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12 hours left
12:00:00
One hour. Just do one hour, that’s not too bad, right? That was when he had more than a single calorie bar and bottle of water as sustenance— nevertheless, he ran.
11:00:00
I can do this. Another hour.
10:00:00
I’ve run for a long time before. Before he’d been taken here, snatched away from his life by blue lightning and deposited in a glass box. His kidnapper had attached each of his wrists to the front bar of a cosmic treadmill and given him one command in a monstrous voice: “Run.”
09:00:00
That’s already three down. I got this. The treadmill sped up and Barry cursed himself for forgetting— and hoping.
08:00:00
His energy was depleting— rapidly. Barry never had his limits pushed this far, not even when training to beat the Reverse Flash.
07:00:00
One more. At least this time that wasn’t a lie.
06:00:00
*beep*
The treadmill came to a slow stop and Barry collapsed to his knees, wishing there weren’t cuffs holding his arms up. Relief and dread clashed in his mind, each battling for dominance while he waited for the inevitable with closed eyes.
“Barry?” Jesse called out to him as always, an effort to keep him from drifting into those black spots taunting his vision. She’d been held here even longer than he had, longer still was the prisoner in another glass cell; the man in the iron mask.
He couldn’t respond, unable to manage any sound except dry pants through his sand paper throat and mouth. Every limb was lead and had a chronic ache to them. Even his stomach panged with hunger.
After what felt like hours to a speedster, blue lightning finally zipped into the room out the corner of his eye.
Zoom —that’s what Jesse had called him— phased into his cell and kneeled in front of Barry. A gloved hand lifted his chin, tired eyes meeting pure darkness at they locked gazes.
“Flash.”
He wanted to respond, tell his kidnapper to go to hell or something similar, but all Barry could manage was a tiny, almost whine-like sound.
His head dropped when the hand was removed and Barry waited. Ears ringing, head spinning, his stomach panged with hunger and he needed food now . Zoom walked behind him, and though Barry couldn’t see it, he knew what he was doing. There was a feature on this modified treadmill, it told Zoom if he stopped running during a session. If he stopped at any point during the six hours, Zoom would leave him restrained and unceremoniously shove a calorie bar into his mouth for food. If he didn’t stop, Zoom would temporarily un-cuff him and allow Barry to eat and hydrate himself on his own. Barry definitely preferred the second.
“Good,” that monstrous voice said. Barry closed his eyes in relief as each of his wrists were released with a gentle clink of metal. Zoom had taken his gloves off before they’d even arrived here, he wondered if those pieces of his suit were lying in Central City somewhere, just waiting to be found. Either way, that allowed the cuffs to rub his bare wrists raw, blood seeping from small cuts circling them, with burns layered over top. His arms fell down to his sides, limp and deadweight from being held up for so long.
Zoom moved back into his vision, blue lightning flickering over his black suit. Barry would have asked about that if he had the energy. A single calorie bar was held out in a clawed hand, and it looked like the most appetizing thing in the world. Come on. He willed his arm to corporate, lift high enough to take the bar in hand. Come on. By some miracle, he managed to grab it, hand falling back to his side instantly.
“Be quick,” Zoom commanded, as always. Barry’s growling stomach was enough to overcome his exhaustion and take a bite of the bar, if only barely. His face fell a little bit. This was Cisco’s recipe. He missed Cisco, missed everyone. Were they even ok? Could Zoom, someone else, anyone else— have hurt them?
Zoom had moved to lean against the outside of his cell and Barry’s eyes flicked to his fellow prisoners.
Jesse made herself small against the back wall of her own cell, an effort to avoid Zoom’s wrath that often proved effective. The man in the iron mask —that name is too long— did the same, knees up to his chest and trembling. Barry sighed, finally breathing slow enough to do so. He hated seeing them like this. Jesse was a civilian, he’d even been told she was still in college when Zoom took her. The man in— the other man— Barry didn’t know anything about him, but he knew he didn’t deserve this.
Thinking about the situation made him queasy —or maybe that was the food— but it did distract from his overwhelming exhaustion, and helped him take each bite when at this point he’d almost rather starve and be put out of his misery. But even when this weak and close to powerless, he could still protect them. No matter how exhausted he was, something inside Barry gave him the courage and energy —anytime Zoom made so much as a move toward the other two— to direct their captor’s attention to him. It always left him worse off, bruises and sometimes cuts littering his body. It didn’t matter, he could heal even if it still hurt. Always better me than them.
Barry looked outside his cell, in the dark yellow lighting toward what he assumed to be the exit. He could phase out right now, in theory. In reality, he never had the energy to try… and he probably never would. Even so, the other two would pay for that. He couldn’t risk it.
The bar finished so much quicker than preferred and Zoom handed him a plastic bottle of water. Without a second thought, he downed almost all of it, feeling the relief of cold liquid against his sand paper throat. Oh no. Trembling slightly, Barry held the empty bottle out for Zoom to take and mentally prepared himself to run again. He stood up on trembling— no, violently shaking legs. Since he apparently wasn’t quick enough, Zoom grabbed each of his hands and cuffed them to either side of the bar. A wave of weakness came over him as the dampeners took effect. It slowed him down just enough to prevent phasing. Two small rings of metal and a glass wall kept him from freedom.
Zoom stood next to a button just outside his cell. The button blinked green as it was pushed. Barry closed his eyes.
*beep*
If only the next run went by as quick as this break did.
05:59:59
I had food, I had water, I can do this. His still aching legs disagreed.
05:00:00
The energy from his sustenance wore off far too quickly and he was running on empty. Literally. He would have laughed if possible.
04:00:00
Each hour moved slower than the last but he had to keep going. He had to.
03:00:00
I can’t keep going.
02:59:00
Help me.
02:55:59
Please. Someone come find me, please—
02:54:59
I have to keep going. I can’t. I don’t have a choice.
02:00:00
I can’t
01:00:00
I can’t
00:30:00
I can’t
00:20:00
I
can’t
00:10:00
His boots thumped against the track, cruel but motivating. Strides became smaller. No, no, no— but he was slowing down. I’m so close. His breath was coming in pants, forehead resting on the bar as he ran. He stumbled and collapsed onto his knees. A shriek should have escaped his throat as the track shredded the last bits of leather protecting his kneecaps— a scream tore through him when his skin was shredded instead. Barry gripped the bar with white-knuckle desperation to at least spare his wrists of more pain.
*beep*
Oh no— an electric shock came from the bar, amplified by the metal around his wrists and further burning the surrounding skin. He tensed up at the source, a cry leaving his lips as the electricity spread out. Enough to hurt, not kill. Ten more seconds and it would hit again. Come on. The timer had stopped with the beep.
00:09:21
I have to. Three seconds. Get up. Two seconds. Get. Up. Another scream caught in his throat as his torn skin made contact with air. One second. It hit again and it took everything in him to not fall back down. Get up or he’ll hurt them. Legs shaking so violently, he got to both feet, began to run, and caught up with the treadmill.
*beep*
00:09:20
So close
00:08:00
So close
00:06:00
Almost there
00:05:00
Needles pierced every inch of his legs.
00:03:00
Run
00:02:00
Just run
00:01:00
Too close
00:00:30
Close
00:00:20
I’m done
00:00:10
I’m done
00:00:05
Kill me. Please.
00:00:02
Come on
00:00:01
Barry collapsed again, unable to wait for the complete stop.
*beep*
He closed his eyes. I’m done.
Until tomorrow.
There was one last rule. If he stopped on the first run, he wasn’t allowed to feed himself. If he stopped on the second run, as he just had— Zoom would leave him cuffed overnight, and Barry had to sleep like this.
With that reminder, he released a dry sob between pants, with energy he most certainly didn’t possess. Sobbed because he’d been here for so long, and he was so tired, and he just wanted to go home.