Chapter 177

The Prey

I woke to darkness.

I didn’t know where I was, but I knew everything hurt—my body, my head, and my chest. Especially my heart. It throbbed like a living, bleeding wound, as if someone had carved it open and left it to rot.

I tried to move, but something held me in place. Ropes? Chains? My wrists screamed at the scrape of whatever bound them, raw and tender from struggling. My legs were numb, bent awkwardly beneath me, and the air smelled of damp stone and blood—maybe mine.

I swallowed back the bile clawing up my throat, my tongue dry and metallic. The pounding in my skull didn’t let me think straight. Everything blurred together—the pain, the panic, and the voices.

The voices.

Loud, rapid, shrieking in my ears like nails on glass. I couldn’t understand them. Didn’t want to. They bounced off the walls of my mind, filling the space where calm should be with chaos instead.

Stop. Stop speaking. Just... stop.

The v