Lacrimosa

There were more sessions. Each time was worse than the last. Sebastian was hell bent on breaking her mind and her body completely. Every sick and degrading thought that came into his mind (and quite possibly the mind of Marcus) was carried out on her. Her clothes had been shredded, her fingernails removed, her back teeth knocked out, and she knew for a fact that her nose had been broken.

And according to Sebastian, this was only the beginning. When he left for the last time, he made it clear that he would return with the promises of poison and amputation.

He took all the equipment when he left. She must have been so out of it that she did not notice when he did so. This had carried on for so long that she could not tell how much time had passed. Days? Weeks? Months? Was her mind finally playing tricks on her? When these sessions took place, it felt as if the clock was slowly turning backwards. Or perhaps it felt that time ceased to exist at all.

For hours and hours, she laid upon the misty floor. She did not move; doing so only caused her wounds to hurt more. The pain did not fade away. The burning may have stopped but skin stung so badly. The only comfort she had was that the mist was chilled, allowing her burnt skin some relief. Her face was covered in welts and bruises, and her usually peachy skin was black and blue. Her bottom lip and cheekbones had split upon, causing a great deal of swelling. Though there were no mirrors present in this room, Holly knew she would have avoided them at all costs, She had no idea what she looked like now, and she was too scared to find out if the damage had been permanent or not.

Sebastian did not return. Though her body was aching, she knew that only more pain would come if she laid about waiting for his return. She had no idea what type of pain she would be in store for if she allowed that to happen. All she knew was that she would not be subjected to amputation. He was not going to destroy her body anymore than he had already done.

It's time to get out... on your feet, girl...

Very slowly, wincing all the while, Holly moved her left arm beneath her. The pressure of her bodyweight resting on her damaged wrist only caused her more pain. In all honesty, she was surprised that she could use her hands at all after all the truama they had been through. Her other arm was dangling lifelessly, still injured from the nerve-damage done to her shoulder. It hurt to even slightly move it and she whimpered as she tried to push herself up with her available arm. As promised, every move she made was agony, but she knew she must persevere. She took several deep breaths and began to move very slowly.

Nice and steady... take it easy...

She shifted her legs underneath her, also slowly but with better progress. She rested her weight on one knee, not wanting to cause further pain to the other one. When she was on her knees she leaned back to sit upward, but even then she had to sit in a bit of a hunch. If she sat up straight, it would cause further discomfort to the wound in her stomach. Using her available arm, Holly moved it across her chest, holding the shredded fabric of her shirt closed. While she was thankful that her undergarments kept her from being fully exposed, and though there were no eyes present to see her in such a state, the exposure of her burned, wounded breasts merely brought on memories of her degradation at the hand of a vampire. She glared hard at the misty ground and though it hurt her ankles to move them, she positioned her feet so that she could rise up.

Well... he won't have the pleasure of degrading me further. So you better start moving, Holly...

She bit down on her swollen lip, and after taking a few deep breaths, forced herself to stand. She gasped and cried, feeling the strain on her knees and ankles as she rose up off the ground. Her knees pushed against each other for support, her ankles locked for a moment, and slowly but surely she found herself on her feet. Now that she was up, it was time for the hard part: walking.

Baby steps... one at a time.

Every step was agonizing. The entire time her knees pressed against each other for balance. Moving her feet only a little was enough to make her sob. She approached the door, moving slowly but determinedly. Every breath she took was a gasp of pain and she tried her best to ignore how pitiful she must have sounded.

Now isn't exactly the time to reflect on your injured pride…

Three meters from the door. She was getting closer with every small step she took. And then her toe hit a crevice in the floor. Pain shot up through her leg and she released a loud cry. Her body fell forward and she crashed onto the ground, writhing in pain and cursing out loud at her own clumsiness. Her breathing grew harder and a look of pure desperation was made clear on her face. This was going to either be an extremely close call or a total disaster. She knew for a fact that when she reached the door, it was going to be locked. She doubted that Sebastian was that ignorant to leave it unlocked. But she would be damned if she didn't make an attempt to escape.

Her good arm shot infront of her and her forearm pressed into the stone. The balls of her feet dug into the floor, and using all of her strength, she began to pull herself across the floor. Sweat beaded on her wrinkled forehead and streamed down the layers of grime and blood that had built up on her face. She crawled across the floor, moving towards the door. Fortunately, Sebastian's tables were near the wall. If she could reach them, standing up again may prove to be easier than it did before.

By the time she reached the wall beside the door, her arm moved and grabbed onto the leg of the table. Using her strength, she pulled herself into a sitting position and twisted her body, so her back pressed against the wall. She took a few moments to catch her breath and slow her heart. She didn't have any heart failure during these torture sessions and she would be damned if she had one while she was trying to escape. She was tired. Her body wanted to give up and rest longer, but every moment she wasted trying to restore her strength only brought Sebastian closer to her.

"Get up."

Her whisper was hoarse and fatigued. And yet upon hearing it, her body began to act on it's own. Her legs shifted and began to move closer against her chest. Her injured knee stopped about halfway, but the other leg had moved close enough. The foot rooted itself onto the ground, and Holly's grip returned to the leg of the table. After taking a deep breath, she began to pull herself up. Her leg began to straighten, and her body began to rise. She swung her lifeless arm ontop of the table and quickly her other hand rushed up to join it. She pulled herself over the edge of the table, her feet digging into the floor, and she slowly began to push herself up straight.

She was standing now. And the door was only a few feet away. Using the wall to guide her, she shifted her way towards the door and pressed her hand on the handle. Locked, as expected. But no matter; the door had a glass window. It was too small for her to break and crawl through, but it allowed her to look outside. And her heart nearly burst from her chest at what she saw.

Two human factory workers. Relief came to her faster than suspicion did, and she smacked her palm against the door, catching them both by surprise. They jumped around, and upon seeing her, screamed in terror. Before they could say anything, she opened her mouth and began to yell.

"The door is locked!" she choked. "Let me out!"

And then the impossible happened: they hesitated.

One of the two men looked as if he was going to open the door. The other stopped him. The two looked at each other, then back at Holly. Both of them looked frightened… perhaps intimidated. Holly nearly sobbed again and beat her hand against the door once more.

"What are you waiting for? Get me out of here!" her voice cracked and she began to cough. She had done enough screaming for the past how many hours or days. She could not afford to yell at these two.

Son of a bitch! Why aren't they doing anything? Why are they just staring at me!?

And then she felt that horrible sting of realization. All of a sudden a horrible truth had surfaced. She knew exactly why they were hesitating and doing nothing to help her.

They knew what was happening to her. And they knew who was behind her injuries. A look of pure terror crossed her face for one moment. New tears formed and poured from her eyes and she beat her hand against the door again.

"God damn it!" she hollered. "He's going to cut my arms off! He's going to burn me alive! Get me the hell out of here!"

She saw the fear in their eyes. Perhaps even some level of shame. But slowly, both of them turned around and left her. Holly released another scream and proceeded to beat against the door in fury. With a roar of frustration, she pressed her forehead against the door. Fresh tears had already formed and dripped down her face.

Those men had fed her to the wolves.

Humans were willing to let a vampire kill her.

Vladmir is rolling in his grave right now… he would be so ashamed…

It took her a moment to think clearly. But she turned her head and began to scan the room for anything that could help her. Anything at all…

The air vents were too small for her to fit through. There were no other doors leading out of this room. There were no windows. But then her eyes fell on something…

The furnace.

It had a pipeline that led to another portion of the factory. While one pipe would channel smoke into the smokestacks, the other pipelines would transfer metals and objects that required intense heating from one part of the factory into the other. Though it was already operating, it would not be impossible to stop it.

But in order to escape this way, she would risk everything. There was always the possibility that someone could notice the furnace was not working, and would start it up again from some other panel within the factory. There was a chance that it would not cool fast enough and Holly would not be about to escape at all. Then there was the chance of getting lost in the pipelines and being found later as a roasted corpse.

But what other options did she have?

Vladmir… her fist tightened. I put my faith in you entirely… you would never betray me…

She wiped away the tears and filth from her face and took a deep breath.

Guide me, give me strength… get me out of here…

Using every ounce of endurance she had, she pushed herself off of the door and broke into a sprint towards the furnace. To her ultimate surprise, moving quickly caused her less pain. When she drew closer to the furnace, her speed began to slow down. Her arms thrust forward and immediately her hands moved towards the panel. She pressed an emergency button, causing the furnace to abort it's actions immediately. Her other hand went to the switch to the emergency cooling system. The sound of the cooling agent was heard from within the machine.

She would have to give the system a moment to cool completely. Nobody would start it up immediately if they believed that there was truly an emergency. But if they knew where the call was being made from, there was always the possibility that Sebastian would be informed of this. She would give it five minutes. If she waited any longer, it would be risking too much. Her head turned in every direction, looking for anything that may assist her in this escape. Exposing her eyes to the burned contents within a furnace did not sound safe, and inhaling it sounded even worse.

There! She found a cabinet near the panel. Inside, there was a surgical mask and a pair of goggles. To her inconvenience, there was no lab jacket within the room. It looked like she was going to have to climb through a furnace partially naked.

Five minutes were over. Already she could hear activity from outside of the room. It was time to leave now. She pushed the goggles onto her face, moved the mask over her nose and mouth, and then pushed the button to open the furnace. The room filled with particulars from the cooling agents. Holly's body shivered, and she whimpered as the particulars came in contact with her wounds.

Get used to it. There's going to be a hell of a lot more where that came from.

And without further hesitation, she moved into the furnace…