Page 30 of Boys Who Taint (Spine Ridge University #5)
“This is your last chance to exit this house and keep your soul. If you continue, your soul joins the Phantoms for life.” Talon smiles, his dark skin glistening in the single light illuminating these halls. “Now choose.”
One of the pledges panics and turns around, bolting through the door.
“Good choice,” Talon muses. “But the rest of you know where you belong.”
Apollo steps down the stairs, clapping his hands and only stopping once he reaches the floor.
A bunch more men appear from different rooms to surround us, and in their hands are several ropes and jute bags.
“I’m impressed so many of you made it this far.
” He claps his hands together and doesn’t let them go. “And now the real fun begins.”
Within a second, a jute bag is pulled over my head and tightened at the neck, while my arms are tightly grasped together and bound. Someone squeals as we’re pushed and shoved out the door and into a van, where we’re all lined up and told to sit.
“Stay quiet.” Apollo slaps the van. “Let’s go!”
The drive feels long, and I have no clue where we’re going, but I can already smell the piss from another pledge. Guess some are no match for whatever it is they want us to experience.
When the van finally stops, we’re dragged out and pushed into a line again.
“Walk inside. Slowly.”
Without sight, it’s hard to orient, so I listen to the sounds around me. We’re guided like prisoners into some kind of hollow space. I can tell because their voices echo.
“Where are we?” a pledge mutters.
“A place no one sees alive unless you’re a goddamn Phantom.” I recognize Apollo’s voice.
The guy in front of me audibly sucks in some air.
“Stop.”
We all stop walking and wait.
Something makes an odd buzzing sound in the back, and then suddenly, an electrical jolt is applied to my back.
I bend over and groan in pain. That felt like someone just sliced me with electricity.
“Stand up straight,” someone barks.
When I do, they rip open my shirt from left to right.
Another jolt is applied to my nipples, and I hiss from the sharp sensation.
Someone laughs, probably a Phantom, and I wonder if it’s Apollo, and if he enjoys sexually taunting me.
More jolts are applied to other pledges, and some cry out in pain.
“Does it hurt?” someone yells.
“Yes!” one pledge says.
“No,” I reply.
More jolts are applied, and I wish I hadn’t said anything.
“Enough to make you want to quit?”
I shake my head, waiting for the next electrical current that never comes.
Suddenly, a spray of icy-cold water hits us in the face, and I splutter to keep it out of my mouth. The water doesn’t stop until we’re soaked and shivering in place.
Something is scooted underneath my knees, and I fall right onto a chair.
Someone binds something to my legs and arms, keeping them tightly secured to the chair.
Did Apollo lie to me?
Is this an initiation? Or an excuse for torture?
A bucket is placed under my feet, and my shoes and socks are ripped off, while my feet are placed in water that feels like it was meant to boil a crustacean.
“Does it hurt enough?” someone else asks.
“Please, make it stop,” a pledge begs.
I don’t respond.
My head is tilted back, and a big splash of icy water is dumped over my head before I’m hosed down from the front with hot water. The alternating temperatures makes it feel like I’m burning.
Someone screams into my face, “How much pain will you endure for the Phantoms?”
“As much as it takes,” I respond, trying to keep my sanity.
I can hear them throw the water over someone else’s head while I shiver in silence.
When everyone’s had their turn, someone shoves my head back, and a knife is pushed underneath my chin.
“Are you willing to die for the Phantoms?”
The knife inches closer and closer, nearly cutting into me.
“Yes.”
The knife coaxes out the blood before it finally leaves my neck, and the one next to me is threatened instead.
One of the guys breaks. “No, no, no, this isn’t what I signed up for. Get me out of here.”
He jerks the ropes and tries to get up, and I can hear some shit going down, but I can’t fucking see.
Suddenly, the bag is pulled off my head, and I look around. We’re in a giant warehouse, God knows where. The two guys next to me still have their hoods on, and they’ve pissed themselves while crying their eyes out.
The bucket of water is pulled away from underneath my feet.
As Apollo stands in front of me, someone else cuts through the ropes behind me, freeing me from the chair. The next two guys beside me are also freed.
“Stand up.”
We do as we’re told.
The two crybabies with their hoods still on are set free.
They immediately rush off, and Apollo looks us dead in the eyes and says, “Will you kill for the Phantoms?”
Apollo places a gun in my hand.
The other pledges are given one as well.
“Wait, what?” one of the pledges says, shivering from the cold. “You can’t be serious.”
“Who?” the other asks, but the Phantoms merely stare at the people running away.
Both of the pledges glance at the metal in their shaky hands, as though what they’re being asked is despicable. A test. A crime.
But all I can think of is Apollo’s warning. This is a place no one sees alive … unless you’re a Phantom.
I raise the gun to eye level.
BANG!
Another pledge joins me.
BANG!
The two runaways who couldn’t commit drop to the ground like sacks of potatoes. The last thing they ever saw was the jute they’ll be buried in.
“Application terminated,” Apollo says, snorting.
Apollo snatches the gun from the one pledge who asked him if he was serious, points it at his head, and shoots.
BANG!
The last one to dissent falls to the ground.
“There is no room for errors, no room for takebacks, no room for regrets. Loyalty is what the Phantoms demand.” Apollo tucks the gun into his pocket and holds out his hand to both of us. We surrender our weapons to him, and I look at the other pledge who’s shaking on his bare feet.
“That’ll be one hell of a cleanup,” he mutters through clattering teeth.
I nod.
Apollo holds out his hand to both of us. “And you two have paid the price with your souls. Welcome to the Phantom Society.”