whoo next chapter. Kind of a surprising chapter but, again, i'm not giving anything away. Cue reading :)


Chapter 49

He ended up being held captive for two months. During those two months, he was tortured on a daily basis, in the worst ways possible. His body and soul were tortured as he realized that no one was coming to rescue him. He lost weight, but not as much as you would expect. Surprisingly, they gave him two meals a day. They gave him the choice of two meals a day or less harsh of punishment. He knew he could take the punishment but he knew he would die without food. All in all, he lost fifteen pounds while imprisoned, most of it in his belly.

His kidnapper, Shivam Hesai, gave him the worst kind of torture imaginable. More than a couple of times did he want to just give up and let them do whatever he wanted with him, but he forced himself to push through it. He never left the room for two months and had no idea how much time had actually passed.

Shivam Hesai had let him know a month into his imprisonment how much time he had been there and it was sickening to hear. Shivam and Hashim came into the room and both had whips in their hands. He was so weak, but knew that he had to be as strong as possible. Shivam looked at him,

"Well, Ben, you've been here for a month now. You've stayed alive longer than either of us expected. But we have so many ways we can break your spirit, you just have no idea." He took a small break and looked Ben up and down,

"You look like hell, you know that?"

"Actually I don't, there's not too many mirrors in here." Hashim's face turned angry and raised his foot and kicked Ben in the face. He would've fallen had his hands not been tied behind his back. Blood filled his mouth and he spat on the ground. Shivam laughed and twisted the whip in his hand,

"You're full of jokes aren't you, Ben? I would think you would've learned by now to not say stuff like that. That's alright though; as you can tell, I love torture so you're just fueling my fire. But, getting down to business, have you changed your answer yet?" Ben looked up at them, and then down at their whips. He noticed on Shivam's hand were a pair of brass knuckles. His nostrils were flaring as he said,

"You already know what my answer is. It's not going to change."

"Fair enough."

Shivam raised his fist and punched him in the jaw with the brass knuckles. His mouth immediately filled with blood again and he heard a cracking noise. He then looked back up at them, gritting his teeth in anger. They both looked down at him and then Shivam looked at Hashim and nodded.

Hashim then came over to him and dragged him up and turned him around, his bare back now facing his captors. His body was in tremendous pain as his chest was pushed up against the wooden pool. They then began to whip him simultaneously. He screamed for a second, then gritted his teeth and tried to push through it. They continuously beat him for almost five minutes until they stopped. Hashim came over to him and dragged him up, then slammed his raw and bloody back, back up against the pole. Pain radiated through his entire body as Shivam asked him,

"Do you have any family, Ben? And don't even think of lying to us." He was breathing heavily as he looked up at them. He didn't want to answer them but he couldn't take much more of the torture.

"I have a dad."

"What about a wife? You have any children?" He shook his head and Hashim raised his whip and slashed him across the chest. Shivam smiled,

"You're going to learn one day. So, you don't have a wife or kids; what about a girlfriend?" He looked away and Shivam raised an eyebrow,

"Oh you do, don't you? What's her name?" His nostrils flared. He couldn't tell them Allison's real name; they could go and find her and do something to her.

"Her name is Rebekah." Shivam looked at him, then raised his fist and punched him in the jaw with the brass knuckles again, then got right in front of his face,

"I told you not to lie to me." He stood up and looked at Hashim,

"Allison Johnson is a beautiful name, isn't it, Hashim?" Ben's stomach dropped,

"How do you know her name?"

"Because we know everything about her, Ben. She's a nurse at New Hanover Regional Medical Centre. She has long, brown hair and both of her parents are dead. She has one older sister and you have just recently gotten back together with her when she was your nurse at a hospital in California. How am I doing so far?" Ben's nostrils were flaring and he couldn't stop a few tears from filling his eyes,

"I swear to God, if you've touched her-"

"You'll do what? You're handcuffed to a pole in a closet. You have blood covering your body, you have hundreds of whip marks and you have three huge gashes in your face from these brass knuckles. I hate to tell you this, but you're not going to do a damn thing. We haven't touched her- yet. But we're not afraid to; just remember we know everything about her and you." They both turned around and walked to the door. He looked at them as they stopped in front of it and said,

"I'm begging you; don't bring her into this. What does she mean to you?"

"Nothing, but she means everything to you."


Before he had been kidnapped, he had only two weeks left in his term; two weeks until he could've gone home; two weeks until he could've seen his dad that he hadn't seen in almost two years. Two weeks until he could've held Allison in his arms again.

Thinking about Allison was too hard for him to bear; she was also the thing that kept him alive. He had no idea what she was thinking and, at times, he thought about how she, as well as his father, were told that he was missing in action. He imagined their reactions and it pained him as much as the torture he was being subjected to.

The torture he was exposed to after that first month, and even before the first month, was unlike anything he had heard of before. It was like something you would see in the movies, only it was happening in real life and it was happening to him.

Along with his kidnappers burning him with hot metal, whipping him, and punching him with brass knuckles until he bleed severely, he was exposed to loud music and strobe lights for long periods of time. It became deafening and blinding and left his vision and hearing impaired for hours at a time. They left his chest bare and he went without a shirt for two months. He had bruises and marks from being whipped covering his chest, back, and legs.

Shivam and Hashim also smoked- as much as he had ever seen two people smoke. They used this to their advantage and it was another way they both tortured him. They would come in whenever they finished smoking, which was up to thirty times a day, and would burn him in various places with the still-lit cigarette. They alternated torture techniques every day, but always came in with the same question,

"All right, have you changed your answer?" He begged them to let him go and tried to get it through their heads that he honestly did not know anything.

Even with all of this torture happening to him, he maintained his faith. He prayed every single day, sometimes multiple times a day. He asked God to please keep him safe and prayed that his kidnappers would realize that he was telling the truth and, finally, let him go. He also prayed for his father and for Allison. He prayed that they were living their lives as normally as possible. He also prayed that they hadn't given up on him. They were the two people on this Earth that he was fighting to stay alive for- God being the one who was keeping him alive.

He had not seen himself since he had arrived and, almost two months after he had been kidnapped, they brought in a mirror. When he looked at himself, it was like looking at a stranger. He didn't recognize any part of himself and if he wasn't 100% sure that he was looking at himself, he would have sworn that it wasn't him.

His face had multiple scabs from being lit by the cigarettes and there was more hair on top of his head than would have been allowed in the Air Force. It wasn't long but his hair had just covered his scalp and he couldn't see it anymore like he could before. There were burn and whip marks covering his entire chest and back and blood covered his whole body. He was unrecognizable and he doubted that, if his squad or his dad or Allison were to come in right at that second, they would have no idea it was him.


Exactly two months after he had been kidnapped, Hashim and Shivam came into the room and asked him the same question they had been asking him for the past two months, only this time, Shivam added on to the end.

"Look, we've held you here and tortured you for two months. Did you know that? You've been here for two months to this very day. We're not getting anywhere and you're becoming a hassle. We're feeding you twice a day and you're not giving us the information that we want. Therefore, today is going to be the last day you're going to be here. You're either going to tell us what you should've told us two months ago or we're going to kill you. If you tell us the truth, the answer we want to hear, we'll clean you up and let you take a shower, we'll give you some food and let you go. But, if you don't, you're dead. It's that easy. Do you want to tell us now or do you want us to come back later?" Ben looked up at them and saw nothing but evil and hatred in their eyes. He knew what he had to do. He nodded,

"All right, I'll tell you everything we want to know." Shivam nodded,

"Go on."

"They didn't tell me directly, but I overheard them talking in their office one day. The Air Force and the Marines are teaming up to do a surprise attack on Iraq- in the biggest city, on December twenty-third. The Air Force is going to drop bombs on the city and the Marines are going to move in and take control of the city and take hostages. That's it; that's all I know." Hashim smiled and nodded, looking pleased, and Ben thought that his story had worked. Shivam, on the other hand, just looked at him,

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm positive."

He nodded and looked at him for a minute before punching him hard in the jaw and reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pocket knife. He stabbed him in his arm and came right in front of his face,

"If you lie to me again, your death will be slow and painful, you hear me? I'm going to be back in one hour to hear your final answer. If you don't tell me what I want to hear, you're dead. I'll be back. Hashim, get him something to cover that stab and get out of here." Shivam walked out and Hashim tore off a piece of Ben's od shirt and wrapped it around his arm and left the room.

Ben was shocked to say the least. He thought his plan was going to work and he didn't expect it to backfire like it did. He was now bent over, trying to catch his breath with his arm in pain. His entire body had been in pain for the last two months and it would all come to an end in an hour.


For the first time since he had been there, he began to lose it and break down. He began to get tears in his eyes and the only thing that he wanted at that moment was to see Allison one last time. He imagined what her reaction would be when she was told that they had found his body and that he had been killed in action. All he wanted to do was tell her he loved her and that he had loved her since the first moment he had seen her. Just hearing her voice would be enough.

He prayed and thanked God for keeping him safe and alive for as long as he did. He prayed that his father and Allison would be able to move on and that they would forgive him for not making it.

He prayed over and over again and the hour seemed to fly by. It felt like it had only been five minutes when Shivam came into the room again. Ben looked up and Shivam said,

"Don't worry; you still have ten minutes left to think about your decision. But, we figured we could give you some persuasion in telling us the truth. Other than the fact that your life is on the line, we're going to let you make one phone call to anybody you want." Ben immediately looked up,

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, but don't think you're going to have a thirty minute conversation; you're actually not going to be talking at all. We're going to tie a piece of cloth around your mouth and I'm going to hold a gun to your head. You talk and you're dead, alright?" Ben nodded and, despite the fact that he couldn't talk, he was elated that he would be able to hear Allison's voice one more time. It was also bittersweet because he loved his father more than anything and hadn't seen him in almost two years, but he knew that he had to hear Allison's voice one more time.

"So, who's it going to be?"

Hashim came in and tied the cloth around his mouth while Shivam dialed Allison's number and held the gun to Ben's head. He put the phone up to Ben's ear and it was completely silent as the phone rang. For a reason he didn't quite understand, he was nervous and he prayed that she would pick up. It seemed like hours as the phone continued to ring but finally, she answered,

"Hello" When Ben heard her voice, he looked down and closed his eyes. He instantly got tears in his eyes and he wanted nothing more than to call out and tell her that he loved her.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" He restrained himself and forced himself to not say anything,

"Is anyone there? I'm about to hang up." Tears slowly started to fall down his cheeks and he couldn't help but mouth that he loved her.

"All right, good-bye." He closed his eyes again as she hung up. Shivam closed the phone,

"Okay, you have five minutes to make your decision. I'll be back."

They both walked out of the room after removing the cloth that was around his mouth. He began to cry and he prayed one final time. Allison and his father were the only two things on his mind. Tears were still coming down his face as Shivam and Hashim came back into the room five minutes later. The fact that he had been crying seemed to have no impact on them. Shivam had an AK-47 in his hand and he looked at Ben,

"Well, let's hear it." Surprisingly, Ben was calm as he looked up at him,

"Don't you think I would tell you if I knew anything? Do you think I would rather die and leave behind the girl I was going to ask to marry and the father that I love than tell you the truth? I'm telling you, I don't know anything. If there was something I knew, I would tell you in a heartbeat. Please, I'm begging you to let me go. You know that I don't know anything and you know I'm telling you the truth." Shivam looked at him for a minute before finally asking,

"Is that it?" Ben nodded and Shivam sighed,

"Well, I'm sorry, Ben, but we're going to have to kill you."

Ben's heart sank and he closed his eyes as Shivam raised his gun. Ben had his eyes closed the whole time and wouldn't open them. He then heard a crashing noise and gunshots and, then, he fell.


:O Oh my gahh, what just happened? Guess we'll just have to see. This chapter was the end of Part 3, so next chapter begins Part 4 which isn't a long part at all. Then comes the epilogue! Exciting stuff. Hope you liked it! :)