Chapter 17

The fatigue, although constant before, now suddenly doubled, as if it had waited before his guard was at its lowest before strangling him.

And just like that, he was within another dream, another memory, probably filled with pain and misery, similar to the last one…

He was in the same room, sat on the same chair, wearing the same constraints as the first dream. Although this time, the tubes and needles that were attached to him before, weren't there. However, the nails that were previously removed were also in this dream. It was an event that followed the previous dream where all of Dorothy's nails were removed.

Dorothy shifted her gaze from side to side, glancing around as a man dressed entirely in white approached her. While turning her head, Noah noticed several other children sitting on the same type of chair. They appeared to be in the same boat as Dorothy, not having their nails intact.

"Um…" Dorothy's weak and fearful, yet innocently kind voice came out. "Mister, where am I?"

The man coldly replied while listing something on his clipboard. "So, you've finally woken up, subject 835."

He walked back to the machine and brought out a syringe with a needle about a foot long. It contained a pharmacological concoction of anesthesia, classic hallucinogens, and dissociative drugs.

Without a second for a word of warning, he carefully injected the needle into Dorothy's spine, and almost immediately, he pushed down on the plunger, allowing the chemicals to course through her veins.

A loud scream then filled the entire room, one after the other, from Dorothy, as well as the other kids.

Afterward, he set his clipboard to the side, took one of the many sharp needle-ended tubes connected to the machine, and inserted it into Dorothy's back. As more and more were added, she began to feel numb, and the pain slowly started to dissipate. On the other hand, Noah could still feel everything that was happening.

When three minutes have gone by, the drug that was inserted into her started to take full effect. The numbing she felt started to worsen, and she began to peer off into the horizon, drool dripping down her lips.

The man stopped all actions he was doing, picked up his clipboard once more, and started to jot down – "Two minutes and thirty seconds until subject 835 was fully drugged. (Better than most of her batch)" he wrote under the column 'DRUG RESISTANCE'. "She looks to be more pain resistant than the others. Her responses to the tubes were quite positive; she simply yelled and wept," he wrote beneath 'PAIN RESITANCE'.

He then continued to place more and more, and as Noah's agony grew worse, he began to notice the silence in the air. He started to wonder, and deduce – Why is she… not screaming anymore…? What happened to the others? Wait, was it that drug…? He immediately connected this to what occurred in the first dream when she was electrocuted. Was the drug the reason she didn't feel an ounce of pain when before…? Does that mean while I'm in this state, pain is the only thing I can feel?

As the state Dorothy was in worsened, she started to hallucinate a sea of clouds beneath her, and a beautiful rainbow above her while she was surrounded by shadowy figures of her mother and father.

When the man placed around forty needle-ended tubes behind Dorothy, Noah woke up. The reason being a loud call from the warden, "Wake up!". Gradually, as he opened his eyes, he saw the warden staring down at him from within the cell.

"Seems like you had quite the nice dream… you wouldn't wake up no matter what I did. But, at the very least, you got some rest before the 'treatment' starts."

"Could've at least given me one more day to rest."

The warden walked closer to Noah before unclasping his shackles and replacing them with an iron handcuff. "I can't do that, one day was already pretty troublesome for me to get for you."

They both stood up, and walked out of the cell, into the corridors.

"Anyways, why do you look even more bruised and beaten than the last time I saw you?" the warden asked.

Noah was nervous, and started to question his plan – What if it doesn't work? Is it better if I just don't do it...? No… I've already started, ending it now would just… hinder it… He then said, "What's it to you?"

The warden feigned to be hurt and stepped back, resting his hand on his chest. "Oof. Why are you so cold today?"

Even when Noah made up his mind to execute his plan, he couldn't help but still doubt himself – The chances this works is little… should I just let myself be obedient to him… to survive…? No, I can't miss this chance, the longer I hesitate, the more… this will take.

"I don't think you remember, but you had beaten me half to death last time we met," Noah said. "Why should I be kind to you?"

"Come on now, what can I do when it was ordered by Herod, my boss?"

Mockingly, he replied, "Really now? If that was true then I don't think it's going to be alright to take slaves out of Herod's hands, is it?"

The warden paused for a second as darkness began to loom all around him. He made a bloodlust-filled smirk before he tossed his cap into the air. "Hahaha! Just as Herod said, you're quite the bright child," he said as the darkness around his body slowly turn distorted whilst the only source of light was his glowing yellow eyes. "But… didn't you know, the smart always dies first."

Almost instantly, the enraged warden moved to the entrance to the torture chamber. The speed he was in caused his fringed-cut black hair to ripple back, and his glowing eyes to leave two long yellow trails upon the air.

Slowly, he placed his palm against the flat surface of the wall. However, instead of waiting for his fingers to sink in, his fingers forced burrowed holes within the wall. As his veins popped and his sinewy muscles bulged, he pulled it open. He used four times as much force as before, placing a great deal of strain on the double-sided hinge.

Creek…!

"You know, I didn't want to have to go serious on you… but it seems your cockiness has reached an all-time high."

Noah trailed in, but behind his confident gait, he was filled with anxiousness and dread. However, due to the nature of the plan, if he showed an ounce of dread or fear, his plan would be ruined.

Thud!

Noah turned around to where the sound came from, he saw that it had been caused by the enraged warden who had shut the door.

Then, a strange and eerie atmosphere encompassed the entire room, and at the center of that atmosphere was the man who stood before Noah, the warden.

"So… why don't we play a game while we're in here? This might work in your favor because the first person to pass with me as the instructor went through this as well." The warden raised his index finger and added, "I'm sure you're acquainted with it, especially since it's rather popular with the kids these days. 'Tag'! "

"Alright."

Why did Noah acquiesce so quickly? Because when he heard about that game, he realized his plan would have a lot better chance of success if he incorporates the game into it.

"There are rules to this type of game," the warden explained as he started to walk towards the middle of the room. "Rule number one, I'll be 'it', and if I tag you, the 'it' will be transferred onto you. Rule number two, the game will last for five whole minutes, but if you become 'it' by the end of the five minutes, I will beat you as bad, no, worse than before. Rule number three, if I didn't catch you by the end, I will let you off scot-free. And lastly, this game will repeat over and over again until you pass the next phase."

Once he finished talking, he had already reached the pole. He started to count, "Three, two, one, start!"

He placed his palm on the pole which stood before him. Although it seemed as though it was too girthy to grab, he clenched his fingers tight, creating a deep engraving that formed a handle. Turning his head, his body soon followed, hurling the pole towards Noah at breakneck speeds.

Luckily, just as it was about to hit Noah, his instincts kicked in, and he was able to narrowly turn his body to barely dodge the pole with just a few scrapes.

The pole would then continue to crash onto the ground just beside Noah, creating a crater in which it would be embedded.

Since Noah knew he couldn't outspeed nor overpower the warden, he ran right, towards the darkest corner of the room. However, he severely underestimated the warden's speed because as he ran, the warden was able to catch up to him within a few seconds.

Once he was close to the corner, he felt a strong presence immediately behind him; it was the warden. He didn't look back, but the warden's presence started to grow stronger.

His glowing eyes left long yellow trails that slid beside his face. And suddenly, for a moment, he came to a halt before making a white murderous-filled grin that stood out against his dark and distorted like appearance. After a strong leap, his bangs were pulled back as he soared through the air. His arms spread wide and his thighs were close to his abdomen. It was as if he was a tarantula that had discovered and leaped for its next meal. "Tag. You're. It."