Hello there! I hope you like action, cause there is plenty of that in here. This chapter turned out alright, so I hope you enjoy! Have fun reading about these dead and traumatized kids!
My whole body felt like it was burning, but I got up. It was like my anger was fueling me. Lee Parker looked at me as if shocked that I could even stand, which was reasonable I guess.
Dirt and grime covered my clothes and body. The amount of scratches on my arms and legs were too many to count. Blood was still coming from my nose and forehead, but I didn’t care about any of that.
Nick was gone. It sounded impossible, but it really had happened. I had seen it. Still, a voice in the back of my head kept telling me he wasn’t dead. I thought it was just the denial talking, so I pushed it away and focused on the task at hand.
Killing Lee Parker.
“Where is she,” I asked him, venom practically dripping from my voice. He chuckled. “Does it matter? You’re not making it out of this room alive, you know that. You shall share the same fate as your dear departed friend.”
“Do you always speak like Shakespeare or are you just trying to be poetic?”
Parker grimaced. “Prepare to die, Mr. Quek.” Then he raised the sword again. I grabbed my own sword tightly and got ready to fight for my life.
This time I knew better than to attack and let my anger get the better of me, even if I was furious. I hung back, blocking the sword with my own. He was violent, his attacks messy. I could beat him, I thought, I just had to be careful.
Just when I thought that, he slammed me into the wall and I fell to the ground once again. At that moment I knew that fate was laughing at me. He swung down but I blocked. My arms felt sore. I was getting tired, but Lee Parker seemed fine. In fact, the more he fought the more energy he seemed to get.
I sweeped his legs out from under him and he collapsed onto the ground. We both sat there for a moment, catching our breath. Maybe I was wrong, he was tired too.
“You can’t win,” Parker said, starting to get up again. I did the same, even though my leg felt broken from hitting the wall. I shrugged it off for now.
“I don’t need to win,” I said, my voice hoarse. “I just need you to lose.”
Suddenly, I heard someone running towards us. No, not someone, multiple people. I turned to see two children standing in the doorway. At first I didn’t recognize them. Then they spoke.
“Hey old man,” Henry and Will yelled as one, their voices surprisingly loud and strong. “It’s over! You’ve already lost!” Lee Parker laughed at them. “More children, terrifying.”
“Henry, Will, run,” I said to them. Will glanced over at me as if to say “it’s alright.” I knew they wouldn’t listen, they were stubborn, more stubborn than the rest of us were. It was their greatest strength and their greatest weakness.
The two boys held up a catapult sort of thing. It was small enough that they could carry it, but it looked heavy. Lee Parker looked at it confused, as if he didn’t understand what it was.
The two boys looked at each other. Henry poured something in it. “3…2…1.” Then they pulled down a lever.
A ball that looked like a bowling ball came shooting at Lee Parker, but he dodged it (barely). Parker chuckled again. “Nice try kiddo’s,” he said, raising the Destroyer of Souls again and beginning to walk towards them.
“No,” I exclaimed. I ran towards Lee Parker and tried to tackle him. He turned to me, a scowl on his face. He swung at me, but I dodged before he could hit me. I reached for my own sword and stabbed at him.
I hit him in the leg. He fell to the ground in pain. He took out the sword and threw it across the room. I took some deep breaths. I knew it wasn’t over yet, but I had to celebrate this minor victory, even if it was just with breathing.
I turned to Will and Henry. “Nice weapon. Sorry it didn’t work,” I said to them. They both smiled smiles I thought only demons could smile (I can’t believe I used the word smile 3 times in one sentence).
“Oh, it didn’t fail,” Henry said, grinning ear to ear.
“You might want to get out of here,” Will said. They both led me out of the room, closing the door behind us. I looked in through the window on the door. And noticed something on the bowling ball. I noticed it wasn’t even a bowling ball at all.
There were glowing red numbers on it, counting down. ten…nine…eight…
The boys had made a bomb.
I looked at them in disbelief. “How-,” I began. They both shook their heads. “Don’t ask,” Henry said. I don’t know why, but that seemed like enough explanation for me at that moment.
Three...Two...
One.
The explosion was so bright for a few seconds you couldn’t see through the window. It almost blinded me, but I couldn’t bring myself to look away.
When it was over, I looked in through the window to see Parker collapsed on the ground, the Destroyer of Souls in his hand. I unlocked the door and went over to his body. Was he really dead? I gently kicked his leg. Nothing.
I turned to the boys, smiling. “You two are amazing, but I’m never letting you touch an explosive again.” I was about to walk towards them when a hand wrapped around my ankle. I turned in horror to see Lee Parker, still alive, just barely.
I jumped away and watched in fear as he stood up. “How,” was the only word I could spit out. He chuckled bitterly. “Death won’t let me die you idiot. Not with this,” he said, raising the Destroyer of Souls.
I put my arms out in front of the boys. I had no weapon, not anymore. But I couldn’t let him hurt the others.
He will not hurt them was the only thought running through my head at the time. I was terrified, sure, but if I was then these children were paralyzed with fear (which they were, even if they wouldn’t want to admit it).
I flinched and closed my eyes, preparing for him to swing at me, when he stopped moving towards us. I looked up and saw a person in front of us. It was Zack. Clearly none of them had listened to me about staying behind.
He had his hands out in front of him and was focusing on Parker, who couldn’t move. Like he was the one who was paralyzed and scared. “What-what is this,” he said, dropping the sword.
Zack relaxed a little, putting one hand down. “My quriken. You get one when you die. I died in a car crash, when my parents thought they saw an animal in front of the road. I can create illusions. And this one, it’s the illusion that you can’t move.”
Suddenly, Parker was in a chair, his hands tied to the armrests, his ankles tied to the legs. Zack smirked to himself. Parker fought against his bonds, but he couldn’t move. “This-this doesn’t make sense! Let me go,” he exclaimed, getting more desperate as the ties dug into his skin.
“You’re a monster, this is what happens to monsters,” Zack said.
“Good job Zack, but you can relax now,” a voice said, coming out of the shadows.
It was Nick.
He put his hand on Zack’s shoulder and Zack relaxed. The illusion of the chair disappeared, and Parker fell to the ground.
“Nick,” I said, eyes wide. I had seen him die. How was he alive? It didn’t make sense.
Nick turned to me. He gave me a sympathetic smile. “Sorry I faked my death Alex. But you have to understand I had too. If I hadn’t let Zack make me an illusion, Lee here would’ve destroyed you,” he said.
“You little jerk,” I said with a small smile. Nick shrugged. “That’s me. The little jerk.” I ran over to him and hugged him tightly. He hugged back just as tight.
When we let go we turned to Lee Parker. Zack had his hand up, ready to make some illusions if Parker thought about fighting again. Henry and Will had their catapult in their hands again. They had grabbed a bunch of rocks and put them in their weapon. The three of them were talking amongst each other, as if they were just some normal kids at recess and not kids with weapons threatening some guy who was probably hundreds of years old.
Nick’s smile faded the minute he turned to Parker. He walked over to him. “Get him up,” he ordered the boys, who grabbed his arms and lifted him up. Nick went behind Parker slowly.
“Please, we are not enemies, just let me live,” Parker rambled on. Nick put his scythe around Parker’s neck.
“Quiet,” he said. “I’m the dangerous one now. You are nothing without the Destroyer of Souls, are you? Just some man who has overstayed his welcome on Earth.”
Nick leaned towards Parker’s ear. “Where’s Jordan Pensie,” he asked, moving his scythe slightly closer to Parker’s throat.
“She’s in the next room,” he said, his hands up. Nick nodded. “Thanks for that information. Now, I don’t believe we need you anymore, do we Alex?” He turned to me.
I was gaping at the scene before me so much that I hadn’t even realized Nick had asked me a question before Zack nudged me in the ribs. “Oh, um, I don’t think so,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck, embarrassed.
Nick turned back to Parker. “Well then, see you in hell, Lee,” he said. Then he slit Parker’s throat, and he fell to the ground.
Lee Parker was dead. Really and truly dead, once and for all. I smiled and laughed. It felt liberating. He was gone. That monster would spend the rest of his days in the Place of the Broken, like he deserved.
I turned to the others, my smile fading. “Jordan,” I said. We all ran into the room next door, which was open. Inside, Jordan was untied already, but unconscious. She had been placed against the wall.
On the other side of the room was the Blackout Killer, who was fighting Cory and Lena. When I saw Lena, both me and Nick’s eyes brightened. Her body in the living world was dead. Lena had come back in her own body. She still was scary though, especially since she wasn’t smiling.
The Blackout Killer noticed us first. When he saw us he stopped fighting. Lena and Cory both stabbed him in the stomach. He looked down in shock and then collapsed to the ground. He moved his head slowly to us. “Is he,” he asked. I nodded. He smirked. “Good. He didn’t pay too well. Made me do all the dirty work. Worst employer I’ve ever had.” Then his whole body went limp.
Lena and Cory noticed us. We all stared at each other, as if we couldn’t believe what had happened. That we were all alright.
“We need to get Jordan to a hospital,” Cory finally said. Nick shook his head. “We can’t afford for people to ask questions. We have some good dead doctors, they can take care of her,” Nick said. Cory nodded, listening to Nick for the first time since she met him.
Henry ran over to her first, us all following suit. He knelt down next to her, wiping the blood from her face gingerly. A single tear fell down his cheek, which soon became him sobbing. Will gave him a one armed hug.
Lena turned to me and Nick. “So he’s dead,” she asked for confirmation. I nodded. “Nick killed him.” Lena looked at Nick, at first with shock, then she smiled.
“Good job, you idiot,” she said, putting her arm around his shoulders. He smiled back at her. “You too,” he said. “I mean you killed the Blackout Killer!”
Lena shrugged. “I had help,” she said, motioning to Cory, who was helping the boys lift Jordan up.
Nick looked at Cory and stuck his hand out. “Good job. I-I was wrong about you,” he said, muttering the last part.
Cory smirked. “What? I couldn’t hear you.”
Nick glared at her. “I was wrong,” he exclaimed. Cory smirked, as if happy with that response, and shook his hand. “Thanks. Now come on, this place gives me the creeps.”
We walked through the halls, looking like we had just been in a war. We were all bleeding and dirty, but we were alive, somehow.
The Reapers in the halls didn’t look much better. They had gotten hit pretty hard. When they saw us, they realized they could breathe again, that it was over. Any of Lee Parker’s people had either fled or died. I didn’t care which. They were gone, and we had succeeded.
We had actually succeeded.
They actually won! Can you believe it? Look, they may be traumatized, but they're not dead (or destroyed), so I consider that a win for them. Also, only two more chapters left (somehow)! How is that possible?
So, how do you feel about Nick killing Lee Parker? You surprised or not?
Are you surprised he's not dead (did it seem like he really was)? Honestly, even before I liked Nick I had planned for this to happen, but now that I do like him I'm so glad I did. What do you think?