(It's been a while fellow chipmunks and chipettes. I've been very very very busy lately and haven't gotten to work on my stories much. I've even been restricted a little lately from making my music videos. But I've finally begun to ease back into the flow of things. Also, readers beware, this chapter is absolutely brutal.)
Liquid fire coursed through Simon's veins. His hastened and labored breathing was raspy and felt like it could scar his throat and every paw fall jarred his body with pain. It was too much. Simon's right leg suddenly gave out from under him and he collapsed onto his front paws. Simon tried as hard as he could to stand but his legs refused to cooperate. A rushing sense of dread and fear flooded his mind, bringing forth a shocking thought, 'Simon. You are going to die...'.
Simon's vision fogged, for he was on the verge of passing out when something suddenly slapped him full in the face. The blow jolted him back to reality and the scarred face of Bloodnick with his paws on his shoulders, shaking him violently.
"COME ON SIMEON! GET UP! WE CAN NOT STOP HERE!", Bloodnick screamed, then began frantically looking about.
Simon was too exhausted to even lift his head...that is until he heard the screech.
An ear splitting howl of torn vocal cords and bloody gargles rose up from the surrounding terrain. No later had the shriek been emitted did Bloodnick's paw wrap tightly over Simon's lips, as well as his only yelling abruptly cut off, afterward swearing under his breath.
Simon eyed the crown of the rocky mass across from them, just as he saw the ruined and mutilated body of God knows what stumble forth. His eyes widened in shock and horror at the abomination before him.
It was far too short and stumpy to be human, but was furless and too far beyond recognition to be an animal. It's only defining features were it's snout and short, jackle legs, resembling that of a chipmunk's. Scars lined it's pale, pinkish and bruise riddled body like a cross word puzzle as well as had no tail but a stump coated in dry blood. Streaks of dry blood cascaded down from it's chin and the corners of it's mouth while where it's eyes should be are simply black crimson sockets. The creature curls it's lips back and snarls, showing off it's jagged, red stained fangs. Or are they just chipped teeth?
Out of all the horrid things wrong with this thing, what was the most frightening were the blades that protruded from where it's front paws should be, wrapped at their bases in a mass of lumpy, infected flesh and thin, weathered strips of dark red cloth.
Simon felt bile rise up in his throat, becoming terribly sick to his stomach.
The creature threw it's head back and let out a clearly labored scream, as it was coughing afterward, sending ropes of flem and blood onto the dirt. It began to walk forward, staggering every now and then as it approached Simon and Bloodnick.
Simon turned to Bloodnick with petrified eyes, hoping he knew a way out. Bloodnick simply ignored him, keeping his eyes locked on the creature.
The thing used it's blades like crutches to move, sniffing the dry air and rotating it's grayish ears every which way and that. Simon shallowly sighed through his nose in relief as it lumbered away in a different direction.
Simon cringed when he felt something brush against his ear, followed by almost inaudible whispers, "do...not...move...a muscle. there's another behind us.", Bloodnick gingerly said.
Just after saying this, a second creature trotted on it's blades and hind paws along side him and Simon. It rose up onto it's back paws and sniffed the air, searching for any distinct scents. Beads of sweat rolled down Simon's fur, tickling him mercilessly, but he managed to ignore it.
Ages seemed to pass with this creature beside them. Simon absentmindedly began searching for some way to escape, knowing it would be only a matter of seconds before it figured out helpless prey was right beside it. Among all the fear, Simon hadn't realized he was now holding a rock. He thought about throwing it, but it occurred to him that the creature would feel the breeze given off by swinging his arm before hearing the rock fall. Then, a very similar alternative came to mind.
Simon positioned himself as slowly as possible. Bloodnick shot him the most abhorrent look he'd seen in his entire life, but he wasn't about to stop because of it. Simon flung the rock as fast and hard as he could so that it skidded it's entire short journey along the dirt, rolling and jumping over cracks and what not before finally stopping a little over twenty feet away from them.
The creature evulsed it's attention towards the moving sound with a shocked snort. Just as Simon had hoped, the creature followed the rock, as did the other which rematerialized from over the horizon of a distant rocky hill. Bloodnick jerked Simon up to his paws from the dirt by his wrist prior to dragging him away from the path. He ended up stopping at a large crevice etched into the side of a massive rock formation and shoved Simon inside.
Before the blue-clad chipmunk could pick himself up, Bloodnick's claws were locked around his throat, lifting him up off the ground before pushing him into the wall and letting him fall to his feet.
"what the hell is wrong with you?!", Bloodnick hissed, "they would have dichotomized you and eaten your internal organs! just what the fuck was going through your mind?!"
Simon regained his bearings, looked straight into Bloodnick's eyes, and quietly spoke with extreme intensity, "just...shut...up. did I not just allow us to escape? I just saved your life!"
Bloodnick looked a bit taken back by Simon's anger. He smirked, "You're already making progress."
Bloodnick noticed then that Simon had suddenly turned pale and was staring just over his shoulder. Bloodnick turned around to the distorted face of one of those creatures, sniffing for helpless prey. No one moved but the abomination, slow and precise as it closed in on their scent.
In a quick and cautiously quiet motion, Bloodnick bent down and plucked a rock from the ground before tossing it to his left. The creature immediately noticed and lunged in the rock's direction with it's blades splayed in front, ready to impale it's supposed prey. As it charged by, Bloodnick reacted quickly, locking it's left arm in the iron grip of his paw and pulling it in where he then grasped it's other arm. The creature screamed in defiance but was now doomed. Bloodnick pushed the kicking and flailing abomination forward and then pulled back hard as he brought his knee up into it's back with a sickening crunch.
The creature fell to it's knees, whimpering in pain from it's dislocated arms. The next thing it knew, Bloodnick had his paws tightly wrapped over it's chin and the back of it's skull. Slowly, Bloodnick began rotating the creatures head, emitting sharp cracks once it passed a ninety degree angle and continued until he was staring into the hollow, black sockets on the creature's face and it went limp.
Bloodnick turned back to an utterly shocked Simon, "You only saved yourself. Remember that...but good job."
Bloodnick then vacated the alcove with Simon following close behind, and they continued their journey in silence.
*SCENE TRANSITION*
For the first time, a clear view of the world Alvin now found himself in was laid out before him as he traveled on a path of blackish crimson earth along side the chipmunk known as Bleek. The sides of the path were lined with randomly placed boulders and pitch black soot. Beyond that stretched miles of jagged spike like rock formations and the mountains among them. Ahead of the path, the first rickety rock huts of a camp began to take their distinct shape through the filthy, dry air as the two chipmunks approached it.
After only a few minutes, they'd reached the camp and walked down the path which was now lined with huts and corrupted like that of Bleek. Heads turned their attention to Alvin immediately as he walked by, giving him evil grins, looks of disgust, or purely nothing. Bleek grabbed Alvin by the scruff of his neck and guided him in a different direction and into a fairly large clearing before letting go. The clearing was lined by more huts, while the center was lit up like the forth of July by a massive bonfire. Chipmunks crowding around the blaze talked amongst themselves and held strips of flesh and various unfamiliar vegetation on prods over the dancing flames.
Alvin only stood there, not really knowing what to do as Bleek took a seat on the dirt with the other unnaturally large chipmunks. Bleek noticed his confusion.
"Alvin was it? You just go do what you want. We're settling here in this camp until a courier brings me word of The Cataclysm's ready. Then we will head to Oblivion's peek where you will be transformed into one of us. Try not to get yourself killed...", explained Bleek.
Alvin was anything but enlightened, "Um, Oblivion's peek?"
"The top of Mount Oblivion just north of here. That is where The Cataclysm, our Dominion, resides."
Alvin simply nodded to acknowledge understanding, although he was still unsure about everything. But he didn't care much either. He was just happy to finally have a bit of freedom back and considered using the time to see if he can't find his brothers and Brittany.
Alvin wandering off to begin his search, pushing all that had happened into the back of his mind.
Alvin sauntered throughout the camp for quite a while, failing to even find any evidence of Simon, Theodore or Brittany being there. He was about to give up and rejoin Bleek when he heard something unusual from one of the near by huts. The hut was coated in dry skin stitched together by weathered string unlike the rocky structures that made up the other huts. He padded over to the door, a rickety hunk of wood barely holding onto it's hinges, and gently pressed his ear against it.
What Alvin heard confused him at first...then his blood turned to ice.
"You weren't using that were you?...Of course not, what was I thinking? Now lets see here...", among this chatter, Alvin could hear heavy, labored breathing and wet tearing sounds, "Won't need these...oh, where did I put my skewer? Ah, there you are! Now hold still..."
Alvin cringed as he not only heard but practically felt the wet squish that followed and the wheeze that accompanied it. The breathing became muffled moans of horrendous agony, as well as his heart beat quickened faster and faster. The sound of metal on wood emitted followed by what sounded like scissors sliding shut. Something wet fell to the floor, then another.
"Alrighty then. Now...hm, what am I forgetting?...Well...you won't be needing your penis anymore. I'll just take care of that..."
Alvin couldn't take it any longer. He turned away from the door and attempted to run, only to plow into another chipmunk, knocking himself backwards onto his rump.
"HEY! WATCH WHERE THE HELL YOU'RE GOING!", he screamed at the red-clad chipmunk.
Alvin hastily scrambled up to his hind paws and turned to run, but was stopped by a clawed paw wrapped tightly around his arm.
"Where do you think you are going? Afraid of a little dismemberment?"
"Terrified! Now let me go!", Alvin yelled back while hitting the chipmunk's paw.
"Oooh but why not join in the fun?", the chipmunk said before dragging Alvin over to the hut again, opened the door, and walked inside.
"Hey Blitz, you have an admirer here! He would just LOVE to participate in your work!"
Alvin only shook his head while pulling away as hard as he could, but to no avail.
"Is that so? If you'd just come over here little one.", said Blitz as he took Alvin's arm in place of the other large chipmunk's and yanked him further into the hut before shoving him into a chair where he was then strapped down by his wrists and ankles.
Alvin struggled against his restraints but could barely make them budge. He stopped abruptly when he felt putrid breath on his face, reeling back and turning his head side ways in disgust. He focused his eyes in front of him without turning his head back in fear of the stench smelling of death, even though the entire room's air was tainted by the scent.
The face he saw was utterly bewildering. His fur was not brown, gold, or auburn...but blue. Bright yellow eyes on a scarred and raggedy face stared into Alvin's blue eyes, giving Alvin the unsettling feeling that he could hear his thoughts.
Alvin then noticed the room itself. In one word, revolting. The dirt floor was stained red and grey with dried blood and the old remains of someone's entrails. In the far right corner of the room were buckets filled with organs and intestines. To Alvin's left was a table, a defurred and naked chipmunk laying atop. Both it's paws and eyes are missing, as well as it's tail, and a blood riddled patch of raw flesh unfurled in between it's legs, signifying the obvious. Finally, at the far left of the room near the door way was another table, littered with various knifes, clippers, clamps and small wooden containers filled with God knows what. He gagged in horror and disgust, on the verge of losing what little stomach contents he had.
Alvin's attention was then forced back to the chipmunk called Blitz by a paw on his chin, "Hey there buddy! You're one of the new guys, one of the new individuals privileged to come to The Cataclysm's world. I was watching you upon your arrival. You were asleep though so I didn't get to greet you! Tsk, oh where are my manners? I'm Blitz, torture master and head executioner, and you are?"
Alvin only sat there, speechless and petrified. Blitz's obviously fake cheerful grin vanished.
"Quiet one, huh?", Blitz said before reaching beside him and grasping a knife that had been lying next to the mutilated chipmunk.
"OK OK! MY NAME'S ALVIN!", the red-clad chipmunk screamed, "Please just...just don't hurt me..."
Blitz then brought the knife up to Alvin's tummy while lifting his hoodie with his free paw. He scraped it gently across and sighed, "Damn I love it...the patheticalness of the flesh, especially of the young and innocent, how one can so easily slit open the gut and their intestines will spill out before them.", Alvin watched the knife twirl between Blitz's fingers so he was holding the blade and slipped the handle underneath his paw, "If you're going to become one of us, you may as well learn what it's like...how fun it can be."
Blitz let go of the knife and undid the restraints on Alvin's wrists and ankles. As Alvin stood up, he clutched the knife tightly in both his paws, feeling as if it could some how save him.
"So this is what's going to happen. I have another...'patient' coming in very soon. She's been causing problems for some of the corrupted, particularly with a...biting issue. You simply have to teach her that disobedience here is not tolerated.", Blitz explained.
Alvin timidly responded, "What do I have to do?"
Just then, there was a loud knock on the rickety blood-stained door.
"Blitz! Your latest victim has arrived!", yelled a chipmunk from outside.
"Cart her in. I've got some other business to attend to and I can't be late!", Blitz replied as he opened the door, from which a corrupted trudged in, a rope in one paw, two paws bound at the opposite end.
She was a slender chipmunk covered in bright golden fur, only ruffled from abuse. A bag made out of dark brown material covered her head and straps composed of the same material rendered her unable to move her legs.
The chipmunk that had brought her turned to Blitz, "Sooo, why are you leaving just after I went through the trouble of dragging this bitch here?"
"Alvin here.", Blitz gestured to said chipmunk, "He's to become one of us soon. Therefore, he's to take care of her as practice."
"What?! He's not even corrupted! You can't be serious to believe he'd cooperate!"
"Of course I don't! That's why you're going to stay with him while he works.", Blitz then returned his attention to Alvin, "As for you...just don't kill her."
With that, Blitz vacated the hut. Alvin looked over at the large chipmunk left with him then at the weak body that lay limp by his side. The corrupted heaved her up over his shoulder with one paw, making her grunt in distress as he did, and with the other, grabbed the poor chipmunk on the table by his neck and hoisted him off the cold iron before setting him beside the table on the dirt floor. He then set the female chipmunk beside him again and lifted her by her arm pits with both paws and laid her onto the table before taking her binds off and replacing them by strapping her limbs down to the table's surface. He looked at Alvin.
"Well? Get on with it!", the corrupted yelled.
Alvin quivered in dismay and slowly brought the knife up to the table's level, the corrupted watching his every move in anticipation. Alvin felt bile rise up in his throat as he slid the knife in a diagonal line along the girl chipmunk's chest, making her squeak in pain as blood droplets gushed out from the wound. Her breathing intensified and quickened and her paws griped the edges of the table, making her knuckles show white through her fur. Alvin swallowed the lump in his throat and walked to the end of the table where he positioned the knife by her tail. She began thrashing against her restraints as Alvin grasped her tail and then severed it at the base, causing a blood curdling muffled shriek of pain to emit from the cloth bag concealing her head. Alvin cringed at the horrible sound, making him drop the knife. He quickly reacted to retrieve the knife but was stopped by the corrupted that had been observing him.
"Forget the knife. Try one of the clamps! Those are REALLY fun.", said the corrupted with a satanic grin.
Alvin only nervously nodded and went to select a clamp from the other table. As he picked up the heavy object with his paws, he ran his fingers along the teeth of the clamp, seeing that they were also very sharp. 'Yikes...', he thought to himself whilst turning around and then moved back to the girl chipmunk, who's muffled screams at this point had been reduced to quiet sobs. Alvin placed the clamp onto the table and slid it underneath her left leg, making her quiver and attempt to wiggle away from the cold iron. Alvin closed his eyes in disgust and began to slowly turn the small, metal crank on the side of the clamp. The metal treads of the clamp closed in on her leg, squeezing tightly before encountering resistance.
Her sobs had become fast paced breathing as before and she began squirming helplessly on the table. Alvin put all his weight on the crank, his eyes still shutting out the evil of what he was doing, then he felt a small amount of release in unison with a wet crackle. Alvin backed away immediately and sat in the dirt, covering his ears with his paws to further muffle the poor chipmunk's screams.
The same words kept playing over and over in Alvin's head, giving him a throbbing head ache, 'This didn't just happen! This didn't just happen! This didn't just happen!'. Suddenly, Alvin noticed the face of the corrupted in front of him, gripping a rusty dagger in his paw.
"That wasn't the best torturing I've ever seen, but it was adequate. However I can tell you aren't entirely coming to terms with what you just did, the pain you just caused...give me your paw.", said the corrupted, reaching out.
Alvin unsurely set his left paw in his. In one swift movement, the corrupted tightly gripped Alvin's wrist and slid the dagger across his palm, blood gushing immediately from the wound onto the dirt. Alvin let out a blood curdling scream in pain, pulling away from the corrupted to get away, but escape was futile.
"STOP TRYING TO ESCAPE THE PAIN! YOU MUST LEARN FROM IT!"
The corrupted squeezed Alvin's arm harder, causing further pain and blood to spurt out onto them both. Alvin screamed and pulled as hard as he could. The corrupted's iron grip held, making Alvin dislocate his own arm.
Breathing suddenly became a feat itself due to the searing pain in Alvin's arm. His vision began blurring and he could hear something faintly that sounded like profusive laughing. He fumbled around the ground with his free paw to find something to defend himself with, barely able to comprehend what was even going on...then he felt his fingers wrap around something. Blindly, he raised it and plunged down on the corrupted. Instantaneously, the large chipmunk's grip tightened momentarily then fell limp from Alvin's crippled arm. Alvin fell back onto the ground and cried out in agony and relief while his mangled arm lied limp beside him.
Alvin softly cried for a a long time until his eyes dried out and the pain turned to a burning, throbbing numbness. Alvin sat up slowly, being careful not to arouse further pain in his arm, and looked down at the dead corrupted. Lodged firmly through it's eye socket was the knife he'd been told to leave on the ground, two halves of the corrupted's eye ball tangling by tendons on either side of the blade. Alvin quivered in fear and disgust at the grotesque sight and wandered out of the hut, tired, on the verge of starving, and wondering as to why he had been cursed to such a terrible place.
(SCENE TRANSITION)
Upon setting the bowl onto the rock table, the large chipmunk immediately pushed Theodore away before gorging himself on the thick, meaty soup. Theodore recomposed himself and watched the corrupted, though like an animal, devour every last morsel in the bowl as if he hadn't so much as seen food in an eternity. Theodore noticed a faint smile etched into the corrupted's expression as he licked his lips and sat the bowl down. He glanced over at Theodore and froze, realizing Theodore had seen him smiling. The corrupted contorted his face in anger and stood up, towering over the small green-clad chipmunk.
"THAT WAS THE MOST VOLATILE, PUTRID, APPALLING, PATHETIC DISGRACE FOR FOOD THAT I'VE EVER HAD THE DISPLEASURE TO HAVING DISEMBOGUE DOWN MY THROAT!", the corrupted screamed, making the latter jump back in fear.
"You're useless!", the large chipmunk points to an Iron door at the cavern's end, "Go in through that door! Tell the corrupted you find in there that you've been found to be a WASTE of life and need to be executed! NOW!"
Theodore burst into tears and ran to the door as he was told, whilst the chipmunk yelling at him continued in his rage.
"If the next time I see you you aren't a broken pile of mutilated flesh, I'm going to skin you alive and feed you to Bloodnick! He sure loooooves his chipmunk meat!"
Just as he said this, Theodore reached the small iron door and opened it with some effort. He scampered into the depths of the pitch black room, leaving the door open behind him.
Theodore crumpled to the ground sobbing. *sniffle* 'I'm sick of this place! I hate it! I hate it! I hate it!', he thought to himself. Theodore dragged his arm across his nose and balled his paws into fists to rub his inflamed eyes.
'Oooooh...I just wanna go home. I miss Dave...I miss my brothers...and Eleanor! I wanna see Brittany and Jeanette too...'
"thhhhhheeeeeooodoooore...", a raspy voice whispered from somewhere amongst the darkness, making Theodore jump and his fur stand up.
"Who-who's there?!", Theodore squeaked, looking around frantically to locate the source of the voice.
A demonic and harmonic chuckle of multiple voices echoed throughout the room, sending chills crawling up Theodore's spine. The small chipmunk quivered and was suddenly hit by a wave of unrelenting despair, making him fall to his knees and his face contorted in utter terror. The room itself seemed to emit an aura that penetrated the core of his very being, rendering all happiness decaying in it's wake. The darkness appeared to move around Theodore, shifting and slicing through the air about him...and it reeked of rot and death.
Theodore abruptly became still as a corpse as something brushed by his ear, "boo..."
In a blur of green and brown, Theodore was instantly at the other side of the room, knocked onto his back, his snout bruised and blood riddled from the impact of the wall. The small chipmunk squeaked slightly, managing only short and labored breathes as he simply lied there in shock. A soft chuckle emitted from every direction and distorted and reanimated in different places. They got closer...and closer yet...then suddenly Theodore was lifted off the ground by his shoulders and claws gently scraped over his body from every which way about him. One ran along the side of his face, causing him to shiver and paw at the air for something to help escape his predicament...but it was futile to resist. The fearful and helpless chipmunk squeaked and flailed to get away as something sharp jabbed into his side, sparking a light trickle of blood to slither down his furry body, darting from side to side as it made it's way through the ocean of brown. A claw wrapped over his mouth and the scent of the dying assaulted Theodore's senses. He gagged and heaved violently into the claw and a few short streams of vomit spewed from his nose. His eyes rolled back into his head as he retched again, the sickly substance and his tears dribbling down his fur. The claw was then removed and a tidal wave of bile and stomach contents that should have been long gone poured onto the floor from the poor chipmunk's mouth. Theodore coughed and snorted repeatedly, trying his best to expel the bile from his lungs and nasal passage. A claw once again ran along his facial fur...only this time stopping at his neck. Theodore whimpered as it pressed harder into him...harder...and harder!
"ENOUGH!"
No sooner had the voiced bellowed out into the pitch black void of a room was Theodore dropped to the rocky floor and all the darkness in the room submerged into the walls, floor and ceiling before dissipating into black blotches, revealing a completely empty and dark grey stone room. Theodore sat up onto his rump and leaned forward with his fore paws resting in his lap. He coughed softly for the next few minutes, quivering occasionally as he rested from the horrid torment. Though he'd just experienced Hell, not a single tear formed now. It was as if his body had exhausted it's final tear during the mayhem and he was now rendered devoid of sadness, but neither did he feel any relief or happiness.
He was then interrupted from his torpor by a paw that rested on his back and ran gently through his fur as his brothers always did. He turned to his comforter with a smile...then frowned in confusion at the grayish, green furred face that smiled back at him.
*SCENE TRANSITION*
(Unknown First Person POV)
I lay on this arctic iron table, broken and mangled, reduced to a sniveling pile of flesh and fur. I've lost track of the amount of times I've already been violated in every way possible, and now I lay bloody and bruised for merely resisting the abuse. Blinded by the infernal bag on my head and held down like and animal by ropes, naked and mentally scarred deeper than the recesses of a black hole. There's no doubt in existence whether in the next minute or a hundred millennia from now that this is the most humiliating and degrading position I've ever and will ever be cast into.
I've tried to move but the pain has sunk deep into me. Even the slightest twitch and my already screaming leg cries out for mercy through my painful whimpers and groans. Even breathing too much at a time skewers me with the sharp pain of the gash carved into my chest, the wound parting slightly as my chest expands with the hot, dry air.
Honest to God, how could this have happened?! Why did this abhorrent, abominable land even exist?! Why was I cursed to such a place...why were my sisters left behind? *Sigh* *Wince* Well...I'm glad they were spared.
(Sheesh, upon proof reading this, when I got to the third to last paragraph, I could've sworn that it was plagiarized from the best poet in existence! But nope, it's all me, little ol' Deven. Let me know if you guys feel the same way, or simply tell me about what you thought of the rest of the chapter!)
:)