Do It To Death

1

    Jack didn't know the last time he'd taken a day off, or even just a break.  It felt like he'd been working for... well, forever.  So when the letter arrived on his desk, he couldn't help but feel that the universe was laughing at him.
    Position Terminated.
    Another way of saying 'Fired'.
    Jack stepped into the elevator of his office, feeling his heart sink as he looked down at the cardboard box in his arms once again.  It contained everything that he used in the office, everything that mattered to him.  It was finally starting to hit him.  He was out of a job.
    "Oh, leaving, are you?"
    Jack didn't want to answer Elizabeth, but he also knew the consequences of ignoring her.  The last thing he needed was another rumor spread about him.
    "Yeah, my position was terminated."  Jack quoted the letter, just because he didn't know any other way of saying such a heavy thing lightly.
    "Oh, that's a shame.  Well this is my stop, so have a good life!"  And like that, she was gone, leaving Jack standing alone in the elevator wondering how anyone could be so happy.
    The doors closed, and the elevator continued down the tall building.
    With nothing else to do in the painfully long time the elevator spent trickling down the building, Jack began to listen to the music playing overhead.  It was one of those rare elevators that still had speakers in it, and the radio was playing some pop hit Jack had heard way too many times.
    The doors opened, and Jack left the radio and his former life behind, stepping out into the bustling streets of New York City.
    Jack usually loved wandering around his home city, looking for whatever characters were out and about nearby, but as he pushed through the crowded street towards his apartment, he couldn't help the claustrophobia that settled in.  Suddenly, his comfort city was a tall metal prison.
    It was an unconscious action for Jack to pull out his keys as he neared his apartment building, even with a box in both arms.  Jack climbed the short set of steps up to the main door and clicked his key into the old metal lock at the entrance.  He turned the key, and heard a sharp SNAP resonate from the lock.
    That wasn't normal.
    Jack lifted his arm, and found that only half of the key remained in his hand.  The other half was still in the lock.
    "You've gotta be kidding me," Jack grumbled, leaning down to look closer at the lock.
    The old metal key had broken at just the right point so that, no matter how hard he jammed his fingers in the lock, the key would not turn.
    It was almost instinctual for Jack to kick the nearest thing to him, releasing his anger in one fell swoop.  He didn't process what that thing was until his belongings were laying on the ground in the alley between his and the next building, smashed to pieces.
    This time, Jack bit his tongue, forcing a scream back into his throat as he gathered the pieces of his belongings into the ripped structure that was once his box.  Instead, he gripped each shard of lamp and splinter of pencil just a little bit harder than he needed to as he shoveled them into a nearby dumpster, leaving his hands bruised and bleeding.
    Jack slumped to the ground halfway down the alley, dialing a number on his phone as he watched the blood drip from a cut on his hand.  As if the day couldn't get any worse, the number, marked as his landlord's, rang once and then hung up.
    Jack buried his face in his arms.
    He could see the light beginning to fade from the reflection of the sky in a puddle near where he was sitting, but he didn't bother to look up and watch the sunset.  What did a sunset matter if his world was already ending?
    The sky grew dark, and the streetlamps flickered on, and Jack didn't look up.  The chill night air bit at his fingertips, cutting through his thin red hoodie and crackling against his skin.  Even when he started to shiver, Jack didn't move.
    He didn't move when he heard voices talking at the other end of the alley.  He might have at the very least hoped they weren't near enough to notice him if his brain wasn't so numb.  He did, however, feel the hand that grabbed his wrist.
    Jack jolted to his feet, twisting against the attacker's grip on his wrist.  In one swift motion, the attacker's arm shoved itself into Jack's stomach, knocking any air he had out of his lungs, while Jack's other wrist was pinned against the wall behind him.
    A laugh echoed down the alley.
    "You're getting better at this," a voice hummed, deep and smooth as melted chocolate.
    "Better?  That was easy, it hardly even fought!"  The second voice came from the attacker, who shifted his hand to cover Jack's mouth as he opened it to scream for help.
    Jack's eyes flickered to the shape growing larger in the darkness, a shape that seemed to belong to the first voice.  As it leaned in towards Jack's face, Jack was able to make out a head with long hair and bright red eyes.
    "Good catch," the figure remarked, turning to the other person holding Jack against the wall.  "I think now is as good of a time as any to practice some of the things we've been working on."
    The attacker nodded and pushed Jack towards the other figure in a motion so quick it left no room for Jack to fight before he was once again restrained, this time held standing in front of the deep voiced figure.
    Jack faced the other figure who carried the same bright red eyes, glowing harshly behind smudged glass.  The person lifted his glasses over his head, taking a step towards Jack.
    "What should I make it do?" the person asked.
    "Make it speak," the figure behind Jack said.
    "So simple.  It's like you don't even want to challenge me," the person laughed.
    "We start with the basics," the deep voice replied.
    The cold fingertips of a hand tapped against Jack's chin, his eyes unable to avoid the red ones of the owner of the hand.
    "Speak," the figure whispered, leaning towards Jack.
    Jack bit his tongue hard, squeezing his eyes closed.
    A grumble resonated from the person in front of him, and the hand pulled away from Jack's chin.
    "What?!  Why didn't that work?"
    "I told you we need to work on your basics," the deep voice said.
    "But- it- I was doing everything right!  But there was this... this wall between it and me.  And I couldn't get through it."
    Jack could feel the hand holding his wrists behind his back tense, and he opened his eyes to find that the figure in front of him was even closer than he had been before.
    "This is stupid, I'm just going to eat it!" the figure growled.
    Jack was jerked away from the figure wearing glasses so harshly he thought his wrists might break, nearly hidden behind the other figure.
    "No!  If what you said is correct, I think this one could be special."
    "Special?  What is that supposed to mean?!" the figure wearing glasses spat.
    The figure hiding Jack sighed.  "I'm not sure what it means, but it's got to mean something.  When have your powers ever not worked before?"
    "I mean- it was probably just a fluke.  I can try again, it'll work this time."
    Suddenly, both figures went quiet, and there was a sound of footsteps passing in front of the alley.  It was a long time after the footsteps were gone before either dared speak again.
    "Try it at home.  We've been here too long," the figure restraining Jack whispered, turning back to him and hooking an arm under his legs.
    Jack was lifted into the air and held tightly against the body of his second attacker, any scream he could muster cut off by the attacker's hand over his mouth.  Jack attempted to squirm, but then gasped as a sharp dagger like nail dug into his arm.
    "This will hurt less if you're still," the person holding him rumbled, words vibrating in his chest.
    The figure crouched down, and then Jack was in the air and on the roof of his apartment complex, still held tightly by his attacker.  Buildings flickered by like clouds passing by the window of a plane as the two attackers leaped between rooftops with ease.  Jack squeezed his eyes shut and hoped he wouldn't be dropped.
    As the wind whipped through Jack's hair, he couldn't help but wonder what sort of cruel trick the universe was playing on him.  He'd lost his job, been locked out of his apartment, and then been kidnapped all in one day.  He hoped that whatever fate lay before him was swift and painless, but after everything that had happened that day, he doubted it.
    When Jack dared to open his eyes again, New York City was far behind him.  He could see flickers of the skyscrapers over his attacker's shoulder, half hidden by trees sweeping by them like birds.  The world grew darker, and the trees grew thicker, but the red eyes of the, well, the thing following them remained constant.
    Because Jack had decided on one thing, and one thing only.  Whatever was carrying him, and whatever was following behind, leaping across buildings and between trees like it was a game of hopscotch, was not human.  Nothing that could move this fast, and nothing that could hold him with such ease, could ever be human.  The repercussions of that discovery were something Jack didn't dare try to wrap his head around.  He could figure that out after his inevitable death.
    Jack had lived in New York City his entire life, where buildings stood like giants, guarding every turn from who knew what.  But as his eyes connected with the building standing before him, he could feel the intimidation creeping into his chest.
    It wasn't that tall, and it wasn't that big.  But the dark, rotting wood of the outer walls combined with the teetering metal spikes stuck in the dirt surrounding the house left it to be formidable to say the least.
    The stairs creaked as the creature holding Jack walked towards the front set of double doors, nodding to the other creature who held the door open for it.  The two walked into the house and down a long hallway between two large sets of stairs leading to the second floor.  Another door was opened, this time much smaller, and the creature carrying Jack dipped beneath the doorframe and down a long set of twisting concrete stairs.
    If it was even possible, the air grew colder, and all light faded from the world with each passing step.  After what had felt like hours, Jack was finally set down in the pitch black room at the bottom of the stairs, shoved against the wall.
    "Try to make it speak again," the creature that was holding Jack said, turning to the other creature.
    "I can still feel that wall.  I haven't been able to read its thoughts this entire time."
    "Still try," the long haired creature encouraged.
    Jack felt cold fingertips touch his chin once again, and a fist knocked against a door in his mind.  He locked the door, biting his tongue once again.
    The creature growled, and this time grabbed Jack's chin with its full hand, twisting his head to the side.  It only lasted for a second before the other creature pulled away the hand and glared at the first with glowing crimson eyes.
    "It didn't work, now don't go and break its neck in frustration!"
    "It's worthless, why let it live?  I can't even see into its mind!"
    Jack had heard words, although much less harsh, similar to those in his own mind.  They rung true.  Worthless.
    "It's far from worthless.  Have you ever in your life not been able to use your power on something?"
    The creature wearing glasses thought for a moment.  "No...  But what does that change?"
    "This thing we've found, it's an anomaly then!  We need to study it, figure out why you can't break into its mind!  What if you found something else you needed to mind control that wouldn't let you in?  If you didn't understand it, you'd be killed pretty quickly."
    It was almost funny how childishly the second creature responded.  "But I'm hungry!" it whined.
    "You can wait.  This is far more important.  I'm going to go find some of those books in the library and look through them; I don't care if you join me as long as you don't mess with my new test subject."
    "Fine."
    The voices drifted away and up the stairs, and then Jack was alone.