Bound to Suffer

The bells. They took another one of us. I’ll never see them again. <i>Confinement seems to have done quite a number on your mental faculties.</> Perhaps. What am I saying? Am I at my wits’ end? <i>You've stopped praying for salvation. No one is coming. Better to pray for the sweet release of death.</> They don’t want us to die. They want us to suffer. Twice a day, they throw us scraps of food, barely enough to keep us going. <i>It’s like they want you to cling to the hope of ever leaving this nightmare, only for them to take it away.</> The inhuman sounds these monsters make while they torment us. It almost sounds like… <i>They’re deriving pleasure from it.</> I hear the bells again. We’re next.

<i>‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’</> Another scream. It hurts. I don’t want to hear it. Please. It was not supposed to be like this. We’d grab whatever treasure awaited and leave. Simple as that. I guess you could say I got lucky. I rushed in to see what I could find. On my way back, I heard a commotion. We were trapped. And then, the first scream. Was there ever a treasure to begin with? <i>‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’</> Another one. The way it echoes. Like it will never end. I don’t know how much more of this I can take. I know I should help, but my body refuses to obey. Instead, I find myself mumbling in an attempt to drown their screams. ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry!’

‘Incoming, on your left!’ The sound of my rifle’s blast immediately follows my partner’s callout as I take the final Bound out. And then, silence. ‘Did we make it?!’ she asks incredulously as she catches her breath. ‘Ha, ha! Wait until the others back at the camp hear about this!’ Without wasting time, I holster my weapon and signal her to move. ‘C’mon, let’s get out of this forsaken place.’ But she doesn’t move. I look back, and her eyes are wide open. ‘…Can you hear that?’ The sound of a monstrous beating heart gradually fills the room, followed by too many screeches to count. My partner readies her weapon. She yells at me to get ready. I can’t. I drop to my knees, tears streaming from my eyes. They were playing with us… We never had a chance.