Gina sat silently in darkness. Her head was throbbing horribly, and she could taste blood in her mouth. Her breathing had steadied itself, but her heart was still pounding strong in her chest. Something was not right. She should not be here. When she tried to move her hands and feet they scraped painfully against some kind of material that remained unknown in the shadows. She had been struggling with them for several moments before she felt warm liquid trickling down her wrists and ankles. She did not know how long she had been sitting in the darkness before or after she regained consciousness, but she remembered very clearly what happened before her world went dark.
Gina Drugin was a perfectly normal girl, average if you wanted an exact definition. She did everything normal young women do, and often found herself sitting home alone enjoying her usual solitude. She went out and had fun with her friends, went on the occasional date here and there, and visited her mother on the weekends. She worked long hours, but the pay was good and it took care of the bills, so she was content.
On one such evening of bar hopping without so much as a shot by the second stop Gina had excused herself for a breath of fresh air. The smell of smoke and booze was so overwhelming that she needed to step away from the bar before she could enjoy the clear night air. That's when everything went horribly wrong. She was about to head back when she heard some kind of noise in the distance. Shrugging it off as a drunk she started walking back to the bar, but something to the side moved, and moved fast. It blocked her path, and when she tired to scream who ever or what ever it was hit her on the head with a hard object. Before blacking out Gina saw the red robe the person or thing was wearing, as well as the horrible face hidden behind its hood.
Now here she sat, bound and helpless in the dark. Unaware of where she was, how long she had been there, or if anyone was looking for her yet. She tried calling out for help, for anything, but the only thing she ever heard in reply was her own voice echoing back at her. She was scared, of course, but there was something about the situation that aroused her imagination. Every once in a while a stray thought would cross her mind that forced a smile to her face. This had to be someone's idea of a joke, it had to be.
Suddenly light flooded her vision and the pain in her head began to throb to the point of unbearable agony. As Gina's eyes adjusted she took in her surroundings for the first time. She was in a small room. There were no windows and only one door. In the center of the room was a television set that was currently off. It was sitting on the floor with its cords running off towards the door, but there they seemed to disappear. The room appeared to be made of stone. Gina looked up and saw nothing but an empty ceiling and a single light bulb. Looking down at herself she saw smudges of dried blood on her clothes, and clotted smears around her ankles and wrists. Her shoes had been taken off.
She tried to crane her neck to look behind her but could not see anything. She called out, but nothing replied. She saw that she was strapped to a wooden chair with what appeared to be leather straps. Swallowing hard Gina racked her mind trying to figure out what to do, and why she was being put through all of this just for the sake of a laugh. She vowed that if one of her friends was behind this she was going to get them back for it, and get them back good.
As suddenly as the lights had turned on the television turned on in front of her. The screen showed nothing but static at first, and then the picture cleared to a strange figure. To Gina it looked like a doll or a puppet of some sort, but then it started to talk to her in a deep, menacing voice.
"Hello Gina, I want to play a game," it stated.
Gina swallowed hard again. She knew this was a joke, but her heart remained its persistent pounding and she had a feeling of dread instead of the relief she should be feeling.
"You may think your life an ordinary one," it continued, "but that's not true, is it? You have gone out of your way to make sure everyone around you thinks you're just a normal woman with a normal life and career. The things they would say if they knew the real you."
Gina could not help thinking that this thing talking to her on the screen was making fun of her. Of course she was ordinary, there was nothing special about her.
The voice continued, "Have you put out of your mind what happened to you when you were eighteen years old?" Before Gina could think it elaborated, "It was just a usual day for you coming home from high school until you were forced into an alley. He wanted your money as well as your body, but you gave him something more then that. Something that would have sent anyone watching straight to a mental hospital."
Now Gina understood. This was not a joke or prank, this was punishment for her sins. What the thing on the television said brought gruesome images into her mind, and made her body tremble.
"You killed that boy without a second thought, without even batting an eye," it stated, "he had a knife, and you had your hands. You ripped him to pieces like an animal before he even knew what happened. You wanted to survive, and now I am giving you that chance again. I am giving you one hour to escape from this room. If you can get out of that chair and find the key to the door you will be free to leave. However, if the hour expires before you leave, the room will fill with electricity and you will be electrocuted to death. This is just a taste of what you will experience."
A low hum echoed around the room and suddenly Gina felt her body racked with pain as it thrashed violently in the chair. The inability to control herself as thousands of electrical shocks coursed through her body caused her arms and legs to shake against the leather bounds. Through her pain she felt the one holding her right wrist loosen.
"You have one hour," the voice said once the electricity stopped and the hum died away, "Can you survive again, Gina? Will you tare flesh and spill blood again for the sake of returning to your ordinary life?"
Then the screen went black. Gina was shaking uncontrollably in the chair. She took a breath, and then another one, but the shock her body went through was too great to be calmed so easily. Gina struggled against her bonds. She felt the right one give more then the others, and pushed and pulled against it with all the strength left in her body. Blood flowed steadily from her wrist, but she managed to slip it free. Working fast she loosened the rest of the straps and rose to her feet.
As soon as she was standing her knees buckled under her and she fell to her hands and knees. She felt like she was going to be sick. Covering her mouth she inched over to the television set. She looked around it, and even pushed it back, but she could not find the key to the door. She looked behind her, and gasped. Lying several feet behind the chair she was bound to was a man. Above him on the wall was a red timer reading 58.24. Fifty-eight minuets and twenty four seconds before she was electrocuted.
Gina staggered to her feet, and was able to remain standing as she walked over to the man. Her eyes filled with tears. Taped on the man's shirt was a piece of paper with one word written in red ink, the word survival. It was not possible. She shook her head and fell to her knees before him. The words rang through her head. Will you tare flesh and spill blood again…? It was obvious what she had to do, but the sickening feeling returned to her again, and this time she vomited violently.
The thought of that night returned to her as she wiped her mouth. She had been walking home from the mall after school had ended for the day, and was grabbed by a man. He threw her into an abandoned alley and produced a knife. He demanded her money at first, and after a second look at her demanded her body as well. She was so scared as he forced her up against the wall, and as his hand found its way to her chest her fear had turned to blind rage.
With a scream she tore at his eyes with her fingers. She had not meant it, but she caused four deep lacerations running down his face. He yelled and lashed out with his free hand and his knife, but he was blind. Gina could have left freely while he was wiping savagely at his eyes, but she remained. She saw the blood running down his face, and she wanted to see more. She hit the knife he was holding away, and kicked him in his crotch. He fell before her squealing and gasping for air.
The man's cries reminded Gina of a pig being led to slaughter, and she felt a sickening smile spread across her face. What right did he have to demand money from her, to demand sex from her? He was nothing but scum, and he deserved to die. Gina bent down slowly and grasped his neck firmly. She choked him harder and harder until he started coughing up blood. When his blood touched her hand she disappeared into herself. She told the police and investigators that in her panic she lashed out at the man, and could not remember what fully happened, but that had been a lie.
She saw everything clearly. She saw her hand rip open his throat. Blood gushed out of him like a river. She looked down, and saw her hands rip into his stomach. Gina could not understand when she thought back about it why she had not just took his knife and ripped him open that way. It was lying not two inches from her, but in her moment of savagery she wanted, needed, to use her hands. She ripped and tore at him until he was nothing more then a mangled mess. She left him there, bleeding and torn to bits. His blood covered her, and she liked it.
Gina did not get more then a mile before a police car picked her up. She was in such a state the officers thought she was the victim, not the culprit, of a crime. Had it really been a crime? She was defending herself, but did she really need to kill him? Her parents put her through the best therapy sessions they could afford, but her results were always the same. She told them she did not remember what happened after he attacked her, and her story always stayed the same. The only person that ever knew the truth was Gina. Gina, and who ever it was that brought her here.
Shaking her head Gina walked over to the door and tried to open it. As she expected it was locked. The doorknob would not even turn the slightest inch. She checked over the television set again, and found a tape recorder taped underneath it. Without a thought she pushed play.
"I don't understand!" a woman's voice screamed at her, "David would never do something like that! We weren't rich but we had enough to get by! He would never…!"
Sobbing followed, and then a male voice, "Ma'm, please calm down. I know this is hard to accept, but we have the girl's statement, and several eyewitnesses said they saw your husband grab her."
"No, no, no!" the woman screamed through her tears, "He would never do that! Did you see what happened to him?! What she did to him?! She's a monster! An animal! A demon!"
The tape clicked off. Gina's eyes drifted to the body lying on the floor. She wanted to live, but for what reason? Her life was not extraordinary, and she had not thought about the murder for years. Murder. Yes, under any other circumstances what she had done to the man had been murder. She could have ran away, she could have done anything other than what she did. Gina's eyes glazed over as she walked over to the body.
There was nothing she could use except for her hands. Falling to her knees Gina's eyes began to water until she was steadily crying. Her fingers trembled as she took off the piece of paper. On the man's shirt was a red circle and a bulls-eye. Her eyes drifted to the timer. It read 29.16. She had twenty nine minutes to tare open the man in front of her, find they key, and leave before she was killed. Dropping her head into her hands she tried to think of some other way to escape from the room. There was none, of course. When the timer dropped to 10.53 her hands dropped to the body and began their work.
At first all she was doing was scratching at him with her nails, but when the timer reached 5.46 she felt his flesh rip. She ripped and tore at flesh before her bloodied hand closed around the warm metal. As she brought the key out her mind was telling her that the body should not have been as warm as it was, but looking down at the body she understood why. The man was still alive. She saw for the first time his chest rise and fall, and as the blood emptied from his body it quivered and soon stilled. How could she not have seen his chest rising and falling?
Gina felt sick again, and as the timer fell to 2.54 she walked over to the door. Her blood soaked hands struggled to turn the knob after she unlocked the door. Finally she stepped through the threshold, only to find herself face to face with a hooded man. He wore the same red robe as the being that knocked her unconscious, but his face was normal.
"Well done Gina," he said, "you have survived again."
Gina was trembling as she replied, "Why did you do this to me?"
"I didn't do this to you," he said, "you chose this for yourself. You could have let that man live all those years ago, and you could have remained in that room until the timer reached zero. In both cases you chose to live by bloodying yourself."
Gina fell to her knees before the man and wept, "I don't deserve to live." Upon his silence she elaborated, "It's just like that woman said, I'm nothing but a monster. Why should I live after what I did?"
"The world formed you into what you are," he said simply, "This world is a dark place, a place that needs to be reformed. Most people die with countless sins upon their shoulders, but you have been reborn."
Gina looked up at the man. She saw that he was smiling at her. It was a cold, haunting smile, but still a smile. Behind her the timer reached zero and a slightly louder hum filled the room. Turning her head she saw blue electric sparks jumping all around the room. The body of the man quivered and quaked just as she had done in the chair, and with each shake more blood spilled out of his body. Gina stood up and stared back into the room. She was shaking, but she moved easily. She was just about to step foot back in the room went the man grabbed her arm.
"You survived the game," he said quietly, "yet you would go meet your death because you feel that is what's right. Interesting."
"Let me go," she whispered, "I deserve to die."
The man smiled, "Yes you do, but how would you like to avenge those souls who have been hurt and lost because of other's actions?"
Gina turned to him, "What do you mean?"
"If you help me with my work I will give you what you desire," the man replied, "A chance for redemption, and when the game comes to a close I will end your life personally. You have my word."
Gina considered what the man had told her. She never had the courage to end her own life, and when the circumstances threatened her life she fought like hell to stay alive. His words, however menacing they sounded, were true. She wanted nothing else but to die for her sins, and if she helped this man he would give her peace.
"What do you do, exactly?" she questioned carefully, "How do you help people?"
"Just as I did for you," he stated releasing her arm, "I give them a choice to die for their sins, or work through their fears and weakness. Many of the people I test choose to die, but there are a select few that have come through."
Looking down she went through everything that had happened. She had no right to "test" people, and neither did he, but if they would not, who would? The world was filled with scum just like the man she killed all those years ago. What's to stop another man or woman from doing the same thing? She would save them the pain of what she had gone through. No one else would feel like she did ever again.
"I'm yours," she said simply and walked away from the door.
The man nodded his head, "Wisely chosen Gina. Come, follow me."
She walked with him through a dark hallway. It reeked of blood and chemicals, but the smell did not bother her much. They walked all the way to the back and through a door. The man closed the door behind them and showed her into a room with what looked like a procedure room off to one side.
"This is where you will stay," he said, "I will teach you everything I know. I can't say how long we will have together, but I will keep my promise to you."
He turned from her and walked into the procedure room. She could just make out his figure behind the green curtain. He hunched over slightly, and looked like he was having trouble catching his breath before she heard a pill bottle pop open. Looking around she saw the doll that had greeted her on the television screen.
"You knew who I was," Gina said as she sat down on a chair facing the room, "but who are you?"
In the procedure room the man took two pills and washed them down with a glass of water before he answered her, "John," he said looking out at her, "My name is John."