The Clean Ones

Chapter 13

It was 5:30 in the morning.

I was still hiding in the broom closet.

Every ten minutes a gun would go off, followed by another, and then, one more. It was lucky enough that I was able to even make it down the spiraling staircase and into the broom closet underneath it.

What was going on?

I glanced at the small clock one last time; 5:40, it read. If I didn't hurry, I wouldn't make it to the Mayor in time.

Head into the library and push the third bookcase aside. There's a set of stairs behind there that'll lead you to an underground escape. I'll meet you down there. He was trusting me to meet him there, the library, which was on the opposite side of the ground floor from Mayor Johnson's office. I wouldn't have the time to run and tell him.

I had to choose.

If I went with Cale, I was almost guaranteed safety. If I could just make it to that underground route, we could get out of here and we'd be okay, at least for a little bit.

I just hope that even after everything, by some miracle you'll forgive me.

If I went with Cale, I would never know what I needed to forgive him for.

I would never find out how Mayor Johnson recognized me.

Even worse, (much, much worse) than that, I would let Liam down.

I would never know what happened to him.

I pulled my jacket and boots back on, both of which I had kicked off into the depths of the closet. Slowly, I unlatched the closet door and pulled my body through the opening.

The mansion was eerily quiet. Not even so much as the faint chirp of a mouse clouded the looming sleepiness that had replaced the sudden chaos only minutes ago. Every minuscule footstep I took sounded the equivalent of a million larger ones as my thick boots made contact with the marble flooring.
As I lifted my foot to take another step, a different set of feet beat me to it. I spun around on my heels and ducked just in time for a flaming, silver bullet to graze the top of my head.

Run.

I sprinted hard than I ever had before. I didn't know where I was running. All I knew is that I couldn't stop. I was a field of flowers and they were a colony of bees on the brink of starvation.

Of course, I would be the one that would trip over her own feet.

I looked down and screamed. I screamed and screamed and screamed.

I'd expected to land face first on the marble floor, a horror that physical hurt to imagine. But no, this was much, much worse than that.

The only thing worse than breaking your nose on marble flooring is breaking your nose on top of a pile of corpses.

I couldn't breathe. I stopped screaming, trying to catch my breath, but as my lungs caught up with my body, it was their turn to scream like a kettle on a stove.

I scrambled to my feet and made a beeline for the Mayor's office.

Much to my advantage, the office was only at the end of the hall. There were no more corpses, only blood streaked across the walls and floor. I should've gone to Cale I should've gone to Cale I should've gone. God, why was I so stupid?

Please don't let it color your judgement of me too much.

I couldn't push Cale's plea out of my mind. What did he even mean? Surely whatever the Mayor intended to tell me wouldn't be detrimental to us in any way... Would it? I kept
holding on to the fact that we would be okay. That whatever information was thrown at us, we would get through it together. But, that was the problem. We weren't together.
It's your choice, I reminded myself. You could've gone with them. You could've been safe. Now look what you've gotten yourself into.

I questioned whether or not I'd ever see him again.

The door to the Mayor's office was firmly locked. I jiggled the handle as much as I good before another ear-splitting gunshot rattled through the entire house. Immediately I dropped to my knees, covered my ears, and screamed again. Why wouldn't it stop?

"Make it stop," I muttered. Shaking. "Make it stop, make it stop!"

I reached for the door handle again, but it wouldn't open.

Another shot. As I looked back down the hallway, the body of a guard came flying through the air and landed smack against a wall.

"Make it stop!" I screeched again. I kicked and pounded and banged against the door, but nothing would get it to open. The bodies kept piling on top of each other, one by one by one, all nameless faces.

"When will this end?! Just let me in!" I pounded my fist against the door as hard as I could.

The glass handle fell off the door and shattered into a million pieces right before my eyes.

There was no getting into the room.

"Looking for someone?" I turned around, slowly, to meet the eyes of the person who spoke.

Their honey blonde hair stuck up in all directions, revealing their wild, bloodshot eyes.

"L...Liam?" I stuttered.

"Your turn." He cooed. A sadistic smiled played amongst his lips as he shakily lifted the gun in front of my face and didn't hesitate for a single moment.