Chapter 18: Mental torture was worse than physical torture

"What an interesting show!!!" A voice spoke from the doorway.

All the three occupants of the house turned to look in the direction of the voice. They saw a well-built man with chocolate brown hair. He was around 6 feet tall and he was not alone. Behind him, eight men were standing with their hands folded. They looked muscular and very strong.

"Who the hell are you?" Beth took a look at the person at the front. 'He must be the leader.' She assumed.

"People call me Joshua." Joshua bowed, taking off his imaginary cap.

"Get out of my house." Beth was getting angry. They were already getting late; she had no time to entertain strangers.

"Gladly. Before that let me take the things for which I came here."

"What did you come here for?" Caroline asked. She had never seen Joshua nor did Noah ever mention him to her. So she never knew that Joshua and Noah were friends.

"You three." Joshua snapped his fingers and three bodyguards walked forward. They held on to their prey and dragged them with them.

"What are you doing?" Eddie shouted. "Mom, save me."

"Tsk. Tsk. Grow up, Eddie. Be a man at least once."

"I am a man." Eddie pushed his chest forwards, trying to intimidate Joshua.

"Yeah. I can see that."

"How dare you touch me? Don't you know who I am? I am Noah's girlfriend."

"Which Noah?" Joshua turned to look at her.

"Noah Allan Carter."

"Is it? Then you will be given special treatment." The three people became helpless as their feet and hands were bound and their mouth was sealed. Yet, they tried wriggling and making muffled sounds. They were thrown into a minivan. They couldn't even move, Joshua's men were sitting right in front of them. They looked so scary that sweat started to appear on Beth's head. Caroline was shivering uncontrollably. Of the three, Eddie was in the worst condition. He had fainted out of fear as soon as he was hurled into the van. The men laughed at the coward of a man.

Beth and Caroline tried to free their hands, but in vain. It was tightly tied. Their struggle had made them tired. So, they fell as sleep after trying for some time.

After an hour or so of driving, the van stopped suddenly. The sudden stop, jolted Caroline and Beth awake. Eddie remained unconscious. The men opened the door and pulled Caroline and Beth with them. One of the bodyguards lifted Eddie with one hand and pushed him out of the van. Eddie stumbled and fell to the ground. The sudden push had woken him up immediately.

Caroline, Beth and Eddie were each hauled by a bodyguard. They took in their surroundings, after blinking a few times. It looked like they were in the forest, there were only trees around. They walked for some time. This time the rope on their legs were removed. After walking for about ten minutes, they reached a clearing. There was a huge building in front of them. They walked towards it and took in its structure. The black, mahogany door looked like the door to hell.

Eddie attempted to escape. But the guard holding him was too strong for him. He couldn't even move an inch and ended up bruising himself.

The door opened and the group stepped in. There was a long tunnel in front of them. It was lit with the help of fluorescent bulbs. The walls were painted black. The place was giving them horror vibes. They were shivering. It was cold and scary. Even their shadows looked demonic to them.

They were led to the first floor and pushed into one of the many rooms. The room was quite similar to the tunnel they had passed through. The only difference was there was only one bulb at the center. The room was quite huge and had no windows. Due to this, the light from the bulb could not cover all the corners.

A guard walked in and untied their hands. He also freed their mouths. Caroline tried to scratch his face with her long nails. However, she ended up hurting herself due to his fast reflexes. He had smacked her head at the wall behind her. She started to bleed at once. She touched her forehead and felt a sticking liquid. Looking at the blood, she wailed in pain.

"Don't do anything stupid or you will end up hurting yourself more." He warned.

The guard left the room for some time and returned with three slices of bread. He placed it in front of them and walked away, closing the door.

Beth ran towards the door and made an effort to open it. It was looked from outside. "Let us out. What the hell do you want from us?" She shouted. No one answered. She banged hard on the door for a while, injuring her hand in the process. She walked back and sat down in her place. She glanced at the piece of bread in front of her. It was completely stale. There was fungus on it. She threw it away in disgust. Just the look of it made her puke.

Meanwhile, Eddie had finished eating his piece and was eying hers. She scrunched her eyebrows at him. She looked at Caroline. Her face had gone white and her eyes were hollow. She had not touched her piece of bread too.

At that moment, the only light in the room went off. The room was plunged in a sea of darkness. All three of them started shouting.

"Ah....." It was pitch dark. They started running in the direction of the door based on assumptions. The darkness had rendered their sense of sight useless.

Eddie was screaming at the top of his voice. Their voice echoed in the huge room. This sound effect intensified their fright.

"Shut the hell up Eddie," Caroline said. Even though they tried for a long time, they couldn't find the door. They were only going in circles.

"What the hell are you playing at, you pyscho?" She shouted. "Let us out. Do you think it is a game?"

"The game hasn't even started yet," Joshua mumbled. He was sitting in his office, watching the video surveillance.

Every room in the Underworld Base was equipped with a surveillance camera and a recorder that worked even in pitched darkness. This was done to keep a look at their prisoners and to record their activities.

Joshua stared at the frightened people on his laptop. He pressed a button and hissing sounds started to play in the room.

"Ahhhh....." This time the shrieks were louder than the previous time.

"Mom there are snakes here." Eddie cried. He had never encountered a real snake till then.

Caroline and Beth were no less scared. They were frightened out of their wits. They did not know that there were no snakes in the room. It was only the sound being played on the hidden speakers.

Joshua smirked at their state. He had achieved what he wanted. It was not his matter to interfere in the first place. Noah would take care of them after being discharged from the hospital.

Till then, he wanted to have some fun. He wanted to torture them mentally. He knew that, "Mental torture was worse than physical torture." And that is what he was going to do.