The six dark-eyed men charged forward, arms extended to snag Keira.
Furrowing her brows, Keira glanced around for anything to stall her newfound foes. Smirking, she kicked the bar stool to her left. It toppled to the floor, tripping the four customers over into a heap of groaning bodies. It was only a small victory though. The bartender and Caleb grabbed for Keira, their eyes locked onto her. She dropped to the ground, diving from their grasp. As the bartender pulled back his leg to smack into her, she dug the shard into his inner thigh. Thin lines of dark blood spewed from it, splattering Keira's rigid face. Her eyes widened at the spurting stream of blood, jaw tightening.
Black blood?
A rough hand snatched a handful of her hair.
"Caleb, let go!" she yelped.
Caleb ignored her words, dragging her across the floor towards the stranger.
"Well, that was easy," the suited man said, sighing. "I was hoping for a better fight, Zahra."
Keira thrashed against Caleb's grip, clawing at his enclosed hand. It was useless. As he pulled her across the floor, adrenaline began to pump furiously into her veins. Her instinct for survival overwhelmed her mind, pushing back the memories sparking in her psyche. Although fading images flickered in her head, she sharpened her focus on every movement of her strange enemies. She stopped resisting against her former friend's grasp, scanning the room for anything to help her. The four customers, now standing, walked besides her and Caleb. The bartender limped far behind them due to his leaking wound.
Is this some sort of nightmare? she wondered.
As Keira searched the bar for any sort of makeshift weapon, the pit in her stomach grew deeper from the sudden realization that there was nothing to aid her. Not another beer bottle, her unconscious mother nor whatever remained of Caleb.
Zahra, you have to use it!
It was the unknown man's firm tone, his words seeping of pure panic.
She sealed her eyes, wincing in pain. The memories swelled to the edge of her mind, overflowing with flashing faces and muffled words. With every second, they became clearer. She was lost within the depths of her psyche, unaware of how close she was to being in the suited man's clutches. He watched on, head tilted while he pondered what was happening to the young woman. She was now motionless against Caleb's firm grip, twitching every few moments.
"How odd," he commented.
Keira succumbed to the influx of memories, absorbing them. Relaxing her once tense muscles, she let the man speak to her. As the seconds ticked by, the blurriness on the edge of his face faded away into clear lines. Soon, Keira made out a mop of messy chestnut hair on the top of his head, grains of sand spilling from it. A long scar ran across his cheek, a dark line against his bronze skin. His emerald eyes gazed at her, and upon seeing their familiar color, she knew who they belonged to.
I am with you as always...
"Brother?"
Keira's eyes flashed open, softly glowing.
Caleb continued to drag her across the floor, unaware of the stark change in Keira's demeanor. Keira turned her head slightly, reaching for his forearm. She snatched it, then pulled it towards her chest. Caleb fell backwards, arm dangling in front of Keira's face. Biting down on his exposed arm, Caleb yelped as he let go of her.
"Get her!" the suited man exclaimed.
The five other men lunged towards her, listening to the stranger's command. Keira staggered to her feet, a plan already buzzing inside of her head. On top of a nearby table, she snagged a stein and smashed it into the bartender's face before he reached her. He fell to the ground, vanishing into a thick cloud of smog from the shards stuck in his cranium.
What the hell was that?
Keira had no time to process the now absent bartender. A few hands snatched the back of her collar, tugging her backwards. She used the momentum, crashing an elbow into one of the customer's face. Instantly, he dissipated into a black cloud. With his body no longer there to support her, Keira crashed into the floor.
The remaining four men grabbed her arms and legs, restricting her. She screamed out in frustration, searching for any sort of opening. She was trapped in a circle by the dark-eyed men. Her mind stirred with utter confusion, attempting to comprehend the strangeness of these last few moments. These were not men, she understood that at least. The young man pinning down her arms looked exactly like Caleb yet she knew it was not him; his black eyes spoke to that as well.
A punch broke her from her pondering. The curled fist smashed into the side of her jaw, throwing her head to its side. A thin stream of blood trickled down her chin. She turned her head, staring into the hollow eyes of Caleb just as he pulled back his fist again.
That's not Caleb, she reminded herself.
His fist crashed into her cheek. Air flared through her nostrils, rage boiling in her blood. She began to flail against the two other men's firm grip, but to no avail. They held her down as Caleb stood up, kicking her in the gut. She groaned, wincing in pain. Then, another one of the men smacked his boot into her jaw. A fresh cut split open across her jawline, more blood flying from her wound. Caleb and the beer-bellied customer continued their onslaught of heavy kicks and firm punches. Blood splattered across the chipped floorboards, seeping into the wood.
With every blow to her body, Keira began to realize that this pain was not a figment of her imagination; it was real.
The stranger laughed, clapping as he watched his men continue to pummel Keira.
"Oh, this reminds me of the old days," he said, sipping his wine.
The dark-eyed Caleb and customer noticed the small gashes healing at a slow pace, sealing up as if they had never hit Keira. Silently, Caleb turned around. Opening her eyes, Keira saw where he was headed; the dagger. She groaned, spitting a thick glob of blood onto one of the men holding her down. He did not cringe, just watched her with those empty eyes.
Voices continued to call out to her. They overlapped one another into a chorus of muddled words and blended faces, unable to be deciphered. Keira twitched rapidly, the ancient memories rushing back to her again in a new tide. She yelled out as the hot pain dug a new path in her psyche, flaring in her entire body. A heat rose through her nerves, and although it healed her physical wounds, it could not mend her fragmented memories.
"Get off of me!"
Her glimmering eyes fluttered open.
She forced the pain to the edge of her mind, ignoring its sharp stings.
With a sudden surge of renowned strength, she sat up against the grasps of the two men. Freeing her right arm one of them, she snatched the other customer's forearm. With a loud grunt, she flung him across the room. He crashed into the shelves behind the bar, head smacking against the filled bottles. In a puff of smoke, he was gone.
So, that's how to do it, Keira thought.
The two remaining customers slammed their boots into the side of her face. Her head snapped to its left, a wave of blood spilling down her mouth. Keira laughed, glancing at the stranger who watched on with a stiff face. Both men attempted another strike, but their kicks were met with the open palms of Keira. She caught both of their shoes, gripping onto the leather. Before the men could pry their boots away, she twisted their feet upwards. Their ankles bent at an awkward angle, breaking the bones before she pushed them away from her.
