Fireproof // H.S.

32. Over

Harry sped through the streets following Liam's vague instructions.

"He lives by the Shell gas station on Spruce Street! I don't know his exact location, though!" Liam shouted, holding onto the car handle for dear life.

"Damn it! I just passed Spruce Street!" Harry shouted. Harry made a sharp U-turn and I fell onto Bridget's lap in the backseat. I was in such a hurry I forgot to put my seatbelt on and apparently so did Niall as he crashed into me on the side. I winced in pain as Niall apologized profusely.

"Hang on...I think I see something up ahead! Cop cars!" Liam said excitedly, pointing at the cop cars up ahead. "That must be Drew's house!" Luckily, Drew was only a five minute drive away from Zayn. Well it would've been ten minutes if Harry didn't drive so fast. Harry quickly stopped the car and turned the engine off. We all climbed out of the car and ran towards the front steps of the house. We kicked the door open and were horrified at the scene before us.

Dead police officers littered the floor. I gagged when I saw a man's wide eyes stare into nothing as his throat was slit open and he was bleeding profusely. I could hear him gurgling as he struggled to breathe. My eyes followed the trail of dead bodies to Zayn, who stood at the end of the hallway, his face smeared with blood and his eyes wild. His eyes darted between us and Matt. Poor Matt was held hostage. There was a bloody knife held to this throat.

I looked around for Louis and Drew. I found Drew on the ground face down. There was a pool of blood around him. I was secretly hoping he was dead but at the same time, I wish he wasn't. I didn't even want to think about how he died but it was probably a bullet to the chest. But where was Louis?

"Let him go," Harry said calmly but his voice was shaking. "Zayn, you must stop this now." Zayn readjusted his hold on Matt, who was crying and whimpering.

"He has to die. He's seen too much," Zayn said hastily. Zayn then turned to face Matt and smiled evilly. "He knows our secret. He saw Drew summon fire and he saw what I can do. If you let this man live, he'll tell everyone." My heart was broken. Just one look at Matt told me that what Zayn said was true. Matt was truly terrified of us. To him, we weren't human. We were monsters that were bloodthirsty. There was no way we'd be able to live a normal life if the whole world knew about us. We'll be quarantined--locked away. Deprived of our rights and displayed and experimented on like animals. As much as I hated it, I had to agree with Zayn. Matt had seen too much. But is killing him the answer?

"What good would killing him do, Zayn? He wasn't part of your plan in the first place. Be a nice man and let him go," Bridget pleaded. Matt whimpered in agreement.

"I won't tell anyone, I swear!" Matt shouted. "Please let me go." Matt struggled against Zayn but Zayn tightened his grip on him and pointed the tip of the knife a bit deeper into his skin. I could see a drop of blood slowly trickle from Matt's neck. Matt stood still and breathed heavily.

"Liars! All of you are goddamn liars!" Zayn shouted. "I can't trust anyone anymore!"

"But you can trust your dad, Zayn," I tried to reason. "He loves you. He'll do anything for you. All he wants is for you to be alive and well. Please! Put the knife down. For him." I could see slight uncertainty in his eyes but it quickly disappeared to my despair.

"My dad agrees with what I'm doing," Zayn snarled. "If you knew what was best for you, you'd join me. I'm trying to protect all of us but you're getting in the way."

"But you're doing this all wrong. Violence is not the answer," I said. I took a step closer and Zayn quickly backed away.

"Don't come any closer!" he yelled. Harry held me back. I was hoping we could stall Zayn until reinforcements came. It was taking an unusually long time for backup to come.