Archer's P.O.V.

Dox grabbed me roughly by the root of my hair before harshly pulling me to my feet, his grip tight.

He didn't bother uttering another word as he pressed the edge of the blade he held in his hand into my lower back and then proceeded to push me forward and we silently began to descend the stairs one at a time.

The sound of my feet hitting each step echoed in time to the sound of my blood rushing and my heartbeat thrumming in my ears.

This was probably it.

I figured I had used up all the luck I was going to get at this point.

There was no getting out of this this time.

I was only thankful that I was able to find Gemma and get her out of this hell hole before it happened.

No matter how things went down, she was safe and that was all that mattered to me now.

After my feet left the last step my focus was once again forced back on my current situation as I looked at what lay before me.

I was once again in the basement surrounded by all the tools Dox had set up to use for his sick pleasure.

On me.

"Looks like a lot of fun doesn't it?" Dox breathed.

I could actually hear the excitement in his voice.

He really got off on stuff like this.

Sick bastard.

He pressed the blade into my lower back harder as he ushered me toward the table in the center of the room.

Once I was in front of it, I felt the blade leave my back and glanced over my shoulder only to find the blade pointed right in my face.

"Get on the table."

It wasn't a request.

It was a demand.

Gritting my teeth, I turned back around and looked down at the table before me.

This was where I was going to die.

Of all the ways to die, this was probably the worst.

There wasn't much I could do about it though.

So, instead I took a deep breath before slowly climbing up onto the table and proceeded to lay down on my back.

I felt like a fucking lab experiment, which I guess I kind of was.

I refused to make eye contact with him as Dox began to walk around each corner of the table securing my hands and feet to each corner.

Before long I was completely vulnerable to whatever this bastard planned to do to me.

The thought did nothing but add to the cold sweat that had broken out across my skin.

My heart was now beating a rapid rhythm beneath my rib cage.

I tried to ignore the sounds as I heard Dox begin to fumble with something behind me.

The sound of metal clanging against metal echoed around the small room, making me clench my fists.

I tried to control my breathing, trying to keep myself calm but it was no use.

I was terrified.

Suddenly, Dox's face was hovering right in front of mine making me jump back, or I attempted to. There was nowhere for me to escape to being tied to this damned table.

"Let's begin then shall we?" Dox said, his voice full of dark intent.

I followed him with my eyes as he rolled a smaller table next to the head of the table I was on near my head and then proceeded to lay out a series of silver tools on the smaller table.

My eyes latched onto the hand saw that sat among all the other tools.

Dox must have noticed where my eyes were looking as he smiled wickedly down at me.

"You like that one do you?"

My eyes followed as he picked up the saw and he held it up and slowly began to turn it over in his hand, examining it.

"It's a beauty isn't it?" Dox paused his inspection of the saw and looked directly down into my eyes.

"It cuts right through skin and bone like a knife cutting through softened butter."

My heart was beating so fast now it was painful as I watched him place the flat part of the saw right above my shoulder and then slowly trail it down my arm, the cold sting of the metal on my skin causing goosebumps to rise over my flesh, before he paused with the saw right over my right wrist.

"Would you like a demonstration?"

I clenched both my teeth and my fists as I looked back up at him.

I wasn't going to give the bastard the satisfaction of replying.

What the hell did he want me to say?

"Yes, I'd love for you to show me exactly how you plan to cut my fucking hand off?"

He'd have a better chance on waiting for hell to freeze over.

"Not going to answer huh?"

He shrugged.

"That's fine. I'll get you talking soon enough."

He put the saw back on the table and instead picked up a pair of scissors.

Without another word he placed the scissors at the end of my t-shirt before he proceeded to cut upward, my t-shirt falling uselessly to the side, my torso now completely exposed as he cut all the way up to my collar.

He then turned again and placed the scissors on the table, this time replacing them with a sharp knife with a curved blade at the end.

Dox only glanced at me once, that devilish smirk still on his face before he ran the blade across my pectoral muscles end to end.

I couldn't keep the scream that tore from my lips as I felt the sting of the blade as it cut straight through my flesh.

The instant feel of warmth followed right after as my blood trailed from the cut he had just made.

Dox pulled the knife away, a satisfied smile on his face as he looked down at his work.

However, that was only the beginning.

The pain and my own screams of pain only increased as he continued to dig the knife into different places all over my exposed chest and arms.

By the time he finally decided to pull the blade away, my skin was covered in red. The cuts he made weren't deep enough to kill, at least not right then anyway, but they were deep enough to draw significant amounts of blood. My blood dripped down in a steady stream from the various cuts. The sound of it hitting the floor made me nauseous.

I was breathing hard and my hair was now plastered to my forehead with sweat.

Dox gave a dark and humorless laugh as he looked at my current state.

"Don't tell me you're ready to tap out already. We're just getting started boy."

I didn't bother replying. Any energy I had, I was now using to try and fight to stay alive as long as I possibly could.

I heard the clang as Dox placed the knife that I saw was now covered in blood, my blood, back on the table.

What he picked up next made me wish that maybe I was already dead.

I felt the cold sting of the saw on right wrist again and then on my pinky finger before he applied pressure and cut straight through the flesh and bone, severing my finger from my hand.

I didn't even know that I was capable of making the sound that escaped my throat as I felt him cut my finger clean off.

Dox picked up my severed finger and held it up to the light before putting it right in front of my face.

My stomach rolled and seconds later I was throwing up. Since I couldn't bend over, I simply turned my head to try and keep most of the vomit from landing on my chest.

Dox laughed again, this time louder.

He placed my finger down on the table before moving to the end of the table, the saw still in his hand.

"Well, that was a finger. How about a toe this time?"

Panic surged through me as I watched him begin to untie my right shoe before he removed it and my sock.

I strained against the chains trying to move away as he grabbed my ankle and pressed the cold saw against one of my toes, but it was no use.

I couldn't go anywhere.

I couldn't stop him.

I couldn't do anything but lay there and let this sick fuck do whatever the hell he wanted.

I screwed my eyes shut and gritted my teeth so hard I thought they might shatter as I felt him begin to press the saw down again.

However, the pain only lasted a second and then the saw was no longer pressed against my foot.

Instead, there was a loud thump followed by a grunt and then another thud.

I opened my eyes, trying to figure out what the hell he was doing now but instead of Dox I was met with the wild and wide blue gaze of Gemma who held a large rock over her head in both hands as she stood over Dox who now lay in an unconscious heap on the floor.

"Gemma?" My voice was nothing more than a hoarse whisper.

She tore her gaze away from Dox to look at me and instantly dropped the rock before rushing over to my side.

"Archer." She gave a horrified whisper as she looked me over and an instant feeling of déjà vu hit me.

This was probably exactly how I looked when I had found Gemma not that long ago.

Her eyes ran all over my chest and arms and then down to my right hand before they widened in horror.

"Oh my God." She whispered.

She looked back up at me, tears now falling down her cheeks.

She glanced around the room and hurried over to the wall behind me that held all the tools.

"What are you doing?" I muttered as I tried to follow her movements, but I could only strain my head so far.

"I have to find something to get you out of here."

I heard her fumbling through the different tools before she stopped and her face appeared in my field of vision again, only she had nothing in her hands.

I gave her a questioning glance before she looked down at Dox.

Without another word she bent over him and began searching his pockets.

"What are you doing?" My voice now sounded slurred and weak.

I was losing a lot of blood.

Gemma said nothing and continued to rummage through his pockets before she gave a triumphant shout and stood up holding a small shiny piece of metal.

A key.

He really kept the damn key in his pocket.

Again.

I guess old habits died hard.

Gemma made quick work of unlocking both my feet and my left arm. However, when she got to my right arm she froze.

Her hands trembled a little as she held them above my right hand that was now missing my pinky finger.

Weakly, with the strength I had left I reached over with my left hand and gently grabbed the key from her hand.

She looked at me, crying again and silently shook her head.

"I'm so sorry. If you hadn't come to find me this-"

"Don't you dare." I cut her off as I inserted the key and made quick work of the chains around my right wrist before it sprang open and I was free.

Once the chains fell away from my wrist I looked back up at Gemma and made sure she was looking at me before I continued.

"I'd let that fucker cut off all my fingers one hundred times over if it meant saving you."

This only served in making her cry harder.

If I wasn't covered in blood and cuts didn't cover almost every inch of my torso, I'd have pulled her to me in a crushing hug.

"Let's get out of here." I muttered instead.

Gemma nodded and moved to help me as I slowly swung my feet over the edge of the table and tried to stand. I emphasize the word tried because as soon as my feet hit the ground and I went to stand up my vision swam and I swayed before collapsing back onto the table.

I really had lost too much blood.

Gemma noticed this too as she looked down at my chest and hand.

Without any hesitation, she started pulling the remnants of my shirt off my body.

"Gemma, I know I'm hard to resist but do you really think now's the right time for this?" I joked lamely.

She only gave me an exasperated look and shook her head.

"How can you even still joke around right now?" She asked as she pulled the shirt from my body and proceeded to wrap it around my right hand as gently as possible.

It didn't stop it from hurting like hell though and I grit my teeth, a painful groan still managing to escape.

Gemma gave me an apologetic look as she finished wrapping my hand and then helped me to stand again, slower this time.

My vision was still swimming with dark spots, but I managed to stay on my feet this time.

Using her as my support Gemma led me to the steps, making a wide berth around Dox who still laid unconscious on the floor, or maybe he was dead judging from the small pool of blood that had slowly spread from his head.

Almost sensing my thoughts Gemma paused at the bottom of the steps and looked over her shoulder at him.

"Gemma?" I questioned.

She swallowed before looking at me.

"I don't want to make the same mistake twice. We need to kill him."

"Gemma you d-"

"I do. If I had just listened to you before and we had killed him back then, none of this would have happened."

She didn't even give me a chance to reply. She positioned me so that I was braced up against the railing of the stairs before walking back over to the large rock she had used to knock him out the first time.

I watched as she picked it up and then stood over his body.

Slowly, she raised the rock over her head.

Her hands were trembling.

"Gemma." I tried to reason with her again.

She wasn't a killer. No matter the circumstances.

If she did this, she wouldn't be able to come back from it, no matter what she said.

"I can do this." She whispered, but she wasn't talking to me.

She was trying to convince herself.

She shut her eyes tight and after five seconds opened them again, a determined glint now in her eyes.

She was going to do it.

She was really going to kill him.

She pulled her arms back as far as she could, fully prepared to bring the rock down and end his life.

However, right as she got ready to do just that-

"Police! Is there anybody in here?!"

Gemme froze, her wide gaze meeting mine before she looked back down at Dox.

"Anybody down there?" The sound of the police officer's voice was closer now.

He sounded as if he were right at the open door that led down into the basement.

"Hello?!" He called down.

Gemma exhaled deeply before dropping the rock.

It landed with a thud next to his head.

How lucky for him it wasn't on his head.

Gemma silently made her way back over to me and once again let me use her as support.

"We're down here!"