Violet Eyes

9: No Mercy

Dawn had awoken Nyx from the best sleep she'd had in months. She felt at peace as she rose from the plush and calming embrace of her bed. She walked over to the window and opened the curtains. The vast forest stretched on for miles, rolling into large hills with the sun peeking through the trees at the largest peak. However, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. She slowly walked to the door and tried her best to open the door as quietly as possible and peered around the corner. When she saw no one, she scooted her way to Nate's room and softly knocked.

"Nate? Are you awake?" She said at the door, when there was no response that feeling in her stomach grew deeper. She softly opened the door and peeked inside.

He wasn't in his bed either. Her worry was now at a crescendo, she tried to contain her panicked breath as she left the room and creeped down the hall. Her steps barely made a noise as they fell, she peeked around the corner at the top of the stairs and saw no one. She slowly creeped down the stairs, the air was still and quiet enough for Nyx to hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears. When she reached the bottom she looked to the left...

Then the right...

Then her heart stopped.

She saw Mary and Alan laying on the hardwood floor, hands bound behind their backs, blood running down their heads; as if they had been struck by a blunt object. She stared at them in shock, before her eyes drifted towards the fireplace, laying there on the floor in the same condition...

"Nate?!" Nyx shouted, tears in her eyes as she started towards him. When she passed the precipice of the doorway into the parlor, she quickly felt the sting of cold metal coiling around her neck until it snapped with a loud click. She quickly whipped around while trying to pull the collar off of her, but it was locked. She saw Zachariah, looking down at her with a calm look before he placed the tips of his fingers on her chest and shoved hard. She fell backwards and landed on her back and elbows. She stared at him in fear before raising her hand to him to try and send him flying backwards.

But nothing happened...

"What?" Nyx whispered to herself as she stared at her extended hand.

Zachariah smiled slightly, "You're wasting your time. That collar negates any and all abilities." He said as he dusted his hands off. His sleeves were rolled halfway up his arms and his dark pants looked dirty and wrinkled.

Nyx scrambled to her feet, hands trembling, "Y-you did this?" She stammered out quietly.

"Of course I did. You're all wanted people." He said sternly before raising his arm and snapping his fingers, two men appeared behind Nyx from who-knows-where and aggressively grabbed both of her arms.

Nyx has been trained for this.

She quickly lifted her foot and slammed her heel into the left assailant's shin as hard as she could. When the man doubled over slightly and loosened his grip, she quickly slid her arm out of his grip and slammed her fist right into his groin. She quickly maneuvered her hand to his holster as he was falling. She grabbed the hopefully loaded handgun and slammed the butt into the other man's head as hard as she could. He was knocked out and she quickly backed up towards Nate and pointed the handgun at Zachariah.

At this point, Nate slowly began to regain consciousness, his head was pounding as he slowly opened his eyes in a sickening daze. His blurred vision began to come into focus.

"Stay back!" Nyx shouted as she thrust the gun towards Zachariah.

He raised his head up, "That's enough of that." He said before he pulled a small remote out of his pocket and pushed the button. The light on the collar around Nyx's neck lit up red and beeped twice before sending a violent current through Nyx's body. She seized up and let out a pained scream before falling to the ground breathing heavily through the pain. Nate was suddenly in perfect clarity.

"Hey! Stop that!" He shouted at Zachariah, eyes fuming with a fiery anger. The assailants that Nyx had incapacitated were standing up at this point. One was still trying to alleviate the pain in his groin, while the other was shaking his head slightly after taking a blow to the head. Nyx was still lying on the ground, convulsing slightly.

Zachariah pulled up his wrist and spoke into it, "We're going to need backup." He said before beginning his approach towards Nyx.

Nate had enough of this, he shouted to get Zachariah's attention. When Nate locked eyes with Zachariah he stopped walking dead in his tracks.

Nyx raised her head slowly, the current fading now, she watched Zachariah as he was locked in an ominous staring contest with Nate who was still bound and bloody on the floor. Zachariah slowly and shakily started reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the small control that activated the horrid shock collar on Nyx and whipped it across the room and into the wall, where it broke into several pieces.

Nate then lowered his head while letting out a soft sigh of exhaustion. It seemed like being beaten and exhausted like this was preventing him from using his ability for very long...Nyx had no idea that he could...control people like that.

Zachariah then lowered his arms rather quickly and let out an angry grunt, "Well, it seems like we have two new...volunteers." He said softly while he straightened his shirt.

It was at this moment that the front door swung open and at least a dozen men tricked out in tactical gear rushed into the room. Three of them ran right to Nyx and all pointed assault weapons at her, their flashlights blinding her, she held up her hand to block the light. Three others went to Nate and pointed guns at him as well, the remainder of the men were standing around the room to secure the area.

What do we do? Nyx thought inside her mind, praying that Nate was listening.

...I don't know. Nate responded inside her mind, he sounded exhausted and scared. They both looked around for a shred of mercy in the men holding assault weapons a foot away from their faces.

...There wasn't any.