I try to sit up, and find that I cannot.
 |
| Card 15 of the Major Arcana, The Devil. Tarot images courtesy of http://rann-poisoncage.deviantart.com |
My arms and legs are paralyzed. They lay helplessly at my side...immobile and useless. My eyes have not yet betrayed me, they scan the room, desperately searching for something, anything that can explain what's going on. Drops of cold sweat gather on the surface of my skin. My breathing quickens as I begin to panic. I see motion in the shadows in the corner of the room, but it's gone by the time I turn to look.
Sibilant whispers chill my blood, and the sound of cold static....white noise hisses in the back of my brain. Rhythm permeates the sound, and a cadence slowly becomes apparent.
Slime and ice glide in tandem across my skin as unseen digits probe my motionless form. More hands join in the exploratory venture, and as I feel myself lifted from the mattress, my head lolls to one side, my gaze meeting yours. I know you are as helpless as I am, my will struggling to force out a cry, a farewell....something.
No words escape the prison of my throat, and I watch you recede into the shadows as I am pulled bodily from the house. My vision blurs and the night air raises gooseflesh over my naked form. I see vague images below me....houses I think, and hope wells within my breast. If a curious neighbor were to look up, hopefully a floating naked man would at least rouse enough curiosity to investigate further. However, that hope is soon dashed. There is no time left. I have reached my mid-air destination.
Blinding white light assails my senses as I approach an immense shape floating before me in the sky. Dimension is hard to judge with my senses dulled, but it just feels....immense. My attempt at clinical assessment of the situation ends abruptly as I am taken aboard the strange floating craft. Instantly, my world is thrown into chaos. The previous gentleness of my captors is replaced with a casually cruel and brusque approach as I am transferred into the custody of something....new.
Immense fists close around my arms before slamming my body down onto a raised platform. I hear grunting and cannot tell whether it's the voices of my new custodians, or my own voice choking in pain. The breath rushes from my lungs, and an intense pain sets my nerves afire as I learn that paralyzation does not necessarily equate to a lack of sensation. Thick manacles are fastened around my limbs, perhaps in an effort to forestall the eventual struggle to restrain me once the paralytic effects of whatever they've done to me begins to wane.
What follows next is a blur of agony as I am tortured in a literally inhumane fashion. Previously undiscovered nerve endings are ravaged, in-between brief sessions of incoherent ramblings from my captors. Several hours in, and I slowly realize that the haze that's been clouding my thoughts is beginning to dissipate. In addition to this discovery, I realize that I'm starting to understand fragments of their tongue...
"When did you...? How many of.....? What was your purpose here?" The brutal interrogator inquires.
"My purpose where," I make the mistake of replying.
"At last the simpleton begins to remember....I thought we would kill him this time for sure," one of the creatures mutters in a guttural voice in response to my acknowledgement of understanding.
"It has assimilated far too much into this ridiculous world...it may be worthless," says the one currently stabbing a small metal cylinder into my left hip, just above my groin.
"What the fuck do you want," I ask, anger creeping into my voice as I find myself held in place only by the restraints. My limbs once more mine to command.
"Ha, it wants to know what we want," laughs the creature with the stabbing fetish, then to me he replied, "We want to know what you remember. Tell us, and we'll make it quick, worm!"
Further contemplation of my situation is forestalled however, when the restraints holding me in place open of their own accord. I turn to see my arms free, my captors mirroring my actions. Never one to look a gift-horse in the mouth, my first rage-fueled blow lands directly in the side of one creature's head. Staggering the brute, I spin him into his accomplice and leap from the table. A wave of agony passes through me as my tortured body resists my efforts to escape. Persevering, I remove the metal sliver from my torso, and stab it into the eye of the onrushing being. His scream of agony serves to reawaken my rage as I grapple him into a shielding position just as the second assailant's weapon fires. My living shield no longer viable, I push the lifeless husk forward, and dive for the limited cover offered by the torture platform.
"Bastard, I'll kill you slow for this," growls my lone remaining opponent. The glare from his blaster blindingly bright in the small cell, my vision is dazzled, and details begin to blur. A powerful arm reaches across the table and grabs me by the neck. As I am lifted into the air, I turn, and in a last-ditch effort to stay alive, I sink my teeth into the bastards arm. The sour taste of sweat mingles with the metallic tang of blood as my vicious and primal attack succeeds.
The howl of pain and fury deafens me, but I do not hesitate, instead closing the distance and throwing myself upon him. I continue my savage onslaught, sinking my thumbs into his eyes, my teeth biting through the cartilage of his nose.
We fall to the ground.
Stunned for the moment, my attacker screams next to me as I slowly regain my wits. Willing the confrontation to end, I find myself in possession of his weapon, the alien technology seeming somehow familiar in my hands. Ramming the barrel into his mouth, I activate the weapon, and decorate the chamber with what passes for his brains.
"That's that I guess," I mutter in the emptiness of the room, "now what?"
I sink to my knees in the gore splattered corner of the room, before the blackness of unconsciousness rises to claim me.
No comments:
Post a Comment