• Blood Bound •||• Simon Kalivoda X Female Reader •

28 - The Real Final Battle

"Mount up," Deena says. One by one, we all get over the counter and very quietly split up to the gates containing the Shadyside killers. I hang onto the rope of the gate that holds the Milkman. Nick Goode steps carefully into the mall, jingling the bells hung up in front of the door. I can hardly believe it. We're really doing this.
He sees Ziggy standing in front of the Hanging Tree. He meets with her, face to face, after sixteen years.

"Ziggy," Nick speaks. "Nick," she softly whispers, hiding every inch of hate and betrayal she feels. "What are you doing here?" Nick asks. "Tag," says Ziggy. "You're it."
She pulls the rope beside her, pouring the bucket of blood on Nick's head. As she runs away, we all pull open the gates.

Wiping the blood out of his eyes, he looks around and realizes what is happening. He runs to Ziggy and grabs her, getting blood on her. "Deena! Y/N! Get them away from me!" he shouts. He points his gun to the killers approaching him. "If I die, she dies!"

The Skull Mask killer sneaks up behind him and stabs him, causing him to fall to the ground and let go of Ziggy. "Run! Ziggy, run!" I scream. The Milkman catches up to her, grabbing her the same way Nick grabbed her. "Your blood is on her! It's on Ziggy!" "Y/N," Deena calls out. "We have to cut ourselves." I sprint to the knife Ziggy dropped, leaving Deena behind.

I look in front of me. The Milkman has Ziggy pinned. The same goes for Nick and Skull Mask. If I don't act, Nick will die. But so will Ziggy.
I won't lose any of my friends. As deeply as I can, I cut into the same palm I cut into earlier. Both killers turn to me, sensing my blood.

As the blood pools on my hand, I shake some of it off. Red splashes on the ground in front of me. I look to the side of me. Nick is gone. A trail of blood leads my eyes to the back room doors. He runs inside, glancing to Deena and I. "He's getting away!" I yell. "Go! Go! We got him!" Josh shouts to us.

I firmly hold the knife in my hand and run as fast as I can. I look behind me. Deena is following after me... but so is Skull Mask. I reach the doors and rush inside as Martin knocks down Skull Mask with a chair.
My throat is dry, and my heart is pounding. The emergency alarm is blaring as the lights flicker on and off. Deena holds out her hand for the knife.

I place it in her hand. We begin to walk down the hallway. "I said that we had to cut ourselves. Plural," she mumbles to me. "There wasn't any time," I tell her. "Besides, it still worked." We turn the corner. It's a dead end. "The vent. That's where the cave is," she tells me. I don't question her. I easily pull off the covering. It's easy because Nick just ran down here.

Deena jumps in first. She gets on all fours and begins to crawl further inside. I strap on a head lamp and switch it on before getting in. I get on my knees and my dominant hand. I keep the palm I cut off of the ground, not wanting to hurt it anymore or get it dirty. The ground in front of me is hard dirt. Up ahead, it's pure stone.

Deena has her own head lamp as well. She crawls ahead of me, knowing that I'm right behind her. The path gets bigger and bigger up ahead until we don't have to crawl anymore. "Goode!" Deena shouts. We get further to where we can walk. "We know you're here! There's no point in hiding!" I yell. My voice echoes back and forth through the walls.
"Nick!" We're lead into a room of some sort. There's one wall that has plenty of rocks piled on top of each other. This must be where Ziggy fould Alice and Cindy at the outhouse.

The familiar sounds of grunting, both at different vocal ranges, echo behind me. My stomach drops. Deena hands me the knife. I turn around, knife in hand, keeping watch for Deena as we advance to a small wall. We both climb over it with ease. "Nick!" Deena yells once more. "Nick!" I repeat.

We reach another yet another tunnel. It makes me think that this place is nearly endless. "Nick!" "Solomon forged this place with nothing but words and stone!" Nick finally calls back. Deena and I stay quiet as we follow the sound of his voice. "Awakening this power from the depths of the Earth."