Love to Die for (SEQUEL)

Chapter 18: Which Path?

"WHO'S DOWN THERE?!"

It was an unrecognizable voice. Most likely one of the guards I hadn't encountered yet. I quickly recoiled off of William, but I was too frozen to move another step. Fearing they would hear my feet.

We looked at each other in paralyzing fear. William looked caught. There was nothing for us to do now but wait. I could only hope this man went away.

THUD. THUD. THUD.

Whoever it was, they were creeping closer to the staircase. Probably right by the door now. Their footsteps were pounding down the wooden floor, practically running. I thought the ceiling was going to collapse.

William suddenly reached into his pocket, I looked at him quizzically. He had a look of confidence smeared across his face and it somewhat reassured me as his hands pulled out the unknown object.

"How is that going to help with anything?!" I whisper-yelled. Was he joking at our possible, last minutes alive?!

"Just be patient. I know what I'm doing."

Dreadfully, we both waited for the loud thumping to approach the doorway. With William's idiotic weapon of choice in his hands, I was sure we were both doomed.

"William, Y/N. Come out now before it becomes worse for both of you." A man covered by the dark, yelled from the top of the staircase.

I looked over at William for some sort of signal or sign to do something. Though instead, he just glared patiently into the man's figure, as if waiting for him.

"This is your last chance—"

"You don't want to come down here."

William fiddled with the 'weapon' and continued frowning at the man, who was now clenching his fists.

"I'm not scared of you." The man scoffed, taking a daring step down.

"You should be."

I looked over at William, just wishing he would shut up. He was going to get us killed! We were definitely outgunned by this guy. I mean, neither of us were even armed! Who knew what he had...

"I warned you, William. Now you and the lady are both gonna have to die." His voice deepened into a menacing tone as he darted towards William and I. I jumped out of the way. Though, William bravely stood and let himself be tackled.

As William was brought to the floor, the man pounced on top of him. I could barely look as I thought Afton was going to be slaughtered right before my eyes.

"HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?"

The hefty man fell off of William and crawled away, suddenly fearful of him. He clutched onto his arm in pain and dropped to the floor.

"What did you do to me?!" The man cried. He was screaming so loud I thought my eardrums would pop. I couldn't see much of his arm because of the darkness but I could tell it was bad. I think I could see bone.

"Let's go, Y/N." William dusted himself off, not even glancing at the man as he walked to the back of the basement. I silently followed as the man continued to wail in agony.

"Will...aren't you worried he's gonna alarm the others?" William's eyes shot up as he began to walk at a faster pace.

"Right over here...there is cellar. We can go that way and make a run for it."

I simply nodded with a few thoughts on my mind. "What was in that bottle? I thought it was just water."

He smirked. "Extremely toxic, acid. It melts the skin right off."

"Why were you carrying that around?" I looked at him, slightly concerned. He had been locked away here for years. I couldn't tell if I was impressed or scared that he managed to get ahold of acid.

William didn't answer as we had inevitably walked to the cellar door.

"It'll open, right?"

"Yes, dear. They can't be locked from the inside."

William slowly pushed on the door, trying his best to be quiet. Though, it was very hard when the man in the back was shouting in pain as loud as can be. I would have thought he would be unconscious by now.

The door opened and revealed the unkept backyard of the building. William grabbed my hand and the both of us climbed out of the basement together.

As he shut the doors behind him, I gratefully took in breaths of fresh air. It felt so good to finally be free again.

"Y/N, we can do that later. We need to go now." William's smile faded into a more serious look. I was a bit sad, but I understood. We had a family to protect and we had to run away with our lives, while we still had them.

"Okay. Where should we go? Aren't they going to be on the lookout for us?"

William looked around. There wasn't many places to go besides the roads or the woods. Neither of us knew what was the better idea. The woods is rather unsafe and might be predictable. Though, those men could be roaming all around the streets right now and we could get caught easily.

"I think we should go in the woods until we are far enough way from this place." William decided. I wasn't very sure of either path myself, so I was fine with going  with whatever he thought.

"The woods...what if we get lost? Isn't that sort of dangerous?"

William sighed, "Both ways are dangerous. I think we have a better chance of going through the woods as they are less likely to see us. Once we are far enough away, maybe we can go out onto the road."

I panicked. "How far is that?! We could be in there for days! Do you even know your way back?!"

As William was about to reassure me once more, we heard faint shouts from the basement. Neither of us dared to take another chance and made a run for the woods.