Cataclysm

4.0

"Varien, wait!" I cried as he dragged me down the hall. "I won't leave him again!"

"He'll be fine," Varien repeated, never looking back. He'd draped Leo over one shoulder to pull me along.

"Please, let me go back!" I tugged on his arm, but he didn't let go of my wrist. The gashes throbbed steadily, worse with every heart beat.

Leo started to wake up, shifting and groaning softly. "What -"

I took that as an opportunity to kick Varien in the back of the knee, sending him to the floor with a yelp. In only a second, I was sprinting back down the hallway.

When I crashed back into Authorized Access, Braken had finally freed himself from Howell and was attempting to scramble to his feet, but every time he did, Howell hit him over the head with the stick. I could tell he was already extremely dizzy.

"Braken!" I called.

He glanced up at me. "J-Joel -"

Howell used his momentary distraction and slammed the end of the stick into his gut as hard as he could. Braken let out a choked scream and staggered back against the wall, breaking into a coughing fit. He fell to his knees and grasped his stomach, coughing harder and spitting out blood.

"Braken!" I screamed, running toward him.

Before he had a chance to respond, Howell hit him hard over the head with the stick and he doubled over again. "Anna, don't let Joel come any closer," the fat man ordered, raising his stick for the final blow. Braken could only cower and cough and cover his head with his arms. Some of the gashes on his back were bleeding again.

Anna caught me before I could make it to him, wrapping her arms around my chest. "Joel, please, calm down," she whispered.

"He's going to kill him," I said, my efforts weakening as I started to cry. No. I couldn't give up. I had to be strong for him.

"Hey, hey, it'll be okay," Anna said gently. Her voice was so soothing, so calm in this storm. She kept one arm tightly around me to keep me in place, but her other hand was so soft and gentle as she brushed the tears from my face. She winced as she tested her wounded shoulder, but fought through the pain. For me. "I'm here. It's okay," she murmured again and again. I couldn't fight her. I didn't have any energy left.

"I told you, freak, the next time you spoke would be the last!" Howell screamed, and the stick cracked against his back, tearing open one of his gashes.

Braken tried to scream, but he couldn't stop coughing. "I - I - I'll ne-never lose my - my power ..." He paused to take a raspy breath and spit blood onto the floor. "M-my power of - of - of v-voice."

"Braken, please," I cried. I don't know what I was asking him for. Just something. I just wanted this nightmare to be over.

"Wh-what? You - you want me to - me to st-stop talking, t-too?" Braken staggered to his feet, dizzy from the hit and gripping his stomach. He had blood running all down his face. "Look, I'm - I'm s-sorry I have a st-st-utt-stut -" His face flushed red in embarrassment as he struggled to pronounced the word.

"Oh, shut up. I don't want hear you st-st-stutter," Howell sneered, reloading his gun.

"Don't kill him!" I pleaded, feebly pulling against Anna's grip.

"I'm not going to kill him," Howell chuckled, aiming his gun right at my face. "He doesn't deserve the mercy of death."

"He's your son!" I tried to shrink away from the gun's glare, to no avail. "Don't you have enough humanity to understand that?"