Ghosts

Chapter 20

The abandoned fertilizer building stared back at the young woman as she stepped out of the forested area after traversing for who knows how long. What was happening behind those walls, she wondered, or worst, what had happened. At this point, both her parents and Rush could have already been lying in a pool of their own blood and she was just the finishing touch. Mai's fingers clenched tightly around the trigger of her father's sniper. She wasn't sure what good this would do in such close quarters but she was taking one of both Twins down today. If anything, she had her trustee knife that Rush had gifted her. Thinking of Rush in their clutches again made her stomach twist and turn, but her parents- her whole world was collapsing in on itself just thinking about it.

Mai began her search around the outer grounds before realizing they must be at the uppermost level, a flight of stairs staring at her blatantly in the face. With each step, her mind went back and forth - They're still alive. They're dead. They're just injured. They're torn to shreds. Perhaps she was destined to wander through this life of tragedy and loss. A life full of blood and violence. She came upon the last platform leading to the door where all the rest of her answers hid behind.

With one last breath, she pushed open the door.

She had initially anticipated someone on waiting on the other side, ready to strike her down immediately, but the Twin's were overgrown children, wanting to play with their food before devouring it.

Lou was pacing between her parents and Rush, each one bound and forced on their knees in a row. Lou, as she passed, had her hand brushing against each individual's shoulder. Her mother's eyes were sealed shut, her father whispering something to her. Assurances maybe. Last words. Her father had a black eye, as swelling near his upper lip. Her mother's scars she had collected over the years on her face had reopened, blood seeping down. Thomas however seemed to have the worst of it: he stared on ahead with a brave face, well, as brave as one could be in the face of impending death. The swelling and bruising around his face made it hard to tell in all actuality if he was even looking at anything at all. Out of context, it looked as if he had been stung by hundreds of bees, his face hardly recognizable. Lou began her second bout as Mickey stood idly off in the corner, watching amusingly.

"There you are rabbit." she spoke, almost laughing.

Her father's head turned towards her, panic grappling his eyes, "Get out of here, now!"

Lou knocked her father over the head, sending him colliding to the ground. Mai grasped her weapon ready to jump into the fray but a noise coming from Mickey's direction gave her reason to pause.

Mickey stood behind rush, shotgun in hand and pressed directly against the back of his head, "I wouldn't do that. Why don't you put your weapons down. Relax and stay a while."

Mickey moved the gun away from run, gesturing to the center of the room. There, Mai saw a pair of handcuffs hanging from the ceiling. Her nostrils flared while she bit her tongue, trying to hide the rising fear inside of her. She placed her gun down, as well as her knife before doing as she was told. She tried to avoid her father and Rush's eyes, both of them looking on in disbelief. With all three of their lives on the line, Mai could not afford one misstep. Nothing that may make the two sister's trigger happy.

"See?" Mickey continued to muse, "I told you Dove was good for something other than racing."

Lou huffed a non-verbal response. Mai's initial assumptions were correct. Dove was an inside man, and Mai let her get to her. Told her who was most valuable to her, who she loved. Then she took that information and ratted out to the Twins. Mai knew that if she somehow managed to get out of this alive, Dove was next on her list of problems to take care of.