The Game

Morgan was smiling. She cut Ren's clothes with the knife in her hand as he lay bound. Running her hand over his body as if examining it, she said,
"Your scars... I can make them more artistic, don’t worry!" She then gave a polite, even sweet smile.

For a brief moment, Ren found the situation oddly sexy. But then the torment began, ensuring such thoughts would never cross his mind again. The spray in Morgan's other hand contained pepper spray. To intensify the pain and slow the healing, she sprayed it directly on the fresh cuts. Ren clenched his teeth in agony, determined not to make a sound. He pressed his teeth together so hard that a squeaking noise emerged from the friction.

"I've been through worse," Ren thought, trying to comfort himself. He focused all his efforts on recalling old memories, telling himself a story to stay mentally grounded:

“Glauberg's then-president Friedrich Kappel and General Ernst von Falkenheim had agreed to sit at the negotiating table with the artificial intelligence of the Cotox government.”

Morgan moved back and forth, seemingly drawing something. As she traced over the shallow cuts, they deepened, and blood began to flow more freely across Ren's body.

“The country was suffering under embargoes; resources were insufficient, children were dying from malnutrition, and women were resorting to alternative means to earn a living. The situation was disheartening for anyone who loved their country. This meeting, everyone knew, would be a surrender, but the terms Cotox would demand were still uncertain.”

The room was filled with the stinging scent of pepper spray. Ren, unsure if coughing would break the rules, held back, his eyes welling up from the strain. Morgan, on the other hand, would occasionally climb onto him, pressing down with her knee to steady herself as she focused on her "drawing."

“When a letter arrived for Brigadier General Dietrich, he read it silently at first. Then he said, “This is unacceptable. Not a single citizen of this country should be subjected to this.” His eyes reflected not anger but sorrow. The remaining soldiers, including Colonel Rudolf, waited anxiously. Dietrich placed the letter on the table and left.

Lieutenant Hans Köhler, an energetic and somewhat irritating soldier, rushed to grab the letter.
“Read it out loud so we can all hear,” said Rudolf.”

Morgan, deepening some wounds, tried to force her hand beneath the skin. She then made horizontal cuts, as if skinning an animal, attempting to slip her hand inside. She was trembling with excitement, sweating, laughing, and quivering all at once.

Ren felt so terrible that he already regretted suggesting this game, but there was no turning back.

“Cotox had offered assistance to Glauberg. They promised peace and prosperity if Glauberg adopted their system and became a subordinate state of Cotox. They pledged to “assist” in governance and share their technology and sciences. In return, they demanded Glauberg change its flag, name, anthem, and language.

After two years, once Glauberg had somewhat recovered, they required control over Glauberg’s resources. To maintain their eco-friendly image in their own country, Cotox relied on resources from others. They demanded 30% of Glauberg’s minerals, water, oil, timber, electricity, whatever could be extracted. While they could have outright asked for the resources, they instead proposed extracting them and sharing the output. Glauberg, already enduring one of the darkest periods in its history, lacked the capacity to think long-term.

But there was one more cruel demand: every month, for ten years, Glauberg would send 1,000 of its citizens to Cotox. That totaled 120,000 people. For Glauberg, with a population of 60 million, this was a mere 0.2%, but what would become of those citizens was left unsaid.”

Ren's mind grew hazy from the pain, making it harder to access his memories. His resolve to remain silent was so unyielding that even Morgan seemed impressed by his willpower. With her bloodied hands, she ran her fingers over Ren's body, examining, drawing, and appearing pleased with her "artwork."

When the blood obscured her view, she hurriedly went to grab a cloth. In that brief moment, Ren felt an overwhelming sense of relief.

“’Those bastards see people as nothing but numbers,’ Rudolf muttered. Everyone recognized the sheer horror of the proposal. No one, even those prone to dark humor, could laugh at this. For many in the room, this decree meant their sisters, brothers, parents, or spouses.

And the worst part? The already corrupted government had accepted it and become Cotox’s official lapdog.
“We’re worth nothing but guinea pigs to them, are we?” Weber said bitterly.

The oppressive silence in the room was suffocating. Rudolf left. He knew this was wrong, but he didn’t believe his country could recover on its own. Everyone was foolish, and many had stayed silent, complicit in letting things deteriorate to this point. If he hadn’t been born in this country, he might have said they deserved this.”

When Morgan returned, she punched the deepest cuts with her fist before wiping them, letting the warm blood splash onto her face and even into her eye. She leaned down, licked some of it, and seemed to take immense pleasure in the act. Occasionally, she ran her hand along his arm but avoided touching the restraint strap.

“He found Dietrich. Snow was falling, and the biting wind froze the lungs. Dietrich stood in the outpost’s observation area, gazing outside. Rudolf joined him but said nothing. His eyes stung from the cold. Dietrich, however, stared at the distant snowy mountains, as if hoping for a sun to rise behind them.

It was Dietrich who broke the silence. “I’m leaving the army, Rudolf. I cannot serve under another nation’s command, obeying their orders. It goes against everything I stand for.”
Rudolf didn’t hesitate. His loyalty was never to the army, it was always to Dietrich. “Then I’m leaving too.””

She rubbed the bloodied cloth on her own face for a while before forcibly trying to shove it into Ren's mouth. When her strength wasn’t enough, she used a scalpel to pierce his right cheek in an attempt to create a circular hole.

“His friend didn’t object. “We have to put an end to this, Rudolf. There’s no other way. Even if not for us, the children and grandchildren of this land deserve better. We must not sit idle. We need to strike back at those artificial bastards so hard that the damage of warring with us outweighs any benefit they hope to gain. Make them unable to advance a single step.”

“What do you need from me, Bärchen?”
“We’ll need an army and public support, my friend. Trustworthy men. Tell all the soldiers under my command about this. Whoever wants to stand with us is welcome. This path offers only death, there’s no turning back, Rudolf. We won’t surrender our homeland without a fight.”,

 Overwhelmed by pain and desperate to avoid the hole, Ren opened his mouth, and as the blood-soaked cloth filled his throat, he gagged. He praised himself silently for holding back the urge to vomit all over himself.

His blue eyes still gazed at the sky. “I’ll rally the people. No one should have to hand over their family to those monsters.” Rudolf didn’t know how his friend would achieve this, but Dietrich would find a way. He was the only one Rudolf could follow into certain death without feeling humiliated.”

There were only 2 or 3 minutes left until the time was up when a sharp cut sliced through the strap on Ren's left arm. This was the moment he had been patiently waiting for. With all his strength, hatred, and pain, he gripped Morgan's throat with brutal speed. Spitting out the cloth in his mouth, he began choking her relentlessly, determined to crush her throat until she was dead. The robots nearby did nothing. No alarms sounded.

Morgan, her eyes watering, muttered something faintly. Then she drove the scalpel in her hand into Ren's wrist. As the scalpel pierced through to the other side and twisted inside his arm, Ren's muscles involuntarily forced him to release his executioner.

Free from being choked, Morgan staggered away from the stretcher. After a brief bout of coughing, she started laughing. "You’re incredible, you know that? I had so much fun today that if it were up to me, I’d let you leave in this state!" She laughed gleefully for a while longer. Ren still hadn’t made a single sound of pain, and the 10 minutes had passed.

Turning to the man, who was struggling to come to terms with his failure, Morgan asked, "Which 10 hours do you want?"

He couldn’t erase his entire team from his mind in such a short time, but the time to recall the route to headquarters might be less. That’s what he chose. If there was any time left, he wanted 101 erased as well.

Morgan agreed. No one could call her honorable, but she was at least honest. As Ren gradually lost consciousness from the pain, he could hear Morgan’s voice.

"I’ll heal you and send you back to your wife. I’ll create someone who is the furthest from you. From your psyche, I’ll craft a lover. Then you’ll—"

Those were the last words Ren heard that would remain in his true memory.