House Of Echoed Screams (Completed)

Chapter 14: Rage

    After his eyes adjusted to the dim light, Ryan tried to lift his hand, to see if he was able to move, but instead of a hand, his eyes focused upon a bloody, flat stub. For a moment, he couldn't remember how this had happened, but suddenly everything came rushing back to him like a torrent of sorrow. He remembered the saw that was used to cut off his hand, the lever that he could have used to win the "Game" that this demon set up for him, and he remembered Addie, as she was viciously torn apart by the saw that he had failed to stop. Her screams still echoed through his mind, and tears ran anew down his cheeks at the memory of her. No, he thought, pulling himself together, Addie wouldn't want me to rot away here crying, she's want me to take action. This fucking demon might have had its fun and games, but killing my friends is where I draw the line! I've let it get away with enough, and just ran away, but it's time I show this thing who's really in charge around here!
     Staggering, Ryan slowly got to his feet, and walked over to where the bloody saw was lying on the dark cement next to his dismembered hand. The sight of the hand almost made him gag, but he focused instead on picking up the saw with his good hand. You made one major mistake, devil: you shouldn't have left me alive, much less with a weapon I can use to send you back to hell, Ryan thought, with a slight grin. He brushed his bangs away from his eyes, and walked toward the door on the other side of the room. Upon closer inspection, Ryan noticed that the door was made of some type of wood, and didn't even bother thinking before hacking at the door with his saw. Once there was a decently sized hole, Ryan began breaking the boards with his foot until enough of the door had been destroyed so that he could fit through. On the other side, he noticed a door just ahead and to the left of the hallway he was now standing in. Wildly looking around, Ryan crept toward the door, every thought in his mind focused on finding and killing the demon that made him lose Addie. When he reached the door, he cast one last brief look around for the demon, but when he found nothing, twisted the handle and opened the door.
     The room inside was just as dark as the rest of the house, but thankfully, Ryan's eyes had adjusted to the dark already. In the far corner of the room, he noticed two bodies slumped side by side against the wall. As he approached, he recognised the long hair that belonged to his sister, and his thoughts of killing the demon vanished. He ran over to her body and shook her by the shoulders, but Nikki didn't respond. "C'mon, sis, you've gotta get up, you've just gotta!" He shook her again, but she still didn't respond, so he shifted over so he was facing the other body, which he now recognised as Becker. "Hey man, quit sitting there like a loser and get up; you don't want me to outdo you, do ya," he said quietly, but Becker didn't move an inch either.
     Suddenly, right as Ryan was about to give up hope, Nikki let out a faint moan. He quickly sat down in front of her, and placed his hand gently on her cheek, which still felt warm. Thank God, Ryan thought, as Nikki opened her eyes. He immediately gripped her in a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're alive, I thought that I'd lost you too..." Suddenly, Nikki shoved him away from her and stared up at him sternly. "What do you mean, 'too'? Where's Addie?" Ryan choked on his next words, but managed to speak, "Dead. She's dead, and it's all that fucking devil's fault!" Suddenly, Nikki looked down at Becker, who, Ryan now noticed, was covered in deep, bleeding scars. For some reason, Ryan chuckled, then said, "Guess it's just us two, huh?" Nikki bent down, and took the sword from Becker's belt. "Yeah," she said quietly. At this moment, Ryan noticed the cut below Nikki's heart. "Here, let me get that for you," he said, as he unwrapped the makeshift cast on Becker's leg that Damion had created, tied all of the parts together, and wrapped it around Nikki's chest, covering up the gash. "Better," he asked. "Better," Nikki answered with a smile, but her expression quickly turned grave again. "Look," she said. "The demon in this house needs to kill six of us in order to escape, meaning it only has to kill one more of us." "Okay, so that means that we just have to track it down and kill it to escape. That's just what I was hoping for."
     Nikki led the way to another door at the other end of the room, where she turned around and said, "Okay. The hallway on the other side of this door is the last place that I saw the demon. This would probably be the best place to start searching." Right as she reached for the door handle, though, a voice rang out through the room. "Why search for what's right in front of your eyes?" Ryan and Nikki spun around, and noticed the demon lady standing in front of them, it's jet-black wing outstretched, and it's talons unsheathed.
     Suddenly, all of Ryan's rage returned to him. "You," he bellowed. "You're the one who's been destroying everything I loved, everything I cared about!" He expected the demon to attack him, so his hand reached for his saw, but it just laughed. "Don't laugh at me after everything you've done!" Now, the demon said, "But I haven't destroyed anything you care about. I might have attempted, and in some cases, succeeded in killing the people that were with you, but you never cared for them. You don't even care for your own sister, who I had the mercy to spare. The only one you cared for was the one you killed yourself." Ryan clenched his fist, and shouted, "Shut up! How could I have killed her when it was your machine that cut her in half!" Once again, it laughed. "I gave you a choice, Ryan. All you had to do was put enough willpower into moving the lever, and Addie would have been saved. Since you didn't try hard enough, you chose to let Addie die. Her death is on you." These last five words each hit Ryan hard.
     For a moment, he questioned himself, thinking that it might actually have been him that had killed her, but then his uncertainty turned into a fresh wave of rage, and he shouted, "Enough talk! It's time we finish you off and finally escape this place!" To this, the demon merely smiled, and Nikki gripped her sword tighter. "If you insist on dying, then I suppose that it would only be right that I fulfilled your wishes!" And at that moment, the demon lunged at them, it's claws outstretched.

{A/N}: Well guys, I might be publishing two chapters next week, because I have BIG plans for the upcoming chapters! Keep a lookout for the next chapters, they're gonna be the best ones yet. I promise! In your opinion, however, how many more chapters do you think I can stretch this story's plot through?