When she woke up again, she found herself in an unfamiliar room. The room had a strong herbal smell which was making her head spin a little. She had one second to think before the screeching in her head was back.
Ignoring the pressure and uncomfortable wailing, she tried to move her hand which was badly mauled by the beast, only to find her limbs tightly bound to the bed she was laying in.
Her brief struggle caused her to feel an overwhelming pain in her left hand. She shifted her gaze to it, and noticed that everything underneath her elbow was only attached with thin strips of flesh and the little muscle she had. The white bone she could see was crushed into tiny pieces, and it was impossible to distinguish anything from anything as she stared.
The bleeding had stopped, but she knew that she had lost the use of her left hand from now on. Ignoring the pain she felt, she tried to observe her surroundings and possibly loosen the bounds on her, but after twisting her neck 360 degrees, she only observed the walls surrounding her and the herbs packed into the corner of the room.
Lost in thought, she heard the sound of a door being pushed open. A middle aged man entered her view next, he had a piercing gaze as he quietly observed her. He was of average height and looked a little menacing. He was dressed in green robes and had a scruffy beard on his average looking face.
The man shuffled in and observed the condition of her left hand.
"Well this is a surprise" there was obvious shock in his eyes as he exclaimed.
"curious" he muttered and then kept silent for a long while.
"I thought you would have definitely bled to death by now, but look at this…" he didn't look like he was talking to her so she was quiet as he muttered on.
"if you can survive a severed hand without any treatment then you can surely survive my experiments for a while" he whispered to himself, but she heard every word of it.
She felt a chill run down her spine at his words and couldn't help but tremble.
There was a horrible feeling she got when looking at the man. Despite him having rescued her from that beast, she didn't think of it as a necessarily good thing. She only felt that she had left the paws of one beast, and entered the mouth of another. She couldn't even bring herself to utter anything while looking at his scary eyes, much less ask for help in her mother's stead.
The feeling of dread only grew stronger as she watched him rant without acknowledging her.
"Yes yes, you would be perfect to test my new creation. Your body would definitely last some days after taking it" he rambled on with a crazed look in his eyes.
"Excellent! I've never seen anyone survive this much bleeding on their own. Let's see, a cracked skull, gouged eyeball and a severed hand" he smiled to himself as he inspected her all around.
The man finally turned around and stared her in the eyes "you little girl are a treasure. From now on, this will be your new home" he said to her in the most malicious tone she had ever heard.
After saying his piece, he turned around and left the room, leaving her to wallow in her misery.
She laid on the bed quietly, feeling every ounce of her energy leave her tiny body as she comprehended the situation she found herself in. that man wanted to use her body for something ominous, considering the way he spoke, and the mad look in his eyes, she likely would not last long under his torture.
The thought of dying without properly sending her mother off made her feel sad and anxious. The first person she ever met aside her mother, had kidnapped her, and planned to do something horrible to her. Thinking about this, she felt that her fate was simply too cruel, she refused to accept this and will fight with all her might to escape this prison. Then she would go back home and properly send her mother off from this world. She refused to die before she accomplished this.
While lost in her thoughts, the man came back into the room and undid the binds on her body. He picked her up and carried her out of the room like livestock.
She didn't get the chance to properly observe her surroundings as she was worrying about where the insane man was taking her too.
After taking her down what seemed like a long hallway, he approached the entrance of another room, and slowly pushed the door open while holding her in his hands.
The room he brought her to was large, way bigger than the one she was just in. the walls were stark white and the smell of herbs was even stronger here. The smell only made her feel more uncomfortable though. Despite the largeness of the room, the space in the room was quite limited.
There were at least seventeen beds in the room, which took up a lot of space, and there were multiple components holding herbs in the corners of the room. On top of each bed laid a child or a teenager, only a few bed spaces were empty and it was obvious from how they looked, that just like her, the man had kidnapped everyone here.
He lowered her on top of an empty bed and spoke to everyone in room "everyone, meet your new roommate" there was no response.
She suspected that he had done something to them to make all of them half dead. Everyone single one of them looked terrible, and their faces showed that they were going through immense pain. They looked sick and thin, just like her mother, months after she had collapsed.
The man went to a compartment in the room and pick up something, then he approached her and she felt a sharp prick on her right hand. The pain that came after that made her forget the throbbing pain in her eye, head, and left hand. She felt like every single inch of her body was on fire. Blood dripped from the corner of her mouth as she struggled to endure the pain that felt like she was burning up from the inside.
"hehe, let's start with a simple poison. Let's see how long you last.
I hope you don't disappoint me little one" the man whispered into her ear'
She hissed in pain as she endured the unbearable pain she was feeling, she almost forgot about the screaming in her head for a while because of the pain. She chuckled bitterly as she wondered how things ended up this way.