Vendetta hijack

Chapter 4. The house

She went closer to the back door and had a good look at it. The door had a small glass window that was cracked. When she turned the handle, it haltingly creaked open. She went inside and covered the door with a heavy desk so that the door can't be opened from outside.

Inside they found it was a bad state of disrepair. There was very little furniture and the floor was covered in a thick layer of dust. As they both continuously looked around, they notice a strange atmosphere and a peculiar musty smell. The walls were covered from floor to ceiling with a substance that felt like graffiti. Written in red color the words ''ọnwụ(death)! ọnwụ (death) !ọnwụ (death) ! " were repeated over and over again.

They didn't know what was written but both Ruby and Ben were unnerved. With a shaking hand, Ruby reached out to touch the wall. She was horrified to find that the substance was not yet dry.

Ruby was scared to death, but they had nowhere to go. Ruby knew the forest was too dangerous at night. Despite the creepy writing on the wall, she decided to stay at the house and leave as soon as she finds food and can have some rest while in the house. She went to the kitchen to look for anything that can be any use of her. She first checked the cabinets that were in the kitchen. She opened the doors of the cabinets to find that there was nothing but spider webs and dead cockroaches lying around. She then looked into the fridge where surprisingly, she found something. she found 2 canned food which had no labels, a rotten banana, and the same colored liquid which was on the wall. Ruby inspected the stuff closely before trying it out. The first can had pickles in it. But they weren't green... The moment she opened the can, an unpleasant smell starting coming from the pickles. They were dry, soggy, and had white stuff on it. Shivers ran down her spine. but she didn't have the same feeling for the second can. The second can had dry beans in it. It wasn't the best she could have but it smelled fine and didn't look that bad. So she ate the beans and gave some to Ben. She had a look at the banana but couldn't find the courage to eat it. They both ate quietly in the kitchen and after finishing the beans, some of their hunger went away.

  She then got up from the kitchen floor and started to inspect the house. Ruby was extra careful while looking around to make sure the house was safe and no one was hiding. After a while, she went upstairs. The stairs were creaking and were about to break. The old oak wood had cracks in it and didn't look like they are going to last long. There wasn't much upstairs. Just a locked room, a closet, and a washroom which wasn't usable. Both Ruby and Ben were feeling very sleepy and decided to sleep in the house. They had 2 choices. The locked room and the closet. They weren't going to take the risk and sleep downstairs. Ruby felt she would feel more safe sleeping upstairs rather than in an open hall downstairs. She slowly opened the door making sure that no one was hiding in the closet. Mouses were lurking around and god knows what devious creatures were hiding in the dark. Dirty clothes filled the entire closet. The clothes looked like a man in his mid-30s or 40s would wear them. The closet was too small to sleep in and the rats living inside the closet scared Ben. He wasn't going to sleep in the closet, nor were they going to sleep in the washroom. So the only place left to go was the locked room. She first stuck her ear to the door to find out whether anyone was inside or not. After minutes of inspecting and listening carefully, she felt that it is safe and that if anyone was to be inside, he would have killed us long back when he had the chance.

Ruby plans to slam the locked door open. She slowly turned the handle down and to her surprise, the door creaked open... A nasty smell came right after the door had a small opening. Inside the room was a moth-eaten mattress that was covered in stains, a small table, a wooden chair, and a broken lamp. Both of them wrapped themselves in an old carpet to keep them warm and tried to make themselves as comfortable as they could.

Around midnight, Ben heard a sound. The sound of a door being slammed. Not knowing what to do, he woke Ruby up. Ruby didn't realize who it was and woke up with a scare on her face. Her heart started to beat fast and she was about to scream before Ben covered her mouth with her hand. ''shuuuuuuuu''  whispered Ben pointing his finger towards the door. Ruby understood quickly what was happening, and took off the dirty carpet covering her body. She slowly stood up and without saying a word went straight towards the door. She stuck her ear next to the door and tried to catch any sound she can.

 She heard a few footsteps before it faded. Judging from the footsteps she heard, it looked like there was more than one person. Her concerns got worse and she decided to leave as it wasn't safe anymore in here. She looked down the window and it was too high for them to jump and even if they could, Ruby wouldn't fit in the tiny entering. So the only way to escape was the door. She told Ben to Run as fast as he could when she opens the door. She turned the handle down and signaled Ben to Run... Ben ran towards the stairs while Ruby was behind him... They both went running into the kitchen, The 2 men did hear them but didn't know there was a back door in the kitchen. Ruby and ben ran straight to the door but the purple liquid which spilled on the kitchen floor was waiting for Ruby. She didn't notice the liquid on the floor and slipped over it. She fell so hard that the sound of her falling was heard by the 2 men. Ruby was screaming of pain and misery. She fell on her foot and had sprained it. Her foot instantly became red and was swelling fast. She knew that she couldn't walk. She controlled her scream but the pain was like a fair raging around her foot. Ben tried to help Ruby but it was of no use. She told Ben to run straight to the road and find help but Ben refused to go alone. She realized it would be useless to argue with Ben as there wasn't much time. With all her force, She pushed the desk with the help of Ben. She grabbed a wooden stick which was glued on the desk to help her walk. Ben wrapped her arm around his shoulder and in no time, they both were out of the house. 

Ruby and Ben knew that by wasting so much time, the men following her (in all likelihood) would have found out about where they were heading and would undoubtfully try to hunt both of them down. She still couldn't figure out why someone would follow her this long and what wrong her family did to get to this point. She still had to figure out if her dad was with them or was still outside looking for them. All types of thoughts like these were circling around her mind like a storm. 

after running a mile, Ruby stated to faint while running, and after a few minutes. She suddenly fell to the ground. Hunger, swollen foot, hypertension, cut on the hand, and loss of blood all led to one thing...She collapsed. She wasn't responding. Ben didn't know what to do. She was far away from the house and there's a chance that the men looking for Ruby and Ben had lost them or had stopped looking... But if the men were still searching for them, this could be a problem.

Ben tried to wake Ruby up but it was no use. Tears started to roll down from Ben's eyes. Once that first tear broke free, the rest followed in an unbroken stream. He sat next to a tree and pressed hard on the wet soil with his hands. He thought Ruby is dead. His tears didn't stop. After watching Ruby for several minutes. An unclear doubt came to his mind. He went near to Ruby, Bent down, and put his ear next to Ruby's heart. To his surprise...Her heart was beating. SHE WAS ALIVE. The tears soon turned into happiness and his face slowly cheered up. He tried to wake Ruby up once again but didn't get a response. Ruby needed time to rest. Which they didn't have...

After a few minutes, Ben heard the rustling of dead leaves far away from him. And it didn't stop. in fact, the sound gradually came closer to Ben. He knew it was the people who were following them. With all his force, he pulled Ruby towards a tree and both of them hid behind the tree...