Descent into the Abyss

Chapter 7

          Blake tucked the blade between his belt and pants, reaching over and hoisting up the corpse of the savage. He could hear the footsteps of the others growing closer until finally the door handle rattled and began to turn. He lifted the dead weight a few more inches up off the ground, mentally berating the corpse once again before the door opened.

          "Hey, wha---" The oldest of the three started to ask, but Blake reacted first.

          Almost throwing the dead body, Blake shoved the corpse at the first person through the door. A cry of surprise and anger filled the air as the corpse collapsed onto the older man. As the two of them fell back and hit the wall, resulting in a complaining pile of limbs. Blake rushed out into the hallway, pulling the knife from his belt and plunging it deep into the ribcage of the next person.

          "Dad?" The young man, barely an adult, asked with a whimper.

          Blake felt his grip weaken as he looked into the watering blue eyes of his victim, but the rage of his reality took control once more. He grabbed the left shoulder of the young man and pulled him closer, plunging the blade deeper, ending his life.

          "DEVON!!!" The boy's father screamed from under the grotesque corpse, struggling to free himself.

          "Who the fu---" The second young man, barely older than the first, started to ask.

          "Watch out, Evan!" The older man called out, trying to warn him of the immediate danger.

          Blake ripped the blade free from the heart of his victim and pushed the body to the side, noticing in the corner of his eye as it slumped to a limp pile of flesh. Before Evan could react, Blake charged him and reached out to grab him. At the last second of his panicking movements, Evan stepped back off the top stair, and the young man's eyes filled with horror. Blake watched as the young man spun his arms wildly, trying and ultimately failing to prevent his disastrous fall backward down the staircase. Blake turned to face the last of the group as he heard the first impact, a bloodcurdling scream erupting before a flurry of subsidiary impacts muffled them into whimpering sobs.

          "I'm... I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" The nameless man screamed as he pushed the corpse off him.

          "These boys... they wouldn't have done something like this. Not without someone edging them on, fueling such dark tendencies." Blake told the man, stepping towards him.

          "Shut up! You don't know anything! Sticking your nose in shit that doesn't concern you." The man staggered upright, snarling as he reached out towards Blake.

          Sidestepping to the left, Blake positioned himself between the enraged stranger and the doorway leading to Sabrina. The man leapt towards Blake from his crouched position, attempting to tackle him into the wall, but was met with the forward momentum of the six-foot-four man. Blake caught him with a hand around his throat, pushing him back against the same wall that he had been pinned under the corpse. Flailing, the man swung wildly with a right-handed punch, but Blake only clenched tighter. As the blow landed, Blake pulled the man away from the wall and closer to his face.

          "My business, with you, with your son and your friends..." Blake leaned in snarling, "Is that this was my family. And you took them away from me."

          Blake slammed the man back against the wall, cracking the drywall with his head.

          "You... you took my son from me. How are you any better than me?" The man gasped, tears swelling in his eyes.

          "I'm not... but that won't save you," Blake replied, clenching his grip even tighter, thrusting his other hand forward.

          The man's eyes went wide, his expression becoming consumed by anguish.