The Nemesis Syndrome

20. Leo

When Leo woke, his chest throbbed and his muscles screamed in pain. He was still being dragged, but the bright lights blinded him and his head pounded, forcing his eyes shut once more.

Foreign anger flooded through him and his heart spiked. Eliza, Leo thought as he pushed his eyes open and forced his legs to work against their will. The rage slowly dissolved away, but Leo was thankful for it. It had cleared his mind, allowed him to focus through the pain.

And then, some other emotion, not his own. Bubbling under his skin and simmering slowly: worry. It was a crease in her eyebrows, a soft hand outstretched as if to steady him. Leo groaned as his legs tripped over each other, the hands dragging him pulling him up without care.

Why was Eliza caring? Leo had probably damned another man to death. He was the reason people were in danger, why they died. Even if it was unintentional.

The worry still simmered, still coating his stuttering heart and limp limbs. So Leo reached out, I'm okay, he wanted to say, I'm going to be alright.

He didn't believe it entirely, he was scared of why they would do to him, to Eliza, to the other man. He was terrified of dying, but wouldn't that be a mercy, be a kindness compared to what they had already done? But he couldn't die, he and Eliza were far too important for them to die. At least they had some more time. They were going to be okay, long enough for Leo to be able to think of something to help them.

They continued dragging him as if he weighed next to nothing and some part of him was offended. All that training from his father and it made no difference. He was nothing compared to these guards.

"Where are you taking me?" He grunted as he stumbled over his feet, the corridor unfamiliar to him, but then again, the entire facility was. Sector B, the woman had said. What was in Sector B? Was this it? Rows upon rows of doors, number plates on them and nothing else.

"Where are we?" Leo raised his voice.

"Shut up, boy, we are not required to answer you." The guard to his right answered gruffly.

"What have you done to Eliza," the thought struck him. He had left her all alone, they could be doing anything to her, "Where is she?"

"I told you, I can't answer." His voice raised.

"WHERE IS SHE?" Leo struggled out of their grasp, "ANSWER ME!"

They tightened their grip, and Leo continued fighting, one of them would crack eventually.

Suddenly, Leo was thrown into the wall face first, arm twisted behind him roughly as they pushed his chest into the cold concrete.

"Shut. Up."

Leo quietened, turning his cheek so it pressed against the cool wall, "Where is she?"

He paused, and there was the small crackle of electricity before it died, "Your soulmate is safer than you are."

Leo felt his heart stop.

Then he was tugged from the wall and his hands were kept locked behind him as he was pushed to walk before he was thrown into a room.

It was smaller than the last, but the light was brighter. It just meant that they could see him better.

Leo stumbled but caught his footing. He turned to them warily, "What's going to happen to me?"