CHAPTER LIX
"The Gift of Terror"
The next morning, my eyes fluttered open — but something felt immediately wrong.
Mon wasn't by my side.
In fact, this wasn't even our room.
My heart thudded in confusion as I looked around. I was in an unfamiliar space — cold, sterile, and far too silent. The walls were gray and bare, except for one thing: a large, black screen mounted on the wall in front of me. It was off… for now.
Panic began to rise as I tried to move — only to realize I couldn't. My hands and feet had been locked to a chair. Thick, metal restraints clamped tightly around my wrists and ankles. The more I struggled, the tighter they seemed to hold.
"What the hell is going on?"
I was still trying to understand where I was, why I was here — when the screen suddenly flickered to life with a mechanical hum. And then... his face appeared.
D-Rax.
That cold, calculated smile I knew all too well.
> "Sam," he said smoothly, his voice slicing through the silence like a scalpel.
"By now, I'm sure you've noticed you're not exactly… free."
My breath caught in my throat. D's image leaned in closer on the screen, his eyes twinkling with cruel amusement.
> "Years ago, you helped me. More than you know. And maybe because of you… I'll be famous. Immortal, even. So, as a token of my gratitude," he said, voice turning venomous,
"I've prepared a special gift for you."
A chill rushed through me.
> "A gift?" I spat, struggling harder. "What kind of twisted gift—"
He cut me off with a smirk and a tilt of his head.
> "The kind where you get to watch… every person who plotted to kill you… die."
I froze.
The blood drained from my face. Who? Who was he talking about?
> "Let me show you."
The screen split into six separate feeds, each a window into a different nightmare.
My lungs tightened as I recognized every face — every friend.
---
The First Feed:
Alex.
He was in a small metal cage, his arms wrapped protectively around Aliyana, who looked terrified but uninjured. The two of them sat huddled together, surrounded by dozens of zombies outside the cage, growling and clawing at the bars. Their eyes were wild. Hungry. And the door to the cage… it was rigged. Ready to open.
---
The Second Feed:
Evelyn.
Tied to a chair. Her wrists and ankles bound. Across from her were chained zombies, foaming at the mouth, their heads jerking violently toward her. Like bloodhounds who had tasted flesh once and would never be satisfied again.
---
The Third Feed:
Mahi.
Strapped to some kind of mechanical slab, her body almost vertical. In front of her, a strange contraption: a circular hole… and out of it emerged the head of a zombie — jaws snapping wildly. As the machine pushed her forward slowly, I realized in horror — every inch it advanced, her limbs would be devoured.
---
The Fourth Feed:
Aarvi.
Hanging upside down in a metal cage by her feet, her face pale and helpless. Beneath her, another pit of zombies — mouths open, reaching, snapping. It was only a matter of time before her cage would lower.
---
The Fifth Feed:
And then I saw her.
Mon.
Bound to a table inside a different cage. Her hands and feet strapped tightly. Unlike the others, her cage had no buffer, no distance. Dozens upon dozens of zombies were packed outside it, clawing and thrashing at the bars — their rotting limbs writhing, their moans echoing with insatiable hunger. The lock on her cage door blinked red — like it was on a timer. Waiting to open. Waiting to let death in.
I couldn't breathe.
"MON!" I screamed at the screen, my body writhing against the restraints. "NO—DON'T TOUCH HER!"
Tears burned in my eyes. My voice cracked with panic and fury.
---
The Final Feed:
And then… the sixth screen lit up.
But this time, no one was alive in it.
Just two broken bodies.
Looka and Elisa.
Torn apart. Unrecognizable. Their limbs scattered. Their flesh chewed away by what had clearly been a savage attack. Blood. Bone. Silence.
I gasped.
Everything inside me collapsed.
They were already gone.
Murdered.
Eaten.
And I had to watch it.
---
I shook violently in the chair, heart slamming against my chest like it was trying to escape my ribcage. My scream echoed through the locked room — wordless, wild, raw.
> "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!?" I cried out.
The screen shifted back to D, who looked almost… entertained.
> "Because, Sam…"
"This is the part where you lose everything you love. That's the price of becoming a legend."
He leaned in again, smile stretched unnaturally wide.
> "And your pain... is going to be my masterpiece."
The screen cut to black.
And I was left alone with the images burned into my memory — the fear in Mon's eyes, the blood around Looka's body, the sound of my friends screaming, and the cruel laughter of a man who thought this was a gift.
I sat there, shackled, shaking — no longer just afraid.
But ready.
Because if there was one thing stronger than terror…
It was the fire of love burning inside me.
And D had just made the biggest mistake of his life.
He touched my people.
Now he would learn what that cost.
"The Key That Burns"
I struggled against the chains.
Every muscle in my body screamed for release — but the restraints were unrelenting. Cold metal bit into my skin, leaving bruises and red marks. My wrists were raw from the effort. My ankles felt numb. But I didn't stop.
I couldn't stop.
Because out there — Mon, Mahi, Aarvi, Alex… all of them — they were in danger. And I was chained to a goddamn chair, watching it happen.
I tilted my head, desperately searching for anything — anything at all — that could help me escape.
And then I saw it.
A key.
Placed right there, just a few inches away on the table in front of me.
Almost mocking.
Like a cruel joke.
It glinted under the faint fluorescent light, a sliver of hope in a room built on nightmares.
I couldn't reach it with my hands — but maybe…
I twisted and turned, straining every inch of my body until I could lean forward. Slowly… painfully… I began lowering my face toward the key. My jaw ached from the angle, my breathing ragged as I edged closer.
Just a little more…
Just a little—
ZAP.
The moment my lips grazed the metal, agony tore through me like a lightning bolt.
It was electrified.
A shock so violent surged through my face, down my spine, and into my chest, it felt like my nerves had been set on fire. My body convulsed in the chair. Every muscle seized up. My teeth clenched. My vision blurred.
It wasn't just pain — it was like my very soul was screaming.
> "AHHH—!"
I let out a cry — raw and broken — before my head fell backward, slamming against the chair. The electric surge left a burning trail inside me. My chest heaved. My heart thundered out of rhythm. My mind felt like it had shattered into a thousand fragments.
And then…
Darkness began creeping in.
My eyelids felt impossibly heavy. My limbs went limp. I could feel my consciousness slipping like sand through my fingers.
But before the darkness could take me entirely…
The screen in front of me flickered to life again.
And what it showed…
Was a nightmare unfolding in real-time.
Mahi.
Strapped to that hellish machine, still unconscious.
But now — it had been activated.
The platform began to move — inch by inch — carrying her fragile body closer to the snapping jaws of a zombie whose head emerged from the hole in front of her. The creature thrashed, teeth bared, as if it could already taste her.
Each second felt like a punch to the gut.
I screamed again, this time from helplessness.
> "MAHI! WAKE UP! PLEASE!"
But she couldn't hear me.
She lay there, unaware… and closer to death with every mechanical hum of the machine.
My tears spilled freely now.
Desperation gripped my chest like a vice.
I jerked at the chains again, the burns on my wrists reopening, my own body trembling from the aftershock of the current — but none of it mattered.
All I could do was watch.
Watch my best friend be delivered, inch by inch, to death.
And as my body gave out, my eyes finally fluttered shut — not because I wanted to sleep, but because my body could no longer endure the weight of powerlessness.
The image of Mahi's still form moving slowly toward that monstrous mouth was the last thing I saw…
Before everything faded into black.
---
To be continued…