Dave said, "Don't worry, Louis. This is our fate."
Alex, annoyed, replied, "Yeah… yeah…"
Dave struck him on the head and said, "Enough. Now we need to focus—how can we get out of here, and where to next?"
The next morning, they woke up to freezing water being dumped on them by a guard. Each one of them was grabbed, handcuffed, and dragged into a yard full of children, all of them bound, with a guard standing behind each one. A man spoke to them through a microphone:
"Anyone who wants to live will do the task we give them. And anyone who even thinks of escaping while on the task… will be killed."
Louis and the other kids were terrified. One boy objected, and the man had him killed as a warning. He sneered, "This is an example for anyone who dares to disobey. You see? You can't even stand. That's the fear I want—the fear in your eyes."
"You are just animals here," he continued, laughing. "Obedient to your master. And when your master tires of you, he will kill you and find another. So be useful if you want to be loved."
The children started crying. Some were so terrified they couldn't even speak. The man added, "I don't like headaches. When animals complain too much, their master grows bored," and mockingly killed some of the crying children.
Passing by, he looked at Louis and said, "All the children here came from orphans because they thought this was a safe place. But you… how did you find out we do illegal things?"
Louis swallowed hard. "I… I don't understand what you mean."
The man smiled. "I'll teach you my way," and ordered the guard holding Louis to take him to the "Room of Hell" so he could see how his 'animal' responds.
Louis was terrified. Before he could speak, the guard hit him on the head with a club. He lost consciousness. When he woke up, he was chained in iron shackles. The man approached him.
"Who's your father?" he asked.
Louis, scared, stammered, "Alfred?"
The man laughed. "Ah, that despicable lawyer. He can't stay out of things that don't concern him. Surely he told you everything? Or do you know someone else who told you?"
Louis said, "No."
The man didn't believe him and walked away, leaving the rest to the guards. They tortured Louis with electricity. "This is just their way of disciplining their animals. There are even more fun things than the electric shocks," they said. Louis tried to explain, "I'm not lying!" but they didn't believe him. He screamed so loudly that the children in the orphanage rooms could hear him.
Later, they stripped Louis's shirt and beat his back with iron chains until his bones almost broke, then threw him in his room. Dave came with his friends, crying at the sight of Louis. Alex held him, saying, "We have to escape quickly, Louis, or you'll die here." Alex couldn't hold back his tears either.
Louis whispered in a faint voice, "Don't worry… I'm okay. Let's sleep now."
The next morning, Louis discovered he had been taken back to the same torture room. At 3 a.m., the man entered:
"Do you really think you can sleep and rest?" he mocked. He ordered the guard, "Should I whip him, sir?"
"No, I'll do it myself… to get revenge on his worthless father," the man laughed.
Louis shivered from the memory of the previous day's pain. The man said, "What a beautiful sight… when a dog trembles in pain. If your father were here, he'd be proud of you."
Louis began crying from the pain. The man sneered, "Why are you crying? I haven't even started yet! You poor thing," and threw Louis to the floor, stomping on his head, then whipping him with iron chains full of spikes. Louis screamed in agony, unlike anything he had felt before.
Afterwards, the man left to drink some juice, saying he'd return to play with him later, leaving Louis in the dark room, chained, crying on the floor.
Meanwhile, Dave had been pulled into a nearby room and found that the orphanage boys were planning an escape. They agreed to create distractions and flee in different directions. Dave excitedly told Alex, "We will save Louis from this nightmare," and explained what had happened.
The next day, they executed their plan. The boys made loud noises, each escaping separately. Alex went to rescue Louis and opened the door. Louis asked, "But how?"
"Quickly! There's no time. Dave is waiting outside and gave me this map. There's a door rarely used, only in emergencies, and it's unguarded," Alex explained.
They ran quickly. Along the way, Alex noticed Dave among the boys who had been killed during the escape attempts. He cried as he ran, stealing one last glance at Dave, who smiled at him, fighting the pain before dying. They managed to escape… but a guard with a knife was approaching to kill them before they could get away...