Dim lights.
Muted sound.
Pain.
Darkness.
***
His brain barely functioned, but then the distant sounds turned into voices. He tried to connect the words from a male voice.
"Enough already, how...times...let him die."
Darkness.
***
Awareness came slowly. Everything hurt and then pain seared into his back, bringing him off the cold, hard surface.
"Hold him down, dammit, or tighten the chains."
Something or someone mashed him further into what laid beneath him. He managed to open his eyes to see... cement. He was on a cement slab. Dried blood. Was it his? He smelled burning flesh. That was his and he was in hell.
Again.
The pain intensified. He couldn't hold back his scream, and when it tapered off, his bleary mind heard laughter.
"He's back with us."
His cloudy eyes blinked pa
