All Surrounded #3

They snuck silently toward the staircase. Downstairs seemed so silent that she doubted anyone was even there. But Zack kept reminding her to stay alert as they had their back to one of the walls. He was taking the lead, and she kept checking behind them.

The whole place was sunk in darkness, and she couldn't help but hold her gun more tightly to her.

When they reached the last step, he gave her a look telling her to keep close to him. She had peeked to look out and saw that it was completely silent and dark. Her eyes locked onto the end of the room.

The perfect outcome would be for both of them to escape through that door. Worst-case scenario… Was something she didn't want to think of.

The stairs led to a hallway that divided the house into two sides. One side had the downstairs bedrooms and bathrooms, alongside some offices and other rooms. The other side had the main living room, the kitchen and the housekeepers' rooms, that was where their target laid. They needed to get from the hallway, through the main living room and find the right panel, that was put outside of the kitchen, that hid the secret door away.

They had their backs to one of the walls, and she saw how Zack watched what was happening in the living room from the reflection on the shattered glass that spread out on the floor. Diana was confused as to why there were no security guards. Even if they had died, she knew her parents would request for a reinforcement.

She felt something was going wrong, but so far, everything wasn't going well anyway.

Other than that, the house was a wreck. Glass and blood mixed freely on the floor. She saw furniture utterly destroyed, and the ground was covered with trash and broken pieces of wood or ceramics.

Someone was trying to search for something.

It was too messy to be anything else. How she didn't hear any of this while she was up there? Even if the house had three floors, that didn't mean she wouldn't have heard anyone making such a loud noise.

She saw from the reflection on the glass that there were two men standing inside the living room. They were having a discussion about something as if they weren't in the middle of a mission. Then Diana had a thought; if they were really looking for something, then the living room and the kitchen would probably be the last place to hold that thing, and the rest of the crew were probably still searching the bedrooms.

Were they that sure that only those two assassins were enough to kill Diana? The answer was probably yes since she was only a young lady from a rich family with two mediocre bodyguards, or so she believed they thought.

But Diana had felt like something weird was going on. She felt that it wasn't as simple as searching for something.

Zack looked back at her and whispered, "I'm going to go to the other side," He pointed at where the bedrooms were. "And I will check the area and try to get these two to move to there," He said, "When I do, you just have to make a run for it. Remember, put your hand on the wall that has ridges and will the door to open."

She listened in and felt a little choked as she thought that he was giving up all of his life for her. He was about to move before she touched his arm. "Thank you so much." Was all she could say, and that seemed enough for Zack as he gave her a sweet smile.

She saw him give his back to her and sneakily move to the other side when he was sure that the scene was clear. And then, he was out of her sight.

She closed her eyes and swallowed her anxiousness.

It was going to be alright.

She was inches away from safety.

It was too early to die anyway.

She wanted to have a few more seconds for her thoughts, but she then heard a few gunshots and a guy screaming for back-up. She heard footsteps coming closer and walked backward to hide in the dark. Two men armed with guns, wearing the same black suits and masks ran toward the noise, not looking at her direction.

When she saw them going out of her sight, she took her chance and walked fast toward the living room. What she saw there made her feel a little faint.

There were two bodies lying on the floor by the couches. Their eyes were wide open as if they saw their life and death pass by them. There was a hole in their foreheads and an ocean of blood all around them. Glass surrounded them as they were close to the window that shattered.

She took a deep breath, trying to will her heart and mind to be brave. The smell of blood filled her nostrils, but she continued her speed walk, making sure not to look at the bodies.

She had just sent someone to meet the same fate as them.

Her feet started to run, stepping on some glasses and debris. Her eyes kept looking left and right for any potential killer here or there, but all was clear. Her gun still felt unnaturally cold in her hands and then she heard a sound behind her.

"She is still alive!" Someone called out. She looked behind and there were the two men that had run out. They had their guns pointed at her, and one of them was talking to his walkie-talkie.

Her mind thought of Zack. Had he really died?

She turned around and ran as fast as she could. She was close, very close to the wall. She heard them shouting behind her to stop running or they would shoot, but she paid them no heed. She needed to reach there.

She rounded a corner, and they were out of sight. She saw the wall and started touching it all over until she found the ridges. The shouting was getting closer now.

This was her chance.

She closed her eyes and put her hands in the middle of the ridges that formed the illusion of a door. Her memories showed her Diana, as a child, practicing spirituality and mind spells. None of them told her how to open the door, but if what Zack told her was correct, then all she had to do was to will the door to open.

And she did. She put her energy in her hands like she remembered she did in the past and tried to will and speak to the door.

'Please open,'

'I beg you,'

'Please,'

For all her tries, nothing happened, and the next thing she knew was the excruciating pain in her leg and the sound of a gunshot.

She immediately fell to the ground screaming in pain. The sound of footsteps stopped right behind her, and she again — for the third time that day — felt a gun pointing at her head.