Carvings

Chapter 17

"From the thumping I can hear, I'm guessing the last two men are coming," Elise said, gripping her brick tighter with anticipation. 

"Why don't we go inside the house? Pretty sure there's lots of ways to knock someone unconscious in there," Seth suggested. They both agreed on it and dashed in. The two sturdy men spotted them as they ascended and followed them in hot pursuit. Elise looked around for her brick but it was nowhere to be found and she couldn't remember if she dropped it so she grabbed the closest thing she could find. A big metal spoon.

One of the men entered the kitchen. The other followed Seth. The man had a goatee and a big curly mop of black hair.

"You want some of this, 'Moppy'?" Elise said and faced her metal spoon at the man. The man looked confused at his title then laughed.

"You, little girl, are going to get into big trouble" Moppy announced with a sly grin.

"You sure about that?"

He walked towards Elise. She aimed the spoon at his face as a clear threat but he grabbed it and twisted her arm behind her back. She let go of the spoon and groaned with pain. Elise kicked her leg back, then rammed her foot hard into his shin painfully. With her other arm, she elbowed his stomach which forced him to let go of her. Elise turned around to face him and waited for the man to get up before pulling open the cabinet door and smacking it into his face. She did it countless times until the man fell to the floor with a bloody nose. Elise kicked him in the stomach for good measure.

"That should be enough," she said before walking over his body and finding her brother.

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Back in the basement, Brayden moved towards Bick.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"And why is that?" Brayden asked narrowing his blue eyes.

"There's a whole barrel of petrol beside me. If I need to, I can light this whole place on fire and we will all die from the explosion" he said. Brayden snorted.

"Yeah right! Like I'm supposed to believe that!"

"Why shouldn't you? This is an illegally constructed lab. I planned to make my way down here so that if I ever got caught, they would never trace my experiments" Wainwright explained. That is true... Brayden thought. He glanced towards the barrel. He dragged his eyes away when he saw Wainwright bring a lighter out of his pocket and flick it on and off intimidating him.

"Now, why don't we just talk this out?" Wainwright asked casually.

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"Seth?" Elise shouted out through the house. She turned around to see if she could spot her brother but nothing came to view. A loud smash was heard.

"In here!" he croaked back. Elise ran through to the dining room to see the man pin Seth down to the ground and grab him by the neck. Seth's face was slowly going pink. Elise raced towards them and lunged herself at the man, knocking him off of her brother. They both landed on the floor with a thud. The man groaned and Elise rubbed her sore backside. He grabbed hold of Elise, his face enraged in red.

"You think you're so tough?" he shouted through gritted teeth. He pulled her up by her arm and slammed her to the wall. Elise groaned as her head banged the wall painfully. Elise began seeing stars and felt warm liquid slowly trickle down her forehead. The stream of red ran down her face as she moaned in pain. Before he could inflict any more wounds Seth brought up a dining chair and threw it at the man. It collapsed on the man's head, making him fall to the ground, unconscious. Elise rubbed her arm and wiped the blood off her face.

"Man that hurt" she muttered as she wiped herself with a dishcloth and threw it into the sink.

"You're telling me" Seth replied, rubbing his red throat. They stood there for a minute in silence just inspecting their bruises. "You okay?" he asked his sister, observing the wound on her head. Elise nodded before shrugging him off embarrassed.

"Aren't we meant to be somewhere?" Elise asked thoughtfully. Seth raised his eyes in thought. He gasped.

"Brayden!" he cried before they both ran down to the basement. The two siblings flew into the room to see their mum, uncle and Leo tied up and Brayden facing Wainwright.

"What on earth did you even do while we were knocking men unconscious upstairs?" she asked as she observed the lack of progress.

"I'm trying!" Brayden cried, exasperated.

"Nice of you to join us," Wainwright muttered sarcastically. Seth ran to his uncle and began untying him.

"Don't!" Brayden shouted.

"Why not?" Elise frowned angrily.

"He'll set this place on fire. He's got petrol and a lighter. This entire place could explode."

Seth immediately stopped in his tracks.

"Brayden, all I need is you. Come with me and I'll let all of them go. Save them the trouble" Wainwright persuaded and flicked his hand towards Seth and them. Brayden looked hesitant. He looked at Elise. She understood what was on his mind.

"Brayden, you're not going with him. Don't even think about it!" she shouted, firmly stepping in between him and Wainwright. She stared at him right in the eye.

"But it's the only way" he said reluctantly. Elise grabbed onto his arm.

"If I say no, then no."

Before Brayden could speak any further, they heard a huge crash upstairs.

"What on earth...?" Wainwright muttered. Brayden and Elise looked at each other before they ran upstairs to see what caused the crash. Wainwright followed them up, worried that Brayden will escape from his grasp.

"What the hell?!" Elise cried as she saw the huge silver car now parked in the hallway. The door of the car opened and out stepped...

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