Before Connor could voice his mind, it hit him.
*WHOOSH*
His mind was assaulted with unimaginable pain while Andrew did nothing more than stare at him. His mockery melting back into his aloofness. Rising from the toilet seat, Andrew inched closer to Connor who was on his knees, unsure of what Andrew had done. "I require assistance!" Connor shouted, hoping to see a stream of officers fill the bathroom and knock Andrew out.
However that's not what came into Connor's periphery as Andrew looked over his body now on the floor. "Argh!" A mouthful of blood left Connor's lips, the pain in his mind still strong threatening to knock him out. Andrew waited for Connor to pass out before crouching and picking up his body.
Despite his haggard figure, he was able to pick Connor up with no issues. Connor now knocked out cold failed to see the scene unfolding. It wasn't just him but everyone in the precinct who faced the mental attack, either falling unconscious from pain or barely holding on to maintaining consciousness. Andrew was able to walk out of the precinct with no issues, making his way to Connor's car and reaching for the keys from Connor's pockets.
He cuffed Connor before hauling him in the back seat. Turning on the ignition, the car sped out of the parking lot and came to the surface revealing the probable cause for the mental cause. Hanging above the skies was something out of the ordinary, a massive eye that watched the globe could be seen, the colors that constituted it's existence something that the human mind couldn't comprehend.
The only colors that one could see if they had the luxury of ignoring the mental attacks were of gold, black and red swirls. It wasn't just the officers at the precinct but rather a global level phenomenon, people passed out on the sidewalks, in buildings and many more locations. The only person who seemed untouched under the eye's effects was Andrew as he drove the car through the streets now piling up with cars from accidents.
The eye though one held it's gaze, it's jariness something out of a nightmare and yet it kept it's influence over everyone for an hour before it vanished as silently as it had appeared. Connor after the eye was gone was barely able to make out what was going on, the last thing that he saw was Andrew driving and his limbs restricted before falling unconscious once more.
. . .
"Gah!" Connor woke up, his breathes shallow as he frantically looked out. "Poh! What is that smell?" His nose hit with the rancid smell of rotten flesh before his eyes realized where he was. The floor was drenched in blood, drains meant to cycle the blood out clogged. Gritting his teeth and looking around, he saw another figure. "Eliot Thank God you're alive!" Eliot passed out, his body similar to Eliot's held up by their hands cuffed to the ceiling with a strong metallic chain.
As for his legs, they were held back by chains suspending the two barely above the ground akin to the cattle around them, already skinned and ready for processing. 'We seem to be in some form of plant. A butchery of sorts but which one?' Connor couldn't help but wonder as he began to assess his surroundings.
*KRRRRRR*
The sounds of chains rattling filled the air, Connor putting weight into the chains to make them snap however no progress was made. "Connor?!" Eliot waking up attracted Connor's attention. "Yes, it's me. For how long have you been here?!" Before Connor got his answer, the sounds of wheels squeaking and measured footsteps grabbed their attention.
The metallic door drifted open revealing a figure the two had come to hate with every fibre of their being. In Andrew's left hand was a small tank which he hauled around on it's wheels and in his right hand a syringe connected to the tank. "You fucking bastard! I knew that you were a fucking monster!"
Connor shouted however Andrew quietly made his way over to Eliot who seeing his approach began to rattle his chains.Andrew didn't give any reasons, didn't say anything as he brought the syringe to Eliot's neck and stuck it, the size of the needle dug too deep into Eliot's neck. "AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!" Eliot screamed at the top of his lungs as Andrew moved with fluidity, his movements indicating that this wasn't his first time.
"Andrew wait! We could talk about this!" Connor shouted, wishing for Andrew to halt with his movements.
*WHOOSH*
Pressing a button on a remote from his pocket, Eliot's figure was slowly rotated from an upright position to his stomach facing the ground, a meter off suspended before he was titled further to the point he was at an incline, his head lower than his legs till Eliot's head was at Andrew's calf level. "What is it that you wish to ask Connor?" Andrew flatly asked, his focus shifting to the tank before pressing a small tank and the process began.
Blood began to flow through the tubes and into the small tank, the whir of the pump inaudible to the screams of Eliot who felt his blood sucked out of his neck. "AARRGHH!!! FFFUUUUUCCCKKKK! HEEELLPP MMEEEE!!" Andrew watched Eliot's blood drip into the tank, his face missing the sadistic grin Connor had expected. The experience didn't last long as Andrew stopped the pump when the tank was half full, jerking the syringe out of Eliot's neck and letting blood pour out of the hole and coating Eliot's face.
"GRRHH!!" Groans and moans could be heard leave Eliot's mouth, now indecipherable as his blood began to mix with the blood already on the floor. Andrew produced his remote once more and Connor's figure began to tilt similar to Eliot's the prick of the syringe glistening with his blood. "What do you get out of this?! I hope that you rot in hell you fucking monster!!" Connor spat at Andrew's figure, the latter deeming it pointless as without warning jabbed the syringe into Connor's neck. "MMPHH!!" Connor controlled his grunts, his jaw tightening as Andrew began to suck his blood as well.
'Am I going to die here?' He couldn't help but wonder as he once began to feel his vision falter. His hateful glares bore into Andrew's eyes who was still in his ruined clothes from the precinct.
*BEEP*
The small tank let out a beep making Andrew pull the syringe out of Connor's neck. Pressing his remote once more, the figures of the two were brought back to an upright position while Andrew left with no words. 'I can't believe this is how I go out. I wanted to see how Claire would develop in her goals and become a professor.' His eyes landed on Eliot who was barely alive, his body jerking every once in while.
Just as he was about to close his eyes, Andrew walked in once more, this time with a tray and operating tools. "What do you want?" His voice faint as with a click his body was rotated to make him rest facing the ceiling, his back to the floor. "You should be concerned about Claire, I can't promise that she'll survive what happens to her." The mention of Claire seemed to send new vigour across Connor's body. "I swear if you touch her!"
Andrew reached for a scalpel, his eyes lazy as if he treated what he was about to do nothing more than a chore. "Though she's strong, she'll make it. Charles wouldn't kill her too quickly before having fun with her." Connor felt the cool edge of the scalpel on his temple, his heart in his mouth for what would come next. "But for her to have strength, she needs wood to fuel her fire and your face will do nicely."
A grunt left Connor's lips as the blade began to dig into his flesh. "ARRGHHH!" Andrew trailed the edges of Connor's face, from his temple down to his cheeks before reaching his chin. Done with the cut, he placed the scalpel to the side and with one brutal pull, snapped any form of connection Connor's face had to the flesh and tendons underneath.
"AAARRGHHH!! YOU FUCKING MONSTER!!" Connor cursed at Andrew who placed Connor's face to the side with banality only he could carry. "Pray that she's strong for the battles ahead Connor." That was the last statement Connor heard out Andrew as he left, never returning after that. Connor remained suspended mid-air, the sight of his bloody tendons and flesh quickly attracting flies that swarmed his face.
Connor similar to Eliot didn't last long before meeting his end. Eliot dying from blood loss while Connor died from drowning. His own blood blocking his air ways and his locked position only made it worse, flies swarming his face.
. . .
Lara who was sulking in her cage felt the attack from the eye and quickly fell unconscious. With her vision fading, she could hear the grunts and cries of her captors. 'To think that I would die from a head ache! Is my existence really that pitiful?' She could help but wonder, now drowning in abyssal silence in the white void before her vision shifted. It wasn't of the real world but rather three doors, each glowing in either a deep malicious red, a holy and ethereal gold or black that seemed to suck any form of life that approached it. Above the three doors was a thread, the wisp thin enough to be snapped that seemed to power the three doors.
'Do I have to pick between these three doors?' Her instinct reached for the golden door however that door shattered like glass leaving her with two options. 'Why did it have to be these two?' She couldn't help but wonder as she began to inch closer to the red door. However once more the door didn't allow her to go through it as try as she did, the door didn't open. 'Don't tell me that I have to pick the black door…' A mental sigh as she got closer to the door.
Feelings of familiarity began to overwhelm her, the darkness felt something like she was acquainted with way before, akin to reuniting with an old friend. Her hand reached for the handle and with ease the door opened revealing a never ending abyss The door fell forward revealing a never ending pit, the red door withered away like ash after a battlefield making it clear that this was the only door that she could take. 'I guess the darkness is the only thing I'm familiar with these days,' A bitter laugh only she could hear rang before she let her figure fall through the door.
. . .
"Urgh!" Lara clutched her head as she tried to make sense of her surroundings. A hand was the first thing that came into her view and looking at the person offering it to her left her speechless. "Andrew?" She couldn't help but blurt out as she took his hand, making her rise to her feet. "Let's leave this place." A million questions rang through her head as she began to follow Andrew out of her cage and up the flight of stairs. Arriving at the top, a yard was revealed and past that was a luxurious mansion that didn't quite catch her eye.
She silently followed Andrew as he made his way to one of the cars parked, reaching to his pockets and fishing the keys and offered her to step in. "How did you find me and what is going on?" Her figure freezing right outside of the car. "I don't have the time to explain, get in the car." His figure making his way around the car and into the driver seat. 'Am I actually losing it? To think that Andrew would be the person I think of when picturing a saviour.'
Her figure sitting in the seat next to Andrew before the two drove off the mansion grounds and into a stretch of road, far away from any other houses. What greeted them after a couple of hours were stretches of lands, mostly consisted of crops like corn and barley before Stillwater appeared in the distance. "Can you explain anything to me now? How the fuck did you find me?!" The sub urban SUV hovered through the road of tarmac, Andrew focused on what was ahead of him.