Ten

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen – Girl Power

As Robert dashed into the bathroom and out the door after Gabe, shouting to Bibi for her to hold the room, Chloe got up quickly from where she was resting and grabbed the small statuette that she had been carrying as a weapon. She saw Kelly get up out of bed and grab her hammer. She then looked to Bibi, who paused for a moment, and then turned to the two other women and said, "Alright, let's go!"

"Are you sure we should?" Chloe asked.

"I think we should back the boys up!" chimed in Kelly.

"Then let's go," insisted Bibi, "Chloe, you can stay if you want."

Chloe didn't like the idea of leaving the room, but she liked the idea of being by herself even less. Everyone who had been killed so far had been separated from the group, and she didn't want to be the next corpse.

"No, I'll come too."

Chloe nervously followed Bibi and Kelly through the bathroom and out into the hall. Her bare feet were even colder out here than they were in the master bedroom. When she had first left the bedroom following the other two women, she had decided to leave her shoes off, and had wondered why the other two women didn't consider their high heels more of a liability in a life or death situation. However, now she really wished she had kept them on as her bare feet made her feel somehow more vulnerable on the cold floor.

Her hand gripped the bulky statuette from the bedroom. She and the other women were walking slowly and carefully, not running like Gabe and Robert before them. Kelly still had her hammer that she seemed to be really impressed with, and Bibi of course had her pistol, which she pointed to the ground like she knew what she was doing.

"This way," Bibi pointed towards where Robert seemed to have run off to. It was a stairwell that led down to a less noticed section of the house. As they walked, Chloe realized that something felt wrong about where they were going, and she began to have a nagging feeling that the head count of the group was about to be reduced once again.

***

Gabe chased Carl down the hall which led towards the metal door to the attic. However, instead of going into the attic, Carl went around the door to the right and down a stairwell which led to the first floor. Gabe was gaining on him and Carl went quickly down the stairs, much faster than he would have thought someone with their hands tied behind them could run. Gabe dropped his axe on the way down the down the stairs and had to stop for a second and pick it back up. This delay give Carl time to get away into the darkness.

When Gabe finally arrived at the bottom, he stopped and stared into the darkness in front of him. The first floor in this section of the house was mysterious and none of them had been through there yet. He was reluctant to go further without finding a light. He heard several noises ahead of him which sounded like several things falling on a hard surface floor, and perhaps a door opening and closing.

Very soon, Robert had come down the stairs behind him, nine millimeter in hand, but stopped as well as he found himself staring into almost complete darkness. Gabe was already feeling around for a light. There was light coming down the steps from the second floor and both of the men stayed in it. Anything could be waiting for them in the darkness.

"Where did he go?" asked Robert.

"I can't see anything," replied Gabe, "I almost had him."

"Is there a light switch?"

"I'll check."

Both of the men felt around the walls for a moment, but it was Gabe who found a light switch and flipped it, lighting up the hall and revealing a few rooms on both their right and left and a large room without a door at the very end. This area of the house seemed very old and not as well furnished as the rest of the house.