The world exploded not into light, but into a blinding, suffocating darkness. I felt my body convulse, a final, desperate struggle against a force I couldn't fight. The rope pulled tighter, a final, merciless contraction.
And through the roaring in my ears and the tearing of my throat, the voice returned. It was low, mocking, and filled with a chilling satisfaction. It was the voice of a predator who had finally cornered its prey.
"You've saved two… barely. They cling to life by a thread you wove for them."
A cold, pregnant pause hung in the air, a silent prelude to a new kind of terror.
The voice chuckled, a sound like knives scraping bone. "But this next one? This next one will break you." haha
The rope tightened, not as a final act of death, but as a deliberate statement. My vision narrowed, focusing on a single point of light that was now fading, consumed by the all-encompassing darkness. And as my consciousness began to slip away, I knew with a terrible, final clarity. This journey was not just a quest to save lives; it was a descent into a hell darker than any I could have ever imagined.