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Grand System Vending
Chapter 20: Abandoned

Chapter 20: Abandoned

Abandoned

Kiera was led from the cage roughly and dragged to a table where the man attempted to force her to lie down. She equipped a weapon from her inventory and tried to turn to attack him, but the man was so strong. He grabbed the gun and ripped it from her hands. It discharged in the process, ricocheting off the stone walls. He struck her in the face with it, sending her sprawling to the ground.

The taste of iron washed across her tongue, and she spit the blood from her busted lip to the floor. Staring up at him with hatred in her eyes, she remained defiant.

"They wouldn't leave me. They're my friends. My family!" Kiera growled at the man.

"If you say so. I only need one person here, and they all took the chance at freedom. Something about the greater good, needing to save the many." The man said, a wicked smile on his face. "Now, be a good girl and get on the table."

"Fuck you," Kiera spit at the man, droplets of blood spattering on his face.

"Fine, have it your way," the man said as he grabbed her wrist and wrenched it around until she stood out of instinct to make the pain stop.

His other hand grabbed her by the throat, and he choke slammed her onto her back on the table. Kiera groaned and then coughed as the wind was knocked out of her. He slapped her across the face with his hand and pulled her hands up to manacles at the top of the table.

Kiera tried to resist, but her strength wasn't even close to a match for the hooded figure. Her mind began to revert to the lizard brain that does anything it can think of to escape, and she began to flail her legs around to try to wrench her body free.

When her hands had been secured, he moved to her feet. She kicked out with all her might and managed to get a shot to the face. Blood began to run down from his nose and the man growled in anger at her. Moving to the side of the table he punched her in the side of the head.

She began to see stars and felt dizzy from the blow. Her body not responding as it had before and she let out a soft moan of pain as she lay there trying to get her bearings. He secured her feet to the table as well and turned a crank on the side of the table to lean it into a more upright position.

Grabbing a bucket from the floor, the man tossed the water inside onto her face. It was frigid. She gasped immediately as her senses rushed back to her at the cold sensation.

"There we are. Finally, alone. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." The man said as he pulled up a chair and sat down, crossing one leg over the other as he stared at her. "Not like everyone else in your life."

Spitting out water that still ran into her mouth, Kiera growled at the man," They didn't abandon me."

"Oh, I'm sure it feels like that. They treated you well enough. But were you really part of the team? I mean, you weren't one of the guys. They tried to treat you that way, but it couldn't ever be the same."

"It's not like that. It's not about being one of the guys. It's about family." Kiera said.

"Really? Calling you names, talking about how you needed to keep up, seeing that you became the favorite of their familiars. Seems that way to me. Leave the woman to do the woman's job." The figure said.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Kiera asked him.

"Oh, forgive me. I forgot to introduce myself. You can call me, The Master." The man said as he pulled back his hood, revealing an all too familiar face with glasses.

Kiera stared in shock at the man who stood before her.

"But....you're dead," Kiera blanched as she whispered the words out.

"Am I? I don't feel dead." The Master replied.

"No....no, no, no, no, no! This can't be happening!" Kiera's voice began to rise in volume as fear gripped her heart.

"Oh, but it is. And as I said, they have abandoned you. Don't worry though. I'll never leave you. you are part of my flock now. Your real family." The Master said as he grinned at her and pushed his glasses up on his nose.

"Never! I'll never be part of your cult!" Kiera spat the words out as a rage began to build inside her.

"Oh, you will. Because it will finally be somewhere you can belong. You've been left out your entire life, haven't you, Kiera?" The Master uncrossed his legs and leaned forward putting his elbows on his knees and resting his chin on his hands. "Mother wasn't ever home, working her night job and drinking the day away. Daddy wanted a boy, so you weren't good enough for him."

Kiera's eyes went wide at the knowledge The Master appeared to have.

"You tried. Asked to go fishing, helped him work on the car, even tossed the ball around outside. But you could see it in his eyes." The Master continued.

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"NO!" Kiera yelled at him, pulling hard against her restraints.

"But it's true, isn't it? You know that look all too well. Kids at school thinking you're the weird girl who likes boy stuff. No one even asked you to the prom because they thought you liked girls. Oh, wait...that's not quite right, is it?" The Master asked.

"Don't..." Kiera tried to protest.

"Bobby Jenkins, the class outcast. He didn't even shower regularly. But he asked you, didn't he?" The Master's grin widened at Kiera's mixture of emotions.

"You turned him down because you'd rather be alone than be seen with him. He killed himself, didn't he? When he realized even you didn't want to go with him?" The Master prodded deeper.

"You shut your fucking mouth! You don't even know what you're talking about!" Kiera screamed at him.

"But I do! I know every detail, Kiera. And I understand. I understand that the feeling of loneliness was so terrible that you found yourself experimenting with drugs. You managed to find a group who accepted you for a time because you could sing. But they were just using you weren't they?" He continued, digging and digging at her until tears began to run down her face.

"Stop! Just stop! My friends will come. They have to." Kiera began to sob as she was strapped to the table.

"But why? They have other people to watch out for. A guild to run. They can't stop and save everyone. Think of the people they left. Those who died because they had to choose the greater good. Do you think you're the greater good?" The Master asked her.

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Kiera screamed at him. "You don't know what you're talking about. You go around enslaving people. Taking their will away. What? Are you so lonely that you have to force people to love you?"

"Something like that. But the difference between you and I is that I accept that about myself. People will always be around me because I'm willing to make them be. I'll never be alone again." The Master leaned back in his chair again and looked at her.

Kiera couldn't do anything but glare at the man. She knew he was wrong, but everything came flooding back at once. All the pain, the hurt, the feelings of inadequacy, the years of hurt and abuse.

"You're seeing it, aren't you? Even those you thought accepted you because you had music in common and drugs, were just using you for your voice and to score more drugs." The Master continued when Kiera remained quiet. "You managed to get clean when your father found you in that alley nearly overdosed. He brought you home and sent you to that rehab. You met people there who claimed to know what you went through, but they didn't.

They were just doctors and psychologists who were studying you. Sure, they treated you, and helped you get better, but then what? Not even a letter in the mail to ask how you were. Not that you had an address for them to send the letter to. Those women's shelters don't normally get mail too well." The Master continued before pausing to stand.

He began to pace the room as he thought. He was silent for a long moment before he continued.

"That's why Vanguard was so different. You had your usual hard exterior up when you met them. You wanted to join because you knew they had something different. Something that might help you survive. Because survival was all you had left." The Master moved closer to her at the mention of the guild.

His breath smelled of rotten flesh, as though he had never brushed his teeth. They were yellow and stained. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it, taking a long drag before blowing the smoke into her face.

"But even with the 'inclusion' they never treated you the same. Ordered you to do what you were good at and nothing more." The Master said making air quotes with his hands at the word inclusion before putting the cigarette back in his mouth.

"They used you just like everyone else," The Master said out of the side of his mouth. "And now, here we are. You're still holding onto that last thread of hope that your new friends will come to rescue you when I gave them an out. They don't care about you. Only about survival. Which you can hardly blame them for, right?"

"You're wrong. They're different. I've never met anyone like them before." Kiera said, remembering all the times they had fought for each other. The time Seth jumped in front of an attack for her.

"You're thinking about Seth, aren't you? How someone like that would die for you. He didn't care either. Boy was foolhardy and eager to be a hero. Remember how he played with that goblin? Almost got James killed." The Master reminded her. "He was desperate for approval as well."

Kiera stared at the man with open-faced shock. Tears ran down her face unchecked as she couldn't understand how he could know what she was thinking.

"Now you wonder how I know what you're thinking," The Master's smile turned manic as he felt his hold on her growing. "Remember my powers are psychic in nature. But with you, it's just so easy!"

"No, why would they do that? They made me a part of the team. They include me. We are a family now." Kiera sobbed as she stared into his eyes, horror beginning to fill her mind and heart.

That all too familiar feeling of being betrayed again washed over her.

"Yes! You see it now, don't you? You were used once again. Like a rag for drying the towel. No, that's not quite right. Like a paper towel. You help clean up their mess and they toss you aside with the garbage. A tool to be used when the job is right."

"But....But they said..." Kiera couldn't hold it back anymore and began to cry uncontrollably.

"They said what they needed to in order to gain your trust. At the first sign of an out, they took it and ran. You aren't worth saving if they need to protect the guild. The precious guild is all that matters." The Master said as he lowered his head to be in her face again as her head hung in her chest.

Kiera's heart broke in that moment. She let her old friend in and felt the embrace of being alone.

"I'll leave you for now. We'll pick up where we left off tomorrow. Enjoy your time here. And remember, I'm all you have left now." The Master said as he put the chair back against the wall and opened the door out of the room.

It closed softly behind him, and Kiera continued to cry into her chest. The tears flowed freely as she tried to cope with what was really happening. How could they do this to her?