This was hell on earth.

This, was hell. On. Earth.

The metallic clinks echoed through the basement, a symphony of despair that complemented the plight of the two young men. To say they were shattered and destroyed would be an understatement. The English language was yet to find a word suitable to adequately describe how they felt.

This was horrible. Absolutely horrible.

This was not how they had imagined their evening would pan out. Not in the slightest. They had just been abused and tormented in ways they never would have imagined.

Captured by a twisted individual and thrust into a nightmare they couldn’t wake up from.

It was probably about half an hour of ‘marinating in the pain’, as their sicko captor had mocked, and they were leaning against the wall, simply tired.

They had no idea what to do. They had no chances of freeing themselves from these chains; they had realized from the onset that it only inflicted more pain on them. And there was nothing around that they could use to defend themselves or fight back.

And at this point, they had been tortured so hard, there was zero energy to even try and mount a fightback of any sort.

Suddenly, a flicker of light sliced through the darkness, and once again, the room was bathed in the harsh glow of a single bulb. The captives squinted against the sudden brightness, their eyes quickly adjusting to the illumination this time.

The sound of footsteps down the staircase echoed in the basement, announcing the return of their tormentor, and a fresh wave of dread in their bosoms.

The captor emerged from the shadows, his face adorned with that psychotic smile that sent shivers down their spines. Still bound and helpless, they both glared at him with a mixture of deep hatred and extreme fear.

“Well, well, look at you two,” the man sniggered, his voice dripping with sadistic pleasure. “All nicely marinated, huh?”

The captives shook, wishing to high heavens they could scream bloody murder at him. The demonic, barbaric, malevolent beast!

The man stepped back, then pulled a chair from the shadows, its legs scraping against the cold basement floor. With a theatrical flair, he placed it a few metres in front of his captives, and settled into it, his eyes glinting as always with a disturbing mix of amusement and vindictiveness.

The young men glanced at each other, well and truly puzzled. What bizarre turn was this next stage of torment going to take?

“Oh, sorry, almost forgot.”

Their hearts jumped into their throats at the sound of that. That was nothing good to hear.

Especially with the way he rose to his feet and walked towards them. They began kicking furiously, doing their best to try and fight him off.

“Will you two fuckwits stop moving so I can take your gags off?”

They stopped in surprise at that.

“Seriously. Let me take your gags off. I’m not hurting you this time around.”

This was strange to hear. He had basically been hurting them all night, where was this sudden switch of tactic coming from?

Nonetheless, the prospect of having these painful gags off was a good one. So they stopped kicking about.

To their surprise, the man stuck to his word, reaching over and taking off the gags.

Oh, what a much-needed drop of water in the midst of this fiery hell!

Immediately, the long-haired one sat up and pleaded loudly. “Sir, please! Let us go! This was a mistake, we didn’t-“

The man turned sharply and put a finger to his lips, silencing him immediately. “Silence!” he warned, his voice turning menacing. “Not a word from you two until I speak to you. Or I’ll give you another volcanic wash!”

That was enough to silence the two young men.

As he resumed his seat, he nodded at the long-haired one. “Swiss Cheese, right?”

The young man looked puzzled.

“That’s what you call yourself. Swiss Cheese, yes or no?”

“Y-y-y-yes, yes, yes,” he responded hurriedly. “Y-y-yeah, th-th-that’s wh-what they call me.”

“Okay.” He turned to the short-haired guy. “And you! You’re Kaboom, correct?”

The young man nodded obediently.

“Open your fucking mouth, motherfucker!”

“Yes, yes! I’m Kaboom!”

Leaning backward, the man snickered and stared at them. “Swiss Cheese. Kaboom. What the fuck kinda nicknames are those?” he laughed to himself. “You idiots should do better, honestly.”

Before they could think of saying anything in response, he moved forward again, looking at them with a bit of a mocking excited look. “Anyways, whatever. So, you know, I’ve been thinking. Every villain has a certain charm, a unique quality that makes them memorable. So, boys, who’s your favorite villain?”

Swiss Cheese and Kaboom exchanged uneasy glances.

What a strange and unexpected question. Somehow, it added an eerie layer to their already dire situation, and they had no idea what to think about it.

Before they could fully wrap their minds around the purpose of such a question, he repeated himself in a low, intimidating tone. “I said… Who is your favorite villain?”

Caught off guard, Swiss Cheese stammered, “Uh, I-I-I don’t know, man. The Joker, I guess?”

The man’s lips curled into a sinister grin. “Ah, yes. The Joker. Excellent choice. The Heath Ledger Joker in particular, I’m sure. And what about you?” he directed his gaze to Kaboom.

Kaboom, still bewildered, blurted out, “Uh, Darth Vader?”

The man chuckled darkly. “Interesting choices. Not bad at all. They’re pretty scary villains. Top 2, in fact. I mean, not for me. My favourite villains are Anton Chigurrh, Jigsaw and Hannibal Lecter, but yeah, I rate the Joker really highly, too. Especially the Heath Ledger version. That was one mega-twisted beast.”

The captives remained silent, their eyes filled with a mix of confusion and dread.

The man’s expression shifted into a chilling mask as he leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a haunting whisper. “Well, all that aside, you know something? I don’t know you, and you definitely don’t know who the fuck I am. But that doesn’t matter. My name is Yoni Ramirez, and… I wanna play a game.”

Swiss Cheese and Kaboom stared at each other in fright. They knew that was a Jigsaw reference, which only meant one thing.

Their torment was nowhere near over. And if he was really inspired by the sadistic villain as he claimed to be, then this was going to be one horrible stage of torment.

Yoni reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. A big set of different-looking keys on a big keyholder. “You see these keys? At least one of them is the key that’ll open your chains and set you free.”

The young men’s eyes lit up for a moment.

Yoni then reached into his other pocket and pulled out what looked like a timer, placing it on the floor. “Once this timer is set, you have sixty seconds in which to reach this bunch of keys, unlock your chains, and run the fuck outta here as fast as you can. Do this within the stipulated time and guess what? I will let you go. No more torment, no more abuse. You can get outta here and pretend like this never, ever happened.”

Their hearts pounded against their chests like boxers at a training session. This was some crazy stuff to hear. Was he actually serious about this? He would let them go? For real?

Yoni then pulled a blindfold out of his shirt pocket and stood up. “Buuuut… if you’re still chained and bound up by the end of the countdown, that will provoke a little game of Dodgeball from me. Blindfolded and all. The only difference is, instead of a ball, I’ll be firing off with…”

He reached behind and pulled out two semi-automatic pistols. “… these two lovely glocks. G43X MOS. Pretty solid pistols. Guaranteed to cause maximum damage. But you knew that, didn’t you?”

The two had just endured the most horrid few hours of torture, but the petrification that overtook them upon seeing Yoni brandish those two guns was a novel feeling. They screamed loudly and kicked about, realizing they were now possibly staring death in the face.

“PLEASE, MR YONI, PLEASE! DON’T DO THIS! LET US GO, WE BEG OF YOU-“

“SILENCE!” Yoni roared ferociously, his tone making them freeze. He glared at them as he put the guns back behind him, jangled the bunch of keys, then proceeded to put on his blindfold.

Kaboom, wholly horrified, whimpered, “Please, sir, we beg you, please-“

“One more word out of you, and a fucking bullet’s going through your fucking brain, dickhead! Now shut the fuck up and get ready for the fucking game!”

The two went mute. Yoni’s anger was frightening; he definitely would not hesitate to shoot them dead if they pushed him any further.

So as Yoni put the blindfold on, Swiss Cheese whispered to Kaboom, a plan quickly forming in his head. “Look, man, we just need to be swift about this. A minute’s pretty short, but we can free ourselves if we work smart. So look, here’s the thing: once I get the key bunch, I’ll use my feet. These chains need an Ace II key to open them, so I’ll look for that quickly. I think I should be able to find a way of opening your locks with my feet. I can do that in about twenty seconds, then you unlock me with the quickness, then…”

Yoni’s voice cut through their game-plan.

“Oh, by the way, guys, another rule to this game. I have to toss the keys to you. Blindfolded. And wherever they land is where you have to try and grab them. So… yeah. Good luck.”

Their hearts sank.

Fully blindfolded, Yoni tossed the bunch of keys in the air.

It landed a distance away from the reach of the captives.

He immediately laid a big toe on the timer and pressed the button.

“Your time starts NOW!” 

This is some crude insanity of the highest order! Man, we can only hope these guys make it out. Seems slim a chance, but well…