Cataclysm

3.6

I woke up tied to a chair. It took me way too long to figure out where I was or why I couldn't move, but when I did, I let out a panicked yelp and jerked forward. There were two soldiers at the other end of the room, by the door, and they both chuckled under their breaths.

"Where - where am I? Leo? What's going on? Where are you? Why ..." I swallowed hard and tugged on my wrists, but they didn't move. They were tied to the back of my chair, I guessed. I could barely feel my fingers.

No one answered me.

"Leo?" I called again, my voice wavering. I wanted to sound strong and brave, but I was terrified.

"I'm sorry, Joel." Leo's scratchy voice came from the other side of the room, behind me.

"We're only saving everyone else," another voice said. It took me a second to comprehend what I'd heard. Varien.

"Varien?" I tried to twist around in my chair, but I couldn't see very much in the darkness. I swallowed hard, a pit sinking in my stomach. "You too? Who else is there?"

"Just us," Varien said. "And maybe Sky if you really want to count him. He's not here. He's the one I blackmailed to get you out there." He chuckled sadly.

"What did you do to Sky?" Leo demanded, his voice cracking.

"Nothing, don't worry."

"No one else is here?" I asked bitterly. "No one else is going to betray me?"

"No," a third voice said - one I knew I'd never forget. "But you'll do some betraying, won't you?" Howell entered the room and stalked toward me like a lion. Immediately, the scars on my back tingled like crazy. "Alright, Joel. Listen up and you won't get hurt. I know how much you hate pain." He chuckled and I shivered. "Though the other two have been very good at helping, I can't seem to get anything out of them about the silent boy. None of my methods seemed to work." He rounded the chair and rested a gun against my temple. Immediately, I went rigid. "Tell me where he is," he ordered.

"You won't kill me," I whispered. "You need me alive."

"For what?" he said, laughing again. "I don't need you at all. I can always get another one." He pressed the gun harder against me and I winced in pain, trying to make myself look smaller. "Where is he?"

"I ..." I hesitated and brought my shoulders up. "I don't know?" I tried.

The gunshot sounded more like an explosion, and I screamed, jerking in my chair. He didn't even hit me. He was aiming at the wall. It was a warning shot.

"Wrong answer," Howell said coldly.

My ears were ringing, the sound of the gunshot rattling through my skull. I didn't bother trying to speak. I couldn't do it anyway.

He rounded my chair and backhanded me across the face - though I'm not sure if it can really be called backhanding, since he hit me with the gun, too. I jerked to the side with a gasp of pain, stars dotting my vision. My face stung where he'd hit me.

"You have three seconds to tell me where he is or I will kill you. Do you understand?" Howell ordered.

I honestly don't know what I was thinking at this point. I was terrified out of my mind. He started to count, and I could feel the sweat plaster my shirt to my back and soak my hair, dripping down my face. I think I was crying. I didn't want to die. I knew he'd kill me. I knew he wasn't bluffing. And I knew I was a coward.

So I told him.

"Perfect," Howell said, overlapping with Leo's terrified yell. "That was a lot easier than I thought. I didn't even have to shoot you. See, Joel, us  humans are all the same." He slipped the gun back in his belt and motioned for the two guards at the door. "Take him to a cell in the arena. I want him fighting Leo tomorrow night."