Perseverance ( completed! )

Bloody

I gulped gently, suddenly finding my running shoes very interesting. Luckily Liam decided to answer for us both.

"Liam, and that's Gabriel and Buddy. We're very sorry about the intrusion, we assumed the residents living here had gone to storm the city hall." Liam stated in a suspicious, but calculated tone. Why he was so good with people, I had no clue.

"Let's not worry about that, what I'm more interested in is why you're not panicking like the rest of the kids your age. Or with your parents."

Liam narrowed his eyes, glancing my way with a question present in his tense gaze. I shrugged lightly. For all we know this guy might know just as well as we do what is really going on here. If not more.

"Fine. We know why everything is ra-."

Bang.

Liam's shocked faced followed Billy as he fell face first onto the floor in front of them. Blood spilling from the wound in his back, slowly turning the victims clothing a scarlet red. A pool of the thick red substance lapped at mine and Liams feet. My jaw hung open, heart threatening to break my ribcage as it pounded faster with every passing breath. Like a bird desperately trying to flee it's cage.

Finally managing to pull my gaze away from the unfortunate scene that just unfolded in front of us, my breath caught in my throat. Standing in front of us was one of the gang members we had seen on the street just a few minutes prior.

"You knew we were still in here," the whisper left my lips softly, my voice sounding too loud in the silence of the house. A sinister smile slipped across the attackers face, head tilting lightly to the side.

"Now, now. Don't give him all the credit."

Suddenly all of the people that we had seen across the street came to stand around Liam, Buddy, and myself.

It was a girl that spoke next.

"Now, boys. There are two ways that this can play out." The woman's voice was unnatural. More of a growl than an actual voice. A raspy, scratchy sound. Like dragging nails down a chalkboard.

Me and Liam knew better than to speak.

Apparently Buddy did as well because the little puppy stayed silent, ears pulled back and pressed flat against his golden fur. Tail stiffly moving side to side, a clear sign of anxiety and aggression.

"Option one. We kill the short one, then the dog, followed by the tall one," the woman sang. Well, rasped would be a more correct term.

I glanced up at Liam. I could all but feel the blood rushing through his body, fists clenching and eyes narrowing. He was prepared to put up a fight. I was too. Let alone the fear working its way through my body, practically turning my muscles to stone, I held my head high and kept my muscles tensed.

"Or, we kill the tall one, then the short one, and cook the dog up for dinner," a cackle followed these words.

Rage boiled and festered in my stomach, clawing at my throat and begging to be let loose.

I parted my lips, preparing to rip her a new one, before I felt a hand clamp down on my mouth and pull me back onto their chest.
I know it was Liam but it still pissed me off. How dare she take murder so lightly?! I would make her pay!!

I struggled against his grip, glaring at the woman in front of me.

"Oh oh? I seem to have hit a sensitive spot, hmmm?" Clanking footsteps rang out as she approached me, eyes now mere slits.

"Restrain the tall one," she spat the command.

I felt myself being released from Liams grip as he struggled to try and get free.