Page 140 of Hurt

“Put her down! She has nothing to do with this!” Kurt yelled as he tried to get to his feet. The knock to the head made him woozy, and he stumbled in his attempt. Three Vega Cabal goons grabbed him, one of them met Kurt’s fist, and the other took a knee to the stomach.

They all swore and tackled Kurt to the ground as he hollered.

Rather than looking irritated, Ezra looked pleased. “Get the pipe.”

Another Vega, indistinguishable from the rest, appeared holding a long lead pipe.

“I don’t need his leg. Break it.”

Willow screamed and jerked against Tony’s grip. Her throat was raw from trying to get any noise past the tape. The Vega goons held Kurt down as the one with the pipe lifted it high above his head. Positioning it, he got ready to bring it down just below Kurt’s knee.

Willow was still screaming as she was dragged out of the room. She only heard the clang of the pipe hitting something and Kurt’s scream of pain.

Tears fell from her eyes and hit the tape as she was carried down several twisting hallways. The air grew damp, and they appeared to be descending. Concrete walls changed to rock, and her ears popped.

A single construction bulb set every fifteen feet was the only light in the hallway. The ceilings were so low Tony had to duck as he followed his squat little master into the bowels of the Catacombs.

The room the hallway ended in was more of a small cavern. A low roof was covered in condensation, and mold grew in the corners of the space. The single bulb illuminating the room was held to the wall by exposed wires.

Willow recoiled as she turned to face the room. The smell was indescribable. Something akin to decay assaulted her senses, and she gagged. For a moment, she was afraid she would vomit into the tape and choke on it.

“Welcome to the Void,” Asher announced smugly.

In the center of the room was a hole. About ten feet across, its depth was impossible to gauge. Inky blackness seemed to creep from the hole. She could almost see ghost-like tentacles reaching out for its next victim. Willow was afraid if she looked for too long, she would be sucked in.

Asher hugged the wall, refusing to get closer to the pit. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy your stay. The others have liked it so much, they never came back.” He cackled at his own joke.

Tony dragged her closer. Willow dug her heels into the rock floor, twisting and writhing in his grasp. The smell grew stronger the closer they came to the dark opening, and fear made Willow desperate. She struggled and kicked, but Tony didn’t seem to even feel her protests.

Her screams were muffled by the tape. As her toes came to the edge of the hole, she couldn’t help but look down.

The light from the bulb failed to penetrate more than a few feet down. The walls were made of jagged rock. It looked like someone had lazily dug into the earth with their bare hands leaving gauges in the rock face.

A dark miasma seemed to pour from the depths. It reached for her, hungry for a new victim.

If she listened closely, she could hear the screams of a thousand victims as they echoed around the empty chamber. Screams that went unheard until they were silenced by the darkness.

Her legs shook and threatened to give out. Willow couldn’t feel her hands behind her back, not that they would make much of a difference. Tony’s strength was unparalleled.

Willow heard feet crunching across the sandy rock floor. Asher came up behind them and ripped the tape off. More of her skin came away with the adhesive, and she could taste blood.

“Don’t worry, I’ll give Roland your regards.”

Willow inhaled lungfuls of rotten air. The foul smell made her skin crawl. Fear prickled at the back of her neck, and a shudder ran down her back.

“Roland is going to shove his hand so far up your ass you’ll have to kiss his rings when you beg for mercy,” Willow shot back with more confidence than she felt.

Asher’s smirk fell, and he clenched his fists. “The Weavers are no more! We’re going to des—”

“You’ll be nothing but ground meat beneath his fists when he’s done with you,” Willow snapped. She pictured those beautifully violent eyes alit with rage. How she wished she could see them again.

But they were too bright. They couldn’t follow her into the darkness.

Asher swore with indignation. “I’m going to enjoy hearing you scream.”

And then he pushed.

For a moment, Willow seemed to hang in midair. There was a brief second of disbelief before she began to fall. Everything spun, and the last thing she saw was two heads looking down, haloed by a circle of light getting smaller and smaller.