Beyond saving.

Carlos awakes strapped down by leather straps, his eyes racing everywhere as he looks around. Then someone grabs his head, shoving it back down and pinning him in place.

“Eusebio! Help! Eusebio!”

there's straps wrapped around his body as he lays on some table, those same straps limit his movements.

“Shut up!”

A man rushes over and punches Carlos, his vision blurring and making him stagger for a bit.

The man grabs an object that's completely unknown to Carlos and uses it on his forearm. His eyes widen, but the straps keep him down as his blood moves through the small tube connected to it.

“Hey, they said not to take all his blood. We just need a little bit.”

“Yeah, but it's gonna be funny seeing him all wobbly. He won't be able to fight back after all we took from him.”

“Dude, that's fucked up. He's still just a kid. Take it out already. You're gonna kill him, and then we're dead if we do.”

“Fine, fucking soft loser.”

The man roughly removes the object and quickly covers the wound with a cloth, putting a lot of pressure on the spot before leaving it there.

They take him out of the straps and force him to walk, kicking him out of the room. Carlos falls weakly, struggling to get up and trying to push himself up, but his arms are shaky and weak.

“Where's my brother?” Carlos says weakly from the ground, and one of the guys grabs him by the arm, pulling him up.

“I don't know, but it's not like I'd tell you anyways.”

He throws him forward, and Carlos falls, landing on his shoulder and groaning loudly.

“GET UP!”

Carlos struggles, pushing himself up, and starts walking again, his expression showing no emotion, just defeat.

After losing everything and being taken from the only family he had, he believes he's the last of the Raios, and it breaks his heart the more he thinks about it.

After a while of walking, they shove him into a room that has no windows, a cold atmosphere, and just a hard concrete floor. They chain up his body, hanging his hands high above his head, and then another one walks in.

“Make this easy for me, please. I'm not comfortable doing this.”

The man suddenly punches Carlos right in the stomach. Carlos's defeated eyes widen in pain.

“Just use it! Show me something!”

The man beats Carlos, bruises forming after every connecting strike.

And this goes on for a while. Yelps, groans, and cries of pain come from him as he takes the beating, while the people try to force something out of him that he's not even sure what it is.

After what feels like hours of pain for Carlos, the man sighs and pauses before walking out, whispering something to the other guys who were watching, and they all leave.

Carlos is left exhausted and bruised. Having not even been able to process that tragedy from last night, the memory of the massacre, his mom, dad, uncle, and uncle's wife—all of their deaths, plus the front-row seat he had to witness all of it—makes him sick.

Carlos's head starts getting dizzy. There's no way to see the time. The longer he waits, the more the pain grows, and the longer it feels like he's been in there.

Suddenly, the metal door slowly skids open, scratching the ground, and Carlos is too defeated to even look up. A gasp comes through. It sounds girly, and worried footsteps approach him.

“Oh my god.”

Whoever it is softly places a finger under Carlos's chin, lifting it up. Looking at her, she looks almost scared, but something in her eyes shows she's relieved. She lifts her other hand and puts a cloth on his nose and the small cuts above his eyebrows.

“You poor thing. Those monsters. No kid deserves this.”

She cleans all around Carlos's body, showing extra care to his bruises. He resists at first, but the tender touch reminds him of his mother's careful and always-caring touch.

Tears fall down his cheek, landing on the floor and then onto her hand. She looks up at him, and from the scared, relieved expression on her face, her eyes change, widening as clear heartbreak shows.

“You're so young.”

The woman shakes her head, trying to stay focused, but she sees in his expression that he's completely given up.

After cleaning his body up, she reaches into a bag next to her, pulling something out that's wrapped in paper. When she places it onto Carlos's skin, it's freezing cold, but it kind of relieves some of his pain.

“I'll be back with food, okay?”

She backs up to the metal door, unlocking it and taking one last look before opening it and leaving him.

From the pure exhaustion he has from the beating he took, he falls asleep—or he thinks he does—because it feels like he immediately wakes up. Closing his eyes, his consciousness fades immediately, then comes back without dreaming of anything at all.

He has no idea how long it's been, but his stomach is rumbling. His hands are asleep from the tightness of the chains. The tightness doesn't help either.

More and more time passes with nothing happening, and the door opens again. He doesn't make a move to look up, but the light coming from the other room makes him squint his eyes.

“It's just me. It's okay.”

It's her. Her voice is soft, but even that still causes no reaction from Carlos.

She sighs and tries to hand-feed him the food, which he doesn't take. She presses it against his mouth, but he makes no movement to open his mouth and eat.

Is it even food? There's no smell, and it feels like hardened tree silk. From what Carlos can see, it's just a rectangle of something brown.

“It's nutrients. They only supply enough so that our...” She clears her throat, trying to correct herself. “The people staying here can stay alive. Please eat. I promise to give you something better next time. I'll sneak in my lunch.”

Despite trying to compromise, there's still no reaction. She tries pressing it against his mouth more, pushing the food past his lips, but only to be blocked by his teeth.

“I'm Hana. You can trust me. I wouldn't hurt you.”

Heavy footsteps approach the entrance, making Hana pause, and then someone starts to talk.

“You're here? Did he eat or not? We need to draw more blood.”

The man steps closer. The only noise Carlos can hear is a quick motion of clothes rustling.

“No, wait. Just let him be. He will eat. Just give me time!”

Hana's voice is kind of panicked, and then Carlos's jaw is grabbed and lifted up, making him look at the man.

“Seriously? It's not hard to just force it down. People like this...”

He roughly pulls down on Carlos's jaw, making it open, and shoves the food into his mouth, forcing him to swallow it.

The taste is disgusting, like an herbal medication with no flavor at all.

Hana reaches her hand out but flinches and pulls it back to her sides fast. She then turns her head away until it is done.

“See? Done.”

The man lets go of Carlos's jaw and reaches into his pocket, grabbing keys. He unlocks Carlos, and he falls onto the ground hard. But at least the feeling of circulation and the tingling in his arms are gone.

“I...”

Before the woman can say anything, the man grabs Carlos and turns his head toward her.

“You have more work to do,” the man says before pushing past her while holding Carlos and dragging his body along.

“Fuck...” Hana says, watching as he leaves with Carlos.