Bryn’s POV –
If I had the ability to crush my phone with my bare hand, believe me I would do that right now. My patience has skyrocketed above its normal tolerance. My anger was beyond its boiling point. There was no way to describe how furious I was at this point. The only thing on my mind is getting to Blissity before it’s too late. And I swear on everything, I will kill anyone who gets in my way.
The traffic was a fucking wreck and at this point my anger was getting the best of me. Using my pistol which I obtained from the glove department, I cock it in my hands while keeping my foot on the gas. I take one hand and hold the gun, using the other hand I steer the car to the left lane. A car attempts to make a pass and tries to cut in front of me, switching hands; I stick the gun out of the window and shoot the car.
Traffic goes wild immediately after and the car swerves out of my way. I stomp on the gas and zoom down the street, keeping my hand out of the window just in case I have to shoot someone’s tires out. I was in no mood to be fucked with.
I can see the building from here and I push my car to its limit. The tires were tearing into the road as I inch closer and closer. My breathing accelerates, as well as my heart. Once I get there, I will show no mercy. I’m a different person now that I’ve been pushed to this state.
I don’t care who you are, you will not harm my sister and get away with it.
From the looks of it, Jason was clearly already in the building. Hopefully he’s gotten to Blissity and if so then she’s most likely in good hands. But that still leaves the fact that the perpetrator is still on the loose in that same building and it’s up to me to put a bullet through his or her head.
I smile evilly to myself, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea actually.
I crush the brakes under my foot and the car halts immediately in front of the worn out building. I kill the ignition and dispose of my pistol. I twist my body to look in the back seat and from there I lift them up to grab for my rifle and some bullets.
After, I sit back in my seat and open up the rifle to quickly shove in a couple bullets before I close it up and cock it. Now I hop out of the car, not bothering to park it or even shut the door behind me.
I’m already infuriated as it is but as soon as I see Blissity I know I’ll explode.
Pacing over to the front doors which were opened slightly, I hold the gun steadily in my hands. For the most part, the entire building was remotely quiet. The place looked as if it were ready to collapse and there was a huge hole in the ceiling just a few feet away from me. I look over at the staircase and bring the gun down by my side.
If I move really fast I can run up the stairs without it collapsing but at the same time, you can’t be too sure. Maybe just a single step on the staircase will cause damage. But if that’s the case then how will I reach the second floor? Jason isn’t down here, meaning he must have found a way up and Blissity is most likely on the second floor herself.
Perplexed, I bite my lip and look around for some kind of clue. My eyes skim over the wall and soon my leg begins to tap restlessly against the floor.
Then suddenly, my eyes stop when I notice a white arrow drawn on the other side of the building. It points to the right, directing me to an open hallway.
I guess I won’t need the stairs after all.
Jason’s POV –
After my call with Bryn, I quickly push my phone into my back pocket and look around for a way to make my way up to the second floor. The stairs were of no good and I couldn’t just climb through that hole in the ceiling. I’m sure Victoria probably has eyes fixed on it just in case I were to make that attempt.
I reach the other side of the building and find an arrow pointing to the right. I don’t bother over thinking the possibilities of why that arrow was there, I just follow the directions. My hand flexes its hold on the revolver and I pick up the pace. There’s a thud coming from the second floor and I hear a single scream.
Immediately my legs take over and I’m running down the hall until I stop at another arrow which points to the left. I turn my head and see a ladder leading up to the second floor.
I walk over to the ladder and give myself a boost while climbing up. Before fully surfacing onto the second level I peak over the edge and look around the surroundings. It was dark but down the hall you could see a light and I could easily depict the sound of Victoria’s shoes clicking on the floor.
Once I’ve fully made it on the floor, I stand up and quiet my movements. I listen while walking down the hall towards the light source. Victoria was talking, rambling on and on while most likely pacing back and forth.
“They’ll be here any minute now. Don’t say a word, got it? I’m tired of hearing your mouth; don’t think I won’t kill you on the spot.” She says, stopping for a second and then continuing to pace. “Good thing I planned ahead.”
I quickly glance at my gun once I reach the end of the hall. I place my hand on the threshold and slowly bring myself to look over the ledge, just peaking in to get a view of Victoria and Blissity.
Victoria was standing with her back facing me, her hands were now on her hips and she was fixed on giving her full attention to Blissity. I look at Blissity who sits with her back pressed against the wall and her legs pulled in against her chest. Her head was hanging low, most of her hair was tangled and covering her face. She shivers and everyone once and a while she brings up a hand to scratch her arms which were covered in dried blood and scratches. To Victoria’s left there was a wad of hair on the floor, the same color as Bliss’ so it’s obvious how that happened.
I hear Blissity cry and sniff once, then look up at Victoria with unsteady eyes.
Slowly, I step out into full view but I keep my movements as silent as possible. Victoria starts talking again and I pray that she doesn’t begin pacing anymore. Blissity’s eyes look at me and she stiffens for a moment but just as quickly she fixes her expression and looks away.
Victoria must not have been looking at her at this very moment while speaking because she looks at me again. I gesture for her to remain silent as I inch closer, walking around a table which had a shot gun and needles placed on it.
Something about that shot gun rubbed me the wrong way.
I take one final step and raise my gun. I had to knock her out and grab Blissity while I still had enough time. Blissity looks at Victoria one last time and the room falls silent just as I step right behind her.
Before she speaks I ram the gun into the back her head and she falls the ground unconscious. Her arm twitches then goes limp and I don’t waste any time walking over her body and kneeling before Blissity.
“Can you walk?” I say softly, looking over her features.
Her face was scratched and badly bruised; her left eye was taking in the color of a dark bluish-purple. Being directly in front of her I could see all the damage she had to take in and her face was dried and pale from all the crying and weeping she’s been doing. She looks away from me, scared and hesitant.
As her head turns to the side I look at her cheek. Her cheek was cut from the middle all the way to the end of her jaw. Slowly I lift my hand up place it on her shoulder, she shudders and brushes my hand off of her. I turn and look at Victoria who remains unconscious but she’d be waking up in a manner of minutes, maybe even seconds. I didn’t hit her that hard, just hard enough to grab Bliss and flee.
I stand up and extend my hand out for Blissity to grab but instead of taking it she merely looks at it.
“I want Bryn.” She mumbles, wiping tears away from her eyes. “Not you.”
“She’s on her way; we have to get away from here before Victoria wakes up. Come on.” I bend down and grab her hand.
“No!” She yells, snatching her hand away from me. “You leave! I’ll wait for Bryn.”
I stare at her, bewildered.
“Why would I leave with you? After what you put me through....I hate you.” She looks at Victoria and balls her hands into small fists on either side of her. Her body begins to tremble and her lips quiver to hold back tears.
“I didn’t put you through anything...” I say, shakily holding onto the gun in my hand. “You’re not the one who found out that the entire time you were in love with someone, she happened to be someone...else.”
“You’re the reason I’m afraid to leave Bryn alone for too long.” She retorts, staring at me with hard eyes.
She forces herself to stand up, stumbling forward a bit. I catch her as her knees give in and she pushes me away. I grip her shoulders, not wanting to touch the wounds on her arms.
“Let me go.” She orders, sounding just as angry as Bryn did a couple minutes ago.
Victoria stirs and I look over at her. Her head turns in our direction and her eyes begin to flutter open. I look at Blissity who stares back at me with infuriated eyes. Instead of following her command, I release my left hand from her shoulder and dip it under her legs, lifting her up in my arms. She clings to me so she doesn’t fall and I start moving away from Victoria and turn to escape.
“That’s not a good idea.” Victoria laughs maniacally.
I stop short and Blissity looks over my shoulder. There’s a crash coming from below us and I could already tell Bryn was here. I tighten my grip on Blissity and slowly turn around to face Victoria. She gradually brings herself to stand up, her hand coming up to touch the back of her head.
I place Blissity on the ground and she holds onto me. I let go of her and softly push her to stand behind me. Her hand grips onto the leather on my jacket and I straighten up, eyes fixed directly on Victoria.
“I’m guessing that was you on the phone.” Victoria smiles, looking at her hand after touching her hair. Her smile fades once she notices the stain of blood covering her fingertips.
She looks at me now, eyes dark. “Answer this; why her?”
I blink in confusion and clear my throat, “What?”
“Jane? Why are you with her? What is it about her that’s so fucking special?” Her face contorts into an expression of pure malice and she tenses up. “I could give you more than she could. And you know what else? Her little bitch over there made it clear that she’s in touch with Bryn and didn’t she murder your beloved sister?”
Now I tense up and I could hear Blissity suck in a breath from behind me. There’s another crash from below us and I hear movement. Victoria looks around noticing the sounds as well and I slightly turn my head in Bliss’ direction.
“Bryn is here.” I say quietly, “I’m going to take you and find a place for you to take cover. This isn’t going to be pretty.”
Blissity nods and sniffs, turning around to look down the empty, dark hallway. “Ok.”
“She killed my father.” Victoria hisses, taking a step towards the shot gun.
“You’re crazy.” I say, lifting up my gun and aiming it at her. “Doing all this...and for what? You’re not gaining anything from this.”
“You.” She smirks and grabs the shot gun.
I flex my finger over the trigger. I shift my aim from her face to her hand and she stops short, realizing my intentions.
“If you try to leave, this entire building will explode. I set a timer. We have exactly fifteen minutes left until we all die. That was my plan. If I couldn’t have you by the end of this, then we’d all die.”
I stare at her for a moment then look around. I didn’t notice this before but by actually letting my ears listen to the silence ringing through my head, I can just barely decipher the sound of a timer counting down. The sound was faint but I could still hear, somewhere towards my left or maybe just a little ahead of me.
“And if I snap my fingers, you’ll die and I’ll leave with no blood on my hands.” She lifts up her arm, gesturing with her hand a sign of her on the brink of snapping her two fingers.
Just as I’m about to open my mouth a gun is fired from behind me, skinning past the right side of my face and striking towards Victoria’s. She ducks and the bullet crashes through the wall behind her. I turn around and Blissity let’s go of me suddenly.
I look over to see Bryn walking up with a rifle in her hands.
Bryn’s POV –
I keep my eyes on Victoria who begins straightening up. Jason stares at me and I can see Blissity from the corner of my eyes. I don’t bother looking at her, just to save the anger from rising any further than it already was.
I lift the gun and pull the trigger, hitting the shotgun on the table just above Victoria’s head. She flinches and looks for a place to hide.
I drop the gun and start walking towards her, kicking the table out of my way. Needles fall to the ground and the gun disassembles as it hits the wood panels. Victoria stands up and backs away from me, fear taking up her entire facial expression. My fists were shaking, not to mention the fact that my entire body was on fire. I was just ready to punch her until she drew blood.
Or until her heart stopped beating.
“Why did you take her?” I say, finally stopping at a far enough length across from her.
“Just to get this reaction.” She shrugs, looking at her nails. “You seem upset.”
“I’m pissed.” I chuckle and crack my knuckles, “Any last words?”
“Your sister is a heroin addict.” She leans forward, a smile plastered across her face. “Two shots.”
I can’t describe to you how fast I ran over to her and I can’t describe how fast my anger rose. All I can do is describe to you, in detail, how with every punch I threw at her I hit her. First I kick her side so she falls down and from there I grab her shirt, pulling her in as I bring my fist to meet her nose. She tries to fight back but I throw her to the ground and sit on top of her, grabbing all her hair, from the roots, and holding her down so I had full control of her head. I punch her face and she cries out, coughing up blood from the repeated beatings.
Something snaps but I ignore it and continue punching her face. She gets a hold of my hair and pulls me down, then attempts to punch me but I grab her fist and force it to press against the ground.
The walls explode around us. I look up and see two guys, both carrying guns, walking towards me and Victoria. I roll off of her and stand up to face them. I quickly glance to my left and see Jason running over to me but I could no longer see Blissity.
“Where is she?” I say to him, completely ignoring his attempt to protect me.
I shove his arm as he tries to stand in front of me and push him to the side.
“Where the fuck is she?!” I yell this time and he looks at me.
“I hid her, she’s fine.” He says, trying to remain calm. “I’m not letting you deal with this alone.”
“I can handle myself. I don’t need you.” I turn away from him sharply.
“Whatever.” He shrugs.
The guys raise their guns and I push Jason just as they begin shooting at us. We hit the floor and I reach for my rifle. The bullets grave over my stomach and Jason shoots one of the guys down, giving me enough time to cock the rifle in my hand.
There’s another explosion from the walls and three more guys step out with guns in their hands. I look at the walls and realize they were just doors leading to another room and this entire setting was a set up. This building was crawling with these guys and all I had was a single rifle and Jason held only a revolver. I stand up and pull the trigger, spraying the bullets left and right. Jason stands up and circles around me, raising the gun to shoot someone who was on the verge of shooting me.
They all hit the ground, some dead and others on the verge of dying. I look over to where Victoria’s body once lay and see that she was no longer there. My heart accelerates and I look at Jason who was reloading his gun.
“Jason, where did you hide Bliss?” I say, placing my hand on his gun.
He looks at me, then cocks his head to the direction on his right. I follow the direction and he continues reloading the gun. I take a step forward and a bullet goes off, graving my hip. I wince, grabbing my side and turn around.
Jason drops his gun and snatches my rifle from my hands. He cocks it and shoots the gun, killing a man straight in the forehead.
“You get Blissity, I’ll deal with this.” He nods his head and shoots the gun at another man walking out from the doors.
I nod my head and run in the previous direction of which Jason pointed out. I reach a wall and look around it to find Blissity hugging herself in the corner. I fall to my knees and grab her, pulling her into my arms.
“Are you ok?” I ask, holding her tightly. “I’m sorry it took me so long, I’m so sorry.”
She hugs me and hides her face in my neck, “I’m fine.”
“What did she do to you?” I say softly but on the inside I was fuming.
Blissity backs away and looks at me. I look at her face and my heart shatters. Her arms were corrupted with cuts and bruises followed by her face and the large gash on her cheek. She begins to cry and that was it for me.
I kiss her forehead and stand up, looking around the area. Jason drops the rifle and grabs his gun to continue shooting. I guess I ran out of bullets. I run over to the table I knocked over but the shot gun was no longer there. My eyebrows pull together in confusion and I look up at Jason, realizing that we were running out of time. Five guys walk in, carrying no weapons but on the ground I could see about three or four snipers and AK47’s.
I run in their direction and Jason holds back on firing but I gesture for him to keep going. He looks at me reluctantly but pulls the trigger. I duck down as the bullet swoops over my head and strikes one of the guys in the chest. He fires the gun just as I knock the guy down and grab the sniper from the floor. I aim it at the wall and shoot restlessly until everyone falls down. After that, I wait and it’s finally quiet for a moment.
Jason walks over to me and I hand him my sniper. He throws his revolver away and helps me stand up.
“We have less than ten minutes.” Jason says, breathing heavily.
“What do you mean?” I say, checking the gun to make sure it’s fully loaded.
“There’s a bomb in here and it’s counting down. Victoria plans on killing us all because she can’t have me.”
I scoff, “That bitch ran for her fucking life. I should have killed her while I had the chance.”
“We should leave and take Bliss to the hospital.” Jason says, turning my face to look at him.
“I’m not leaving until Victoria is dead.” I say flatly and smack his hand away.
He chuckles, “You’re hot when you’re mad, you know that?”
“Well I’m about to look sexy as shit.” I grin and cock the gun.
Just then a gun clicks from behind me and I stiffen.
“Don’t move.” Victoria orders. “Either of you.”
Jason looks at me, wanting to snatch the gun away from me. Victoria pushes the gun into the back of my head, just where my stiches were.
“The next time I pull the trigger, a bullet will come out.” She says, “Drop the gun.”
“Stop!” I hear Blissity yell.
Jason turns around but I grab his arm to keep him from doing anything.
“Bryn,” he insists, “I’m not going to let her do this.”
Victoria kicks me forward and I stumble on my feet. I turn around and look at her, just as she’s about to pull the trigger.
“So you’re Bryn Westmoore?”
I stare her nonchalantly, “Yep.”
She looks at Jason, “Yet you call me crazy?”
I raise my gun and shoot her directly in the chest. She falls back and hits the ground. At the same time someone knocks me down to the ground and my gun falls from my hand. I roll over to defend myself, lifting my hands up for coverage. Jason runs over and grabs my hands dragging me away from whoever planned on beating me. He lets me go and runs forward, throwing a punch towards a boy about my age with curly hair.
It doesn’t take me long to realize it was Noah, that same kid who I’d see sitting out of Jeff’s former building.
Jason punches his nose, cracking the bones and releasing blood down most of Noah’s face. I stand up and walk over to Victoria while Jason handles his situation. Victoria lies with her hand over her chest, she would survive because I hit just above her heart, not directly on it. I look down at her, and bend over to grab her shot gun.
“Jason will never love you.” She speaks in a shaky voice. “No matter how many times he says it. He’ll hate you for what you’ve done. He’ll always hate you and there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s only a matter of time before we all know you’re little secret Bryn. You won’t be hidden for long.”
“Shut the fuck up.” I roll my eyes and aim the gun at her mouth.
“Stop it!” Blissity screams and runs over to me.
My finger hovers over the trigger and I look at bliss who stares at me with willful eyes.
“I’m tired of the killing...please don’t do it.” She begs, her fingers fidgeting. “I know what she did to me...I know...but.” She stops to scratch her arm, “I don’t want to see any more blood.”
My hand shakes while holding the gun and anger takes over me once again.
“She almost killed you Blissity.” I say sternly, “I should kill her right here, why are you trying to stop me?”
“If you kill her...” She sniffs, looking at Victoria, then at me once again. “I’ll run away.”
Jason comes up from behind me and places his hands on my shoulders. I throw the gun onto the ground and look down, hoping to see Victoria still fighting to remain conscious. Her body disappears once again and suddenly the timer begins beeping loudly throughout the building. No more people were emitting from the halls and the aftermath of gun shots had finally died down. I look at Jason who stares around, probably searching for the bomb.
“How much time?” I ask, placing my hand over my hip. I was wounded but it was just a minor wound, nothing to worry about.
“Seconds.” He says and wraps his arm around my shoulder, “We have to move.”
“We can shut it off.” I say, unraveling myself from his hold.
He attempts to grab my arm but I push his hand and run through the doors of which people seemed to be flowing from. There was another room and on the opposite end I see Victoria standing against the wall, pressing a few buttons with her fingers. The sound of the beeping speeds up and she looks over at me, smiling wickedly. I run over to her and she opens the single window which didn’t happen to be nailed shut by wood. As soon as I reach her and extend a hand out to grab her dress she jumps out of the window.
I look out the window and watch her fall into a bush on her back. She looks up at me and stands up, knees wobbling from the collision with the ground. She waves and turns around, heading towards my car.
I look to my left and notice the timer of the bomb counting down twenty seconds. I walk over to it and look at the keys, the only way to stop it would be to pull out the correct cord or enter in a three digit code within the time frame. Jason appears from the threshold and runs over to me, seeing my dilemma.
Fifteen seconds.
“We have to leave; we won’t figure it out in time.” He says, grabbing my hand.
“Which cord, red or yellow?” I say, ignoring his demands.
“Bryn!” He yells, tugging my hand, “Fucking listen to me will you!? We have to leave right now!”
I look at the timer and he groans loudly in frustration. He starts running pulling me with him and we dash out of the room. I reluctantly pick of the pace and run beside him until we’re reaching the spot where we must descend down the ladder.
Jason places his hand on my waist and waits for me to begin taking steps down the ladder. Instead I turn my head to the right and stare down the hall way.
“Where is Blissity?” I say suddenly, “Jason...where is she?”
“Shit,” He mumbles under his breath. “I’ll go back for her, I’ll meet you out front, I promise.”
“No!’ I shake my head, “She’s my sister, you go down.”
“Bryn don’t fucking argue with me right now. We have seconds left! I’ll go, let me do this.” He leans down and kisses me quickly. “I’ll meet you at my car, I promise.”
Before I can protest he kisses me again and runs off down the hall.
Jason’s POV –
I have at least ten seconds left. I’m not saying that’s enough time to make it out of here but that’s enough time to get one person out of alive.
I twist around the hallway and find Blissity lying on the ground unconscious. Her forearm was covered in blood, fresh blood. She must have gotten caught in a fight or perhaps Victoria got to her while Bryn and I were in the middle of killing off multiple people.
I run over to her and lift her up in my arms. In swift movements I begin moving back to where I began and try running. I fix Bliss so she hangs over my shoulder while I run down the ladder carefully.
The timer goes wild and a wide spread of sirens goes off in the entire building. I push myself to run and hold Blissity at the same time for the sake of dropping her. The wood panels covering the windows begin shaking and one or two of them fall to the ground, showing off more timers.
Four seconds.
I was four seconds away from the front door and I doubt I was going to make it but Blissity would and that’s all that matters.
At least I got to save a life.
Three seconds.
I push my body to the limit and sprint down the hall with Blissity in my arms. The doors were wide open and I see Bryn at my car, staring at the building worriedly. We make eye contact and her face lightens up. She begins running in my direction and I finally reach the front door.
Two.
The timer stops and everything is silent except for the sound of my feet hitting the floor.
One.
I throw Blissity at Bryn just as the building engulfs into flames.