Empty Bodies 3: Deliverance (Empty Bodies Series Book 3) (17 page)

David waited until he heard the back door open and close, and then instead of racing out the front door to help defend the farm, he turned and darted up the stairs.

Opening the various doors, he started to check the rooms. The first two he opened were vacant. Upon opening the third door, he came across the two girls who’d been looking out the window with him just moments earlier. They each sat staring at him from the edges of their respective beds. Without saying a word, he closed the door and tried the next room.

When he went to turn the knob to the next door, it was locked, and he noticed it was dead-bolted from the outside. He unlocked the door, swung it open, and found who he was looking for.

Dylan, the young child who’d been with Will and Marcus’ group, lay on the bed, curled up and covering his ears. When he heard the door open, he sat up and stared at David.

“What’s going on out there?” Dylan asked. “What do you want?”

Without a word, David hurried over and grabbed the boy.

“Stop! Leave me alone!” Dylan shouted, pounding his fists against David.

David sat the boy up straight on the bed. With one hand, he grasped Dylan’s collar. With the other, he brought the cold barrel of the gun up to the child’s nose.

“Listen to me. You’re gonna shut your little fuckin’ mouth and come with me, you got that? And if I hear one more peep outta you, I’m gonna clock you over the side of the head with this. Hell, I might just shoot you.”

The boy’s mouth fell open, and David could see from his expression that he understood. He grabbed the child by the wrist and dragged him out of the room.

Upon exiting, he headed for the stairs, pulling Dylan behind him. Just as he approached the top of the staircase, the front door swung open. David moved into a nearby doorway and covered the young boy’s mouth before he could call out. He looked around the corner and down the stairs, and flashed a small grin when he saw who’d entered the house.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Gabriel

“Give me some cover,” Gabriel said.

At his request, Will had pulled up to the front of the house so Gabriel could run inside and search for Dylan. In the bed of the truck, Marcus had ducked down, exchanging fire with the men on the other side of the yard.

Will readied a rifle and Marcus did the same in the bed of the truck, preparing to provide cover for Gabriel to run inside the house. In the back seat, Holly worked to try and calm Sarah down.

“Go!” Will shouted.

Gabriel swung open the door of the truck as Will and Marcus fired. He looked toward the door and made a run for it. Shots ricocheted off one of the beams that held up the patio, chipping away a chunk of the painted white wood. He reached the front door and found cover.

He knelt down by the door as Will turned the truck around, gunshots continuing to ping off the side of it, and headed toward the middle of the yard.

Gabriel opened the front door.

***

Just inside the house, he saw that the bottom floor appeared to be empty. To his left, Gabriel saw an old dining room table and a kitchen with dirty dishes stacked as tall as him sitting in the sink. In the other direction, an old beat-up couch sat in front of an old tube television. Directly in front of him was a set of stairs.

Gabriel stood in front of the staircase, unsure whether to check the top or the bottom level of the house. Gunshots rang outside, urging him to make a decision.

He took a deep breath and mounted the first step. The faded wooden stairs creaked as he walked, showing their age. He moved carefully, trying to mute his steps, but it was of no use.

Once he reached the top of the stairs, Gabriel took a moment to scan the long, slender hallway. Doors were set into either wall, each one closed. The floor was made up of more of the same old, wood paneling, photos on the wall looking like they hadn’t been dusted in years. He held the pistol up in front of his face, ready to fire at any threat he came across.

He opened the door nearest him and moved through the entrance quickly, his finger itching the trigger. Though the room look to have been occupied recently, with blankets and sheets a mess on the bed and clothes tossed on the floor next to it, the room was vacant.

Gabriel moved to the next room, opening the door to reveal an empty bathroom.

His heart raced, knowing that at any moment he could open one of the doors and be face to face with someone ready to hurt him. On the flip side, he could find Dylan, who he knew had to be in the house somewhere. He was tempted to call to him.

The game that was becoming a kind of Russian roulette continued when he opened the next door. Gabriel peeked inside to see two teenage girls sitting on the edge of two beds. They wore identical outfits, each with the same stoic expression across their faces. Neither girl even flinched when Gabriel entered.

He started to speak, but one of the girls slowly raised her arm and pointed out into the hallway.

He moved to the side and turned around to see a door. When he looked back to the young girl, she still pointed out to the hallway, directly at the same door.

“Is there a boy in there?” he asked.

Neither girl responded, but the other girl now lifted up her arm and pointed to the same place.

Gabriel turned out of the room and moved across the hallway. He reached for the handle, turned it, and pulled. His eyes widened.

“Dylan.”

The boy sat on the floor of a small linen closet, not making a noise. He wasn’t tied up or gagged, so Gabriel assumed he had been hiding.

“Let’s get you out of here.”

Just as Gabriel leaned down to pick the boy up, the floor creaked and he heard a forceful grunt. He turned just in time to see David Ellis lunging at him with a knife. Gabriel dodged, avoiding most the blow, but the knife still grazed his shoulder blade, ripping his shirt and cutting him so that he grimaced.

David struck again, leaving Gabriel no time to tend to his wound. This time, Gabriel managed to roll out of the way, causing David to miss all together. But in the process, Gabriel’s gun fell from his waist, sliding into the open room with the two young girls.

When he got to his feet, he stood less than ten feet away from David. Gabriel had no weapon left, while David tossed his knife from hand to hand. Looking to David’s belt, Gabriel noticed that the man also carried a handgun.

“I’m gonna enjoy butchering you,” David said.

Gabriel fought for each breath. His back was to the dead end of the hall, and he was looking toward the stairs beyond David. Behind him were rooms he’d yet to check, and for all he knew, there could be others waiting in there, and he’d be surrounded. David lunged toward him, and when Gabriel gasped and jumped back, David laughed.

“This is gonna be way too fuckin’ easy,” David said.

Raising the knife, David came at Gabriel.

Gabriel’s eyes went wide, and he was able to maneuver away from the blow. He ended up beside David and punched him in the kidney. David winced, then turned toward Gabriel and stabbed at him again. Gabriel caught David’s wrist, then used his free hand to grab David’s shirt at the shoulder and drive him against the wall. David struggled to try and use his free hand to punch Gabriel, but he fought it off, all the while managing to keep the knife from driving into him. Feeling like he was about to lose leverage, Gabriel brought his knee up into David’s gut, which was enough of a shock to make the man drop the knife.

Gabriel pulled at David and then jammed him against the wall on the opposite side of the hallway. With David stunned, Gabriel delivered a blow directly below his left eye. It only managed to hold David back for a moment, as he reared back and delivered his own right hook, connecting with the side of Gabriel’s face.

The two men now found themselves engaged in a fist fight, trading punches and throwing each other against the walls to each side, both men bleeding from their cheeks.

Ducking a hook, David was able to grab the back of Gabriel’s head and slam him against the wall. Gabriel could hear his own nose crunch against the drywall, and it felt like the entire thing turned inside-out and drove into his brain. He crumbled to the ground.

Gabriel writhed on the wooden floor, blood pooling from his nostrils. He put his hand to his face, and it came back crimson. Then he felt an intense pain in his ribcage as David kicked him in his left side.

“You’re fucking useless,” David said, spitting down at the ground right next to Gabriel.

Gabriel curled into a ball, clutching his side. He felt the blood continue to pour from his broken nose, collecting on the wooden floor. He struggled to breathe, fighting for every breath as his lungs felt like they punched at his beaten ribs. When he heard a click, he looked up.

David stood over him, the barrel of a Glock pointed squarely at his head. David’s mouth crescendoed into a smile as their eyes met.

“I should have already done this when I had the chance,” David said. “At least I got to kick your ass around a bit before watching you die.”

Gabriel tensed every muscle in his body, closed his eyes, and looked away. He thought of Katie and Sarah. He wondered if they were still out there somewhere, trying to survive like he was. Were they waiting for him? Were they out trying to find him? Then, another thought came to him. He pondered whether his beautiful wife and daughter might, perhaps, be awaiting him in the afterlife.

As these questions held his focus, Gabriel heard a yell and then felt the weight of someone on top of him. He grimaced again, his body still aching from the fight.

“Boy, you better get the hell outta the way right now,” David said.

David glared at Dylan, who shielded Gabriel’s body.

“Please, don’t hurt him,” Dylan said.

David scoffed, and then Gabriel, barely able to look up from the ground, felt the boy begin to struggle as David worked to pull him off the injured man beneath him.

The weight of Dylan left Gabriel, and he looked up to see David clutching the boy with his free hand while he reacquainted the barrel of the Glock with its target.

A gunshot sounded, and Gabriel flinched, closing his eyes and awaiting an intense pain—a burn.

But he didn’t feel anything.

The gunshot hadn’t come from David’s gun. Gabriel looked up to see David looking back and forth between his target and something behind him. He’d finally let Dylan go, but now held him by the arm at his side.

Gabriel fought to look around David, and he finally saw where the shot had come from.

The two young girls who’d been sitting in the room now stood side by side, just outside the doorway. One of them, the older looking of the two, had Gabriel’s handgun fixed on David.

“Sweetie, put the gun down,” David said in a cordial manner.

The girl ignored David, keeping the gun pointed at him.

“Hand over the gun. I won’t hurt you.”

David reached out to try and wrangle the gun from the child, and Gabriel startled when the gun went off again. She’d shot just beyond David, seemingly missing him on purpose once more as another warning, and blowing a hole in the wall just behind Gabriel. Gabriel hoped it would be his last warning.

“No more killing,” the girl not holding the weapon, said. “Leave.” Her tone was mumbled and gentle.

David looked back down toward Gabriel and scowled. He backed away, heading towards the stairs. Dylan cried out for Gabriel, and David covered the boy’s mouth. The girls apparently didn’t care if David took the child; they just wouldn’t allow Gabriel to die here in front of them.

“Not gonna be so lucky next time,” David said.

Gabriel scratched at the wood floor, trying desperately to make it to his feet. Even with his mouth muted, Dylan continued to cry a muffled scream. But Gabriel didn’t have it in him to get to stand.

He watched David and Dylan disappear down the stairs, and then he passed out.