Reap

The guard pulled on the chain. He threw open a door to a room. Suddenly, everything was familiar—the narrow bed, the straps that tied me down, the single light hanging from the roof, and the smell. The smell of chemicals, of the drug, the drug they pumped into my veins, the drug that made me forget.

I didn’t want to forget.

I didn’t want to forget long golden hair, a pair of brown eyes and that smile. Talia’s smile.

Someone entered the door behind me. I knew it was Jakhua. I could sense him. I could see his face in my mind as he ordered the death of my family. I could clearly hear his voice as he ordered his guards to shoot, and I could see that look of satisfaction on his face, as he told the guards to leave my family in a heap against the wall, slaughtered and piled up like culled pigs. And I remembered his face as he strapped my brother and me down, and pumped us full of liquid rage.

“Get him chained to the wall,” he said from behind me. The guard pulled me by my chains, doing as instructed.

I hung from the wall. Jakhua ordered, “Tighter.”

The guard pulled on the chains. I gritted my teeth as my arms stretched so wide that my arm muscles burned.

I breathed through my nose; in and out, in and out, trying to dull the pain. Suddenly, two feet stood in front of me. Fueled with venom and hatred, I raised my head, and met the eyes of Jakhua. His face contorted with fury as I met his eyes. Pulling his arm back, he slammed it straight into my stomach. But I didn’t react. I didn’t even flinch.

Redness spread on Jakhua’s face. Gripping me by my hair, he wrenched back my head and spat, “You fucking dare to look me in the eye. You.”

My eyes never moved from his, and I hissed, “I remember. I remember, everything.”

When the cunt didn’t react, I said, “I remember you walking into our country house. I remember you killing my family. I remember being brought to you. Remember being tied down to a bed, along with my brother. I remember you experimenting on us. Injecting us, beating us, forcing us to fight as children. Forcing us to kill others, to learn to be savage. I remember you tying us to the wall, just as I am now, hitting us until we called you master. Beating us until we forgot our own names.”

Jakhua stepped back and smirked. “And here you are again. Back chained to my wall. About to call me Master once more.”

I pulled on the chains holding my arms as anger pumped scalding blood around my veins. “I’ll kill you,” I spat. Jakhua stilled.

“In a matter of minutes you’ll be back on the drug. In a matter of days, after being chained to this wall, you’ll be bowing at my feet, like the fucking dzlieri you are.”

Gritting my teeth, I couldn’t stop the furious roar that burst from my lips. But Jakhua just stood there, looking at me like I was nothing, like the dog he believed me to be.

“I’ll kill you for murdering my family. I’ll kill you for taking my brother from me, and I’ll fucking kill you for taking her from me!”

Jakhua laughed. He walked to a table. He picked something off it—a chain—and walked back toward me. “So, you finally remember Anri?”

I froze. I watched him circle the bed in the center of the room. He’d mentioned my brother … the brother I barely knew, only fractured memories visiting my dreams at night.

I stayed silent as Jakhua planted his feet before me. “Funny. When I had him sent to the Arziani gulag, when he was screaming for you to help him, you didn’t say a thing. You watched him with blank eyes. Eyes under the control of my drug.” He leaned in closer. I could smell smoke on his breath, the distinctive scent from the cigars he always smoked. “You looked right through him as he begged you to see him. Didn’t react as he whispered in your ear, and you didn’t even shed a tear as he was dragged from the room screaming your name, and you never saw him again.”

At his words, my head ached, a sharp pain striking through. My eyes closed, and I could see it. I could see Anri fighting a guard to get to me, he was older than the other memories I had. His body was bigger, his hair was longer, and the tattoo, he had a tattoo. My eyes widened, and I gasped for breath. 362. I could see the number 362 in black bold letters across his chest. And his face, his face as he begged me to see him, to fight the drug, and I … I …

My heart squeezed in my chest as I remembered his words, his final words to me. Suddenly, pain ripped across my chest. I looked up to see Jakhua had struck me with the chain.

I would kill him.

Klavs. Klavs. Klavs. I repeated in mind, trying to set the order in my subconscious for when the drug took hold. With every blow, I forced myself to commit important things to memory. Talia cleansing me. Talia stroking my hair. The feel of her palm on my face, and her telling me she loved me. That her heart was full for me.