Protected by Love - Nick Jones

Chapter 15

Nick glances over his shoulder and backs up to her. In a cage, against the wall, there are about ten to 15 guns. He tries to grab at the cage but there's glass on the other size. He glances down at Mel and gently takes the bat from her hands. He looks around and grabs a rag from a table nearby. He uses that to bust the glass but it's still locked. He hands it back to her.

"It's bolted to the wall." She grabs at a lock at the top of the cage. "There has to be a key around."

She walks past him. Nick walks toward the kitchen. Mel starts looking through drawers but sees newspaper articles talking about Siamese Twins. They were cut apart by their father. That's Vincent. That's why he looks...freaky...He's wearing a wax mask since he doesn't have half his face.

 She looks through the pictures when the front door opens.

She gasps softly and backs up, dropping one of the photos. She crawls down toward a pool table. Nick, who was still in the kitchen, hides back behind the fridge. He catches Mel's eye and tilts his head. She nods and glances under quickly to see Bo stumbling into the house. He's groaning and panting.

She crawls behind the pool table, trying to get to the other side. Bo walks into the kitchen and turns on the light. He walks straight to the sink and turns on the faucet. Bo starts pulling at the bolt in his arm then screams.

Nick, who quickly left the kitchen after seeing Mel, sneaks into the office where Wade was kidnapped. He quietly closes the door and turns around. He raises an eyebrow when a light shines through the floor. He kneels down and puts his finger in the hole in the wood. He opens up to reveal the trap door the man came through.

Bo screams louder as he finally gets the bolt out of his arm. He pants slightly and slams it on the counter. He looks down at his chest and starts pulling at that bolt as well. What stops him is a small coughing fit, before throwing up into the sink. Mel glances up over the pool table to watch Bo when a vehicle pulls up to the house.

Mel glances out the window before shaking her head. In the bed of the truck outside...is Paige and Carly. They got them when they got Blake...They weren't fast enough...

Vincent steps out of the truck with the dog from the wax museum. She gasps very softly and backs away from the window, crawling backward to the pool table. She tears to herself before hearing Bo's footsteps toward her. She crawls under the pool table when he walks around. He looks out the window and rolls his eyes.

"Goddamn it. There were three." He mumbles.

He walks back around the table before walking to the front door. Mel crawls back out from under the table and watches them. Bo opens the front door.

"Hey! Where is the third one? I told you, they left three back at the campsite. You know better than to leave one. Don't be so stupid." Bo snaps at him.

Vincent walks in the house and around him. They walk back into the kitchen when Vincent sees the cut bolt in Bo's chest. He reaches for it.

"Don't." Bo snaps at him. Vincent tries again. "I said, don't! Get!...Get!"

Mel watches Vincent light up a candle before heating up a spoon. He starts to fix his mask when Bo whispers to him. Bo finishes his speech before finishing with...

"There's two more. We still got a lot of work to do."

He walks away from Vincent and walks into the living room area. He stops when he sees one of the pictures of him and Vincent conjoined on the ground. They...they were in the house! He looks around the room and paces around before glancing down at the pool table. He kneels down slowly and looks under.

Nothing...

In another room, Mel walks slowly up the stairs. She clutches the bat to her chest. She glances behind her when someone grabs her from behind, covering her mouth. She goes to scream when the voice whispers.

"Shhh. It's okay. It's okay." Nick whispers into her ear.

She immediately calms down and turns to him. He leads her into the room with the trap door. He goes to walk down the stairs when Mel stops him.

"I saw Paige and Carly's bodies. They're dead." She tears slightly.

Nick looks right up at her. His sister...His twin sister is dead. He...He couldn't save her...He has to save Mel now or all of this was for nothing.

"We gotta go. Now. Fuck trying to kill them. We gotta get to town." He reaches up and takes her hand.

She follows him down the stairs to a dirt path. They follow it and walk past a loud generator.

"I can't see anything. There has to be a light down here somewhere." Nick yells to her over the generator.

He starts flipping switches on the fuse box, turning off lights to the town without realizing. Bo and Vincent look out the window upstairs to see the town flickering. Bo smirks to himself when he realizes where they are.

Nick finally finds the switch to the lights downstairs and takes Mel's hand again. He leads her down the path into a room...The room has a huge machine with wax covering it.

"This must be where he covers them." Mel says to Nick.

He reaches down and picks up Wade's shirt.

"He had Wade down here." He glances at her.

"Thank fuck, he's fine." She mumbles.

He wraps an arm around her and kisses her head.

"He's safe and out of this damn town." He whispers.

She holds onto him before looking up when footsteps are heard. A man with long hair is walking fast toward them.

"That's Vincent." Mel says.

Nick pulls from Mel and walks toward him. He pushes one of the tables into Vincent. It hits him but he pushes it away. 

Nick almost falls and Vincent uses one of his knives, swiping at Nick's back. Mel runs up and tries to hit him with her baseball bat. He grabs it and they spin in a circle.

Vincent tries to push a knife at her face, but she quickly moves out of the way. He throws her backward toward the ground. She falls down against a lever of the huge pot on the side of the room. The flames under it grow bigger and bigger by the second.

Nick yells and tackles Vincent into the wall. He grabs his arm and holds the knife up. Mel glances up at them to see Nick throwing Vincent to the ground. He runs over to Mel.

"Come on, baby. Move it." He says, helping her up.

She stands and runs toward the door. Nick turns and sees the pot with flames covering it. He makes a split decision and starts pulling on the chain, causing the pot to spill wax all over the floor. Flames start rising quickly stopping Vincent from coming after them. Nick watches it for a second before running after his girlfriend.