A/N: So sorry for the long pause in uploads. There's likely going to be a pause after this one again. But like always, I'll always be back with more so stay tuned!
Chapter 17: To Drown In Terrified Tears
"Courage? Courage!"
"Huh?" Courage responded as his name was called. But when he opened his eyes, he was back in the living room of the farmhouse. And the person calling his name was Muriel. She smiled down at him, as she woke him up from seemingly a VERY long nap. He could NOT believe it!
"Muriel? Muriel!" Courage yelled as he stood up and hugged her tightly. He started sobbing uncontrollably.
"Oh, my, Courage!" Muriel laughed.
"I'm SOOOO sorry Muriel!" Courage cried onto her.
"Sorry for what?" Muriel asked.
Courage then looked up at her, more than a little surprised that she responded to his English. She was looking back down at him with a clear look of concern.
"I-," Courage started to say. He stopped whenever he realized that he wasn't entirely sure what really happened and what didn't. Then something he forgot about just popped into his head.
"Where's Noel?" Courage asked her.
"Courage, what on Earth do you mean, dog?" Muriel replied.
Courage felt that something wasn't right. Did something happen because he didn't save Noel in time? Or maybe was he killed? Or was everything somehow just a dream.
"No, it just couldn't be," Courage spoke in his mind. "But something smells fishy, or my name is Archibald, and it's not! Wait, I haven't said that in YEARS, not even in my mind!"
"Something is really wrong here," he finally admitted to Muriel.
"Why now, Courage!" Muriel petted him. "Something's always wrong." Her voice seemed to drop in pitch when she said this. Whenever he looked back up at her face, she was green and her hair was bright red. Courage knew what was up because it happened once before and he's had awful nightmares about it happening again. She was possessed by the mattress demon again!
"Did you miss me?" the demon asked Courage.
"AHHHHH!" Courage screamed his trademark scream. "Hullabaloo and Howdy Doo-!" Courage tried to incantate. He stopped upon realizing that Muriel was now blue, and looked just like the Pixie from his overdue library book that one time.
"I am The Pixie," she spoke in a distorted voice. "The Pixie am I. I'm a blip, I'm a blur, I'm a blink of an eye."
Courage blinked right after she said that, and she was back to normal. He stood up and backed away from her.
"Courage?" Muriel looked dejected as he stepped away from her.
But the words," Something's always wrong here," rang in Courage's mind over and over and over again and again and again.
"Something's always been wrong," his mind spoke to itself as he recalled all of the terrible memories. "Even when things couldn't possibly be wrong, something was ALWAYS still wrong!"
He didn't realize that Muriel now stood very close to him.
"Courage," her sudden closeness jumpscared Courage out of his wits. "I'm talkin to ya, dog!"
SMACK!
She slapped him right across the face, which got him out of his thoughts and stung rather badly.
But as he looked around, he noticed that he was back in the prison cell. His hopes of not being in the prison anymore vanished. And now he was almost nose to nose with a grey wolf prisoner. Behind the wolf was a human prisoner, who glared down at Courage. He knew then and there that they were here to kill him, and that it was the wolf that slapped him across the face, not Muriel.
"Well, you gonna say somethin?" the wolf spat right into his face.
Courage indeed wanted to say something, but he was too paralyzed by fear to do anything. He broke eye contact from the wolf.
"Let's deal with this coward," he said back to the human prisoner..
The word "coward" stuck to Courage like a fly to flypaper. He's consistently persevered through Hell and high water his whole life and has just been called a coward? This finally caused Courage to snap.
"Grrrr," he silently growled as he slowly stood up to face the wolf. The wolf stopped laughing when he noticed Courage's look.
"What? This coward gonna-?" The Wolf abruptly stopped.
Courage, seeing red, had grabbed onto his arm really tight. The wolf was no longer smiling, and instead gave Courage a look of fear.
"Hey man, let go!" The wolf started to panic. And as the human started to advance, Courage slung the wolf into the human with a hard POW!
Even though both prisoners were likely done for, Courage grabbed the wolf's tail, and started violently swinging him around like he did the Stitch Sisters with his yoyo string. The wolf was screaming in pain and fear while Courage only saw red, and no mercy within.
But before Courage could let go, a large hog prisoner tackled Courage to the ground. . He let go of the wolf anyway, and the wolf slammed right back into the human. Both were able to get back up however, even though they were clearly hurt.
"Alright, so that's how you wanna play it!" The wolf screamed.
"Shhh," the hog holding Courage down shushed the wolf.
"Don't tell me when to shut up, fatty!" The Wolf yelled again as he punched the hog square in the face.
The hog then angrily grabbed Courage by his ears and violently started beating up the wolf with him.
POW!
KICK!
BANG!
WHAM!
Courage's vision started to fade not long after he saw what was no doubt blood from his muzzle all over the place. The prisoners kept fighting and trying to kill him at the same time.
But just before things started getting darker-
CREAK!
The cell door had opened, and there were now guards rounding them up. All of the guards were giant, grey bulldogs and overpowered all of them.
Courage laid on the ground, too hurt to get up. His body was used as a weapon for most of the fight anyway. But as his vision started to clear, he saw the hog lying on the ground completely still, and all three of the guards were repeatedly kicking the body. Courage blinked again, and he (along with the wolf and human) were being forced to stand up and exit the cell.
When Courage was finally able to regain his vision, he saw that they were descending down the staircase and into the atrium where all of the torture and slaughter was happening. And as he listened to the screaming and to the death rattles, Courage knew that it was their turn. He whined and jerked his arm to try to get free from the guard moving him. He was surprisingly able to move the guard more than the guard was ready for.
WHAM!
"Stop resisting and keep walking!" The bulldog growled at him as he regained his footing.
Courage had received a rather painful bang onto his already aching head. He grew very nauseous, but he kept walking obediently with the guard.
As they walked a little longer, they made it out to the atrium.
"No, no you can't!" The once tough wolf now pleaded to the guard moving him. Courage saw that those two were headed into the direction of the spinning contraption, so that the wolf could be spun to death.
"Why don't you fight me?" The human prisoner spat in his guard's face, who growled back. "Why don't you face me like a real man?! Y'all are such fu-!"
"Oh, shut up already, you worthless scum," the guard calmly said as he strangled the human. Courage passed by right next to them as he realized that the guard was never going to let go of the man's throat.
"There ya go," the dog said in content as the man stopped trying to reach for his face. And as he was dropped to the ground, Courage knew he was dead. And whenever the guard squat down and removed his dagger, Courage looked away before he could witness another Columbian Necktie.
TEAR!
SQUISH* SQUISH!
"Aw, the sounds!" Courage's mind couldn't help but listen to them again. He could NOT stand the thought of Columbian Neckties! And what it'd be like to get one. Dead or alive, he knew that he'd inevitably find out sooner or later. Regardless of how they-. A startling thought just entered Courage's head.
He desperately started scanning his surroundings, trying to figure out where they were heading towards. But then directly in their crosshairs, he caught sight of a stake. There was already a tall rooster tied to the stake. Another blink of an eye, Courage realized that this was the same stake where the girl was tied up, strangled, and forced to swallow molten lead! And then a Columbian Necktie followed even that, of course!
"No," Courage silently said in disbelief as they approached it.
"What did you say, dog?" his guard asked.
"No. No! NO! NOOOOOO!" Courage screamed before frantically trying to get free. He yanked the guard again, who was unfortunately ready this time.
SLAM!
"If you so much as jerk me around one more time, I'll cut ya throat right where ya stand, bitch!" The dog threatened while harshly grabbing Courage by his muzzle. Courage was whining, sniffling, and crying all at the same time. He could hardly see the bulldog's face, as he was drowning in his own terrified tears.
"GOT THAT?" The dog breathed onto him very cruelly. Courage could feel his hot, evil breath on his face before obediently nodding his head with another soft whine. The guard then shoved Courage to the ground. "Get up," he demanded.
Courage tried getting up, but his arm felt weak and kept giving out from under him. Then he noticed something cold touch his neck. It was a blade!
"Get up, now bitch!" The dog screamed into Courage's ear.
Courage, now completely full of fear, decided to put in more effort and was able to start getting up. However, the dog was impatient and then grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. He was placed back down onto his feet directly in front of the guard. And as they walked on, Courage could still feel the cold blade on his throat, ready to cut it without a moment's hesitation.
As they drew in closer to the rooster tied to the stake, courage noticed that he was openly sobbing very loudly.
"AHHHAHH!" The rooster sobbed. "Let me go! I'll do anything, ANYTHING I tell you!"
"Wah wah wah, keep crying you baby!" A black, muscular wolf guard spat in the rooster's face.
"Please, I'll do anyth-," the rooster cried before the rope around his throat cut him off.
"Ehhh shut up," the wolf guard said as the rooster was now being violently strangled by another bulldog guard. The wolf guard then repositioned alongside the bulldog guard behind the rooster.
Courage's guard moved him aside so that a tiger guard holding the container from earlier could walk by and towards the rooster. He stood between the rooster and Courage, and all Courage could see was the rooster's legs as they desperately kicked and kicked between strangled cries.
And as the time went on, the tiger grew closer to the rooster. Courage shut his eyes in preparation for what was about to happen.
"Look," Courage's guard said quietly. Courage also felt the cold blade press harder onto his neck.
Courage's eyes involuntarily opened, as he did not have the choice to do anything else. But as soon as he opened his eyes, he noticed the bulldog loosened the rope, then he and the wolf held the rooster's mouth wide open. Courage saw the glow of the lead being poured straight from the pot and right into the rooster's esophagus. He heard the sizzles from it making contact with the rooster's now burning insides.
"AHH-!" The rooster was barely able to audibly scream from under the bubbling lead. His body then went violently limp. Courage could see his limp legs and form.
"Shhhhhhhhh. Hushhhh now. There you go buddy," the wolf guard shushed the rooster, as he died a very painful death.
"You said the next one was a yapper too?" The tiger asked the wolf as he stepped aside. Courage could now see the rooster's entire body. His head was limp towards the ground. The bulldog guard then raised his head up. Courage stared into the tear-filled, terrified, drying eyes of the lifeless corpse. Its mouth was wide open. Drool hung from its lip, and steam continued to flow out of its mouth like one of Muriel's teapots.
SLICE!
"Aw, God," Courage grimaced, witnessing yet another Columbian Necktie. He watched as steam continued to flow out of the corpse's slit throat along with thick, crimson blood. Just before its tongue was pulled through, Courage stared at the charred insides of the corpse's throat and back into the unmoving eyes.
Fear was trickling down Courage's spinal cord until it was too much for him to bear.
"Muriel," the name entered his mind. "Muriel, Muriel! MURRIELLLL!"
Courage summoned up enough strength to slip out of his guard's paw.
SNATCH!
The guard then quickly grabbed Courage again by his paw before he could get too far. But "Muriel" entered his head again. He growled at the guard and slung him right into a nearby table.
CRASH!
Courage knew that he hurt the guard, and so he ran and ran. He had to get out of here and back to Muriel!
A male, blood-soaked cheetah guard jumped out in front of him as he was running.
"Hi-yah!" Courage screamed as he kicked the cheetah right in the junk.
"Owww," the cheetah groaned, as he collapsed to the floor.
Courage kept running until-.
BUMP!
Courage fell to the ground onto his butt. Standing directly in front of him was the giant Gila monster guard, who was staring down at him with his venomous red eyes.
"No," Courage said softly, as he tried to crawl away backwards.
"AHHH! Gotcha!" The wolf guard spat as he picked up Courage by the scruff of his neck and brought him to face him at eye level.
"Now as much as I wanna cut your throat right here for doing that, I think you deserve the punishment you tried to escape from," the wolf growled at Courage.
"No!" Courage squealed.
"Aw, shut up!" The wolf said before violently slamming Courage to the ground with a-.
SLAM!
Courage fell to the ground onto his stomach, facing the Gila monster yet again. But he noticed that the Gila monster didn't change his posture from before, and he continued to stare at Courage with those creepy eyes bearing an unreadable expression.
WHIP! A searing hot pain ignited across Courage's back.
"AHHH!" Courage screamed, as he brought his paws to cover his back. It hurt extra bad, as he also felt the cut he forgot about that he received when he was running through the dome village.
"Oh, no you don't!" The wolf hissed as he seized one of Courage's paws.
STOMP! The cheetah guard from before crushed his other paw under his boot and never freed it.
"AHHH-!" WHIP! Another whip seared Courage's back and turned his screams into cries.
"PLEASE! WHY?!" WHIP! Courage sobbed as he received another.
"You brought this upon your fucking self, MUTT!" He heard his guard he slung into the table from behind him. That must've been who was whipping him.
As his paws were finally freed, they immediately found themselves holding onto his back. He continued to sob as his wounds seared like burning Hell. Then the guards grabbed onto both of his legs and started dragging him back to the stake to be killed.
"No!" He desperately yelled with a cracking voice, choking on his mucus from his cries. He then saw his paws scraping the ground in front of him, as they quickly drug him. And he knew within 3 minutes, he would be horrifically dead and wearing his own Columbian Necktie.
When they reached the stake, the bulldog grabbed Courage by the scruff of the neck and slammed him against the stake. And after he let go of Courage, Courage tried to flee again before-.
SLAM!
The wolf guard violently tugged onto Courage's wrists from behind the stake and started tying them up. He intentionally tugged extra hard again just to knock Courage against the stake again.
As his wrists were getting tied with rope behind his back to the stake, Courage was whimpering and crying. He was never this scared in his entire life. He remembered all of the lifeless eyes he's seen here and all of the slit throats and AWWW GOD! All of the bodies in the mass grave!
CLAMP!
"Shhhh," the bulldog shushed him after clamping his muzzle tightly shut. Courage was still whimpering with it closed. "It'll all be over soon, little doggy," the bulldog laughed in pleasure of Courage's fear. Then he threw Courage's head into the stake again.
BONK!
As the stars in his vision faded, Courage noticed that he was rapidly shaking in fear. He felt nauseous and dizzy. Part of him wanted them to finally kill him just so that he didn't have to be so scared anymore. But he just desperately did not want to die, especially not here and like this.
But then Courage remembered why he was hear in the first place.
"Noel," he spoke into his mind. Courage knew he was probably dead now too, but there was a glimmer in him that almost knew that he was still alive. But that thought only terrified him more, as he knew that if Noel ever found him, his body would be found in a pretty bad state. That is if the worms don't grind him up first.
The thought of that made Courage shudder again. And Noel may never know what terrible things have happened to him. And he didn't want Noel to wander in here looking for him just to-.
CHOKE!
Courage's thoughts were forever interrupted whenever the rope suddenly went around his neck from behind. It took him by complete surprise, as he wasn't ready! This was it! This was it! He tried to cry, but he could not stop choking. They were killing him! Everything he ever did was now going to be lost with him in a mass grave of rotting bodies, and nobody would ever find him! He wished he could scream to Noel! To Muriel! To Eustace! To ANYBODY!
He tried to move his legs and paws, but his wrists were tied too tightly to the stake. He felt them burn, but he HAD to get out of here!
But he was running out of strength and his vision was faded. And right before the wolf guard with the kettle showed up, Courage honestly thought that they were just going to strangle him to death with the rope. But approaching behind the wolf guard was the Gila monster guard, here to watch without a doubt.
Courage desperately shook his head from side to side, but he noticed that the strangler only seemed to pull harder. And just when Courage couldn't see or hear anymore-.
"HUUUUUUUUUH!" Courage violently gasped in as much air as he could. It hurt soooo much! His lungs have never inhaled so much air so fast before! And it still wasn't enough. But as he panted, he somehow fell forward, completely depleted of strength.
THUD!
His wrists were somehow no longer bound to the stake, and he slammed down onto the ground right onto his face. He breathed in and out rapidly and could not open his eyes. Everything was also muffled around him. Everything he heard sounded like it was underwater, or really just an idea of a sound. But everything continued to grow darker and quieter.
He must've entered a deep sleep because before he knew it, he faintly heard the voices of Noel and Shirley before finally blacking out.
End of Chapter
A/N: Yes, I am leaving this on a cliffhanger for now, and I am sorry for that. I wrote this chapter a while ago, but it wasn't until just now that I revised it (and I barely had time to do just that)! But this arc is almost over and almost everything should be explained next chapter (if I ever finish it)! Anyways, hopefully I can get back to this sooner than later. Either way, stayed tuned, because I will be back with more. Cheers! ;)