The Christmas Killings ♕ dancemoms

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

As Chloe's finger yanked on the trigger, Thomas began to run. The seconds flashed before Brynn's eyes, as she stood, frozen, her body moving far too slowly.

She saw what would happen; Thomas would take the fired bullet straight to the heart and fall to the ground. If it was a movie, she'd crouch at his side and confess her undying love for him, but it wasn't, so she'd take the path she knew he'd wanted her to, and run away, dashing back through the dark mine passages until she reached the house.

Chloe would chase behind her, probably shooting wildly, and just maybe she'd hit Brynn. And Thomas would die, with no one around him, and become just another body in the already filled room.

But none of that happened.

Chloe's finger pulled uselessly on the trigger, and Thomas hit the ground with a thump due to gravity, not being hit in the heart.

The room stood in silence for a moment, as Chloe muttered under her breath, cursing the gun. She yanked on the the trigger again, but once more, no bullet fired. She'd run out of ammunition.

The silence only lasted a second though, as suddenly the screaming voices of Brynn and Thomas' friends echoed through the cavern. Never before had Brynn been so glad to see Kenzie and Ezra, as she watched them run into the room. Together, they tackled Chloe down, sending her tumbling to the hard rock floor. The sheer shock of it made Chloe easy to push over, and Kenzie jumped onto the stomach, keeping her down. Thomas shot up from the ground as Ezra fought Chloe for the now useless gun, before he won and flung it across the cavern.

A chair had been dropped by Chloe's side as Kenzie hit Chloe over the head with - was that a chopping board? - as the older girl lay, confused, on the floor. Blood dripped down her head as the wood of the board made contact with her skull, and Brynn watched as the blonde's eyes rolled into the back of her head.

"Kenz! Stop!" Brynn shouted. If Kenzie kept hitting Chloe, she'd kill her. And Brynn didn't want her friend to be a murderer. But Kenzie was in a rage, and kept bringing the board down, batting Chloe's head until Ezra tackled the board off her.

Brynn hopped over, her ankle throbbing with each step as Kenzie slumped to the ground, her rage over. The small girl wasn't hurt though, just exhausted from the fight she'd just competed in.

That didn't stop her from lassoing Brynn into a huge hug when she saw her though, and Brynn thankfully hugged her back. They held the bear hug for a few seconds, before Brynn pulled away. "We've got to her tied up, now, while she's out." Brynn told the three others. Chloe's chest rocked in and out in a steady breath cycle luckily, so she was still alive. But she could wake up any second.

Ezra nodded, bending down to grab a piece of abandoned rope that sat at his feet, left by one of the men who were now corpses. "Should we tie her to the chair?"

Brynn nodded. Thomas (who was thankfully unhurt from his fall to the ground) and Ezra managed to heave Chloe to her feet and sit her down in the chair, which recognised as having come from the kitchen. The girl's head lolled unattractively to the side, the wound the cutting board had caused staining the rest of her face and skull a scarlet red.

Kenzie gasped, seeing the blood. "Did I do that?"

"You probably would have killed her if Ezra hadn't pulled you off." Brynn told her. She'd never seen that side of her friend before, and it had been frankly terrifying. But it seemed to be gone now, Kenzie returned to her normal, innocent state.

Kenzie clamped a hand over her mouth. "Oh my god."

Ezra had let go of Chloe's shoulders to help Thomas bind her feet, and she almost fell sideways off the seat, flopping over Thomas' back. Thomas pushed her back onto the chair unceremoniously.