The Madrona Heroes Register: Underneath It All

Chapter 41 - The Way Out

Zach was the first to realize what he was hearing. “Come, we’ve got to go, now.” Zach called to Gabe and Cassie to follow him down the ladder. They had been sitting on the other side of the room watching Zach’s efforts to find a way through the wall.

“What is going on?” Cassie asked, sounding frightened.

“I don’t know, but we’ve got to hurry.” Zach insisted.

Gabe headed to the ladder, but the muffled screams from behind the bricks continued and stopped him in his tracks.

“That’s Zoe.” Gabe said. “Zoe’s in trouble.” Gabe started running towards the sound, heading directly to the bricks that Zach had failed to penetrate.

Gabe is going to hurt himself. Zach lunged from his perch at the edge of the hole Zoe had made to grab Gabe before he smashed his slight frame into the brick wall, but missed by inches. Zach landed flat on his stomach.

Cassie watched in horror.

Zach looked up just in time to see Gabe lower his shoulder as he made contact with the bricks. Zach could almost see the bones in Gabe’s body crack under the impact of the collision. Gabe would be hurt very badly.

But that’s not what happened. It took Zach a moment to process the scene. He’d so expected Gabe to be hurt that at first he thought the dust and broken brick that had exploded in a cloud was the wall falling on top of Gabe. But after a moment, it was clear that Gabe had created an enormous hole in the wall by smashing through it as if it was made of paper. After a few seconds, the dust settled some. Zach and Cassie saw Gabe was standing on the other side of the now destroyed wall. Gabe was completely unscathed and trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

While Zoe’s efforts hadn’t distracted Ollie from his task, Gabe’s entrance did. Ollie staggered back a step. The yellow light evaporated from around Rembrandt, and Rembrandt collapsed in a heap on the table on which he’d been frozen. Zoe slid down the post and crumpled onto the basement floor. 

Zach scrambled over the broken bricks with Cassie not far behind. Zach ran to Zoe’s side. Cassie remained on top of the bricks, suddenly quiet.

“Are you okay?” Zach lifted Zoe’s head with his hand?

Penny and Binny rushed over as well, surrounding Zoe with concerned voices. 

“I’m fine. I’ll be fine.” Zoe reassured them, still groggy from the experience. “Where’s Gabe?” Zoe craned her neck to try to find her brother who had suddenly disappeared.

Gabe had already shifted his focus to Ollie. “What did you do to my sister?”

“Nothing.” Ollie spat out. “Nothing. Your sister is nothing. You’re all nothing.”

Binny stepped forward, trying to get between Gabe and Ollie. “Nothing? Nothing? You’re worse than nothing. You kill animals.”

Zoe was weak on her feet but trying to get close to Rembrandt to tend to him. It was hard to tell his state as his eyes were closed, and everyone was covered in dust from the impromptu door Gabe had created.

“Kill them? Kill them? I’m not trying to kill the animals. I’m trying to… I’m trying to…” Ollie’s voice trailed off. 

Zoe had made it as far as Rembrandt. “He’s not dead, but he’s not doing well. You did this!” She pointed at Ollie.

“I can do it without killing him. Don’t you see? He’s not dead.” Ollie protested.

“He’s not dead yet.” Penny corrected Ollie’s assertion.