Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing…. :-(
.xxx.
.xxx.
.xxx.
When I had come to, I was chained to a wall—the fact that they didn't trust me was painfully obvious. I was kept chained to the wall for the duration of my 'stay' in this hell-hole. Food was forced down my throat, and water splashed at my head, forcing me to catch as much of the precious sustenance of life as I could. When I tried to bite down on the hand of the person shoving food in my mouth, I was beaten severely. This continued day after day…. I can only assume they came in the morning, torturing me for hours, but I don't know when midday or night came…. My mind was in a constant haze. I haven't been able to think for (what I can assume) days.
My wrists had started bleeding the second day, and now I was positive that if I lived through this, I was going to have permanent scars on my wrists from the handcuffs. I could already feel broken bones in numerous places. They were harsh, but just not enough to kill me. I rather wish they would just kill me… I already wanted to die.
The door to my cell opened again, and I could feel my body tense on its own volition in anticipation of more intense pain. Three men entered, grinning. I mentally frowned… usually, at the most, it was two. Why the change today?
"Ready to talk, bitch?" The one who I had affectionately named "Ass Breath" asked. He always got real close to me, and his breath reeked of something I couldn't quite name.
I clamped my mouth shut. The same soldier chuckled, came forward, and grabbed my hair painfully.
All of a sudden, one of the other two planted a fist in my right side hard enough to make me stumble as sideways as the chains would let me go. The third man came over and quickly released me from my bonds, but any hope I had of escaping scurried away as I found a foot planted in my stomach. Breath rushed out of me in a wheeze, and I landed on my back with a crash that drove out what little air remained in me. I was yanked back upon my feet by the same man who had uncuffed me. Trying to move, trying to breathe—trying to understand!—all I could do was stand there and watch my tormentors. Again and again and again they drove studied blows into my stomach, ribs and face. They were trying to beat me to death!
Slowly, my knees folded, and when they thumped to the dirty floor tiles, they stood back. Each nodded, and the one released his hold on my hair and shirt. I fell forward on my face, gasping, fighting groans that bubbled up despite my efforts. I laid there with my cheek to the floor, eyes half-lidded, struggling for breath. For an instant, I saw double; the world seemed to tilt dizzily.
After a moment, the soldier who had beaten me came forward again. I tensed.
"Are you ready to talk now?"
I stifled a chuckle, but not before it sent a stab of pain through my side. So instead of chuckling, I moaned through my teeth. "I don't…." I gasped at the surge of pain that wracked my body at the effort to speak. "I don't… know any… anything," I grated out, glaring as best I could at the three soldiers, "b-but, even… even if I did, I wou… wouldn't t-tell you."
As I lay there gasping for air, Ass Breath gestured toward the other two, and they came forward again. I didn't even have the energy to struggle as they pulled me up on my feet by my hair and neck. Once I was up, the hold was relinquished on my hair to be replaced on my arms. The second soldier still had a vise-like grip on my neck, almost choking me.
Ass Breath crossed the room to pick something up, an evil glint in his eyes. "I'm getting tired of the… conventional… methods. I want to try something more… original, and archaic." I almost whimpered when he came back with a crossbow in his grasp.
"You know," he started, turning the crossbow almost lovingly in his hands, "these used to be used to kill people in wars and such. So barbaric, isn't it?" When I didn't answer, he grinned maniacally. "But don't worry. I won't kill you." He paused. "Yet." His grin widened, and he knocked an arrow into the crossbow and sighted it. "I want to have my fun first."
I closed my eyes.
Suddenly, a loud, piercing scream filled the cell, and it took me a moment to realise that the eerie, high-pitched sound was coming from me. Nausea twisted my middle. Double vision showed me four soldiers' legs instead of two. I was lying on the ground! Another scream threatened to push past my lips, but I couldn't seem to breathe properly, and I struggled to suck in air. I tried to push myself up, and found enough breath to cry out again. In stunned amazement, I stared at the dark fletching of an arrow stuck through my stomach. With a groan, I collapsed. Something ran down my face. Something dripped in front of my eye.
Blood.
I tried pushing myself up, biting my tongue to keep from crying out as the soldiers looked on in amusement. That didn't stop the nausea from rising within me, though, the violent urge to bend in double and empty myself on the floor. The room seemed to spin crazily, and then everything went black.
