Fallen Hero
Loneliness. Fear. Pain.
The three words that perfectly summed up Jack's life now. The feelings he had to cope with. To accept. To deal with. To hide. Since the day Cheng had taken him. His life could have worked out, but yet again he laid down his life for the good of his country and this time it was taken. China would not forgive him; they would make his life hell.
Jack sat in his small, cramp cell, his back pressed against the cold gray concrete wall. The cell was just about big enough for him to lie down in; but there was no bed, and no blankets to keep him warm through the harsh cold nights. The corner of the cell functioned as a toilet, which meant it was only cleaned when the stench could be smelt from the officer's break room.
The conditions Jack now lived in caused him to get sick and he usually threw up daily just from the smell. The only light that entered was through the grate in the heavy steal door. The grate could be opened like a sort of cat flap so Jack's stale bread, water and the occasional bowl of rice could be delivered.
Jack heard footsteps on the other side of the door and flinched backwards as the grate opened and the hands of a Chinese guard grabbed the empty bowl and cup. When the grate closed again Jack thought that maybe (for today at least) he would be left alone. Left to build up some strength; ready and waiting for Cheng to crush.
Then suddenly, the door burst open and light flooded into the room. Jack squinted but managed to look up at the doorway where Cheng now stood in the same black suit and red tie he wore everyday. He was flanked by two of the guards proudly wearing their green uniforms and black officer caps; they stood bolt upright but both had huge smiles across their faces. Every guard smiled when they entered his cell; in this prison they all enjoyed the same thing. Beating the hell out of Jack.
Cheng kept his eyes fixed on him but spoke quickly in Chinese. The guards came up to Jack and grabbed his arms pulling him up. Jack yelped out as pain rushed threw his body. The cuts and burns up and down his torso never had the chance to heal. Cheng made sure of that.
Jack received a knee to the gut for his small outburst. He wanted to scream out and attack the guards but he was too weak; and all it would do was earn him some cruel punishment that would result with more pain. So Jack simply let them drag him out of the cell.
He was expecting the guards to take him to the interrogation room; where all the equipment would be laid out for the guards to have their fun with, whilst Jack sat silently ignoring Cheng's questions. If there was one thing that pleased Jack since he'd gotten here it was the fact that Cheng had yet make him talk; threw all the pain and torture he still hadn't broken.
Jack had gotten used to the routine now. But still everyday he'd hope they'd leave him alone. Forget about him. Leave him alone with only his memories for company. Jack always imagined he was somewhere else when they started hurting him. He'd block out the pain and go into his own world; Cheng couldn't touch his mind. Whilst they did unimaginable things to him he'd simply imagine he was back with Audrey.
He would remember the times they spent together, like their first date or the their first kiss, or the first time they met.
When Jack started his first day of work for Secretary Heller in DC he was told he'd be working closely with his boss's daughter, Audrey. Jack thought she would be the usual boring bureaucrat like all the others and Jack's days would just be full of talking about this rule, that protocol and how this should be done and thinking how much he wanted to be back at CTU. He prepared himself and walked into the office he'd been sent to by the secretary; Audrey was sitting at her desk working on her laptop; Jack thought she looked stunning with her long blonde hair hanging down past her shoulders. He even thought he was in the wrong room. He was looking for a stern faced rule loving women but here was this beautiful, very casual looking and blissful angel.
Jack managed to make a complete fool of himself by asking Audrey where exactly he could find Mrs. Raines; which made Audrey chuckle before introducing herself; 'Actually it's Miss Raines' she said to Jack who was smiling but had turned slightly pink with embarrassment. Audrey simply smiled and gave him a wink and that was when Jack was hooked, he was head over heels in love from that moment on.
During the six months after they first met Jack and Audrey's relationship had grown and grown, they would go out together everyday after work to restaurants, the park and even baseball games. They would usually spend weekends at each other's apartments and Audrey always managed to get their hotel rooms next to each other whilst on business trips with her father.
But then the day Audrey was kidnapped; she saw the other side of him; then after watching as he let her husband die Audrey couldn't even stand to be near him anymore. When she told him they were over it hit him like a dagger through the heart. Audrey saw exactly what he'd been running away from, his deep dark secret he had never wanted her to know about.
Nevertheless after 18 months he came back from the dead; Audrey was there. There to say she didn't blame him. To give him a second chance. But again as soon as something good happened it was taken away. Jack was forced to resign to the fact that he'd never be happy again. That he'd never get another chance at his life. That all that was left for him now was to die as the man who never gave up his country. The agent that never gave anything to the enemy. A silent hero.
As the guards dragged him along, his bare feet scraping against the rough floor, he tried to keep his head down and just let them do what they wished with him. Jack lifted his head slightly and noticed that the guards were not taking him to the interrogation room; they dragged him down another corridor he'd never set foot in before.
The corridors were lit by cheap light bulbs dangling from the ceiling; the walls covered with mold from the damp. Jack saw a large, badly damaged wooden door at the corridor's end. Light was shining through the gaps in between the door and it's frame; but as well as the light Jack realized that as they approached the door he was breathing in fresh air. Which could only mean one thing. They were taking him outside.
Jack remembered back to six moths ago when Cheng had escorted him here. After (what he thought to be) two weeks of being beaten to a pulp on the container ship, so that he no longer had the strength to resist. They arrived in China where a group of 20 Chinese officials along with 50 military personnel were all waiting for him, to make sure he arrived in China without a hitch.
From there he was shoved in the back of a military truck and knocked out with a punch to the head every time he awoke until they reached the Chinese border with Siberia. Then Jack was dragged, punching and kicking into the prison building, stripped of his clothes and given a blue prison uniform made of the thinnest material available. After that he was brutally tortured everyday before being chucked back into his cell. When it came to torturers only Cheng's best men were allowed near Jack. So far they'd used all their 'tools', knives, batons, bamboo canes, drills, branding irons. No expense spared.
The guards stopped a few feet from the door as Cheng walked in front and drew a small bronze key from his pocket; placing it in the lock on the door. As it creaked opened freezing cold air burst into the building. Cheng, along with the two guards were wearing thick clothes but even they shivered slightly. Jack was already turning blue, he might as well of been wearing nothing. Cheng nodded at the guards, they'd already planned out everything so no words were needed.
The guards kicked Jack forward; he tumbled down a few steps and fell flat on his face into a thick layer of snow. Jack tried to push himself up but his arms and legs just refused to work in the bitter cold; it was as if his joints had ceased up completely. This time Cheng came up to Jack and grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt, tugging forwards. Jack stumbled; still unable to get to his feet, so as Cheng continued to pull him forward he was forced to try and crawl along through the snow.
His hands and feet were already showing the first signs of frostbite. Jack could barely feel them and they had started to turn a deep purple. Finally after a few minutes Cheng stopped and the guards starting to fumble behind them. Jack heard the rattling of chains, and snapped his head backwards to see what was happening. The guards were now right behind him and were attaching chains to a metal plate that had been bolted to the ground. They pulled at the metal links making sure they were secure then they opened the large cuffs at each end and fitted then around Jack's ankles.
The chains were not long enough for him to stand so he just had to kneel in the five-inch deep layer of snow. Cheng crouched down in front of him and looked straight into his eyes, burning a hole deep into his soul.
"You still refuse to talk Mr. Bauer; you'll be spending the rest of you life here so I thought you might like to see how beautiful China is during the winter."
With that Cheng stood tall, and began to walk back to the prison building, but before he was out of view he gave a signal to one of the guards. Who immediately walked up to Jack and kicked him in the ribs. The impact pushed all of the wind out of Jack's lungs and he crumpled over trying to collect his breath.
But the other guard grabbed him by his hair, which was now incredibly long and matted. Whilst one guard held him the other began to undo the buttons on Jack shirt and after 30 seconds managed to rip it off him completely. Once his shirt was off the guards retreated and sat down on a nearby bench.
Jack managed to sit back up on his knees looking around at his surroundings. He was in a clearing in the forest, surrounded by tall trees that unfortunately were to far away to provide any protection against the snow that had started falling. The snowfall was so thick that Jack couldn't see anything past a few meters. A gush of wind made the cold air rush into his lungs; the wind whipped against his cuts and burns making then sore and red.
He could barely breathe, and his skin was red raw thanks to this bitter weather. Jack tried to keep his mind on something else, but the pain was too much this time. Cheng has used all the torture techniques he knew of; he'd put all his work and effort into breaking Jack, now he was just leaving it to the weather, Cheng could sit back and relax whilst Jack was suffering outside. The freezing conditions were beginning to get too much for him; as another wave of pain overcame him he gladly accepted the darkness that was beginning to engulf him, and he fell into unconsciousness.