Authors: Brad Stevens
Once again a pizza and a bottle of wine were sitting on the living room table. Mara sat down, groaning at the pain as she did so, and Tyner poured her a glass of wine. Filling his own glass, he raised it and said,
“I propose a toast. To you, and your remarkable feat of endurance.”
Mara wondered what would happen if she tried smashing the glass and twisting the jagged end in Tyner's face. She might cause quite a bit of damage before he managed to activate her collar. But she simply drank without acknowledging his presence.
“You're becoming a different person now, Mara,” said Tyner as he gazed at her downturned face. “A much stronger person. I think you're starting to understand that.”
Mara stared into her empty glass and said,
“No. I'm not becoming a different person. You're destroying me. Soon there won't be anything left.”
Tyner poured more wine into the glass in her hand.
“We're going to build a new you in the ruins of the old.”
Mara looked up at him and said, in a calm voice,
“I preferred the old me. It was capable of loving and being loved. The old me was human. The new one sounds as if it's going to be a lifeless machine, like you. No emotions. No feelings. Have you ever had a relationship that didn't involve paying someone to let you beat them? The only emotion you're capable of is the desire for revenge. Women have ignored you all your life, and now you're making me pay for it.”
Tyner's mouth twitched. Only a slight response, but there was no mistaking it.
“Have some pizza,” he said, almost pleadingly.
Mara shook her head.
“I feel too sick to eat. You make me sick. May I go to bed now?”
Tyner stared grimly ahead, then stood up and brushed past Mara. Limping into the corridor, she found him standing by her bedroom, holding the door open. As she walked past him, he said,
“I'm sorry you haven't yet grasped what I'm, like, trying to do. Perhaps what I have planned for tomorrow will make you understand.” He shut the door softly.
Mara removed her robe, letting it drop to the floor, and went straight to the bathroom. She needed a shower. After drying herself, she lay on the bed curled in a ball, one hand protectively shielding her genitals, and drifted into a deep sleep in which she once again dreamed of a voice telling her to wake up. The voice sounded more familiar than ever, but she still couldn't identify it.
Chapter 13
Thursday March 29th
When Tyner came into the room on Thursday morning, Mara was already awake and wearing her robe. Before he had a chance to speak, she said,
“Let's get this over with,” and walked past him into the living room.
Tyner made breakfast without saying a word, then stood over her as she drank coffee and ate a slice of toast.
“I know you're angry at me,” he finally offered, “but that's because I'm breaking down the defences you've lived behind your entire life. It was inevitable you'd resent me for doing this.”
Mara continued eating in silence. Taking a last swallow of coffee, she put down the cup and asked,
“Are you ready?”
“
Yes, ma'am,” replied Tyner with a smirk.
As Tyner entered the playroom, Mara followed him in, removing her robe without waiting to be told and letting it drop to the floor. She was determined not to give Tyner the satisfaction of seeing her fear, which he seemed to drink as if it were a fine wine. Tyner walked towards a metal box about the size of a large suitcase, protected by a heavy padlock. Removing the padlock, he threw back the lid. Mara expected to see some dreadful torture device inside, but the box was empty.
“Get in,” commanded Tyner, and Mara understood how she was going to spend the rest of the day. She wanted to scream, to beg for mercy, but doing so would have no effect. Trying to appear as casual as possible, she stepped into the box and stood there staring into space. “Kneel down,” said Tyner, and she did as she'd been ordered. By manipulating Mara until her head was between her knees and her hands clasped behind her neck, Tyner managed to fit her into the small space. Pushing her head down further, he said, “You'll be in here for eight hours,” and closed the lid. Mara heard the sound of the padlock being returned to its original position. Pinpricks of light penetrated the airholes distributed evenly around the box's sides, but disappeared as Tyner pressed a button and plunged the playroom into darkness.
Mara heard a door slam, and knew she was now alone. After a few minutes, her whole body felt stiff, and she had trouble breathing. For the first time, she began to suspect she might not survive the Hunt. Tears poured down her face at the thought of never seeing
Yuke again. But panicking only used up more air, so she attempted to clear her mind. Perhaps, if she concentrated, she could separate herself from the pain rapidly spreading through every limb. She tried thinking of ideas for her next Melissa Valance novel, but the reality of physical discomfort soon pushed aside all merely cerebral concerns. Only the memory of Yuke's face, of the way she made love, of the way she felt, brought any solace, and as one minute stretched endlessly into the next, Mara started to imagine Yuke was actually there, wiping the sweat off her forehead and kissing her aching back. Sharing her pain. She could almost feel Yuke's weight.
Over the next few hours, Mara passed in and out of consciousness, only intermittently aware of where she was.
Is this what it's like to die?
she wondered. By the time the padlock had been removed and the lid opened, she'd lost all contact with reality, and didn't notice she was no longer in the box until her limbs were suddenly permitted room to stretch, and pain once again surged through them. Mara realised she was being carried by two men, one of whom supported her upper arms while the other held her feet. She felt herself being dropped onto a bed, and heard a voice say, “Let me know when you've finished examining her.” Then she was turned over on her stomach, and rough hands massaged her legs, her back, her arms. Mara became aware of Dr. Roberts standing over her, trying to restore circulation. She felt grateful, much as she despised the man. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again she was alone in the dark room. She tried standing up, but immediately collapsed. Grasping the door handle, she pulled herself upright, and this time managed to remain on her feet. She limped slowly around the room, silently congratulating herself for having survived yet another performance in this theatre of torture. A hot shower helped clear her head, and as she dried herself, she heard a doorbell ring somewhere in the apartment, followed by the sound of voices. Hobbling out of the bathroom, she found her robe hanging by the door. She put it on and laid down. A sixth sense told her that something very bad was about to happen, something worse than anything she'd endured so far.
Approximately twenty minutes later, Tyner walked in, a serious look on his face.
“Come with me,” he said, in the tone of an executioner escorting a prisoner to the guillotine. “I have a surprise for you.” Mara didn't want anything to do with Tyner's surprise, but she followed him anyway, knowing she had no choice.
Tyner led her to the playroom, opened the door, and stood aside to let her enter. What she saw so filled her with both relief and horror. Relief, because there, in the middle of the playroom, was Julie. Horror, because Julie was naked except for a collar, and standing in an impossibly rigid pose. Mara had taken considerable punishment over the last few days, and
grown used to staring at her own beaten body in a mirror. But what she observed now rendered her speechless. Every inch of Julie's torso was covered in cuts, bruises and welts: dried blood was visible on her breasts and legs, and her stomach had been so savagely whipped that flaps of flesh hung loose from it. But more awful than any of this was the expression of naked terror on Julie's face. And standing just a few feet away was the source of that terror, Mr. Let's-Make-a-Deal, staring at Mara with a mixture of contempt and amusement.
“
Hello, Mara,” he said coldly. “I'm so glad to see you again. I'm sure your friend is too.”
Without removing his eyes from Mara, Let's-Make-a-Deal snapped his fingers. The instant he did so, Julie came to life, shaking off her rigid pose as if escaping from a spell cast by a wicked magician. She stumbled towards Mara, arms outstretched, crying,
“Oh god, Mara, please help me. You don't know what...You have no idea...I...”
Mara put her arms around Julie and tried to calm her, saying,
“Shhh. I'm here now. Everything's okay.” But they both knew everything was far from okay.
Tyner had shut the door behind him, and was standing next to it with his hands in his pockets, silently watching. After allowing the two women to embrace for almost a minute, Let's-Make-a-Deal snapped his fingers twice, and Julie immediately stood erect again, swivelling around to face him.
“Julie,” he said, pointing towards the gynaecological examination chair, “sit there.” Julie marched directly to the chair and climbed onto it, arranging her legs in the stirrups. Let's-Make-a-Deal began securing the leg restraints, while Tyner fastened the remaining straps. Mara could do nothing but look on helplessly. Once they'd finished, Tyner opened a white box Mara was familiar with and removed a handful of medical needles. To Mara's surprise, he held one of them out to her. Let's-Make-a-Deal glared at her, and said, “Unwrap that needle.” Mara had some idea of what was about to happen, but did as she'd been ordered. Let's-Make-a-Deal smiled with satisfaction. “Good. Now I want you to use the object you have in your hand to pierce your friend's clitoris.”
Mara felt the urge to vomit, but somehow controlled herself.
“No,” she said weakly. “You can't make me do that. I won't do it.”
Let's-Make-a-Deal had obviously expected this response.
“If you don't do what I've told you, I'll take three needles and stick all of them into this pathetic slut's clit.” Mara could see there was no way out, and knew it would be more merciful to get this over with as quickly as possible. Trying to not think about what she was doing, she approached Julie, whose face was wide-eyed with dread, reached between her legs, squeezed her clitoris, and pushed the needle into it. Julie's cry of pain merged with Mara's cry of anguish.
Turning to Let's-Make-a-Deal, Mara asked,
“May I take the needle out now?”
The man regarded her curiously, then said,
“What would you do with it if you took it out? Throw it down the drain, like you did our trackers? Do you have any idea how lucky you were not to be caught by me? Still, Julie made an admirable substitute. I'm not permitted to lay a hand on you, but your friend here is another matter. The Hunt ends in sixteen hours, but I intend to make sure this vile cunt remembers tonight for the rest of her life.”
Without waiting for a response, the man walked over to Julie, pulled the needle out of her clitoris, and threw it in Mara's face. With Tyner's assistance, he released Julie from the chair, and ordered her to get up. When she was once more standing rigidly erect, Let's-Make-a-Deal walked towards the door, gesturing for Julie to follow. Julie began to follow him, but suddenly, as if asserting one last remnant of free will, she ran towards Mara and kissed her on the cheek. With a roar of anger, Let's-Make-a-Deal tore across the room, grabbed Julie's wrist, and pulled her after him. As Julie was dragged away, she looked back and shouted,
“Mara, I'm in the house now.” The sound of the door slamming shut had a terrifying finality.
Tyner crept up behind Mara, and put his hand on her shoulder, saying,
“You coped well with this test. And I think you just learned something that...”
Mara turned around and stared at Tyner. And what he saw in her eyes caused him to stop mid-sentence. Mara had been changed alright, but not in the way he'd expected. For the look she now directed at him was one of the purest hate imaginable. Mara thought she'd hated this man before, but what she felt now was something brand new to her: a hatred that could not possibly be put into words or given coherent expression, a hatred so all-encompassing it verged on madness. And the second he looked into her eyes, Tyner saw this hatred clear as day, saw it for what it was, understood that everything he'd ever been, everything he'd ever done, everything he ever would do, existed in the shadow of this hate, which had condemned him to a hell of loathing and contempt for as long as he lived. He tried to speak, but no words came. Mara understood exactly what Tyner had observed. She left the playroom, walked back to her bedroom, and waited for Tyner to let her in.
Mara did not sleep that night. She'd spent the last few days trying to shut out the reality of her situation, but now she let images of the horrendous spectacle in which she'd just participated flood her mind. She welcomed them, and encouraged them to stay. Her hatred spread until it covered her like a blanket. She knew that it would keep her warm, that it would be something she could rely on when the world chilled her to the bone.
She was still awake at dawn when Tyner entered the room and raped her. Neither of them said a word while it was happening, and as soon as he finished, the Hunter quietly departed, shutting the door behind him. After he'd gone, Mara took another shower.
Chapter 14
Friday March 30th