Milo took the door knob and swung it open. A rush of fresh air flooded the room. His son began to run out but David grabbed him by the collar and yanked him back in before he got far out.
“What the—”
“We need to see if they’re out there,” he whispered.
David peeked his head out a few inches and immediately saw the police cars that stretched up and down the street. The sirens of incoming fire engines echoed in the distance and the sounds of shouting cops was barely audible over the roar of the flames spreading on the roof.
There were police stepping onto his yard and walking, albeit disorganized, towards his home. It wasn’t possible to get out without being seen, especially with the two of them.
Two of them...
David looked back at his son who stood stoically by the door and waited for his next order. One of them could go to the Yang’s house and hang out long enough to get away. Two of them would be hard. One would work better. If they caught Milo, then the heat would be off him. David could escape that way.
He looked back at his son and gestured him over.
“It’s clear,” he said. “You go.”
Irene had the key in her pocket at all times. No one else cared about these people like she did. They could all starve and die down there and David wouldn’t blink. He’d just go get six more.
She moved through the hallways towards their room. The bottom floor was scattered with bits of ceiling and dust and charred wood that swirled around her as she trudged on to them. As she got closer she heard the screams and shouts and her stomach fell.
They were terrified. Still alive but terrified.
Shrill and unhinged voices screamed for help as they banged helplessly on the door.
Irene ran the last fifty feet to the door with the keys jangling in her pocket.
“I’m here!” she screamed. “I’m letting you out!”
Her hands shook as she struggled to get the correct key out and into the lock. She’d done this exact motion hundreds of times but this time her hands couldn’t do what her brain so desperately wanted her to get done. “C’mon!” she said through gritted teeth as her sweaty palms jabbed the key into the lock. She grabbed the base with both hands and turned the key until the door clicked open.
Irene swung it open and was greeted with the face of the man from the backyard. “You...” she said. “You’re alive.”
He nodded. “Yup. Barely.”
She gazed in on the others. Simon was on his feet, as was Benjamin, and Marie had Dennis in her arms. “Marie, can Dennis...?”
Marie shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s very weak.”
She had to make a quick decision. David had told her about his self-destruct system but she never thought he’d actually use it. It was designed to demolish the building in less than fifteen minutes through systematic explosions. She didn’t know the logistics of it but the process had already begun and time was running out. Choices needed to be made.
“Simon. Benjamin. Grab him. We need to move.”
The two did as they were told. Marie released him and the pair grabbed either shoulder and hoisted him to his feet. She couldn’t hold back the shock she felt at the sight of his face. His color had faded to a bleached white and his body flopped and fell like an unmanned marionette.
She motioned for the others to follow. The route up to the front of the house was purposely meandering as to prevent any quick escapes. However, there were a few shortcuts for her behalf that would cut their exit time down. She hoped that there would be enough time.
“You know there’re cops everywhere,” the man said as they ran.
“I know,” she said. “They’ll understand.”
The man shook his head. “You think they will? They’ll understand this?”
“Of course,” Irene said.
The man motioned back to the five behind him. They limped down the hallway twenty feet back. “They’re on the news. Those people are criminals. I’m pretty sure you did something. They’re not just getting away with this.”
“No,” she said. “David will pay. They’ll arrest him.”
The man opened his mouth to speak again but her expression must have shut him up. David would take the blame. He led people against their will. Those five people did nothing under their own free will. They were helpless pawns in a game of sadistic chess and she was taken along for the ride. “Where next?” he said.
They hit the end of the hall and went up the short flight of stairs that led to the first floor. She touched the door leading to the kitchen and had to immediately pull it back. It was hot, too hot to go through. “We can’t go this way.”
Simon’s face fell. “Why not?”
“The door is hot. The kitchen’s got to be up in smoke. There’s another way.”
“And what if that one doesn’t work,” he said.
That was it. There were two ways out. “We’ll figure something out.”
Simon dropped Dennis’ side and stomped over to the door. “Bullshit. I’m not letting you do this to us.”
She went to pull him back but he was too fast. Simon put his whole hand on the doorknob and pulled it without flinching. She was sure he’d burnt his palm but the door was open and he hadn’t been engulfed in flames.
“It’s fine,” he said. “We can go through this.”
Once they got to the kitchen, they could go out the back door. It was a quick walk from the basement door to the backyard. “Get Dennis,” she said. Simon ran back down to his fallen friend’s side and lifted him up.
Irene walked up the stairs and peered out at what the boy had seen. The kitchen had not been touched yet but she could see that the foyer was crackling with flames that went up the front door and had eaten away the curtains. There wasn’t time to waste.
She put out her hand for Marie to grab. She motioned at the man with them to join her in the front. “Take him and get out of here,” she said.
Marie pointed at the trio next to her. “What about--”
“Marie,” she snapped, “now!”
The woman, still in her tight black dress and heels bounded up the stairs and into the kitchen. Irene scuttled down the stairs to make room for the three of them to get Dennis to the first floor. They took each step with a slow labored pace with Dennis’ feet trailing behind him and scraping against the concrete.
Simon grunted as they got up the last step and nearly collapsed onto the kitchen floor. Irene bounded up behind them. The heat of the room was suffocating and with the smoke that was quickly coating them it was hard to make out where everyone stood.
“Marie!”
“Yes?”
Irene reached out to where the voice came from. She caught the edge of her wrist and grabbed tight. “You have to go this way,” she said as she maneuvered her arm over towards the door. “Go out to the yard and just run. Get away from here.”
“Where?” she said.
“The door, Marie. And just get far away. Tell them all to get far away.”
The police could be crushed if the house collapsed. She couldn’t live with herself if another innocent was hurt because of David. Marie and the new man nodded and turned towards the door. It took them a few pulls but it opened. “I’ll tell them,” the man said. “And they can help.”
“Go!” Irene shouted.
And just like that they were gone. She’d been able to save two. Now the boys.
“Simon, Benjamin, get over here.” The two of them dragged Dennis over to the door.
“What about you?” Benjamin asked.
She waved them away. “I’ll be fine. He needs help. Find the police or whoever. They need to help him.”
Just as they took the first step to escape, the floor under them shook. For a brief second there was peace and then in a deafening boom the floor of the foyer cracked and fell from view and into the basement.
“Shit,” she said as the debris from the foyer exploded into the kitchen. A wave of wood chips and dust pound
ed her in the face. A crush of burning air knocked her to the ground with the men behind her being shoved against the wall.
The bits of charred furniture and paint filled her lungs. Each breath was harder and harder to take in. This was it. They were so close and this would be the end.
Kyle ran out with Marie. They made it all of fifteen feet out of the door before there was a guttural rumbling and the surreal sound of a thousand pieces of wood all snapping simultaneously.
“Oh my god,” Marie said as the windows near her head smashed and exploded all around them.
He grabbed her by the shoulder and shoved them both to the ground. The glass burst all around them and showered their backs in sharp little daggers. She tried to get up but he held her down with every bit of his strength.
“They’re still in there,” she cried.
“I know,” he said with his voice muffled by the ground, “but we have to help them from out here.”
She breathed in short shallow breaths. All he could do was keep her calm. There was no telling if they were even still alive in there.
When the air around them quieted and the blasts ceased, he slowly rose to his knees. The back of his neck stung and he could feel the beads of blood that dripped down his back. But he was alive.
“Let’s go,” he said as he put out his hand to help her up.
She looked up with her face covered in tears. He grabbed his shaking hand and pulled her to her feet. “Okay,” she said.
Kyle held her hand as they walked around the side of the house. The entire front of the house had collapsed. All that was left was a tired frame and wisps of smoke that poked out from small pockets of the house that were still erect. From behind the frame he could see the fleet of police cars that sat silent on the street. Firefighters pushed past the stone-faced cops with equipment on their backs towards the simmering structure.
He walked towards the police and was greeted with confusion and anger. The first few uniformed men hardly batted an eye at them but as the information began to click in their minds, they shifted from apathy to action.
A young man put his hand on his weapon and motioned over to his colleagues. “Stop!” he shouted. “Stay where you are.”
Marie pointed at the house and kept walking even though he was desperately trying to keep her held back. “They’re still in there,” she said.
The cops didn’t listen. They all had their hands ready to pull out on their guns. “Marie,” he whispered, “put your hands up.”
The two of them stood against the backdrop of the smoking building with their hands in the air. The policemen stepped towards them in guarded strides. Then, behind the row of navy uniforms, a woman in a pink shirt streaked towards them.
“Kyle!” she screamed.
He had never been more grateful to hear her voice. “Hannah?” he shouted back.
“Keep your hands up!” a policeman shouted.
“Hannah!” he shouted. “They’re still in there!”
She stopped short and looked at the policemen who were ready to pull their weapons. “Did you hear him?”
They motioned for her to stop talking.
“Excuse me?” she shouted. “There are people trapped inside.”
A pair of policemen came up to them and patted their sides. When it was clear they were not armed, the crew immediately appeared more receptive. “Where are they?”
Kyle pointed behind him at the kitchen which was still intact but bursting at the seams with billowing smoke. The cops motioned back towards the firemen who waited impatiently to move in. They marched towards the house.
He wanted to run towards Hannah and hold her but something caught his eye. A small figure crawled out from the back of the house and began to scale the fence that separated the burning house and a small ranch house next door.
“Hey!” he screamed.
The blonde boy turned and they locked eyes. It was that kid they took out of the basement. He was trying to escape. By the time he explained it all to the police, the boy would be two blocks away. Kyle sprinted away from Marie and towards the fence.
He was stronger and bigger than this teenager. There was no contest. In a matter of seconds he’d already caught up with the kid who struggled to gain a foothold in the slick wooden fence. Kyle grabbed the boy’s scuffed sneaker and pulled as hard as he could. The boy held the top of the fence as hard as he could but Kyle was stronger.
Milo slipped immediately and fell to the ground straight on his back. “What the fuck, man?” he said as he tried to get up. Kyle stepped on his chest and applied enough pressure to make him squeal.
“Shut up,” he said.
Milo went to swat him away but he was scrawny and stupid. “Stop,” he whined.
“Where’s the guy? They told me there’s a guy behind all of this?”
The kid averted his eye so Kyle pressed harder. It wouldn’t take much to crack a few ribs. “Where is he?” Kyle asked.
The cops were coming and the boy knew it was over. “He’s still inside,” he said. “He’s still in there.”
Simon woke up first. He’d fallen through the floor and landed on his arm. It was broken and he could hardly move. As he tried to sit up he saw another body on the ground covered in bits of wood and debris. It groaned and wriggled towards the open door.
On their walk to the kitchen, Irene had told them everything. David was the man behind it all. The goddamn man from the stupid kid’s show. How could that guy be behind all of this? It was hard to believe, but it was easier when he saw that familiar profile five feet away.
Simon found a long shard that had come from the window and palmed it. He slid against the floor and tried to match the man’s moves as to not attract attention. For every inch David went, Simon went two. He had almost caught up by the time David reached the wall.
He could do it.
He had to do it.
Simon got up on his knees and then to his feet. As his arm reached back, David spun around. He kicked out his leg and swiped it across the floor. Simon fell to the ground.
“You think I didn’t see you?” David said.
Simon grimaced as he tried to get back up.
“I’m getting out of here. Just give it up.”
He still had the glass. It wasn’t over yet. “No,” he said through gritted teeth.
David laughed. “Adorable. You have no idea what you’re up against. You think they’ll take you in with open arms? You’re going to jail. You’re all going to jail.”
Simon lunged at him but David was faster. He twisted Simon’s arm and pinned him to the ground. “Do you want another charge against you?” he said.
It was all talk. Edwin had done this day after day. No more.
Simon pulled back his leg and kicked David in the stomach and sent him rolling on the floor. “That’s not the point, David.”
Simon was gone.
Benjamin was gone.
Irene woke up to see Dennis miraculously kept up on the first floor by a long beam that ran the length of the room. The floor had given out through half the room and her own arm dangled between floors.
Her lungs burned as she took a breath and her mind was hazy. But all she knew was that they had to leave. No one had come to rescue them and it didn’t look like they ever would. There was commotion outside, loud screaming by that man and Marie.
It was up to her.
She crawled across the floor and scooted herself towards the beam that Dennis lay on. She reached her arm out for him but he was too far away and she wasn’t strong enough to carry him across the foot-wide gap. The only way to him was to crawl across the beam herself.
Her ankle was certainly broken and each inch forward set off explosions across her body. “Dennis,” she said, “I’m coming.”
Irene rounded the corner as the beam began to groan under the pressure. She got to the end and stretched her arm out and got the very edge of his collar. With just a bit of him in her hand, she moved closer and onto the beam. It c
reaked under her body weight and she could hear the fibers cracking under the new mass.
With the extra foot closer, she was able to get both hands under his arms and pull him down the beam. “C’mon,” she muttered, “just a little bit farther.”
Pull after pull, she maneuvered down the wood and onto the remaining floor. As his feet left the last bits of the beam, the middle cracked nearly in half. He would have fallen to the basement, fifteen feet down. It would have killed him.
Dennis was unconscious and barely breathing. She wiped away the bits of debris that were stuck in his hair and his eyelids. “Dennis?” she said as she held him in her lap. “Can you hear me?”
He groaned but stayed flopped against her body.
“I’m going to move you,” she said. “I’m getting us out of here.”
The door was only five feet away but she could feel the bits of floor that remained were creaking under their weight. Irene rose to her feet and bit her tongue to keep from screaming in pain from her surely broken ankle. With her hands still wrapped under his arms, she dragged him like a sack of flour across the chewed up hardwood. He grimaced and moaned as he bounced over burnt two-by-fours.
As she got to the door, she heard them coming. They stomped against the grass and their equipment bounced against their backs. Irene still kept pulling. With her last ounce of strength, Dennis’ body fell over the door jam and onto the lawn.
“Ma’am?” a fireman asked as she fell to the ground.
The world took on a hazy blur as they grabbed her body and shoved an oxygen mask over her mouth.
A man with kind eyes and a sweet smile patted her back. “You’re going to be okay,” he said. “You’re safe now.”
She was safe. She was free now.
And she was safe.
Simon hovered over David’s body with the glass held tightly in his fist. The man pushed back with his fingers digging into Simon’s face in a haphazard way. One nail dug into the skin next to his eye and threatened to blind him if it moved just an inch over.
The Six: Complete Series Page 28
