No Control (Chris Motionless)

Chapter 48 - Spaces Between

The cop car sped down the nearly deserted streets. The only sounds inside were Mackenzie's muffled crying and the police radio. Even though I remained silent, my mind was a noisy mess, and it felt as if my heart was trying to beat out of my chest as if it knew the fate awaiting us. At this point, I was at a loss, and any thought of fighting back against Backhus swiftly hushed itself every time I glanced at the weapon in his passenger seat.

There wasn't even a bit of hope in me left as I began to recognize the buildings around us, and even when we reached Hell's Haven, I was surprised to find a figure standing just outside the doorway. Their face was shrouded by the hooded cloak most of the JTR members wore, making whoever it was appear to be faceless.

After more threats of violence from Backhus, we were shoved into the cavernous building where several more disguised individuals waited.

"Take that one away." The first figure orders as they nod towards Mackenzie.

Realization hit me when I heard that voice, which somehow made Roy's silhouette recognizable even in the dim corridor. Then two members seized Mackenzie and drug her down the stone steps into the darker parts of the tunnels without a word. After that, another pair of cultists didn't hesitate to restrain me before I even had time to consider reaching out to her.

"Please just let us go! We'll stay out of whatever you have planned, I promise!" Mackenzie begged in a voice that became fainter by the second.

Roy let out a dry laugh before turning his focus to me. "You really thought you had us there for a minute, didn't you? Did you actually think that you had somehow figured out how to beat something that we've been working at for more than a hundred years?"

I knew better than to say a word to him; taunting nor pleading would help me at this point. His hand shoots out to firmly grasp my chin, startling me with how much it hurts. "You spiteful little bitch, I can't wait to watch the new Lord rip out your beating heart. It will be the only useful thing you've done this whole time."

I held his cold gaze, taking in the malice there, telling me that he had meant every word. Despite my silence, the pounding of my heart was so loud in my head that I felt it should have been audible at this point. Like it was pleading for him to reconsider.

"Put her somewhere safe," Roy mutters as he turns his back to me with a dismissive wave in my direction. "We must send out the others to retrieve Kamaria and our new Lord."

Then just like that, I was hauled into the deep dungeons, all of the fight gone from my limbs. Trying to escape seemed like a distant dream at this point, and even as I fought the need, I found tears slipping down my cheeks.

It was almost ironic when they brought me to a room that made me recall the last time I had been here with Chris; then again, everything here looked pretty much the same. Thinking of him made my chest clench against my will.

The moment of anguish morphed into fear as I was tossed to the cold, unforgiving floor and then shut into the pitch black. As soon as the cult member's footsteps faded away, a wail ripped out of my throat as my body folded in over itself. How could I let this happen? I honestly was as stupid as Roy had said. Some tiny part of me had believed I could get those I cared about out of this in the end. Now I can see that I was always bound to fail.

I drift in and out of consciousness more times than I could even begin to count, but the thing that brings me back to the present, at last, is voices. At first, it's just a gurgle of sound that causes the hair on the back of my neck to stand up, and it takes me a moment to figure out why. It's screaming coming from somewhere in these tunnels, and the longer I sit there straining my ears over it, something about it starts to seem recognizable.