Chapter 20

I try to resist the pain as I walk towards the door. Gun carefully tucked inside my jacket, I cringe as I step over the bloodstains on the floor. With each step, my foot throbs painfully. I can't do anything about it now. I just hope it doesn't get worse.

Upon reaching the door, I hold on to it for balance. I take deep breaths and wipe the sweat off my forehead with my left hand. It hurts...my face and my foot hurt. But wait...what am I saying? Those kids had it even worse than me and they're still trying to stay strong. Especially Jonathan with his broken leg. I have to endure it.

Wait a second...THE KIDS!

Moving as fast as I can I make my way towards the emergency exit. The sound of me pulling open the door cuts through the silence in the hallway. As I go down the stairs, I hear a man's voice echoing in the space.

"Yeah, that building. They're all in here. Get the guys from the base too if they're done with the fire...I can't! My legs got shot!... Ok then..can't talk for long, the reception here is bad...hello?..." he says and hangs up.

Shit...his phone! I forgot he had a phone! Now they know our location.

Hurriedly but carefully, I run down the stairs trying to put less pressure on my injured foot.

"Wha...? How are you alive!? Where's Martin!?" He yells as he sees me. He's halfway on the stairs of the first floor. Guess he crawled. There's blood everywhere on the stairs beneath him. He has lost a lot of blood.

"Hey! What was that gunshot!? What did you do? Answer me or I'm gonna rip you to pieces!" He yells as I go towards the second-floor door Ignoring him. I need to do something about him, quickly. And we also gotta get away from this place till the police shows up. It may take a while since this town is far away and kinda isolated.

As he continues to shout, I enter the second floor through the emergency door. Limping towards the room where the kids are, I hold on to the wall for support. Upon reaching, I knock on the door three times just as planned.

"Open up, it's me" I utter as I brush aside my hair from my face. I place a hand on my cheek trying to ease the pain. Should have brought painkillers too.

I can hear the shelf being pushed aside and see the knob being turned. The door opens revealing a little boy with freckles and a green jacket. He looks up at me and a shocked expression forms on his face. I enter the room as he steps aside.

"What happened!? Your...face.." says Alice worriedly. All the kids who were sitting down, get up and surround me.

"It's ok. Listen, take this" I hand her the other gun with which Martin killed himself. I know handing a gun to a kid is wrong but desperate times call for desperate measures.

"A..a gun!" She says surprised and scared at the same time.

I grab my bag from the floor and look inside. Good, there's still some chloroform left in the bottle.

"Miss Lisa, your hurt. There's a bruise on your foot" Says the boy with the freckles. They all are worried about me. I feel somewhat touched. I look down at my foot and yes, it does seem like it's starting to bruise and swell a little.

"Look it's ok. I'm fine. More importantly, we need to get out of here. One of the men called the others so they'll be here soon. I need to knock him out quickly." I say as I wear my bag, holding onto the bottle of chloroform and turn around to walk out the door.

"Let us help you, please," the buzzcut boy says.

"No. Stay here until I get back" I order them as I enter the hallway and go towards the emergency stairs using my phone flashlight to guide me. I need to do something about my foot. Wrap it up in some cloth or tape.

As soon as I reach the door, I pull it open.

He's a bit further from where he previously was. We can't go anywhere with him in the way. He's breathing heavily now.

"I swear...I swear once I get my hands on you, I'm gonna kill you. Kill you with...my own hands." He utters as he glares at me.

I stay silent. Gulping hard and trying not to think about any negative thoughts, I take one step closer to him.

He suddenly coughs "I'll chop you to pieces. To hell with the boss's rules!" He says angrily as he lifts up his shaking hand and struggles to get up another step dragging his numb bloody legs with him.

I take another step and hold out the bottle. This is enough right? I don't wanna get any closer to him. Please make this work!

"You scum!" I yell as I splash the chloroform from the bottle on his face.

"My eyes!" He shouts and curses as he wipes his face and rubs his eyes. Going back up to the door, I move into the hallway and close the door, taking a huge breath of relief for a moment. My heart! I thought he'll catch me.

An electrifying pain from my foot reminded me of what I still had to do.

I sit down with my back against the wall and open my bag.

"Why didn't you just kill him?" I hear a familiar voice at the end of the hallway. I don't even need to shine the light on her to see who it is.

"Oh, you're back, kiddo. What's your name by the way?" I ask her as I take out the tape. Will this work? Meh, it's not like I have any other option.

"...I used to be called Valerie. Tell me, why didn't you kill them?" She asks again curiously as I feel her getting closer to me.

"Well, It's...kinda complicated." I begin as I touch where it hurts on my foot. Yeah, it IS starting to swell.

"It reminds me of my past. My mistakes. My sins. Staining my hands in blood again won't solve my problem. Killing shouldn't be the answer. There's...always another way." I say as I wrap the tape carefully on my foot. I remember seeing a technique to do it online. Hope I remember it correctly.

"I see. But he's a bad guy." She says. Now she's sitting right next to me.

"You know, I read this on the net somewhere. If there are 15 murderers and you kill one of them, the number of murderers still stays the same. In the past, I was...a coward. A foolish, naive kid with the wrong priorities. I got swallowed up in my own web of sins that drove me mad and I thought Killing was the only option. Sure she was a murderer but I became one too. But now, Valerie, I'm not gonna run away. This time...I'm going to do what's right. I'm not going to kill anyone unless there is no other way." I smile as I finish wrapping up my foot. My heart fills with gratitude for Alex. If I'd never met him, I would have stayed the same. He changed me.

"But what if you end up dying?" she says as I stand up to check if I wrapped it alright.

"I'll just try to make sure that doesn't happen," I say assuredly with a grin. I wear my shoe and open the emergency door a little. He must be knocked out by now right?

Yeah. He lays there, flat on the stairs clearly unconscious.

"Miss Lisa!" I suddenly hear Alice in the dark.

Flashing my light towards the direction of the voice, I see Alice with the buzzcut boy and the boy with freckles, standing in the hallway, shutting their eye's from the light.

"What are you doing here!? I told you guys to stay inside!" I say to them with a little frustration.

"We know but...we don't want you to get hurt anymore. Please let us help you!" The boy with freckles says.

"No! This is dangerous. I'm trying to save you kids, you'll only get caught if you help me" I say to them. Alice should look after her siblings. I can't let these innocent kids do this.

"We insist! It's only us three. The younger ones are back inside." The buzzcut boy says persistently.

I sigh " what are your names again? I can't keep calling you two buzzcut boy and boy with freckles anymore in my head."

They both look at each other and then me.

"I'm Shawn," says the buzzcut boy.

"And I'm Harper," says the other one.

"Ok. Well, we gotta leave anyway so get the rest of-" I began to say until I hear someone yell from the lobby on the first floor.

"LISA!!!"

It's Alex!

The kids look at me confusingly as I turn towards the emergency door. Is it him!? He's here now!?

"Miss Lisa...? " Harper says.

Ignoring their stares, I pull open the door and enter the stairway.

"Lisa! Are you here!?" I hear another voice from the lobby. It's Theo! Why is he here? Are the kids safe?

"That sounds like that other guy! He's here!" Harper exclaims. My moment of relief is short-lived until I hear another shout.

"LISA WHEREVER YOU ARE DON'T BRING THE KIDS WITH YOU!" Alex yells again. What's all this about?

As I start to go down the stairs, those kids follow me and upon seeing a man unconscious on the steps, freak out.

"There's a man over there!" Alice says, frightened.

"What do we do!?" Shawn asks with a worried expression on his face.

"It's ok. He's unconscious. Don't come down with me. Just stay on this floor, got it?" I tell them sternly. They all sigh disappointingly and turn to go back to the hallway.

"Val, look after them for a second will you?" I ask her since she had been standing there this entire time.

"Fine...I guess?" She says, unsurely.

Carefully, I go past the unconscious man and down the stairs stained in blood. This area reeks with the smell of it. Each step fills me with excitement to see them again along with some anxiety. What did Alex mean not to bring the kids with me? We should get out of here quickly, it's a good thing Theo and the other kids are here, we could go together.

When I reach the last step, I push open the door and enter the lobby. Flashing the light in front of me, I expect to see everyone there.

But...there's only Theo and Alex.

Alex stands there looking at me surprised. I guess because of my bruised face.

And Theo stands there, shielding his eyes from the sudden brightness, clothes covered in blood and holding a gun.

"Theo...where are the kids?"