Hi everyone. God, I’m so tired. But this will truly be our last update. I can sleep once I finish this.
I’m sorry about Sophie’s bitch rant. I’m alive, as you can tell. I know I can’t prove it, but hopefully the details I include will be able to.
I’ll just start.
As I approached the church, I raised my hands in a gesture of surrender. That made my shoulder hurt, and I flinched. The two guards standing just inside the glass doors jogged out. They grabbed me roughly, and I let them set handcuffs behind my back.
I was quickly rushed me inside the church and out of view. They frisked me, taking David's hard drive from my hands, Zander's phone, and my sling. The confiscated items were set on a table. On the table, there was a pistol and two knives. Zander's things, I guessed.
Then the world went black as they slipped a hood over my eyes. I was carried to a car and driven for a long time.
When we stopped, they removed the hood, and I was blinded by the moon. It had been light when I'd gone to the church, so it had been a while.
I took slow, shuffling steps towards the farm I found myself at. There were three structures: a farmhouse to my right, a large tractor shed to my left, and three silos a little ways off. The driveway was made of compacted dirt and led to the farmhouse.
One of the guards drove away in the van. The other guard lightly pushed me to walk faster. We approached the front door of the two-story home. It looked old, but well kept. The grass was trimmed and weeds hadn't infected the spare spaces.
The guard opened the door for me, and I walked inside.
The interior was dim. The front door opened into a hallway that led down to a larger space at the end. Bedrooms branched off from the main hallway, and a staircase led to the second floor.
There were muffled cries and whimpers from some of the bedrooms.
I tried to close my ears and ignore them. The terror that was making my throat close up.
I was guided down the hallway until I got to the larger room, which combined a kitchen, living room, and dining room all in one. There was a door to my left, which they opened. It led to stairs.
The guard grabbed a paper bag off a countertop.
We descended the ancient wood steps and came to a second door. The guard had me turn around, and he undid my cuffs. Then, the guard knocked. Scuffling could be heard from the other side. I started to tremble.
He unlocked no fewer than six locks and bolts. The door was opened, and light spilled into the room. Seven teenagers all cowered in a far corner, covering their eyes from the light.
I was pushed down the last two steps into the freezing basement. The guard tapped my shoulder, and I turned around. He shoved the paper bag into my hands, then shut the door. All six locks clicked.
The basement was pitch black. Only a sliver of light illuminated the room coming from underneath the door.
Hesitant, I opened the plastic bag and felt around inside. A water bottle, a sandwich, a bag of chips, a fruit-by-the-foot. A meal?
I expected torture. I expected to be beaten. I expected to die tonight. Now they were feeding me. What the hell?
The other teenagers in the room were still tense. I could feel it in the air.
"Hello," I said cautiously. "My name is Clark."
No response. I didn't expect one. Zander said they tortured people, and these kids were likely no exception.
I started to offer my food to them, but was cut off when someone tackled me out of the black. I slammed onto the cold concrete and the bag was yanked out of my hands. They began fighting over the bag.
I dragged myself away across the floor until I came to a wall. I could hear the paper ripping and plastic getting torn open. The sliver of light gave me some view of their struggle.
The chip bag was split open, and chips scattered across the floor. They all dove as one, snatching as many pieces as they could and stuffing their mouths. They groaned and whined with pleasure.
Once the food was gone, someone broke open the water bottle. They all slurped and yanked the bottle from one person to another. When the dripping water stopped, they tore open the plastic and licked the insides dry.
I held my breath, hoping they’d ignore me.
Then a match was struck. One of the boys who looked 14 held the match over a candle in his hands and lit it. Four others did the same. They watched me with dark eyes.
The new light illuminated the room. The room was about 30 feet by 30 feet and bare except for one corner. It had a pile of blankets, pillows, a plastic bat and ball, and a few more candlesticks. They’d all been stashed in the corner that couldn’t be seen from the doorway without entering the room.
The rest of the basement was made of slick concrete. There were two windows, both on the wall to the left of the stairs. Both had an steel plate covering them.
The first boy caught my attention. He stepped forward, gripping his candle.
“Who are you?” He asked in a low voice.
“I’m Clark,” I repeated. “Zander’s friend.”
They all looked confused.
"Who's Zander?"
Okay, so these kids were completely in the dark, both figuratively and literally. I paused, trying to think of a good way to explain everything to them.
“You come down here with food, but don’t fight for it. You’re clearly not starving or injured. Who are you?” The boy said.
“Do you know David King?” I asked. He shook his head.
“Sophie Atrikson?”
“Yeah, we know Sophie!” A younger boy called out. Everyone glared at him.
“Shut it,” the 14 year old boy growled. “Yes, we know Sophie,” he said suspiciously to me.
“That’s who I’m here for. She took my mother.”
The kids stared at me in silence.
“What?” I asked.
“Sophie wouldn’t do that,” a young girl piped up. “Sophie’s nice!”
“What?” I said.
“Stop talking to him!” The 14 year old yelled over his shoulder.
“What’s your problem?” I said sharply, standing up. The boy stepped back. I was significantly taller than him.
“I’m the leader. We can’t trust you. The others could have sent you here for information. You can stay there against the wall, but if you come towards us, we will fight back.”
I felt my mouth drop open. Sophie Bitch Queen Atrikson. I couldn’t wait to get my hands around her neck.
The teenagers retreated, talking in whispers amongst themselves. I began to take deep breaths. I had an unknown amount of time to break out of here before they would come back for me and start acting on whatever Sophie had in mind.
I walked over to the window nearest me on the wall opposite the door. The teenagers all froze when I walked away from the wall.
“Hey!” The boy shouted. “Stay against that wall!”
“I’m looking for a way out!” I shouted back. “Give me one of your candles! I’m not going to hurt you! I’m here to kill Sophie and get you all out!”
The boy picked up the plastic bat, and I laughed. The thing would probably bend if he tried to hit me with it.
The boy had given his candle to a girl his age and was walking quickly towards me, bat in hand.
“Is this how you proved that you’re the leader?” I taunted, getting ready to fight. “By beating down anyone who disagreed?”
He was close enough to swing now. I rushed him, grabbing one of his wrists and twisting. The bat fell to the floor, and I twisted the kid into a headlock. His fingernails came up and scratched my cheek. I released his neck and pushed him across the floor. He stumbled to the concrete, but caught himself.
The boy was just about to turn and run at me again when the locks started to click on the door. All the kids instantly flocked together against the same corner. I backed away instinctively, watching the door.
It opened, and a man with a bruised face entered. It was the man who’d followed us out of the bar. Shit.
I watched him survey the room, not even looking at the pile of stuff in the corner. He looked down when he stepped on the remains of the paper bag, water bottle and wrappers. After two heartbeats, he advanced on the crowd of children.
“I told you not to eat until I brought you food myself,” he threatened. “Was I not clear?”
He grabbed one of the younger girls who looked about 12. He grabbed her by the hair and forced her to kneel in front of the remains.
“Who gave you this?!” He shouted.
The asshole was playing Sophie’s game. He was feigning innocence of my presence as part of the game.
The little girl pointed towards me and his eyes followed. He glared at me.
“That was for you, not for them,” he snarled, hauling the girl to her feet. He pulled a police baton out of his belt and whipped it to its full length. Was he a cop? Or had he stolen it?
Then he smashed it into the girl’s ribs. She screamed. The others screamed. I yelled, fists clenched.
“All of you get one,” he said, then pushed the girl back into the crowd. “Next!”
A younger boy came forward, trembling.
“Stop it!” I shouted, stepping away from the wall. He turned to face me, baton pointed at my chest.
“You stay out of it if you don’t want your own punishment!”
“I’ll bet you want to punish me after I slammed your smug face into the sidewalk,” I taunted. Make a mistake, you asshole.
He flashed a smile, then grabbed the boy by the neck and smashed the baton into his side. I took another step forward.
“Next!” He said.
Another girl this time. They’d done this before. My blood began to boil with rage.
Whack.
“Next!”
I eyed the plastic bat. Just wait.
Whack.
“Next!”
As he turned to see who was coming next, I sprinted forward, scooping up the bat. It was the older boy’s turn, and he watched me with wide eyes as I swung the skinny bat at the man’s skull. It hit with a wimpy slap, but it confused him long enough.
I tackled into him and shoved him to the floor, face first. I grabbed the sides of his head and lifted. Then I slammed it down into the solid floor. He shouted out in pain and twisted his body. I held him down, but only just enough.
“Help me!” I shouted. The teenagers were backing away. “COME AND HELP!” I screamed. No one did. The man twisted his body under me, and I fell to the side.
Shit. Shit.
I tried to stand.
The baton hit me in the side of the head and sent me careening into the floor. Everything went dark, and I went unconscious.
When I woke up, the teenagers were crowded around me. Candles encircled us and I could see their dirty, bruised, and scabbed faces.
“Are you okay?” A girl asked.
“I’m…” I started, lifting my head. They’d placed a pillow under me. A blanket covered my body. My head suddenly split open and I laid back, grimacing.
“Leo is a real asshole,” the 14 year old said. “He’s their leader.”
“No,” I rejected. “Sophie is the leader. Sophie is the mastermind.”
“Sophie’s the one who brought us blankets and pillows. She brings us candles, candy, food she can smuggle down, anything to help us. She’s staying with the others upstairs to keep us safe and alive,” a boy said.
“It’s… manipulation,” I said, closing my eyes and trying not to sound frustrated. “She’s only doing it so you’ll be loyal to her.”
“She helps us,” the 12 year old girl said.
“Well she’s kidnapped my mother, my friend, and his parents.”
“You fought for us,” the leader boy stated.
“Well, he’s an asshole, so--”
“Thank you,” the boy interrupted.
“I’m going to get you all out of here,” I swore. “Even if it kills me.”
There was no way out. The steel plates had been drilled into wooden window sill and then welded with a thick layer of melted metal. I could see lines of moonlight through the cracks, but the plates wouldn’t budge. The only object we had for leverage was the plastic bat, but Leo had taken it with him.
I rested my head as often as possible because it hurt so badly. I hoped Sophie would be angry at Leo for hitting me. Then again, I doubted she really cared. She just wanted a show.
While I laid and rested, I told them as many details about David King, Zander, and Sophie as I could. They listened, and I could only hope they were accepting my story. No one made a comment about it. They just listened.
I woke up to a ray of morning sun shining right in my eye. I groaned and rolled over. Then I jolted.
Inspiration hit me.
I sat up a little too quickly and began to tear at the blanket that covered me. It was a thick, wool blanket. Perfect. I tore at it with my teeth until I thought I might tear a tooth out. When a tiny rip appeared, I knelt on the blanket and ripped a strip off.
The rip woke everyone else up, and they all stared at me in confusion.
“Stop ripping up our blankets!” The 14 year old said.
“What’s your name?” I paused and asked. He was confused.
“Jake,” he answered.
“Jake, help me rip these into strips. I have an idea on how to get out.”
“How?” He said skeptically.
“Just trust me! I don’t know how long we’ll have until they come for me! I need this blanket and one more into strips!”
By some miracle, everyone listened. In only a few minutes, we had 24 strips. Each one was about three inches thick and six feet long.
Next, I went to one of the buckets and managed to pull the wire handle off. Using the wire, I took a strip and managed to push it through the cracks around a steel plate. I pulled it back through so that it wrapped around one of the welded spots.
The kids caught on pretty quickly. We tied a strip around each welded spot on a window. There were 12 spots, but only eight of us.
We grabbed all the strips on one side and together began to pull. It didn’t budge, but we kept the pressure on while one kid went to check. The wood had begun to splinter ever so slightly around the screw holes.
We changed tactics and had two stand by the plate, and the rest pull on one side of it. We would pull for two seconds, then they would push for two seconds. The plate started to come loose. The screws they’d used weren’t deep enough to resist our efforts.
The kids, who had been excitedly talking about something new they were doing, now understood the gravity of our situation. We were escaping. They threw their entire weight and strength into pulling those strips. We put our feet on the wall and pulled as hard as we could, listening to the wood separate.
A kid sat by the door to listen for guards. They didn’t bring any food, which left me feeling hungry, but I didn’t complain. We were safe to work the entire day.
After working until the late afternoon, the plate had broken four spots that had been screwed and welded, and the plate could move at least an inch in one corner. We had fallen into a rhythm of swinging the plate, adjusting when it got loose, and doing it all over again.
That’s when we heard footsteps on the stairs.
They were coming for me.
The kids panicked, but I quieted them and quickly whispered for them to act normally, crowd into the corner away from the window, and hope they didn’t look toward the window. If they did, everyone should rush the guards. They all agreed.
Luckily, the window we had chosen was near the corner where everything had been stashed. It was just in the corner of your eye when entering the basement.
I stood directly in front of the two steps, hoping they’d just grab me and leave.
The door swung open, two unknown guys grabbed me, and locked the door behind us as we trudged upstairs.
I prayed to God they’d be able to escape.
I was hooded and driven a couple hours again. When I stepped out of the car and had the hood removed, we were back at the church. I was led back into the vestibule before the chapel and searched again. I noticed that all the items on the table were gone today.
Hands cuffed in front of me, I was pushed through the chapel doors. They slammed shut behind me and a lock clicked.
I was in the devil’s lair.
The chapel was large with at least twenty rows of pews. An aisle divided the wooden pews into two columns, all facing the front in solemn silence. Four large stained glass windows filled one wall, letting the dying sunlight color the room. A chandelier with electric lights hung from the ceiling, making the room look even larger.
Hundreds of candles set up around the pulpit. Large, red velvet curtains hung from the rafters against the wall behind the candles, descending a hundred feet to just inches above the floor.
I saw my mom first. She was seated in the far back corner to my left. A man sat next to her, his arm resting on her neck. My mom was clearly crying, but duct tape kept her from saying anything.
I moved towards them, but the man shook his head and pointed to the front. I turned.
Someone stood at the pulpit, leaning against it. They wore a black hoodie and seemed to be staring at the floor. My heart sped up as my illogical mind told me that it was David Fucking King, back from the dead.
But then I saw the long, stray blonde hairs hanging down.
I walked forward, making it halfway to the front before she spoke.
“There’s Clark,” the voice echoed through the empty chamber. The figure raised their head, and I saw her dim face. Sophie.
Her eyes locked onto mine as she pushed away from the pulpit and stepped to the side. She put Zander’s phone into her jacket pocket as she moved. She descended the three steps that led to the stage and slowly paced along the aisle towards me.
I tensed as she walked up to me.
“Relax, Clark,” she grinned. “We’re still waiting for the other guests to arrive now that you’re here. Have a seat.”
She lightly shoved me into the pew to my right, so I sat. Sophie walked back to the pulpit and pulled out Zander’s phone again, continuing to type. Occasionally, she referenced her own phone, typed out a message, then went back to work on Zander’s.
We sat there for an hour as the sun went down outside and the chapel’s only source of light came from the masses of candles.
I looked around as the light disappeared. There were lots of beams that ran along the ceiling, supporting the steeple beyond. The curtains, which had at first appeared perfect in contrast to the old chapel, had many holes in them. It was just an old, worn down church.
I caught my mom’s eye a couple of times, trying to check that she was alright. It was too dark to see her expression.
Sophie typed the entire time. I now see that she posted Part 6 while we were waiting. I’ve read it now, but at the time I wondered what she was doing.
When the doors opened behind us, Sophie looked up and I turned around.
Zander was shoved into the room, handcuffed and chained. He stumbled, and shuffled forward down the aisle. His face was bloody and bruised. Every movement seemed to pain him.
“No,” I uttered involuntarily. Then his parents were pushed into the room behind him.
No. No. No.
They hadn’t released anyone, even after Zander turned himself in.
Zander’s parents were guided up to sit on the row in front of my mom. Their hands were duct taped and so were their mouths.
I tried to understand the end game. I tried to understand the purpose of all this.
Now I know. They were just taking risks.
And enjoying every second.
And then I noticed who the guards for Zander’s parents were. Hernandez and another cop. The other cop left, leaving only Hernandez to sit with one of Sophie’s other assholes and our parents.
Son of a bitch.
That son of a bitch.
“Zander, good to see you again,” Sophie called. “Have a seat, I’m almost done here!”
Zander sat next to me. The chains had been wrapped tightly around his body, restraining his wrists to his chest. I started to pull at his chains to see if I could remove them, but he shook his head. His mouth was horribly swollen, I noticed.
His guard stood over us, and I stole a glance at him. It was Leo. His face was even more bruised and bloody. He caught my eye and glared. I tried not to smile. Provoking him wasn’t going to save anyone here.
After a few minutes, Sophie set the phone down on the pulpit and walked towards us.
“How was it, Leo?” She asked.
“Enjoyable,” he grinned maliciously.
“After you assaulted Leo,” Sophie said to me. “I let him take out his frustrations on Zander. Hope you both enjoyed your last night of rest,” she said to both of us. “Things are about to get interesting.” Her voice turned poisonous.
The doors opened again, and Katie was dragged in kicking and screaming. One of the guards who had driven me here was following Katie’s captor in. He gave Katie a punch across the face, and she fell silent, but not unconscious. Her hair covered her face as she looked around in bewilderment and finally rested her eyes on Zander.
Zander, who had turned to watch, tensed and his chains rattled.
“Tape her, please,” Sophie said calmly before turning her attention back to us.
“We found her last night at Clark’s place,” she grinned. Duct tape ripped in the background as she talked. “She’s not very good at sneaking around. You could have done much better, Zander,” she taunted.
Zander remained still.
“Well, now that everyone’s here, we can get started,” Sophie announced, spreading her arms. Katie was seated in the back of the chapel in the opposite row as our parents. Her guard stayed by her side. Someone locked the door from the other side, and it echoed through the chapel.
There was Sophie, the guard and Hernandez with our parents, the one by Katie, at least three more outside, and Leo next to us. Fighting would be useless.
“I just left a lovely post to all of your Reddit supporters,” Sophie said, waving Zander’s phone in the air as she walked back towards us. “I wanted to make sure I got proper credit for your disposal. I told them not to expect any more updates, hope you don’t mind.”
Her self-assured smirk made me angry.
“I would read it to you, but you already know most of it. I worked with David King, we built this family from the bottom up, he got careless with Zander and we had a falling out, blah blah blah.”
“We know the history,” I said. “But did you tell them why?”
“Why what, Clark?” She said sweetly.
“Why you had a falling out with David King.”
“I did, but let’s hear your interpretation,” she encouraged.
“Because he was selling you out.”
She frowned.
“The FBI tips were for both of us to benefit,” she countered. “The information we accessed was quite valuable to our family members.”
“And yet the FBI will be on their way soon.”
“Oh, will they?” She mocked.
“I sent them a copy of David’s hard drive before I came,” I said. “If you read my posts, you’ll know that already. How long do you think it’ll be until they find you?”
“Considering all the loose ends I’ve just collected tonight, I’d say my chances have drastically decreased.” Sophie smiled again.
“But you don’t have all the loose ends,” I said.
“Games with the police are a lot of fun, anyway,” she said, gesturing meaningfully to Hernandez. “But, I don’t have time to play poker with you. I have much better games in mind. Get up. Both of you,” Sophie demanded in an annoyed tone.
We stood, and she motioned for us to step into the aisle. Leo stood behind us.
Sophie pulled out a handcuff key and undid my cuffs. Leo stepped forward and undid Zander’s. Zander didn’t launch himself at Leo like I expected. He just sat there while his captor tore all the chains off his body that held his hands so close to his chest.
“We’re going to play a better version of the game David wanted to play,” Sophie announced. “Face each other.”
Leo grabbed Zander’s neck and dragged him backwards. I turned to face him.
“Now, Zander, I think you know what’s going on, so why don’t you start? Say the words.”
He hesitated and looked at her.
“No,” he said.
A muffled cry could be heard from behind us. I looked since I was already facing that way. His mother was being held back by Hernandez.
“No?” Sophie repeated. “But you so willingly dared David. So dare Clark. Or you know the consequences.”
Zander took a deep breath. He looked me in the eye. I could read the apology on his face. He looked pained.
“I dare you to ruin my life,” he said.
“No,” Sophie insisted. “Dare him to end your life.”
“I dare you to end my life,” Zander said, holding my gaze.
“Now you, Clark.”
“I dare you to end my life,” I whispered. I could feel my limbs begin to shake. Holy shit. One of us was going to die. And she was going to make the other one do it.
Sophie turned around and picked up something from the pew behind her. It was two knives. Zander’s knives.
She held them out.
One had a circular handle with a compass at the butt of the handle. A military-grade knife. The blade was at least six inches long and had a serrated side to it. The other knife had a flat handle with only a four inch blade. It was also serrated on one side.
“Each of you pick one,” she commanded.
Zander immediately reached for the one with the circular handle, but she pulled it back.
“Guests first, Zander. Have some manners,” she scolded. Then she held the knives out to me. I recognized the knife with the flat handle and grabbed it. The one Zander hadn’t tried to grab.
I had to trust Zander.
Zander was given the other blade, and then Sophie retreated gracefully to the pulpit. Leo stayed a few steps behind Zander.
“Last one alive gets to decide whose parents live,” Sophie said from the pulpit. “Any funny business and everyone dies. I’m giving you a chance.”
“I’m sorry, Clark,” Zander mouthed while she spoke. “I’m so sorry.”
My jaw trembled, but my grip tightened. I refused to die.
Sophie’s last words echoed throughout the chapel. “Dare starts now.”
Zander suddenly lunged, stabbing his knife towards my chest. I jumped aside just in time.
“Zander, wait!” I cried.
He swung his long knife at me, and it came just short of my nose. I was trapped into stepping backwards as he took swing after swing at me. Katie was shouting through her gag and banging on the pews.
I was only narrowly escaping his swings. Zander was grunting with every swing, but his eyes bled with determination.
It was fucking horrifying.
“Zander!” I shouted.
He swung again. It sliced my left arm, cutting very deep. Blood seeped out of the wound and I cried out. Droplets of blood flew around as I moved to dodge. My shoulder started to ache again from my physical effort.
Gripping my knife, I stepped forward and swung at Zander’s chest. He was out of the way and then back again too quickly. Another slice caught the inside of my arm.
I gasped and stumbled back against the three stairs leading to the pulpit and almost fell. I was able to keep myself from falling, but I had to either get onto the stage, or get stabbed. My heels were jammed against the first step.
Zander plunged his knife in a downward arc, heading for my chest. I grabbed his arm with both hands and pushed for my life, my own knife digging into my hand. My foot stepped up and onto the first stair.
His arm slowly descended, narrowing in on its target. Sophie laughed with delight. Katie screamed, ripping at the tape over her mouth. Both of our parents were trying to shout too.
I put my other foot on the stage behind me, then stepped back. I released his arm. His knife crashed down into the wood floor, jamming in a crack between floorboards.
Zander instantly pulled at it, and it slowly started to come loose.
I used my chance and kicked him in the chest. He released the knife and backpedalled along the aisle, slamming into a pew. He dropped to the floor and cried out in pain.
I walked towards him quickly, knife angled in my hand for stabbing.
“Go on, Clark!” Sophie cheered. “Great work!”
I had no choice. There was no other option. I knelt down slowly beside Zander, who was dazed. I raised the knife above my head. Even as Katie ripped the tape from her lips and screamed my name, I plunged the knife into Zander’s chest.
The serrated edge clicked repeatedly as the blade punctured Zander’s body.
“NO!” Katie cried, trying to rush over. The guard grabbed her.
Zander gasped and looked at me, raising his head. His limbs writhed in pain. Blood spread like a ripple across his shirt. He put his shaking hand on my arm and stared me in the eye. He stopped moving and laid his head back. His hand fell from my arm and hit the ground with a dull thud.
I just knelt there, holding the knife in his chest.
That’s when a gun fired.
We all looked in terror.
Hernandez had shot the guard by my mom in the head.
Pandemonium ensued.
Katie spun and grabbed her stunned guard’s knife from his belt. His throat was slashed open and gushing in an instant.
At the same time, Hernandez aimed at a stained glass window and shot again. Part of it shattered and fell to the ground with a small crash.
Then the windows exploded. Flames flew everywhere as hand-made molotov cocktails smashed into the walls and floor. Fire spread like liquid throughout the wooden structure. Gunshots from outside filled the air and bullets whizzed into the building.
Sophie shrieked in confusion, dropping behind the pulpit and looking around.
I jumped up, startled. Katie cut herself loose and shouted something to Hernandez. Hernandez nodded and aimed his pistol at the door. He pushed our parents down so they were hidden behind the pews.
Leo ran towards me, and I jumped into the row to avoid him. He leapt over Zander’s body, off to secure Sophie. Katie was on his heels, staying low to avoid the bullets. She paused for half a second when she got to me. She looked terrifying with blood splattered across her face and shirt. I couldn’t understand her expression. She moved on.
I ran for my parents.
I scrambled on my hands and knees along the aisle until I got to Katie’s dead guard. There was blood everywhere.
I caught a glimpse of the guard’s gun under his body. With all my strength, I rolled him over and snatched it.
“You fucking asshole!” I shouted to Hernandez while I grabbed the gun.
“I’m helping now, aren’t I?!” Hernandez shouted back. “It was Zander’s idea!”
“Who’s shooting?!” I yelled, gesturing to the windows.
“No idea,” Hernandez admitted. “I’m just supposed to stop anyone who comes through here!”
Fucking Zander.
“Hand me your knife,” I said. He obliged.
I scooted along the aisle until I came to my mom, keeping my head low.
“Oh my god, Clark,” she sobbed after I cut the tape from her mouth. She put her arms around me despite having taped wrists.
“Let’s get that tape off,” I encouraged, cutting the tape.
“Stay low,” I commanded, then flipped over the pew to cut Zander’s parents free. I looked towards the front to see what was happening.
Katie had shoved Leo from behind, making him crash into the candles and knock them into the curtains. The fabric was now blazing brightly. The walls of the church had already caught fire and the flames were quickly engulfing the ceiling.
Smoke obscured my view as Katie and Sophie circled one another. Sophie had grabbed Zander’s knife from the stage and was swinging it around her as a threat. Why she didn’t have a gun was beyond me. Katie held the knife she’d taken from the guard and looked for an opening.
Leo pulled himself from the flaming web of candle wax and whipped out his gun. Katie saw him and spun to include him in her peripheral vision. The two closed in on her. She backed towards the flaming curtains, away from the two psychopaths. Sophie was talking, holding a hand out to keep Leo from shooting just yet.
I saw a movement in the aisle. Zander God Damn Mother Fucking Jones slowly raised his hand up and yanked the knife from his chest. The roar of fire drowned out his cry of pain. The blade had shrunk to be only an inch long, but he still clutched it as he got to his feet and stumbled toward the stage.
Leo never knew what hit him. Zander pulled his shirt back and slashed his throat with the tiny blade. Blood splattered across the stage, visible even from the back of the chapel. Sophie turned in surprise. Katie rushed forward, tackling Sophie backwards off the stage. They landed in the first row of benches and began wrestling.
Zander was grappling with the flailing Leo as he swung his gun around and fired shots into the ceiling. He was unconscious in seconds, however, and Zander let his body drop off the stage with a resounding thud.
“We have to go!” Hernandez yelled, grabbing my arm. “The fire is too much!”
That broke my trance. It was time to leave. The chapel had gone up like a tinderbox, and flames roared all around us.
As I passed the message on to our parents, Sophie’s gurgled scream could be heard over the flames. I shuddered.
Hernandez moved to the door, pistol still in hand, and pushed on the handle Locked. Shit.
He threw his weight against it, but it didn’t break. I joined in, and together we broke the doors open. There were no guards standing on the other side.
“Get them out!” I yelled.
Time to get Zander.
I raced down the aisle towards the stage. Katie was supporting Zander, who was struggling to stand.
“Let’s go!” I shouted.
I lifted Zander’s other arm and we lifted him, running for the door. When we got to the vestibule, I saw the bullet holes in the wall and shattered glass. The two guards lay in pools of blood. Good. The cop was nowhere to be found.
Coughing and spitting, Zander, Katie, and I left through the main doors into the night.
Katie and I kept carrying Zander until we were far enough from the building to not inhale smoke. We all gasped in fresh air, and coughed out the smoke. An orange glow lit up the sky as flames ascended hundreds of feet in the air.
I set Zander down to find my mom. I noticed that there were two other girls with us, each holding pistols. They were younger than us. Probably only fifteen or sixteen. I didn’t have time to pay more attention because my mom ran over.
“Clark!” She yelled, grabbing me. “Oh my God, oh my God,” she kept saying as she hugged me.
Zander’s parents grabbed ahold of him as well, talking incoherently as they looked at his bruised body. Zander’s dad supported him by an arm.
“We have to go,” Katie gasped. “The authorities will be here at any time. They’ll arrest Zander and all of us.” No one questioned her plan, not even Zander’s parents.
We were quickly rushed to two cars that were parked far away in the lot, just out of view of the front door. Zander, his parents, and Katie went in one car. Hernandez, my mom, and I went in the other. The two girls drove each car.
We sped away from the burning church just as the air had begun to fill with sirens.
Zander wasn’t taken to the hospital right away. First, the girls took us to someone’s home. That someone was a very obese but friendly man named Remy.
Remy inspected Zander and said he needed a hospital. It wasn’t just because of the stab wound, but also from potential internal bleeding that Leo may have inflicted.
Before I could insist on speaking with Zander, he was driven quickly to a local hospital.
The rest of us all treated burns and cuts. I somehow had the unfortunate luck of being stuck alone with Katie in a bedroom while she stitched the two cuts in my arm.
“You didn’t have to actually stab him,” she said angrily. “Hernandez was just about to shoot the guard. I thought you really were killing him.”
“And I didn’t know you had a private army on the way,” I retorted. “Zander knew what we had to do. He was prepared to take it as far as necessary.”
“So he brought a fake knife?” She asked, annoyed.
Katie and I had looked at the knife I’d stabbed Zander with. Zander had refused to let it go in his shocked state. We’d glanced at it as he held it. Only the tip of the blade was showing now, which was about an inch long.
I’d recognized the knife when Sophie held them out for us. I’d seen it in Zander’s online purchases. The hilt was a joke knife fitted with a plastic blade. The blade was supported by a spring, and would click down until the blade disappeared when you pushed it on something. Zander had replaced the plastic with a real blade.
“He didn’t tell me a thing about the knife,” I argued. “I just recognized it and thought I understood his plan.”
“Clearly nobody had all the pieces of the plan,” Katie sighed. “What a fucking insane idiot.”
“Who are the two girls?” I asked her.
“They were with me while I was kidnapped. They failed the torture test and were prostitutes for Sophie. It was Zander’s idea to bring in as many as we could. I only found the two of them in time.”
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” I quoted Sun Tsu.
“Yeah, something like that,” Katie said. “Zander was beating up pimps partially to prove that we could protect them. They were afraid to help.”
“They saved our lives,” I said.
She finished stitching and went to leave.
“Katie,” I said. She paused, looking over her shoulder at me. “Thank you.”
“It’s what we do now,” she said, then left the room.
I spoke a little with Hernandez before posting this because I know you’ll ask about him. He was encouraged by Zander to start digging stuff up on Sophie and her gang a while ago. He was supposed to make as much noise as possible to get their attention.
When they kidnapped his daughter and threatened him, he pretended to be coerced into action.
Instead, Katie followed to where they’d kidnapped his daughter and sprung her free before going to my house and getting caught intentionally.
Hernandez gave a couple of his guns to the girls and Katie gave them the homemade molotov cocktails.
I still don’t fully understand the timeline, but I’m sure in time they’ll be able to explain.
I got to see Zander today at the hospital. Katie and I snuck in with Hernandez’s help.
He’s aching all over, but they did find some internal bleeding. They’re treating him. He’s officially under arrest, of course. He’s handcuffed to the bed, and a police officer is standing outside. Hernandez let him take a break while we snuck in.
I don’t want to include our entire conversation because it’s personal.
“Why didn’t you include me from the beginning?” I asked.
“I saw those files with every detail of your life in them. Your life and Katie’s. I watched you take a bullet for me. I could never recover if either of you--if any of you died. I thought I could get rid of them all on my own. I was wrong. They targeted all of us, not just me.”
“How did you know I’d know the knife was a fake?” I asked.
“I didn’t,” he said. “I just hoped you’d still be so mad at me that you really would stab me. It had to look real.”
“What do we do now?” I asked. Katie and I were standing around Zander’s hospital bed. It was almost time to leave.
Katie had her arm intertwined with Zander’s. She was practically glued to him ever since we got there. Knowing the new Katie, I don’t think she did it for herself. I think she did it to reassure Zander that she wasn’t going anywhere.
“There’s still more of them out there,” Zander confessed. I thought of the kids still probably at that farm house. I have no idea how to find them. I don’t know where that farm house is.
“We have to hide the two girls, hide our families, hide both of you, and then it’s back to hunting for me,” Zander said like a heroic asshat.
“Bullshit,” Katie said. “I’m helping.”
Zander looked at me, one eye half closed from swelling.
“You know the truth now, Clark,” he said. “What’ll it be?”
“I’m in.”
Thank you all for your support and encouragement. We don’t plan to use Reddit anymore. Our enemies are far too accustomed to it now. It is no longer an advantage: it’s a liability. Forgive us for not keeping you updated.
We will keep fighting.
We will keep hunting.
We will save them.
Because that’s what we do now.
-Clark, Katie, and Zander
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