𝐂𝐫𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 ⋆ 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯 𝘹 𝘰𝘤 ⋆ 𝘳𝘥𝘳2

Chapter XLIV: The Mumfree Broad

  I squeeze my eyes shut just as quickly as I opened them. My entire body is sore and weak, especially my face. I slowly blink my eyes open but am only able to open one eye completely, the other is barely even halfway open. I lightly touch my right eye and feel what seems to be a large bump where my eyelid should be. 

  I only now notice of where I'm being kept; a makeshift cage made out of thick tree branches all tied together tightly with rope. Whoever has taken me here has changed me out of my old clothes and into a dirty off-white nightgown and has let my hair down out of my usual braid.

  The condition of my arms and legs cause me to lightly gasp, bruises reside all over varying from dark blue-ish purple to small light green ones. The darker bruises are sore to the touch, causing me to whimper softly. 

  I try to look around for anything that could help the situation. To the right of me just a few feet away, I see a man laying with his back towards me as he rests his back on the walls of the cage. Maybe if we somehow worked together we could both manage to leave this cave alive.

  "Hey!" I harshly whisper in hopes to capture the man's attention, he doesn't respond. I look down and look around for anything I can toss over to him. I settle with a small rock, more of a pebble, but if I could hit him with it maybe he'll turn around. I toss the rock and it hits him directly in the back. Nothing.

  "Hey... buddy, hey!" I try to shout as loudly yet as quietly as I can. Still nothing.

  "He can't hear ya, missy." A voice speaks, I instantly dart my head over towards the shorter and stick-thin man wearing nothing but an old pair of grey ranch jeans. My blood ices over as I slowly begin to push myself back until my spine hits the side of the cage. 

  The sickly looking man opens the other cage with the slice of a giant machete, easily cutting through the rope that kept the cage shut. The dirty man pulls the body out of the wooden prison by dragging him by the collar of his shirt. 

  "You been out for a bit, had a few of us worried for ya." 

  I find myself chuckling to his words. His head instantly darts over towards me once he hears. I keep a small smirk plastered across my lips as I shake my head.

  "You don't scare me."

  The man's demeanor changes, he seems almost... offended. His hands grip tightly around the handle of the weapon as he glares directly into my eyes. The man turns around and begins walking towards me. I press my back up further towards the back of the wall as he cuts to rope with the dulling blade. He opens the door and just stands there for a few seconds. I can barely see the sight of his hideous face as the fire illuminates behind him. 

  He begins to walk towards me slowly as the tension builds. He then crouches down in front of me, his face only inches from mine. My heart begins to beat out of my chest once he raises the tip of the machete to my scarred cheek. I turn my head away from him. Apparently he doesn't like my actions because the machete is pressed against the bottom of my chin, turning my head back towards him.

  "Such a gorgeous face..." He starts and starts to glide the tip of the machete once more along my cheek, he slightly pushes my hair back revealing my scar. His eyebrows furrow looking at my imperfection. "I bet this hurt, hm?"

  "I've felt worse." I reply after a few seconds. The man slowly nods before pushing the tip of the jagged weapon into my skin. My breathing becomes quick as tears gather in my eyes as the blade reopens my skin. It hurts ten times worse than when the O'Driscoll did it, this time it feels deeper. I feel the blood rush down my chin and down my neck. I silently thank God whenever he stops his rebranding.

  "That weren't nothin' missy, believe me." 

  "Ricky?" Another male voice calls, the man in front of me just turns his head slightly.

  "I'm busy!" Ricky shouts to the man.

  "I was just wondering what you wanted done with this feller."

  Ricky turns around towards the other man for a few seconds then back at me. "Just a second."

  With that, the other man walks back to where he once came. Ricky takes me by surprise when he holds the blade up to my throat.

"You ever feel real pain, missy? The type of pain where you could scream for days up till your little lungs finally give out? A pain so extreme where you don't even think to cry because the pain is the only thing takin' over y'er mind? You ever felt that?"

I keep my stare cold and mouth shut. If I even let my guard down for a second, who knows what these animals would do to me.

"That feller did, right over there," Ricky tells me and points his machete over to the gutted man just a few feet away, I look at the dead man laying on the cold ground. "Just went on an' on about 'Please I got a family' and 'Please I don't wanna die'.. all that shit."

His mockery of that poor man turns my stomach upside down to the point where I feel vomit beginning to build up. Ricky stands up completely and walks over to the corpse.

"But you wanna know the one thing he did that... really irritated me? Hm?" Ricky asks and grabs the back of the man's head, pulling it up and towards me so I can get a clear view. The man's jaw is broken and hanging open, his eyeballs sewn shut with bloody burlap twine, his tongue cut out and a few teeth are missing or chipped.

"He prayed. Prayed to his precious Lord above asking for forgiveness and to keep his family safe... as if it was gonna do any good. Any time he prayed, we'd break his hands... then pop his knees off... 'ventually we just cut his tongue out so we didn't have to hear him anymore. Didn't even stop him. Every single Goddamn moment we'd hear him praying to his God. Then... his body just... gave out."

I wish I had looked away from the horrid sight of Ricky raising his machete up over his head and slicing the machete clean through the back of the man's neck, detaching his head from his body. The rest of the man's body just drops back down onto the ground, blood slowly begins to flow out onto the stone floor. Ricky begins to walk back over towards me still holding the decapitated head.

Ricky crouches back down in front of my wooden prison, just staring into my eyes.

"You believe in God, missy?"

I try not to stare at the head in Ricky's hands as I slowly shake my head. Ricky smiles in what seems to be satisfaction showing off his top yellow and black crooked teeth.

"Purty and smart," Ricky starts and points the machete my way, "I reckon you would've made a man real happy."

Ricky stands up slowly and turns around to walk away. He makes sure to retie the door with some extra rope he carried in his overalls as tightly as he can. Rage begins to build up in my core causing my eyes to water and my muscles tense up.

"You're all gonna die."

Ricky finishes tying the door and stares coldly down at me. I can see the pure hatred in his evil glare.

"Out of everyone in this cave, I'd be worryin' about your own life."

And with that, Ricky once again begins to walk away still gripping the man's head in his hand and machete in the other. The machete's blade drips thick blood with each step he takes.

I exhale a deep shaky breath as I pull my knees to my chest. My entire body begins to tremble. I drop my head down between my knees as I silently begin to pray.