~~Young~~

Chapter Nineteen

   “What?” Sera asked appalled. Not that she should have expected any less from her family.

   Lizzy nodded solemnly and reached for her shirt, “they beat me,” she showed the molted and stitched up skin of her torso. That distinct footprint on Lizzy’s ribs made Sera feel sick, “they never touched my face so no one would know, they broke my ribs, they…they…” she broke off in a sob, “I thought I was going to die but then they brought in another man. He never talked to me but he asked the other men in the room some questions. Then, before he left he told them to stop and they did, said he was taking over from here.”

   Sera just had to ask, “and…and what did he look like?”

   “Tall, black hair, and these blue eyes I will never forget.”

   So then it was Gage.

   There was nothing to be upset over though, no she already knew all this. And the fact that he was probably the only reason Lizzy’s life was spared, well then Sera should be grateful towards him.

   “We’ve got to go!” Chelsea shouted as she came running back over to the group, “Just before Duncan wiped the systems he saw your Uncle’s men getting on the elevator for this floor!”

   “Oh god it’s too late,” Lizzy wailed, “I…I can’t let them take me again. I won’t survive!”

   “It’s not too late,” Sera assured her, “we’ll just take another way out.”

   “But there is no other way!” Lizzy cried.

   “There has to be! A stairwell, a fire escape, something!” Chelsea threw her gun-less hand in the air.

   It was Jerry who shook his head, “I is afraid not. It is why I chose dis place over de other choices. It was easi’ly fortified.”

   “But that’s against fire code!” Chelsea continued to argue.

   “And d’u do not t’ink dat is somet’ing dat can be bought?”

   Sera had a sense of foreboding come over her, “tell me who owns this building,” she started quietly, “tell me my Uncle doesn’t own this building!” her voice rose.

   The silence was telling enough.

   She stumbled into the wall, it was a trap, from the very beginning it had been a trap. Her Uncle couldn’t have known Sera would go to Gage. But wasn’t it convenient that he had Lizzy, his informant, and Gage, his investigator, lined up next to each other. It was much easier to knock down the pins when they were side by side. Just one strike and they would both fall with no one the wiser.

   “See, see,” Lizzy was near hysterics now, “they’re going to catch us, there’s nowhere to go!”

   “Yes there is,” Death finally chimed in as she latched onto Chelsea, “we can get you out of here. Me and Jerry, we can…transport you out of here.”

   She had been so quiet Sera could have easily figured she had left. She really wasn’t the one with Sera’s attention right now.

   “So then what are you waiting for,” Chelsea urged, “get us out of here!”

   “It’s not that simple,” Death shook her head, “We’re single service only. Someone is going to have to stay behind.”

   It was just then the distinctive chime of the elevator arriving at their floor echoed through the splintered wood.

   “I’ll stay behind,” Lizzy said suddenly, her voice eerily calm.

   Death and Sera exchanged a look. The both of them realizing at the same time what it mean that Lizzy could hear Death.