Escape {COMPLETE}

~Chapter Twenty-three~

Hannah's P.O.V.

It was almost too much to take in at one time.

Father??

"Can someone please explain this to me?!"

Blaze chuckled with a crazed look in his eye. That gave me chills. "With pleasure."

"Erin," He started, "I have killed so many people in my life that I've lost track. I've tortured them, gutted them like fishes, and--on occasion--been forced to burn them alive. All by this demonic entity that I just killed. When I was born, my mother abandoned me and him. He's my father. His blood runs through me."

We stared, astonished, at him. He was still pretty beat up from earlier, but he was immensely triumphant. "Ah, ah, that's not all, not by a long shot."

"I used to live in Hell--literally! Erin, I know that sometimes you feel like you've been living in hell, but.....just trust me, you don't know what Hell is until you've been there. It's worse than anything you could ever imagine. Every bad thing that has ever happened to you, every injury, every ounce of pain is amplified to infinity. It's horrible. None of you sorry-ass kids want to end up there." He motioned to the lot of us.

"Right, now. Time to escape."

I did a double take.

"You're gonna help us escape?? B-but I thought-"

"That I was working with him?" He interrupted. "I was working for him. Now, he's not in the picture anymore." He walked over to us and started to help us up, one by one.

"I know you can't tell, but he cast a spell on you guys," Blaze muttered. "It looks like he put you in invisible chains." He concluded as he examined our wrists. "Luckily, I inherited some of his power, so I can take them off. Hold still....."

He raised his hands and they started shaking. We stared at him, waiting for what felt like an eternity for something to happen. Finally, we heard the actual clinking of chains--as if some were rattling to the ground. We saw nothing, but we could even feel our wrists become lighter. He puffed out the air he'd been holding and his face turned red. His hands fell limp to his sides.

"Phew, magic takes a lot outta you," He mumbled. "Alright, let's go!"

We stepped lightly around the rubble that surrounded us and made our way into the woods. After aimlessly walking around for a few minutes, we realized we had absolutely no idea where we were going. We just hoped to God we were going in the right direction....

"When will we be there?" Anna asked quietly, scared. "I-I'm not exactly sure...." Blaze replied softly. "But we'll find our way out of here, eventually," He added.

As we were walking, I occasionally brushed shoulders with Patrick. I shot daggers at him with icy glares and instantly moved as far away from him as I could get. Walker would sometimes accidentally come near me, but the awkwardness was too great to bear. I mostly walked with Erin and Nick.

We had to travel through many bramble thickets and sharp bushes as we travelled. It was long, tiring, and we eventually became parched and starved. We stumbled upon a river at one point and decided to camp out there.

"We need some people to go back to the house and get supplies....I can't believe I forgot them when I left," Blaze inwardly kicked himself. I could tell he was angry that he needed people to go back to that wretched hellhole. "Can I get any volunteers who'll be willing to go back? We'll be right here."

Walker raised an unsure hand, and so did Anna. Rachel also volunteered. Then, after those three, my hand shot up at the same time Patrick's did. I groaned audibly. He scowled at me from across the others. Nick sensed the unease and decided to stay behind with Erin and Blaze. I was sort of regretting not staying behind as we made our way back from whence we came.