Accessory Wars

Chapter 67-Ki

            Can you pace when you're nothing but a floating state of consciousness? Pacing may not have been quite the right word but what else do you call floating back and forth? I could not sit still. Where was I? Where was Jay? Were we even in the stadium anymore? I wanted whoever had me to let me go but, last I checked, bad guys don't release kidnapped people without a reason to. My only sense of the outside world was the occasional brush of Felisa's synergy. Although, by the fourth or fifth time it happened I started to think it was my hallucinations toying with me.

Come on! Somebody let me go! I was going to rip my eyes out if I didn't get some answers soon. I jolted as I felt the presence of someone else and called out to them with my consciousness. Please let it be an Elicit. Or at least someone who knows one. My prayers were answered as I appeared in the real world, wobbling as my feet landed on uneven flooring.

"Whoa!" My rescuer caught my wrist and steadied me. "Are you okay?" I looked up at the blonde guy, who had nowhere near as pretty eyes as Jay, and breathed a thanks. "I watched some people set you here. Are there others with you?"

"Jay," I blurted out. "My friend. I think he's hurt." I noticed we were standing behind a concessions stand of some old theater. It smelled like old, fake butter flavoring. Ew. I looked back to the other guy. "Who are you anyway?"

"I'm Zackary. They brought me here too and I have no idea what's going on. There are others but they were taken somewhere else," he explained. I noticed he looked sort of disheveled and he reeked of sweat. I also noted he kind of smelled like perfume, which was weird. Floral deodorant user maybe? I wasn't going to judge. "We should try to find your friend and get out of here before the Elicits come back."

No arguments there. I went to leave and he caught my wrist.

"We should work together. You know, as a team. In case we have to fight," Zackary brought up. Trusting a total stranger with my Accessory? No thank you.

"No thanks," I replied, pulling my wrist free. I slipped out from behind the counter and he followed.

Zackary moved towards the front doors a few steps before he realized I was going in the opposite direction. Why was I going further into the theater? Jay of course. If I was here, the odds of him being held somewhere nearby were high. At least, that's what I told myself. We wouldn't have been able to leave by the front doors anyway. Several equipped Elicits stood guard both inside and out.

We kept to the darkest parts of the hall and ducked into side viewing boxes whenever an Elicit patrolled to close. For those of you who aren't versed in the world of theater, they used to make privet "box" rooms on the sides of theaters for the richer folks. You've probably seen them as little balconies on upper floors or walled off sections on lower floors. We were hopping between the ones on the lower floor, which allowed us to peer at the rest of the theater behind cover. Not that it helped our situation. Two equipped Elicits patrolled the rows of seats. I'm no expert on hostage situations, despite being kidnapped two and a half times now, but if they had guards in the theater, then they must have been guarding something.

I hoped that something was Jay.

I lost track of how many equipped Elicits were present by the time we reached the side box closest to the stage. Why did they need so many to guard a handful of people? Unless they were kidnapping tournament fighters, which seemed unlikely. Tournament fighters would not give up without a fight.

Speaking of fighting, cue the sound of fighting! It sounded like it was outside the building. I prayed it was the ERT.

"This is getting insane! We need to get out while we can," Zackary whimpered. I shot him a glare.