The Worst

19 Feb 2019

Today’s prompt: “The worst thing that could happen”

You’re already going to die. You know that much. The worst thing that could happen is if, just prior to your death, you undid all your life’s work. If you talked.

There is a secret cabal that has worked tirelessly for generations to open a rift to the Earth from another dimension, a rift that would allow the Old Ones to come and devour us all, to rip asunder all vestiges of human society. And there is another secret society aware of the existence of the Old Ones and the cabal, ready to do anything to protect the Earth.

It’s a tale as old as time – gather intel, infiltrate, counterintelligence, thwart, retaliation, murder, and then the cycle begins anew. A constant game of Spy vs. Spy. But this time, for once, there’s hope. An end to the cycle.

Or there will be. As long as you don’t talk.

“One last time,” the stubble-faced man says, his left hand pressing down on your first three fingers, his right hand holding your pinky upright. “Where. Is the rift. Going to appear?”

“Do your worst,” you say.

The stubble-faced man jerks his right hand, and your pinky breaks. You definitely thought you could play that cool, but you can’t. You scream. He moves on to the next finger.

“Where. Is the rift. Going to appear?”

“^&$ you, %&($%@,” you say.

He breaks your ring finger. You scream again.

“Where. Is the rift. Going to appear?”

You’re out of catty quips. You stay silent. He breaks your middle finger.

“Where–”

“Look, can’t you tell I’m not going to tell you? You might as well kill me now.”

“Where. Is the rift. Going to appear?”

You stare into your torturer’s eyes with as steely a gaze you can manage under the pain you feel.

He breaks your index finger.

You have to admit to being impressed. You’d always seen the resistance as goody-two-shoes types. But they think they’re doing the right thing, fighting on behalf of humanity. They’ll do a lot of dark things for that.

Still.

He can kill you, or the Old Ones can when they come through the rift you’ve set into motion. You’ll never tell.