Nothing Is as It Seems

“Where are you taking me?” I asked through tears as Zacky dragged me through the trees in the darkness. I couldn’t see a thing which made me wonder how he was managing. I knew I shouldn’t feel bad for Adam since he’s the one that put me in this situation, but I just couldn’t shake the image of him falling to the ground after being shot.

Add that to the fact that I was completely terrified of Zacky, and you could see why I was having a hard time coping with my current predicament. After five or ten more minutes of walking, well more like tripping over my feet and being dragged along behind Zacky, I could see light. I wasn’t sure if I was comforted by that or not. I was glad to be able to see my surroundings, but I was terrified to know what was going to happen to me.

We stepped out of a bunch of trees into a clearing in the middle of what I’m assuming was a large forest. There was a very badly rundown shack a few yards in front of us, down a narrow dirt path. Zacky pulled me onto the path and we continued on our way to the shack.

As Zacky opened the door, it wobbled dangerously. The hinges looked like they were barely strong enough to even hold it up anymore. From what I could see of the front room, the inside didn’t look much better. All I could imagine was how many snakes and other gross things could be living in the place.

Zacky led me through a couple of rooms and to the back of the small building before stopping and pressing a small button that blended in with the wall almost perfectly. A piece of the floor popped open, revealing a dimly lit staircase. Zacky pushed me in front of him and kept a hand on my back as he forced me to descend the stairs.

Once at the bottom, I could hear voices coming from somewhere nearby. It was dark again and I was trembling from the fear that was coursing through my body. There were others here, probably just as bad as Zacky, if not worse.

“Don’t worry, love. I’m not going to allow anyone to hurt you. You’ve got nothing to worry about,” Zacky whispered in my ear, making the trembling even worse.

He could try to comfort me all day long and it wouldn’t make a bit of difference. It was hard to take him seriously considering everything he had done so far. I wanted to go home and never see him again. There was definitely something wrong with him and I wanted to get away before something really bad happened.

He lightly kissed the side of my head and gave me a little push so I would continue walking in the direction of the voices.

Suddenly, a light was turned on and I could see my surroundings clearly. If I wasn’t so scared I would think it was pretty. The shack on the level above was obviously just a cover up. The floor had thick blood red carpet covering every inch of it and the walls were a deep gray color. I could see a polished wood staircase leading down to another floor over to the right of me. We were currently in a sort of foyer, but Zacky was steadily pushing me forward.

The next room I entered was a hallway with three very old looking wooden doors leading to the left and four leading to the right. A couple of them were opened enough for me to see inside. Through one of the doors was a very tidy bathroom with a black and white tile floor. Through the second open door, I could see a large bed with black blankets and a variety of blood red pillows that matched the carpet.

Zacky could see that I was studying every bit of the house that I could see so he rested his hand against the small of my back and pushed a little more forcefully than before.

“Come along, now. We can’t leave the others waiting for too much longer. They’re so excited to meet you,” Zacky said, smiling at me at me in what I assumed was supposed to be comforting. It wasn’t. Everything about Zacky made me want to run away as fast and as hard as I could. Not for the first time, I felt the urge to flee, but he had already proven that was pointless.

All too soon the hallway came to an end and we were very close to the voices now. There was a sharp corner to turn before the hallway opened up into a living room. This too had the blood red carpet and deep gray walls of the other rooms we had passed through. There was three black couches and a few chairs placed around the room. The room was dim, lit only by a few candles scattered around. I didn’t understand why they chose to use candles when the fact that there was electricity was apparent by the light bulbs.

However, there was enough light for me to see the four men seated in the room. There was one who looked as if he’d be a good two feet taller than me if he were standing. He had pale skin and black hair that matched perfectly with the black that clothed him from head to foot. The next wore a black fedora atop his head. His hair was a little on the shaggy side. The only color on him other that his skin was the red lettering than stood out from his black shirt. The third one scared me more than the others, even Zacky. I could tell by the muscles bulging through his shirt that he was very strong. I made a mental note not to cross him. He had on a jacket with the hood pulled up and aviators. He took them off to study me when I stepped into the room.

The last of the men held a certain fascination over me for a reason I couldn’t explain. He appeared to be shorter than all the others. His hair was cut into a Mohawk and I could count at least four different colors in it. I met his eyes and couldn’t look away. A smirk crept onto his lips for a second before he released my gaze and it disappeared. For some reason, I wanted to run to him. I told myself that I would try my hardest to be around him as much I could.

“As you know, I am Zacky Vengeance. These guys are The Reverend Tholomew Plague, Synyster Gates, M. Shadows, and Johnny Christ. These are not our real names, but our real names do not matter to anyone, not even you.”

I cowered away from the stares of the others. They were looking at me hungrily and it was freaking me out quite a lot. The worst part of it was when the tall one, The Reverend whatever, raised his eyebrows at me suggestively before licking his lips. I shivered, stepping back to hide behind Zacky. I didn’t want them to be able to look at me.

“Now, I need one of you to show the lady to her room and make sure no harm comes to her,” Zacky said, pointedly looking at the small group of men sitting before him.

I saw Johnny open his mouth to volunteer, but he was cut off by Synyster. I was instantly disappointed. I had hoped that it would be Johnny.

“Johnny, go alert the others of the girl’s arrival.”

“Of course,” Johnny said, bowing slightly before turning and walking out of the room.

“I have to leave again, but I assume you know what will happen to you if anything happens to her.”

If I were Synyster, I’d be shaking in fear at the look Zacky gave him. Instead, he just nodded before taking me by the arm and leading me out of the room. I didn’t know where he was taking me, but I was even more afraid than I had been before.