What Lies Beneath

Chapter Fifty-Two: Defeat

Karen and Wyatt huddled together frozen in fear as Charlie stood only a few feet away. Blood seeped through his skin and onto his shirt. His eyes were deadlocked on them, but he stood unmoving. In one hand he held his blood and wood speckled axe, while in the other, like a stake ready to rip all the life out of them, was the large shard of chair he had pulled from his own chest.

Time moved slower and slower with each breath that he took. Wyatt and Karen knew that there was nothing that either of them could do to stop the onslaught that was about to take place. Karen thought of begging for their lives but knew that it was pointless. Charlie was clearly determined to kill them. Nothing she could possibly say would change the outcome of events that had been set into motion.

Wyatt's eyes scanned the room for anything that could be used as a weapon. Like Karen, he too came up empty. Their demise was imminent. Wyatt wanted to scream at the universe but, how could he? The choices that led him to this place were all his. He had chosen to leave his boys home and enter this living nightmare. He was the one who chose not to listen to Sophie when she said they should leave. He was also the one who chose to throw himself and Karen in this room with no escape plan. The universe was not the one at fault, it was him and his reckless decision making that landed them into this fire.

Charlie grunted at the pain as he took a step forward. His body was on fire, but he was on a mission. There was no time to indulge the pain that was radiating throughout his body. His prey was waiting for him.

Each step forward was like walking through quick drying cement. The more he tried to move the more blood would beat from his wound. He didn't have time for this. With his next step, his head began to swim. Darkness tried to push its way into his vision, but he willed it away. They were so close.

Wyatt and Karen looked on in horrific wonder as Charlie took three steps toward them only to trip over his feet and fling his body to the ground. The impact caused his hands to loosen and his weapons to slide off in either direction. Charlie groaned in pain as he tried to pick himself back off the floor, but the weight of gravity was too much for his weakened condition. His hands slipped out from under him, leaving him back where he started.

Karen looked up at Wyatt, too afraid to speak. She wanted to escape the room while their attacker was incapacitated, but what if it was a game. What if Charlie was toying with them? Wyatt's eyes were fixed on Charlie who was motionless on the floor. He shared the same concern as Karen. He didn't want to fall into yet another trap in this ridiculous house of horrors. Wyatt knew that they weren't going to get anywhere by waiting for him to recover enough to come at them again, or for him bleed out. Their only hope was to brave past his body and pray to God that they would make it out safely.

Wyatt looked down at Karen whose gaze was still transfixed on him and nodded reassurance. They were going to have to make a run for it. Karen understood the look of determination in his eyes. This could turn out awful, but they needed to try. If they didn't, then they would die.

Joe watched as Delphine knelt by a pile of ashes and began to weep. He wanted to ask who it was, but the energy in the room was one of mourning, not questioning. He wanted, no, he needed to know so many things. The house was keeping them, but why? There was so much he didn't understand. He knew that the house kept those who died within and outside its walls alive in a ghostly form, but for what purpose? If the house needed them, then why did it insist on snuffing out their mortal lives?

"I guess you were telling the truth after all." A boy appeared around the corner. His hand rubbed the back of his neck as his eyes focused on Delphine.

"I tried to tell you. I'm so sorry." Delphine stood, wiping away her tears.

"I know, I guess I'm more stubborn than I thought." The boy moved closer. Joe wondered if this was the boy that she was talking about earlier.

"Was it painful?" It was an odd question for her to ask, but she needed to know.

"Well, I did get burned alive, so I think I'm gonna have to go with yes." The boy offered Delphine a half smile as he stopped in front of her. Without taking a moment to respond, Delphine wrapped her arms around him and began to sob. In return, the boy pulled her into his chest and ran his hand through her curly red hair. "It's okay Delphine. Everything is going to be okay."

"How?" Her voice was muffled by his shirt. Joe found himself mentally asking the same question. How was everything going to be fine? This house was killing children left and right and now its latest victim was saying that everything was going to be fine? If Joe was still alive, he was sure that he would have a major headache by now.

"I don't know. There was a girl here earlier. She thought I was someone else, but the way she wept for that person. I have to believe that things are going to work out." A single tear slid down the boy's cheek as he spoke.

"Who was it?"

"I think her name was Sophie. I can't be sure; I only heard the house whisper it in passing."

"Who's Sophie?" It was Joe's turn to speak. The boy and Delphine turned their attention from each other to Joe.

"She's the blonde girl you came here to save. She is the one that is going to save us all." It was Delphine who answered the question.

Sophie weaved through the obstacle course that was the houses maze of hallways and abandoned rooms. She needed to find Wyatt. She needed to hug him and tell him how sorry she was for getting lost. Part of her even missed Karen and Paul. She wanted to make sure that they were all okay. After seeing the end result of what this place did to people, she couldn't bear the thought of it happening to someone she actually knew.

She felt horrible for Greyson and she would be sure to have some sort of funeral for him later, but right now she needed to find her friends and help them escape.

It had been so long since she'd seen any of them. She had watched the sun set and rise a few times since they first split up. There was a lot that she still didn't understand about this place, but one of her main questions was, what happened to the two old ladies who were constantly up in their business. It didn't make sense that they hadn't come around looking for the missing children. Were they as lost as them? It didn't make sense that they would be considering this was their house, but even owners of a maze can get lost in it too. Then again, the way that things were going in this house, the most probable answer was that they were dead.

Sophie had been wandering these halls for a very long time and if there was one thing, she was certain about, it was that this house wasn't shy when it came to murder. It was this thought that caused her to mentally start kicking herself again for not leaving when she had the chance.

Jason stood by one of the many windows that seemed to litter the house. He was hoping for some fresh air, but the damn thing wouldn't budge. He jabbed at it with his knife to see if he could pry it open that way, but even his sharpened blade had no effect. This house was really starting to piss him off.

The sun was beaming down over the dense forest of trees that circled the exterior of the house. He wanted to feel its heat on his face without the protection of glass. Jason had spent the majority of his life looking out through barred windows, unable to feel the warmth of the sun. Now that he was free of those bars all he wanted was to kill and feel the sun.

The house refused to present him with the opportunity to do the former and now it wouldn't let him have the latter. Rage built up inside his broad chest. If the house wouldn't let him have what he wanted, then he would just have to tear it down to the studs that held it up.

With that thought still fresh in his mind, Jason took his knife and stabbed it into the plaster around the window and began carving. If the window wouldn't open in the traditional sense, then he would start by cutting it out of the house.

WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE: SURRENDER WILL BE HERE TOMORROW!!!!

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