Downfall

Chapter One

*EDITED*


Ava's POV

I was never one to follow the rules when it came to anything. Hence why I am, yet again, bound to the iron chair in the torture chamber. Today, I was being sacrificed. Was I scared of my father? You'd have to be just as sickening and sadistic as my father to not be afraid of him. He didn't always used to be this way. After my mom died when I was three, he went downhill from there. He loved my mother so much he'd do anything to get her back. Including sacrificing me, who looked just like she did.

I stared at the masked member in front of me. Every member dressed the exact same. Depending on your rank in the cult, you got a color change. Blue for new members, pink for healers, they're mainly women. Black for information gatherers, deep purple for captors, blood red for the people who torture the sacrifices before their rituals, and white for the leader. They all wore matching color face masks. Not a hair shown for obvious reasons. I never saw my fathers face.

     "You know why you're here Ava?" The deep, gravelly voice of a blood red said as he slowly walked around me in a circle like a hunter about to pounce on their prey.

     "Nope," I said, in the most unaffected voice I could muster. I was terrified. I slightly pulled against the thick leather straps around my wrists.

     "Oh really?" He said as he very lightly dragged the edge of a knife from the top of my left shoulder all the way across to the top of my right shoulder, causing me to suck in a quick breath. They've done this countless of times to you Ava, this is just to scare you. A little voice inside my head said. Well it was working. I hated being scared.

     "Yes really," I said between gritted teeth. My heart sinking further and further into my stomach. "Otherwise I would have said why." 

     "Don't talk back to me you filth," he hissed in my ear, the knife now dangerously digging into the side of my neck. I bit my lip to keep it from trembling. "You're here because you are being sacrificed on behalf of your mother." He said to me as if I were dumb. To be honest, I wish I was.

     "Oh right, that's why I'm here. You know, how can he bring her back if she's nothing but bones now? I mean, I don't know  about you guys but I wouldn't want to resurrect a pile of-" I snapped my mouth shut as the knife was sliding down my chest to a point I knew it drew the faintest bit of blood.

     He went over to the set of tools he had lined up and picked up a very mutilated piece of metal. It's nails were bent and jagged for the most effective of torture it could do to a person's insides. It was also crusted with dried flesh and blood. Bile rose into my throat, threatening to escape my mouth.  My breathing stopped as I waited for him to come over to me and impale my organs. But he didn't. Instead, he picked up a leather headband that was attached to teeny tiny wires. Oh no, please no. Anything but the electric torture method. I started tugging and pulling against my restraints, my body bending and bucking as I tried to get up from the table. My breathing harsh and unsteady as he prowled closer to me.

     "N-No no no we don't have to do this, we can just say that you whipped me enough that I would do anything you ask of me-. Please, I beg you." I whispered, tears pouring out of my eyes as the helmet was harshly shoved onto my head, making me let out a whimper from the sharp metal scratching my head. I would rather die from the flesh-crusted device than be electrocuted. I heard the screams at night. Their bodies came out with black, vein-like markings starting from the head down, their eyes had exploded from the electricity. I shivered.

     "There's no getting out of it," he spat. "When you're sacrificed, you are broken and molded into whatever he needs you to be for him." I have been like that my whole life. Broken and molded. Shouldn't he want me to be clean and taken care of if I was to resurrect my mother? 

     Never in my miserable life had I been one to think death was a way to feel peace. Until now. I truly thought about what would happen to me if I died. Granted, I wish it was another way than being electrocuted, but I wouldn't dare want my mother to come back from the dead and see what a monster my father has become. She doesn't deserve that. Death is more of a mercy than living is a blessing. In this cold, terrifying world.

     I closed my eyes and waited to be in excruciating pain, but before that could happen, the door burst open and a frantic blue member barged in.

     "THEY'RE HERE! THEY'VE RUINED EVERYTHING!" His eyes showing more white than anything. Only after he ran back out of the room, did I hear all of the yelling and gunfire. My heart leapt into my throat.

     "For fuck sakes! Can't we just have one peaceful day?" The red gritted out. He then rushed out of the room and then the panic started to set in when I realized I was alone. The electric machine ticking faster and faster.

     "HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME! PLEASE!" I cried out, my heart finally back where it belonged. Helplessness seeped into my voice. My breaths came out in harsh increments as I struggled to rip my arms out of the straps. I tried calling out a few more times, but no one could hear me over the commotion. My vision started to blur as tears gathered into my eyes. I was so starved and broken. My body was just a pile of bones with a thin layer of skin attached to them. The timer ticking faster. I knew then. that I was never going to make it out if the timer went off. I stopped struggling and closed my eyes, accepting my fate.

     I heard someone run by and stop. I didn't have the energy to open my eyes. My body wanted to  die. I suddenly felt hands grab the helmet and rip it off of me. "Shit, I'm sorry," I heard a voice say as my body struggled to waken up. I was able to open my eyes just for a second. I had never seen such a handsome face before. I will forever remember his eyes.  I'm glad I got to see someone's face before I welcomed the peace of death. Strong hands ripped the leather straps off of me and, with surprising gentleness, scooped me up and rushed out of the torture room.  When I tried to open my eyes, I couldn't see anything. It was nothing but blurry, fast-moving images and dark shapes moving across my eyes. I was well aware of how warm and strong he was. Snuggling into his body, I waited for death to claim me. 

     "God damn it Wyatt! Why did you bring someone with you? Are you trying to get us fucking killed?" Said a booming voice that echoed in my ears, snapping me out of my wait for death. Wyatt. What a nice name. Fit for a handsome fellow.

     "I couldn't leave her there Levi, she was strapped to a torture chair. And by the looks of it, it wasn't her first time. She had a fucking electric helmet stuck to her head, for fuck's sake. Who knows what those sick fucks did to her. We aren't taking her with us, just somewhere far away from here. Okay?" This voice was softer, more of a whisper than anything. Its low tones wrapping me u like a warm blanket.  It left my body feeling warm. I heard this Levi guy release a long sigh.

      "Okay, fine. We'll take her as far as we can and we can make sure she's safe. Did the others come out okay? Did we lose anyone?"

     "No, they're all here. John's hurt though, not bad enough to ride though. As for Moose and Arrow, they're piling up the bodies so when their sadistic leader comes back he'll see our message." Any conversation after that I couldn't hear because my body pulled itself into a hole and the darkness enveloped me into its cold embrace.