieks from behind us.
"If Jerome shoots that shadow ball I might." Herobine replies offhandedly, glancing sideways at Jerome.

Jerome glares, but lets the shadows disappear.

"I'll let you go before the arrows kill you-"
"ARROWS?!" Rob screeches.
"-but I can't guarantee you'll survive afterwards.... After all... You're going to be losing s lot of blood..." Herobrine continues as if he had not heard Rob. "I have some things to tend to. HaVE FuN." And with that Herobrine is gone.

As soon as he's gone, I instantly turn back towards Lachlan, who has tears in his eyes.

"Lachlan! We're gonna get you out of there somehow!" I assure him, the five of us rushing towards the edge of the force field.
"Just hang in there!" Preston chimes in.

Lachlan opens his mouth to speak, but instead a scream of pure agony and pain rings out. My eyes instantly are drawn to the arrow protruding from his upper arm, blood starting to shift down its shaft. And then another one comes. And another. And another. They keep coming rapid fire from seemingly the air, lodging to every part of his body that isn't his neck or head. Another arrow... Another scream of pain, and another attempt on our part to free him. But it's no use. The barrier is too strong, and it's all we, I, can to do watch on miserably with tears spilling down my cheeks as Lachlan in hit time and time again.

     An arrow flies and sinks itself into his stomach, and he lets out another strangled scream, hot tears covering his red face. With every arrow that hits, his cried become weaker, until he's hanging there just barley conscious, with eyes half lidded.

     "...Lachlan..." I mumble feebly, watching as another arrow sinks into his leg. He jerks, but doesn't cry out.

     I don't even need to look to know everyone else is crying helplessly too, watching our innocent little Lachy being stabbed by arrows by the second. His entire body and clothing is soaked in blood now, and his arms are still limply gripping around the bedrock collar keeping him in place. A final arrow sails, embedding itself near the middle of his chest, before its finally over.

     The bedrock surround us disappears, the gaping hole leading down into the void fills in, and Lachlan falls with s sickening thud to the grassy ground, blood instantly staining the dirt. The others, still in shock, are frozen on the spot. Myself on the other hand... I scramble to my feet and quickly stumble towards Lachlan's limp form, his breathing light and fast.

     "...vikk....?" He calls out, no louder than grass blowing silently in the wind.
     "I-it's okay Lachy, y-you're ok-kay..." I sob quietly, resting my hand on a section of his arm that isn't taken up by an arrow.

     Tears still pool in his nearly shut eyes, and he seems to be hanging on by only a thread. No arrows are stuck in his back, but there must be at least over thirty altogether. Wiping away my tears- which are quickly replaced- I turn back to Rob, still staring at Lachlan like he expects items to burst out around him, and his body to disappear.

     "Rob! Get over here, quickly!" I command, careful not to shout too loud.

     Rob shakes his head, snapping back into reality and realizing he has healing powers, and he can potentially save Lachlan's life. Rob rushes towards us, follow soon by Preston, Mitch, and Jerome.

     "O-okay... We need to take the arrows out one at a time..." He stutters weakly, "They're keeping a lot of blood from escaping, so I need to heal him as soon as one comes out."
     "Got it..." I mutter, Lachlan's breath becoming more shallow and ragged with every passing second.

     Preston, Jerome, and Mitch watch nauseously as I take ahold of one of the arrows in his stomach, most likely drawing the most blood. With a deep breath, I hardly rip out the arrow, Lachlan barley flinching in response, even though I'm sure the pain is literally killing him. The moment bloodied arrow is out, tons of blood starts to gush out. Rob is just as quick, and heals the wound before anymore blood can escape. I move to another arrow on his torso, and the process repeats.

     By the time all the arrows are out, Preston has already thrown up, Rob is nearly fainting from the extension of his power he needed to use, Lachlan has slipped into a deep sleep, and Mitch and Jerome both look permanently scarred. Rob, after sealing the last wound, falls back in exhaustion, collapsing on the ground. He doesn't black out, but he certainly doesn't have enough energy to even open his eyes. The sun is about to set, and in the current conditions Rob and Lachlan are in, we are in no position to fight with mobs.

     With one last check to make sure Lachlan won't suddenly die, I turn to Preston, Mitch, and Jerome.

     "We need to take shelter for the night. Preston, you get Rob. Mitch, Jerome, one of you take Lachlan, he's too tall for me to carry."

     They solemnly nod, and Preston gently kneels by Rob, scooping his resting form into his arms. Mitch helps Jerome by lifting Lachlan onto his back, and holding him in place while Jerome adjusts the injured/healing Lachlan.

     "Be gentle with him, I don't want any of those wounds reopening." I warn Jerome, who nods silently.

     Relief washes over me, but I still can't get the gruesome image out of my brain. As we being trekking through the Savannah, to find a place to settle for the night, all I can think of is one thing.

     I'm going to kill Herobrine.

~~~

Question of the chapter:

Bet you didn't expect that, eh? Reactions anyone?

My answer: I feel so bad now... I literally wrote 1000+ words in relation to Lachlan being tortured almost to the point of death 😖