the purge // n.h. (au)

eleven

A/N: It's finally the weekend, so I actually had enough time to write up the next chapter for you all. (: Woop woop. Please continue doing what you do, commenting and voting and sharing and such, I love seeing how much you enjoy my story! Also, the ending of the chapter is slightly rushed and this chapter is somewhat short but I still hope it meets your expectations. I love you all, and here is chapter 11. x

Julissa

We walked back into my parent's bedroom with our hands entwined, the cozy gesture earning me a cold stare from my father and an uneasy look from my mother. I tried to ignore it and sat back down on the floor in the same spot where I was five minutes ago, Niall sitting down right next to me. He continued to hold my hand and stroke the skin on my palm with his thumb to provide me a sense of comfort. All five of us were quiet for awhile until my father cleared his throat, speaking up.

"It's been nearly two hours now. They're probably about to-" he began, the voice that I had been dreading to hear cutting him off not long after.

"Well Mr. and Mrs. Marano, I'm sorry to say this, but it has been almost two hours now, nearly twice the amount of time I originally had given you, and you still have yet succeeded to return us the lad," the boy said, the overly-happy tone of his voice frightening me. "And due to that fact that we haven't gotten what we declared, you've left us no choice but to get into your marvelous home and purge on all of you."

"No!" I squeaked, only to have Niall wrap his arms around my waist and pull me into his lap, murmuring things in my ear to try and keep me calm. But it wasn't going to be able to work. How would anything possibly be able to keep me lulled when at least a dozen people were about to come in and murder us at any minute?

"I am terribly sorry that it has to end this way, but you've left us no choice. We'll see you in a couple minutes."

I shook in Niall's grasp as the room became silent, the only sound being of our ragged breathing and Maddie's light snores. Each of us were still trying to register what would happen to us within the next sixty minutes, fear rolling into the pit of all of our stomachs.

"Are we going to sit here and let them find us?" my mother shakily asked my father, moving her gaze away from Maddie's peaceful face and looking up at him with teary eyes. "What are we going to do, Jim?"

My father ran his hands over his face tiredly before reaching into his back pocket, pulling out the only item that could possibly save us from our deathbeds. "There's only one thing that we can do; we're going to fight."

"But what about Maddie? She can't defend herself, and she certainly can't shoot a gun," she said, glancing back down at my little sister's body in her lap, brushing a strand of hair away from her sweaty forehead.

"I can watch her and keep her safe, along with Julissa," Niall offered. "I promise that I won't let anything happen to either of them."

My moher opened her mouth to respond, but couldn't get even a word out before my father was talking in her place.

"No, that is not happening. I may have chosen to save you from being murdered tonight, but that doesn't mean that I trust you with the lives of my girls," he asserted, shaking his head disapprovingly.

"I know that, sir, but I'm just saying that it would be the best thing to do right now," Niall explained. "Julissa, Maddie, and I could go down to the basement and hide in there while you and Mrs. Marano take care of business upstairs. Then if any of them happen to get down there, I can just shoot them. It'd be the best option."

"It's easier said than done."

"Jim, I hate to say it, but I actually think he's right. It's much better an idea than keeping Maddie and Julissa up here while they're trying to find us. And I can tell how much he cares about Jules; he's not going to let her get hurt," my mom said, standing up with Maddie still fast asleep in her arms and walking over to where Niall and I were. I knew what she wanted to do and stood up, allowing Niall to do so too. Once he was on his feet my mother carefully set Maddie down into his arms, a frown forming on her lips as Maddie was out of her hold. "You better take care of both of my daughters, young man. You got it?"

Niall glanced down at my little sister's body in his arms and back up at my mom, nodding. "Yes, Mrs. Marano. I understand."

*

"Do you think they got inside yet?" I whispered, resting my head back against Niall's shoulder as my eyes roamed the darkness that surrounded us. The three of us were currently crammed together inside of the small closet that I had found Niall hiding inside an hour or two ago, my body squished against Niall's (not that I'm complaining) and Maddie's in my lap. It wasn't the most comfortable position that I've ever been in, but it's a whole lot better than being stabbed to death upstairs. God, I just hope that my mother and father are alright..

"Yeah, they probably did. I doubt that it would take them that long to break inside with all of the equipment they brung," he replied, leaning his head back onto the concrete wall.

I whimpered quietly against him, the thoughts of my parent's losing their lives trying to protect us filling my mind. What if there were a lot more people than they expected? What if something goes wrong, and they get killed? What will happen to us then?

He must've heard me because he wrapped his free arm tighter around me, as if he was trying to convince me that everything was going to work out, but didn't speak any words. He didn't need to. It was comforting to just have him holding me.

We must have been sitting there for almost an hour when something jolted us awake and brought us to our senses.

I immediately sat up from my spot against Niall's chest, my heart stopping for a split second as my ears picked up the sound that I was praying that I wouldn't hear at all tonight while we were down here; the door that lead to the basement opening and heavy footsteps trailing down the creaky steps.