Callidus Rising | Complete ✔️ | Book 1

9: Empty Holsters

I come to just in time to see a white door, and hear the beeps of someone typing a code.

The door seals behind me in only seconds after I'm pulled through like a dead weight, and I'm dropped onto the floor harshly.

I trust Lukas, but I can't help the fear clinging to my gut like a Victim to its current meal.

What he said confuses me and I really don't want to think about it at the moment.

Another painful burst courses throughout me and I hunch over. I grind my teeth together after the loud clank of the metal shins of my boots as they smacked into the floor.

Nothing moves. Nothing sounds.

"Hello?" I croak out, wondering if I would be trapped in darkness forever; awaiting impending doom.

I can barely even hear my own voice. The constant buzzing of my mask keeps me calmer than it should, but I am still panicking.

Trust Lukas. Lukas wouldn't send you to your death right?

"Hello?!" I try to yell, but it comes out just above a whisper. As soon as I say it, a series of holographic green lights sweep around the room until one by one they land on me.

They slide up and down me, and a loud beep is released into the dark room.

I am soon surrounded and blinded by nothing besides green, even through my specialized glasses. I squeeze my eyes shut.

Click,

Click, click,

Click, click, click.

Click.

Suddenly, the green lights are gone, and I am welcomed by bright fluorescents that illuminate everything around me.

I open my eyes, and my glasses darken. Without moving my head, I look around me.

7 sets of blacked-out boots that sort of resemble my own stand in front of me. The only difference with them is the fact that they still have laces on the front. I look as far as my eyes will allow me to see with my head angled downward the way it is.

They have dark gray fabric that is fitted perfectly to their upper legs, and I can see the beginning of a utility belt.

I recognize only a few of the gadgets, but I know enough to make the assumption that these are killers. The thing that scares me most is the fact that the holsters that held blasters earlier are utterly empty.

Great.

They're aimed at me.

Nausea smacks me again and I can't stop it.

Oh no.

I lean forward and put a hand out to catch myself on the illuminated floor.

The moment I do that, they all shift forward. I groan, not at them, but at the continuously increasing pain.

I feel like I am dying. I look up. Their faces are covered by helmets with blacked out glass where their eyes are supposed to be.

The area over their mouths and noses has filters like mine, but more updated and dark just like everything else about them.

Their masks do r whirr like mine does every time they breathe.

They move in sync as they take three more steps my way. The one at the very center has two objects instead of one. The first being the blaster, and the second I am familiar with as well.

I narrow my eyes at it. It looks like some sort of camera.

It rests on the leader's shoulder, and I can see the little lenses moving and trying to get a good look at me.

The drone from earlier.

What is this place? And who the hell are these people? Why did they take me?

My earpiece releases static and I hear the familiar voice I know as Lukas, but only for a moment.

"They're the Nation."

Lukas?

The Nation? The evil ones that caused the plague?

I wait a few seconds. No response.

Questions are flooding my overheated mind and I feel like I'm going to regurgitate my organs. I had had enough.

"Hey guys," I say as I cough on the dryness of my throat,"take your time! I'm not dying or anything," I snap. I try to sound brave and rebellious for the second time, but I think I sound stupid and arrogant.

The leader pushes the drone/camera off of his shoulder and it hovers beside him just like Lukas does me. He does an intricate hand motion and the little camera flies over to my exposed arm and lands there.

My breathing picks up. I stare at it.

A sudden sharp pain stabs me right where the little camera has landed and I yelp a little bit.

I reach with the arm I am not leaning on for support and attempt to smack it off, but it takes off and lands back on the leader's shoulder before I can.

I don't know what was just injected, but I feel even more dizziness shaking the room, and I am sure it is not just my lack of hydration.

I push off the ground with my weakened strength and stand. I point at the one with the drone open my mouth to interrogate the jerk that just put some undisclosed potion into my bloodstream when both of my legs give out in a painful spasm, and my head smacks violently into the floor.

Everything becomes blurry as I see the 7 people move in an organized formation to create a circle around me, and the last thing I see is the leader bending down to look at me.

As everything blacks out, I hear seven more clicks.

Oh, I think.

It is them filling their empty holsters.

~~~~~~~~~~

796 words. Not bad. Anywayyysss, that one felt a little bit intense.

Who do you think it is, the people in black? And why would Lukas want her to go? Why was Lukas actin so out of character?
Tell me what ya think!
The picture up top is a mash up of different masks I found. I put them together so that they would look like the mask I imagined the people that injected her with a serum.
PS... 71 reads!
And as always:
Thanks for reading!!
♥️