“Jared. Come on down,” Elliot says, like he is hosting a game show.
Jared doesn’t move.
Then, trembling, he wipes his nose on his sleeve and steps forward. When he flips the card over, he makes a sound that doesn’t belong in any living human.
Teeth. The number five. Pliers.
His knees give out.
“No,” Jared whispers. “No, no, please—”
Two guards are on him instantly. One slams him onto the tile, pinning his chest with a knee. The other grabs his jaw and forces his head back against the floor.
“Please don’t—please wait—” Emma’s voice cracks as she screams, but another guard shoves her back.
Jared fights, but it doesn’t matter. His hands are wrenched above his head in one violent motion, wrists locked down. His sobs turn frantic. “Don’t do this, please, please—”
Sophie steps forward with a pair of heavy pliers in her hand.
The steel tips catch the light as she kneels beside his head.
Jared screams before the metal even touches him.
The first tooth is one of his front incisors. She grips it tight. The pliers scrape against enamel before locking in place. Then she twists. Not a clean pull. A wrenching, grinding turn that cracks something deep in his jaw before the root tears free.
Blood pours instantly, filling his mouth and spilling down his cheeks as he shrieks.
He thrashes, but the guards hold him steady.
The second tooth comes slower. A canine. She rocks it back and forth first, loosening it, stretching the ligament until his screams turn into choking sobs. Then she yanks. The root tears free in one long, sickening rip, trailing tissue with it.
Blood pools under his head, darkening the grout between the tiles.
By the third, Jared is gagging on his own blood. Sophie shoves her fingers into his mouth, feeling blindly, selecting the next victim. She clamps down on a molar this time.
It doesn'twant to come out.
She twists harder. The cracking sound echoes. The crown shatters under pressure, and she has to reposition, digging the metal deeper into the broken stump.
When it finally tears free, he screams so hard his voice gives out mid-cry.
The fourth and fifth come in brutal succession. Another incisor. Another molar. Each one wrenched loose with a violent jerk, each one accompanied by that same sickening pop and a spray of blood that coats Sophie’s fingers and the front of Jared’s shirt.
His jaw hangs slack by the end of it. Blood runs in thick streams down his chin and neck. When the guards let go, he doesn’t sit up. He just lies there, hands twitching, mouth flooding red.
Sophie stands, expression calm, then drops the pliers onto the cart beside her.
Jared sobs so hard his whole body shudders. Blood bubbles at his lips.
Elliot claps once, cheerful.
“Look at that. A brand-new smile.”
Emma makes a broken sound beside me and folds in on herself, arms wrapped tight around her knees.
I stare straight ahead, nails digging into my palms until my hands ache.
Elliot claps once, the sound sharp and pleased. “Wonderful. Emma.”
