The Line of Life or Death - Chapter One - Better Learn Quick
#1 of The Line of Life or Death
The Line of Life or Death - Chapter One - Better Learn Quick
Well, it seemed no one liked my previous style of writing, which was about happiness and strong friendship, so now I've started this series. Also, I am not responsible for the mental scaring this may cause you. Enjoy it, if you can...
My bed was cold and hard, much more so than my heated blanket should've allowed. My wrists hurt and same with my ankles. The air was damp with a tinge of iron in it. Obviously I must still be in a dream. Opening my eyes I saw that I was very far from my comfortable bed. What I saw shocked me too much to let out a scream or even a whimper. Facing me not even two feet away was an obscenely mutilated carcass of a lion, head chopped in half, connected by a neck with stab wounds, leading down to a limbless chest, portions of it seeming to be torn off, and every inch of him covered in blood.
My breath was stolen from me by the absolute horror of what was in front of me. Pushing back I only met the wall of which I quickly found I was shackled to. The concrete walls, which in the corners still retained a little bit of the color gray, were tinted deep red. I spun my head around, looking for something other than the remains of the lion to look at. To my right I saw nothing better. It was a small dragon, hung upside down, wings cut off, neck slit, chunks of its arms and legs missing, and the worst part, its entire chest was cut open and spread, showing its entire insides, slowly draining of blood. My entire body was shaking as I closed my eyes and turned away. By now I had realized there was no way I could have been dreaming up this nightmare, for the pain was too great from the shackles and I would have woken up by now. My eyes started to water, partially because of the grotesque smell in the air, but mostly from the horrid things I'd seen. I looked the final direction I hadn't looked yet, to my left, and saw that I was almost in a cell, just without a door or anything. My mind raced with things I should do. Part of me wanted to just kill myself now, but another part told me I should try to get out of here. Examining my bonds closer I saw they were rusty and old. In attempt to real them I slammed my wrists into the wall. While it seemed to be working, at that rate my wrists would be shattered by the time I broke the chains. Quickly coming up with another plan I ground them against the wall, slowly but surely making progress. Less than three minutes later, my right shackle broke, allowing me to put more force on the left shackle. That one also broke, letting me turn my entire attention to my ankle shackles, grinding and smashing them into the ground. One broke relatively quickly, so I put the rest of my focus on the other one. Then I heard the clanging and slamming of a door being opened and shut. I gasped before quickly shutting my mouth again. Stifling any involuntary noises, I resumed grinding my last ankle shackle. Before it had broken, I heard the sound of sharp metal sliding on concrete walls.
"Time to find out what's on the inside of the new flesh I brought in." Came a sadistic sounding voice from the silence. My shackle broke and I jumped to my feet, still slightly wobbly from being just released. The voice seems to have come from the left, so I sprinted around the corner to the right, then down a long and narrow hall, lit with torches, with cells similar to the one I just ran from, each hiding its own unspeakable terrors within. I reached the end of the dimly lit hallway before looking back. I saw a shadow slowly making its way around the corner. Before it made it around I quickly ducked into the cell to my left and stepped in something warm, moist, and tube shaped. Afraid to look down, I slowly turned my head to the floor before realizing my foot was in the cut open chest of a decaying otter. Suppressing my scream of terror, I slowly removed my foot and looked upwards, seeing a small hole in the ceiling to the floor stone above. Standing only around four foot two, not quite fully grown yet, the eight foot ceiling was too much a task to jump, but it just so happened that there were many bricks missing from the wall leading up to hole, giving me a chance to scamper up. Rubbing my sore wrists, I reached up and climbed as quickly and quietly as possible, grabbing the ledge and heaving my small body up through it. The floor here was still slick with warm liquids and I didn't want to start to imagine what had just taken place here. Standing up, I tried to move as quietly as possible out of this cell and to the next hall. I saw in the cell across from me was a small mouse, chained upside down, blood slowly dripping from her backside. Turning my head from it I started my way down the hallway when I heard a meek voice whisper out.
"Squirrel, hey, squirrel. Please help me oh dear god please help me I'm so scared please don't leave me."
I turned to see the mouse trembling slightly, holding her hands together, and begging me not to leave her to her enviable doom. Tears slightly clouding my vision, I looked around before approaching her. Looking around a found a brick and picked it up, looking at her ankle shackles. I saw they were rusty like mine, so hopefully they'd break just as easily. Attempting to make as little sound as I could, I slammed the rock against the metal, cracking it with two or three strikes. Quickly, I moved to the next one, smashing that as well. The mouse slid onto the moist stone floor before standing up, wobbling at the knees. She looked at me and grabbed my hands.
"Thank you thank you thank you thank you oh sweet gods thank you." She said quietly. I put a finger to her mouth to quiet her.
"We have to be quiet." I whispered. She nodded and closed her mouth. She reached back but stopped and her eyes widened in shock. She looked back to find her tail nothing but a bloody stump. I could tell she suppressed her scream of fright and took her hand again, squeezing it lightly. Again she hooded and we started off down the hall, not really knowing where we were going. We almost were to the turn of the hall when a hoarse voice mumbled incomprehensibly. I looked to the source and saw something that almost caused me to scream again. It was a buck, chained by the waist, one leg missing and both arms broken with fragments of bones sticking out. Looking at his face, I saw half of his lower jaw snapped off. Looking higher I saw not two eyes looking at me, but empty, bloody, eye sockets. Covering my mouth with one hand I quickly covered the mouse's eyes with my other, knowing she would scream if she was that. I lead us down the hall and turned once more. I peaked into a cell after making the turn and saw a small square hole in the wall, just but enough for us to enter. Looking into it I saw a small room-like area, almost invisible if you weren't really searching for a place to hide. I pointed to it and the mouse nodded again, so I crawled in first. It was a tight fit, but I easily made it though. When I was in I found a lighter in the almost pitch black conditions, so I lit it. The room was very small, only about five feet by four feet. On the walls were scrawled messages carved into the stone. There were tally marks of days and small messages, almost completely illegible. Looking on the ground I saw a pile of bones, a slightly crushed skull, and a rock nearby. The mouse made her way in so I extinguished the flame. Hoping that whatever sick animal that ran this place wouldn't find us here, at lest for tonight. Exhaustion took over my body as I slumped against the wall, the mouse doing the same. We closed our eyes and prayed to the gods to have mercy on our souls before falling asleep, uncomfortable, and unsure how many days were left of our lives.