Page 4 of Sadistic Retribution (Rise of Phoenyxx #2)

I go rigid, biting my tongue as my muscles lock up. My head starts to spin, and the room swims. I hear them moving and I know they’re not done. I'm hit with another syringe, this one making white-hot lava blaze through me. My bladder lets go. My mouth opens on a silent scream.

Another syringe. This one paralyzes me, and I can’t even move my eyes. The fear consumes me. I know that there’s still one more syringe.

Within seconds, it hits me, making my brain scream. I get so violently sick I vomit, but the paralysis holds it in my mouth.

“Fuck, don’t let her aspirate,” Demon tells Skull. My mouth is pried open, and my head turned sideways. I can smell the vomit landing next to my face.

My head spins, and all conscious thought is wiped away. The last thing I see is Demon looming over me.

Bryan

I’m sitting on the hard floor, head hanging in misery. Phoenyxx has been gone a long time. There was nothing I could do to help her.

Honestly, I’m not much use with confrontation. I don’t know how to fight; I’ve never even been in one. When the Six arrived here, I stayed far away. I knew better than to put myself in their sights.

Bryan Age 13

I rush inside, going straight for my mom. I was hoping my dad was here, but I didn’t see his car when the bus dropped me off.

“Mom!” I holler, dropping my backpack to the floor.

“For heaven’s sake, Bryan! What are you bellowing about?” She comes out of the kitchen, a dish towel in her hand and a frown on her face.

“There are some guys at school—they're really mean. They push kids into lockers, put their heads in toilets, just bully them, you know?” I suck in a breath, trying to relay my fear to her. “They followed me all day, calling me names and threatening me. I ignored them as much as I could, but they cornered me in the bathroom. They told me I have to fight them tomorrow after school! They said if I don’t, they’ll come after you! ”

“Oh goodness, Bryan. No one can make you fight. You just avoid them. If you ignore bullies, they’ll get bored and move on. I'll call the principal tomorrow and fill him in. I'm sure he’ll look after you.”

My eyes fill with tears. “But Mom... they will hurt you!”

“Oh, pfft. They will do no such thing. You can’t live in fear, Bryan. Remember that.”

Tears clog my throat as I ponder why they took my Valley away? They’re vicious and unhinged, but to do something so drastic as to take an innocent girl’s life? Just to piss off Phoenyxx?

Sobs burst out, my chest heaving. My Valley.

.. God, how can she be gone? She was a light in my darkness.

As corny as it sounds, she literally had me at hello.

When she called me a hero, I knew I was going to be gone for this girl.

She was so bubbly and animated; she took my breath away.

I can’t imagine life without her. Not that I’ll even get out of here.

I hope they just get it over with and kill me.

I'm just an ordinary guy at the end of the day.

I never deserved to be sent here. This place—it's for the worst of the worst. I've witnessed some truly horrifying things in the four years I’ve been here.

No one goes home. I've never been given any indication that I’ll leave.

No timeline—nothing. This place is not what it seems.

I feel so bad for Phoenyxx. She's lost everything. I don’t know if she’ll survive this place. She's the only friend I have left, but what the hell can I do? I'm not a fighter, let alone a killer.

My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of keys being inserted into the lock. I tiredly raise my head, and my eyes widen as Phoenyxx is carried in like a sack of potatoes, then unceremoniously dumped on the floor. The masked man sneers at me, and I shrink back.

“Your turn, Loverboy,” the demon mask announces. I shake my head, scared to death. He jerks me to my feet anyway. “You either walk like a man, or get tased and carried!”

I nod, sighing in defeat. I slowly follow him out the door, into a cold and desolate hallway.

I’m ushered through a doorway, with a wooden chair in the middle of the room.

I'm shoved forward into the chair, then strapped down by my arms and legs.

The skull mask joins the demon, and they each pull out lighters.

I hold my breath, knowing this is going to be bad.

They bend down, flicking the lighters on. I scream in agony as the flames lick up each calf, sending so much pain through me, I tremble uncontrollably. I can smell the hairs burning off my legs. I start to plead, “Stop—please stop!”

“Had enough already?” Demon laughs. Skull shakes his head, and they thankfully stop burning me.

I'm unbuckled and pulled out of the chair. Then I’m shoved hard into another room adjacent to the one I was just in.

There’s a large ice bath barrel in this one, with a top that has a hole cut out. .. probably for a head.

I start to sweat, but they still force me forward.

The lid is yanked off, and I’m ordered to get inside.

I keep my mouth shut and climb in. My head is pushed down, and the lid put in place.

I immediately start shaking, the cold penetrating every cell in my body.

I do my best to wait it out, but after a few minutes, I start to beg to be let out.

“Pathetic,” Demon sneers in disgust. They let me out, dumping me on the floor, since my legs won’t work now. Soaking wet, I'm pulled into yet another room, this one with a surgical table, and an IV pole. Oh, no no no... not more drugs!

I start to hyperventilate as I’m strapped down, the IV inserted into my vein. “What...?” I start to ask, but am shushed with another threat. I swallow hard as the first medication is injected. I don’t know how much of this I can take before I shatter...