It was the sort of pain that took any idea of there really being a “you” out of the picture.You were nothing.You were a series of nerve endings that were all firing at once, uncontrollably. Old-timer’s only wish was for a quick death. It wouldn’t come.

Finally, the drills stopped...His jaw was locked closed and his eyes were clamped shut and filled with tears. He took a breath, but the pain it caused was so intense that he stopped breathing rather than repeat the experience—better to suffocate. “And now you will learn,” the man said finally.

Old-timer opened his eyes. They were wild with hatred for the man. The man’s face remained hard like stone. Old-timer continued to shake, his hair soaked with sweat as tears streamed down his face. The man’s eyes dropped from Old-timer’s eyes and fell onto the gaping hole in Old-timer’s torso. “Look at it,” he said.

Sadistic, Old-timer thought. He obeyed, though; this man was not above anything—Old-timer would never refuse anything he asked.

He lowered his eyes and looked down. He cringed as he imagined what the damage must have looked like. The drill had been deep inside him, spinning for a full minute. He imagined blood. He imagined organs, shredded into twisted meat. Nothing that he imagined could compare with the hideousness of what he saw.

“What have you done to us?” Old-timer bellowed. “We’ve saved you,” the stone faced man replied.