Endurance by T. J. Blake

feet.
Tom stood still. He slowly turned his head and looked down to see
Danni on the ground. Her clothes were skin tight from the rain; the
lining of her bra visible through her thin shirt.
    Tom was
forced off his feet by a sharp pain in his chest. He landed on his
back and faced the sky.
    For a moment,
Anna entered his mind, possibly for the last time. She looked
happy. The flashback was of her smiling in Jubilee gardens in the
sunshine, the sun bright and reflected off her sunglasses. The
grass looked better than ever before. Anna’s skin looked peachier,
her lips luscious, and her eyes astounding in the sunshine. Tom
focused on the grey skies and lost consciousness.
     
     
     
     
    9
     
    Tom awakened
in dimness; the only light source was the night sky that shone
through the window, the only window in the room. As he regained his
senses, he smelled a musky, damp stench. Staring into the dark, he
identified the objects around him by their shapes. To his right, he
saw some machinery; saws and other sharp objects hung on the wall.
Straight ahead of him were four long bars. The bars led to a
circular shape at the top with cables knotted and scattered across
the floor below them. To his left seemed to be four pigs hanging
upside down from the ceiling, swaying slightly. Below them, a
little closer to Tom were two plastic boxes on a table with animals
inside. He could hear the animals moving around in the boxes. Also
on the table was a stand with three tubes with liquid inside. Hung
on the chair next to the table was a long coat.
    Horrified,
Tom tried to stand; he was tied to a chair with his hands behind
his back. Still soaked from the rain, water dribbled down his
face.
    ‘ Hello?’ Tom
bellowed.
    It echoed
back to him at least seven times. He shouted over and over again
until all the lights turned on so brightly that he couldn’t see
directly in front of him. He looked to the side, toward the hanging
pigs, and realised they were naked corpses hanging upside down from
their ankles. Their arms flopped loosely. A young woman, man, a
child and an elderly lady hung there. As he continued to stare, he
looked at the face of the young woman. Her face was covered in dark
mould and loose skin with patches of green. Her hair looked wiry
and as dry as hay. Tom’s eyes welled up, his fists clenched, his
arms gained strength to try and break free. As he clenched his
fists, his nails dug into his splinter-filled hands forcing the
splinters to dig further into his hands and bleed. The pain was
excruciating but his adrenalin and rage blocked the pain. He began
to scream as he stared at the face of the young woman, Anna. Her
entire body was caped in white and grey mould; enlarged red veins
have covered her entire body. Her ankles bled while she hung there
and stained her body as it dripped down. She had plastic tubes
going into her arms, legs and mouth. The tubes were linked with red
and green liquid in vials that pumped through the tubes into
her.
    Next to her
was Stewart, he looked like Anna, but was missing an arm. To Tom’s
horror, he saw a young girl next to Stewart, no older than ten.
There was also an elderly woman. All four of them had tubes with
liquid pumping into them.
    Tom looked
back to Anna’s red and green patched face. She was barely
recognizable.
    A man stood
in front of the light. The man’s outline was visible but his front
was blacked out from the bright light.
    ‘ Hello.’
    Tom
recognized the voice, but he couldn’t quite identify the person it
belonged to.
    ‘ Who are
you?’
    ‘ That would
be telling.’
    ‘ Well, what’s
going on? Surely I’m allowed to know that before you kill
me?’
    The figure
laughed, then fell silent. Tom tried to focus on the figure but the
light was too bright. It burned his eyes as he tried to
focus.
    ‘ Well. I’m
not going to kill you, quite the opposite actually. I’ve cured
you.’ The figure folded his arms together. ‘I spoke to your friend,
Danni, and she told me what