Lego House

xxvi. Disappear

A flicker of hope sparks in Rose when she sees the first familiar face. "Jarrett!" she calls, but he's unresponsive. She frowns, about to approach him when she sees Maust travelling behind him, head held high but with a clear scowl. Maust's mouth moves, followed by a swift hand gesture, and Jarrett is running towards where Rose had just escaped from. He's raising a gun. He's shooting – he shot Lynda.

Rose can't help the screech that leaves her lips. In a movie, perhaps that would have been the moment everything silenced and everyone's eyes travelled to her. But nothing that drastic happened. Perhaps something worse. But nothing overly dramatic. Maust is the only one who hears. She can't help herself, she sprints towards him. His eyes are trained on her but he doesn't move. He raises his hands as she raises her gun. "Could you really shoot a defenceless man?"

"Defenceless, hey?" she scoffs, narrowing her eyes at him and placing her finger on the trigger. "You could have me arrested at this instance. I dare not say that that is defenceless."

"Well, yes, but my army is out fighting for me. Did you see little Jarrett? What a gem, he's so fierce." Rose grits her teeth, infuriated. "Well, I'm supposing you're not going to shoot me, right? Because you haven't yet."

"Where's my sister?" she demands. Maust's lips curl into a satisfied grin.

"Ah, that's why I'm not dead yet. However, the answer to that question is confidential." Rose's eyes flick to the wall behind Maust before she pushes him straight into it. He laughs after he recovers from being winded.

"Tell me where my sister is," she growls, her forehead almost touching his. She raises the gun to the side of his head. He doesn't look the slightest bit fazed. Maybe he can see her hand shaking. Maybe he's catching her bluff.

"Truth of the matter is I have no idea where she is." She doesn't move. He doesn't move. She doesn't believe him. He sighs, rolling her eyes. His breath hits her face, a swirl of peppermint and onion. Repulsive. "You see, two hours or so ago, her little boyfriend – or is he Autumn's, I lose track – set off the same alarm that's ringing right this moment because he had to break her and his stupid little sister out of their rooms. So, really, I have no idea." She growls and he shrugs. "Ask Jarrett," he taunts with a mocking smile. She slams the butt of the gun into his head and he crumples to the floor, unconscious. She kicks him and he falls away from the wall.

"Fine, I'll look for them myself," she hisses, almost spitting at him but realising she has to go before anyone else spots her. She takes off, feeling the click of her thick combat boots. Autumn's. She's had them this whole time, taken care of them as if they're her children. A piece of a friend as a memory. Just in case. She doesn't want to brace herself for the worst, though. She doesn't even want to think about the worst.

The hallways are empty. "Irisa?" she calls and she hears a shuffle. "Ley?" Another shuffle. She turns around and immediately raises her gun at not seeing a tall blonde or a small child. Michael raises his hands in surrender, followed by Paul.

"We heard you calling so we decided we'd join you. However, we're not searching for the second on our list of priorities. We're searching for the first," Paul says, sounding as if he's trying to keep it light – but hopelessly failing.

"Well just because saving the world is first on your list doesn't mean it's first on mine," she mutters under her breath, rolling her eyes as she turns and motions for them to follow. The sounds of the alarms are fading away, along with the bright red lights. She figures Ris would be smart enough to travel this far down. She pulls a torch out of the pockets of her pants. She hears a grunt of approval from behind her. No one else would have thought to bring a bloody torch. Even though they were travelling at night. And they were available for packing.