Haunting of Superior

Chapter 11

A silence fell between everyone in the room. The kids and Jamie stared at the creature lounging on the couch. They didn't move or speak as if they were wondering whether or not what they were seeing was real. Claudia, amused by their stupefied expressions, tore another bit of the chicken wing off the bone and just stared at them expressionlessly. A crumb fell out of her mouth, and everyone's gazes followed it. As munching sounds filled the room, Yana was the first to regain her senses.

"Okay, how the actual heck is that thing here?" she asked.

The creature put the chicken wing down on a plate on the table next to the couch. Nervous, everyone backed away. They were scared of running out of the house in case the creature chased after them, but Malcolm was less scared than all the others. He squirmed out of Ed's arms and ran up to Claudia. He still kept out of reaching distance, though. He looked very confused.

"You're still alive?" he said, eyes wide. "I thought Antonio killed you."

Now that he had brought back the memory, the kids noticed that Claudia had wrapped something around her chest. They could see a bit of blood on it, but other than that she looked unharmed. Instead of responding to Malcolm's question, though, Claudia picked up and took another bite out of the chicken wing. Malcolm's ear twitched as his impatience grew.

"Just drop it, Malcolm." Yana glared at Claudia in suspicion and a bit of fear. "That thing might attack us."

Claudia, refusing to talk in front of anyone other than Malcolm, continued to devour the chicken wing until it was gone. She threw the bone into the bucket next to her and licked her hand-paw-things. She seemed to enjoy the nervous looks Yana, Amethyst, and Jamie were giving her.

Jzmie, sick of standing around in soaking wet clothes, decided to break the silence. "Malcolm, you said there were matches," she reminded him.

Malcolm's eyes brightened, and he nodded, running over to the fireplace. "We keep them on the mantel," he replied, pointing up at the mantel with his paw. Man, how he wished for fingers!

Jamie slowly crept around the couch as if sudden movements would cause Claudia to attack her. Claudia merely glanced at her curiously. Jamie seemed familiar to her but couldn't remember where she had seen her. Jamie arrived at the mantel and saw the box of matches lying near the edge. She lighted one and threw it onto the wood that was in the fireplace. Fortunately, the wood had been replaced recently, and it was blazing like a campfire in a short amount of time. Malcolm curled up into a ball right in front of the fire. The rest of the kids joined them; they, too, moved as slowly as possible.

The rain had chilled them all to the bone, and the warmth of the fire was heavenly to feel as they sat in front of it. They wished they could just sit in front of it forever, but unfortunately they had things to talk about.

"When do you think the rain's going to stop?" Yana wondered, looking towards a window. The rain was still falling in an unrelenting stream. "We need to get Jacob back soon."

"Can we get him back?" Amethyst muttered. She sounded defeated, as of there was no hope of getting Jacob back.

Jamie sat in silence, trying to come up with a new plan. So much could go wrong now. She internally took a deep breath and came to a conclusion she knew the kids would not want to hear. But it had to be done. They had no choice. She looked around at the group of wet, shivering kids and prepared for a terrible reaction.

***

Antonio sat at Meyers' old desk, exasperation rushing through him like a raging river. He was getting so, so sick of this. Why did those darn kids keep escaping his grip? Who on Earth could have gotten them out? He had been so careful, too, putting tight security on Malcolm, Victoria, and Alexei. There was no way any of them could have gotten out. Not without him knowing. He pulled up the app to his hastily made security cameras, hoping they would give them a clue. He needed to know what sort of dumb luck those kids possessed. He flicked through the security feed, annoyed to find only static. Someone had messed with the cameras. He checked the one in the kids' prison room. There wasn't a signal. The camera had been disconnected.

He shut his computer and rubbed his forehead, trying to sooth a sudden headache. He was tired. He hadn't slept in two days as he kept an eye on preparations for his ultimate plan. Things were going smoothly, he reminded himself. The kids wouldn't be much harm. They were only children, after all, and he had Victoria and Alexei still captured. Without adults guiding them, those kids wouldn't be able to do much. There was no way they would unravel his entire plan. Antonio got up from his chair and blinked rapidly as he was hit by a wave of dizziness. He slowly walked out of his stolen office and headed to where he thought the kitchen was to get some coffee.

There was still so much to do. He should probably let Jamie deal with it. It would be good to distract her before he would be forced to kill her. Antonio suddenly paused in the hallway. He had heard something that sounded like a scream. Suspicious. He looked around, trying to figure out where the sound had come from. Surely it hadn't been fake? Then it sounded again, coming closer. It was clearly the sound of someone screaming.

Yeah, he was not in the mood to deal with that. He ignored it and continued to head to the kitchen, completely oblivious to the fact that he was going to the wrong side of the mansion. His headache was starting to get worse. The longing for coffee increased with it.

His daydreams of drinking rich, milky coffee were interrupted when one of his wonderful creations skittered into his path. It was one of the ones he had set upstairs to guard the prisoners. Antonio didn't know why it was down here and was about to scold it before he noticed it was carrying someone.

"Let go of me!" the person yelled.

Almost immediately Antonio's tiredness increased. He sighed and winced as his head throbbed with pain. The headache was worsening by the second.

"Put him back in the cell," he told the creature. "And stay in the room with him. If he tries to escape, kill him."

Jacob froze, and his eyes widened in alarm at the sound of Antonio's voice. He opened his mouth, probably to make some annoying remark, but Antonio was too exhausted to deal with him. He walked past the creature holding Jacob and heard it scuttle away. He would deal with Jacob later when he had the strength to handle his stupid attitude. Right now he needed that coffee.

To his annoyance, he couldn't find the kitchen anywhere.

"Of course it's not over here," he grumbled angrily. "Of course Meyers had to make such a big house to flaunt how rich he is from my ideas!" He looked around. He was standing at a window on the edge of the house in some type of room with a couch. He took out his phone and dialed Jamie so he could order her to make him some coffee. She could go find a coffee machine while he reviewed the bomb plans.

But Jamie didn't pick up. Strange. She was required to, even if she was busy. Antonio's frustration was revived as a new obstacle entered his path. Deciding that the coffee was too much trouble, he instead went up to where Jacob had been put. Best to get him out of the way. The kid could provide him with useful information. If he didn't... well, he would just have to find out.

***

Jacob's chest heaved in terror as the spider-like creature carried him back to his original prison. His life was flashing before his eyes, all the memories of his friends, his dad, and his cousins passing by in an instant. He was going to die. He knew it. And even worse, he would be unable to avenge his dad because he would be dead with him in the afterlife. He was all alone, with no one to help him. He couldn't escape by himself. Not with all the creatures roaming around.

The thing that carried him opened the door with ease and threw Jacob onto the floor. The floor, being made out of a hard material, hurt his back, and he winced in pain. His limbs were already aching with exhaustion from running, and he stayed on the floor, staring at the ceiling. He was back here again. Why did this keep happening to him and his friends? They were always getting captured and recaptured by Antonio. Was it fate's cruel way of torturing them? Jacob's fists clenched in anger. He was getting sick of life's constant abuse. He was getting sick of Antonio's existence. His anger was like wood to a fire, and it ignited his will to live. He heaved himself off the floor, still feeling the effects of panic. He felt dizzy, and he focused on the door, the way to partial freedom, to ground himself.

This time, though, Jacob did not care about getting through that door. Escaping was not his goal anymore. As long as Antonio was alive, he would continue to haunt him and his friends. Jacob knew what he needed to do. He needed to kill Antonio and avenge his father and Miriam.

Jacob walked around his prison, looking for any sharp objects that could fatally damage someone. Antonio had been clever. The only things in the room were those awful chairs and spare bits of random objects that were unidentifiable. There was the broken camera that Margie had knocked down, but it was made out of weak material, hence why it had been so easy to break. No, Jacob needed something stronger. He couldn't take Antonio on in a fist fight as the man was taller and stronger than him. He glanced at the door. Should he try and escape? There were probably sharp objects in the rest of the house. He sat down in the chair and deliberated all the possible scenarios where Antonio was dead and he was alive.

He looked over the chair, noting that it was held together by screws. Could he twist them out? He grabbed one and pulled as hard as he could. The metal sank into his skin, and he winced. He didn't let go, though, and he attempted to twist the screw out. It stayed in place, refusing to budge. Jacob gritted his teeth and tried again. His fingers were starting to hurt, but he ignored the pain. The screw would not move, no matter how hard he pulled at it. After several vigorous attempts, Jacob finally let go, furious at the screw for not coming loose. The screw had imprinted lines on his fingers, and they stung from pain. Jacob shook out his hand and decided to look for something else.

He paced around the middle of the room, glancing at the broken homemade camera lying on the ground. Even though he had previously thought it would be too weak, it would make for a good distraction. He went over to it and picked it up. Immediately he dropped it again with a yell as something cut his finger. He looked down at it; blood was welling up from a small cut. He looked at the camera again and suddenly realized that it was surrounded by broken glass. He slapped his non-injured hand to his face in exasperation with himself. Of course the camera had glass on it! How could he be so stupid? Excitement courses through his veins. He knew as well as anyone that glass was incredibly dangerous. This was perfect! He had finally found a good weapon! He gingerly picked up the camera, trying to avoid cutting himself on the broken glass again. He gathered the glass shards on the floor and put them on the top of the camera, making sure that they wouldn't slip off.

He stood in front of the door, his weapon in hand. Minutes passed without Antonio showing up. Jacob felt impatience trying to crawl its way out, but he pushed it down. He wouldn't lose his cool now. He would wait here for as long as it took. He would kill Antonio once he came. There was no stopping him. His back straightened as the doorknob began to jiggle. His grip tightened a bit on the broken camera. This was it. He would do it. The door opened, and as a figure holding a coffee mug stepped into the door, he threw the camera with an infuriated shout and all the strength he could muster. It met it's mark right on the figure's face, and the figure screamed in pain as it's hands shot up to his face. Antonio fell onto his knees before Jacob, blood pouring from his face. Jacob coldly smiled at the sight, feeling no remorse at all for the awful man who had hurt his friends and family. He had kept one of the bigger shards of glass from the camera, and even though it was small, it was as sharp as a knife. He walked up to Antonio and aimed the shard at his vulnerable throat. He moved to slash it, but Antonio grabbed his wrist a split second before his throat was cut open. The man's eyes were blazing in pure fury as blood dripped into them. The shards of glass had been embedded in his cheeks and forehead, but one had gone dangerously close to his right eye. Jacob's stomach flipped at the sight of the blood, and he almost felt sorry for throwing the camera at him. Almost.

Jacob kicked Antonio in the stomach, causing the man to gasp in pain and let go of Jacob's wrist. Jacob stepped back and eyed Antonio like a predator judges it's prey. He felt a sense of satisfaction at the thought. Antonio deserved to feel like a hunted animal. He deserved to feel some pain himself. Jacob moved to strike the awful man in the stomach again, but Antonio managed to push himself up. He and Jacob faced each other, Antonio staring into Jacob's eyes while Jacob looked away, not wanting to look at his bloody face. Jacob vraced himself for Antonio to attack, expecting that he would be easy to dodge. Then, without warning, Antonio's fist slammed into his face with enough force to leave a mark. Jacob fell backward, pain flooding all his senses. He was shocked.

"You think a bunch of glass will weaken me?" Antonio panted. He grabbed Jacob's shirt and pulled him up. Jacob, though winded, still had plenty if strength in him. He kicked Antonio away from him and crashed to the floor again. He landed on his arm, and he winced. That would probably make a bruise.

Jacob got up again, ready to attack Antonio again. But then he froze. Antonio had grabbed his abandoned shard of glass and was heading back toward him. No doubt, he was going to kill him. Jacob stayed in place, calculating how to take the glass from him. Antonio reached him and grabbed him by his neck, squeezing it tightly. Jacob choked, but he fought his instincts to reach up to Antonio's hand and instead reached for the glass. He was too late. Antonio sliced Jacob's torso with the shard, smirking evily as small amounts of blood bloomed out of the long cut. Jacob felt the sting of the wound, but the pain was quickly overwhelmed by panic. He was going to die, he was going to die, he was going to die...

Jacob's eyes closed, and his head hung limp. Antonio scoffed, disgusted. The idiot had fainted. What a weakling. He carried Jacob over to chair and placed him on it. He had cut Jacob to weaken him so he could inject his creation into him without trouble. Antonio willed one of his creatures to bring him the substance. He looked down at Jacob. He was still unconscious. Such a shame. It would have been so much better if he were awake to experience the transformation to the fullest. Antonio leaned against the chair, pulling out the glass in his face. He sighed in relief as his face was freed from those awful things.

Now Jacob would be out the way. Finding the rest of those kids would be a piece of cake with Jacob under his control. Antonio smiled wistfully, already imagining their cries of horror. It would be so wonderful. It may take a while to find them, sure, but it would be worth it.

All he had to do was be patient.