~Beauty~
She woke up with a gun to her forehead.
Tyler Daniels had taken off his mask and the jacket of his suit. They were thrown to the ground of the room they were in. It had no windows and the floor and walls were made of cement.
Tyler's hand trembled ever so slightly but he broke out into a wicked smile when she pulled at the rope that bound her hands behind her back around the chair.
"Bethany Rodriguez . . ." He lowered the gun, backing away to look over her. "Nineteen year old college student from Brooklyn taken by the Beast."
Tyler didn't resemble his brother much. They both had the same hair color, similar frames but their facial features were worlds apart. Tyler's nose was bulbous and round, his eyes more wide set. Beth almost wished they were twins just so she wouldn't have to add another face to her nightmares - assuming she got out of the situation alive.
"Everyone thinks you're lying in a ditch somewhere," he said, scratching at his hair that had become greatly disheveled. "I've been watching you for days and I can't seem to figure out why you're playing house with him."
Bethany persisted on pulling at the rope. "Let me go! Help! Someone help!"
Her capter rolled his eyes. "We're in the lower level of the museum. Everyone is at the party on the top floor - the music is blaring. You'll scream your throat raw before someone hears you."
Her heart fell into her stomach, the rope becoming slippery over her sweat.
She refused to believe there was no one around to hear her. Teigan would be searching for her - Grayson too! He had to have been calling the police already. She could live if she kept Tyler busy for long enough.
"Who are you to the Beast? What's so special about you that he could kill my brother but leave you be?!" He shook the gun as he spoke, making her flinch.
"Your brother tried to kill us. He killed a bunch of people in the fires he started!" Beth bit her tongue as the man turned red, his veins popping out from his forehead.
"And he was supposed to get locked up!" Tyler shook his head while pacing the length of the basement. "I've always known Ryan to be a little off. I knew the consequences for his actions would catch up to him sometime but your monster of a friend ended him! The police aren't going to get justice for him. So this is what it comes to."
"What if . . ." Beth chose her words carefully. She had to buy the police or Teigan enough time. "What if I told you he wasn't dead?"
He chuckled, leaning in uncomfortably close to her. "I'd tell you that living with that freak has caused you to lose your mind."
"Why? You've seen him without his mask on! How do you think that's possible? If he can look like that then can't your brother still be alive?"
Tyler Daniels cocked the gun and shot a bullet into the ceiling. Bethany yelped.
"Shut up! I'm not playing these games with you! I don't give a rat's behind how he looks the way he does!" Tyler glanced back at the staircase leading up out of the basement. "I was going to wait for him to show up so I could kill you in front of him but he's a little late."
Tears of desperation fell down onto her cheeks. "Please! Don't do this!
Where was Teigan?
"I think I may have killed him with that elevator trick. I guess those healing powers ain't all they're cracked up to be."
She stilled. "What elevator trick?"
"I work here as an electrician. I let the elevator drop from the top floor - it was only meant to stun him. Guess he's not as strong as I thought."
She shook her head. It was a nasty fall but Teigan spoke of times he survived worse. He had to be alright. Bethany thought of the way he came back after nearly drowning the lake.
Teigan wasn't dead. She couldn't accept that.
"Hello?!"
Someone was shouting from just outside of the basement.
"Help!" she screamed, desperately squirming in her seat.
Tyler's face lit up. "That must be him."
"He has a gun!" Tyler lifted the gag she hadn't realized hung below her neck. She was elated she had gotten that last part even though gunshot wounds wouldn't be lethal to him.
She watched as the sweaty man hid beside the door with his gun pointed at it. It creaked open but no one entered.
After a moment, Tyler grew impatient and came out from his hiding spot.
A blur of motion zoomed through the doorway, tackling Tyler to the ground before he could fire. His gun skidded away from the two wrestling men.
To her excitement and dismay, the figure punching at Tyler had a mass of bleached blonde hair on his head. It was Grayson who had come for her. She felt dizzy from all the questions circling her head.
Tyler laided still, his arms limp beside him. She saw her old friend rise from his straddle position and rush over to her. His fingers trembled as he undid the knot around her hands and removed the fabric from her mouth.
She couldn't get a word out when his strong arms pulled her tightly against him. She let her head rest on his chest, listening to his thumping heartbeat, the living proof she was with her best friend again.
He was the first to pull away, scanning her for damage. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
She shook her head, out of breath despite having been still this whole time. "I'm fine. We should get out of here though. Is he . . . ?" Beth's eyes wandered to the spot where Tyler Daniels laid. It was empty.
Without thinking, she ran for the gun. Tyler emerged from the darkness, grabbing a hold of her ankle.She stomped on his hand, hearing a bone crunch underneath her right heel. He released her and she took up the gun, holding it at the man.
"Grayson, let's go!"
He hesitantly went for the door, glancing behind him every so often to make sure she was following. She backed out of the room and once they put enough distance between them, she turned around to follow Grayson. He grasped her hand, tugging her forward. The warmth from his hand filled up her entire body like the sun.
The hallway was long, almost seemingly never ending, filled with turns. They both heard heavy footsteps in pursuit of them. Grayson nodded to the gun in her hands.
"Do you actually know how to fire that thing?"
"No - yes - I don't know! Don't you just pull the trigger?"
He gave a small laugh. "You better pass it over to me then."
Upon handing it over, Grayson stopped running. He turned around and pointed the gun at Tyler Daniels - who was striding towards them with pools of blood flowing from his nose.
"Keep going. I called the police after I saw you during the dance so they should be here soon."
"What? You want me to leave you?" A short few moments ago, she had feared to lose her own life at the hands of Tyler Daniels but her fear of Grayson losing his life at his hands was just as great.
"I'm the one that has the gun. I'll gladly shoot him down if I need to." The certainty his voice held was enough for her.
"Okay . . ."
"I promise, Beth - this is the last time we'll be separated."
She nodded, giving his shoulder a squeeze. Beth kicked off her right heel, seeing that only wearing one made the running job more difficult. Praying she wasn't going in circles, she turned down another hallway. This one was filled with smoke and dust. She almost changed her course when she realized that this hallway was where the elevator had landed.
Beth brought her elbow over her mouth and nose. She carefully stepped over the rubble and got closer to the crooked box laying half buried underneath the concrete. A part of her warned that an electrical fire could go off at any given second. Another part of her was bathed in despair. Tyler Daniels hadn't been lying. He had trapped Teigan. Maybe even killed him.
"Teigan?" She took hold of a large piece of metal on the ground and wedged it in between the two metal doors. She let out a grunt, using all her strength to pull them apart. She wasn't making as much progress as she would have liked too. "Teigan?!" This time she sounded much more desperate. "Teigan, can you hear me?! Let me know if you're alright! Please . . ."
The elevator doors had been pried apart a few inches. She dared herself to peek in.
A pair of hands grasped onto the doors and pulled them apart with an easy grace.
He stood there, his chest rising and falling unsteadily. His mask was off, hair wild, face stained with tears and twisted with grief. He was hurt. The white button up under his suit was bloodied at his side and when she saw the amount of blood splattered against the elevator walls she felt nauseous.
"You're okay . . ." he said, his lips tugging upwards.
Relief washed over her. She threw her arms around his neck, letting a sob wrack her body. The trauma of the night was threatening to catch up with her. She couldn't let it yet. They weren't safe.
"I thought you were dead . . ." he whispered. "I thought he killed you and it was all my fault."
"No," she said. "No, we're okay."
Sirens blared in the distance, causing Teigan to pull away with wide eyes. They both noticed the shadow on the wall of a man holding a gun in front of him coming around the corner. She knew off the first look that it wasn't Grayson. A pit formed in her stomach.
"We have to get out of here," Teigan said, pulling her back into reality. He pulled her with him to the emergency exit a few feet to the elevator. They ran up the steps in sync. Bullets were swiftly missing them by inches. One hit the overhead lights, causing sparks to rain down on them.
Bethany burst through the door and out into the night first. Teigan followed suit urging her to keep running to the car. The parking lot was filled with people - probably because of all the commotion going on inside - but they were all on the opposite side of the building. No one saw Teigan's beastly face, the missing girl willingly getting into the car of the Beast, or the raging - grief ridden brother firing into the night. Only the participants had seen the convoluted events and Bethany was sure that none of them understood the whole story.