Hell's Prison

Chapter 19

Messy Timing

Jabari turned around to notice Lexus pointing at spilled food on the floor.

"Somebody must've been just in here." Lexus assumed with her intuition.

Jabari and Lexus both walked over to check out the scene. Tamara slowly walked inside the room and scoped out the kitchen area. She had a bad feeling about the situation.

"Hold up. Does it seem cold in here to y'all?" Tamara asked curiously.

"Oh snap! I thought it was just me." Lexus responded with surprise.

She began to warm herself by rubbing herself with her hands smoothly up her arms. Then, Jabari noticed where the rest of the muddy footsteps led. Straight to the front door of the walk-in freezer.

"What...the..." Jabari said as he peeped inside the freezer glass window.

As soon as he saw the two bodies of Spencer and Jasmine on the floor freezing with their eyes closed, Jabari unlocked the latch and swung the door open.

"Who's in there?" Tamara asked curiously.

Lexus rushed over to the walk-in freezer next to Jabari. After the freezer door was open, Jabari ran over to pick up Jasmine. Spencer's eyes slowly opened and to his surprise, he saw Jabari, Lexus, and Tamara standing there like saviors.

"Bout time!" Spencer coughed out hoarsely.

Then, he stood up slowly as Lexus and Tamara helped him up and headed out of the freezer.

"You're alive! We thought we were too late." Tamara mentioned as Spencer walked to the middle of the kitchen.

Jabari placed Jasmine down in front of the oven on the kitchen floor. Lexus switched the oven on and opened the oven door to allow heat to flow inside the room.

"How long have y'all been in there?" Lexus questioned Spencer.

Spencer had sat on top of the kitchen countertop in front of the oven to receive heat to his body also.

"I don't know. Maybe an hour." Spencer answered unsurely.

"She may not be alive, Jabari." Lexus suggested sadly.

Jabari was down on his knees rubbing his hands against Jasmine's ice-cold body.

"No, she's not!" Jabari yelled unintentionally.

Tamara got up and walked her way over to Jasmine's body to place her finger against her neck to check the pulse. After a few seconds, Tamara lifted her hand and a tear fell from her eye.

"She's dead. It's only us now." Tamara whispered softly.

Lexus and Spencer just sat on the kitchen counter quietly. Jabari stood up and walked to the corner of the room, then he came back and picked up Jasmine's body.

"Spencer, slide over." Jabari demanded calmly.

Spencer struggled to stand up. His body was still somewhat frozen. Luckily for him, his layers of body fat saved his life.

"I tried to keep her warm but..." Spencer admitted deeply.

"It wasn't your fault. You did everything you could." Jabari stated honestly.

"Yeah, we have to get out of here soon." Lexus reminded everyone.

Spencer and Tamara both got up shortly after making eye contact. Next thing they knew, the speaker turned on. BOOP! BOOP! The intercom came on again and caught their attention.

"Well, well, well. It seems like you're all alive except for that poor, young lady there." The killer spoke carelessly.

Suddenly, Jabari began looking for an object in the kitchen. Scoping the room as the others listened to the announcement from the deranged killer.

"I'm surprised you all found each other in time. Even though you're all together now, you still have to find a way out." The killer continued.

"Let's go y'all!" Lexus insisted loudly as she made her way out of the kitchen.

BOOM! There were a few loud thuds. Everyone turned around to see Jabari breaking the intercom. In the process, he cut off the undesired speech of the faceless voice.

"Yeah, let's go kill his ass!" Jabari suggested angrily.

Lexus walked over to Jabari who was holding an axe he found by a fire extinguisher in the kitchen. She grabbed his shoulder.

"Look, I'm with you on finding this guy. But we're all not in the right condition to try to face him. We need to find the way out more than anything." Lexus spoke honestly.

Tamara who was standing next to Spencer with pure anxiety in her eyes.

"I agree with Lexus." Tamara added softly.

Hearing the opinions of Lexus and Tamara, Jabari knew they were right about the current situation.

"Alright, y'all go ahead. I'll go after him." Jabari mentioned confidently.

Spencer's eyes widened at the response of Jabari. It was crazy of him to go alone against the masked killer.

"That's insane!" Spencer yelled loudly.

"Well, somebody gotta do it!" Jabari snapped back.

Tamara shook her head and pulled her long, sleek hair to tie it all in a ponytail.

"Do what you wish, but I'm looking for the way out. Not death." Tamara replied truthfully after changing her mind.

"Yeah, I damn sure ain't trying to end up in a freezer again." Spencer commented while shivering still.

At this point, Jabari didn't care if he was going to die or not. All he wanted was to take his chance and fight back.

"So, we're leaving. We can't make you come with us, but we're not going down that route." Tamara added shamelessly.

"He's not going alone! I won't have his death on my conscious. At least with me, he'll have more of a chance of surviving." Lexus announced after she thought about her decision.

Jabari looked as if he was surprised to have somebody to back him up. He could always count on Lexus to be there whenever he needed help and she hasn't failed him yet.

"Well, if you manage to survive, come find us. We might still be in there." Spencer suggested.

"Okay. This is where we go our separate ways then. You two be careful." Jabari said calmly.

Spencer walked up to Jabari and put his hand out.

"Thanks for saving my life!" Spencer admitted deeply.

Jabari shook Spencer's hand with a firm grip.

"No problem. You'd do the same...Probably." Jabari mentioned sincerely.

Tamara walked up to Lexus and hugged her. After a brief moment, she let go and stood next to Spencer.

"If we make it out alive, we should go on a date." Lexus suggested jokingly.

"Maybe." Tamara responded with a giggle.

"Take this axe with you. You don't want to get caught empty handed." Jabari mentioned as he passed the axe off to Spencer.

Spencer grabbed the axe and made his way to the exit with Tamara following closely behind. Then, Lexus and Jabari walked to the hallway and took a different direction.

"Thanks for coming with me." Jabari thanked Lexus.

"Don't make me regret it." She replied as she took the gun from behind her belt strap on her blue jean shorts.

"You won't cause we're going to make it. I had a feeling you liked Tamara too." Jabari confessed.

"Shit, I thought it was obvious." Lexus said with a laugh.

"It kinda was. Just a little bit. Now, let's go kill this guy." Jabari insisted boldly.