➔ WORD OF THE CHAPTER: running

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"What are we gonna do.." Maya says. "I have an idea. We hide until Charlie's dad gets back and saves us. How long is he gone for again," berger whispers. "He said he could be a couple of days," charlie says. "A couple as in two or a couple as in ten," berger says. "Cause the human body can survive three days.."

Charlie cuts him off, "a couple. It literally means two."

Now they're talking over each other, arguing. "Guys, come on.. lizzie is up there and we gotta help her," maya says. "How.. The only way out is the elevator," berger looks away.

"The garage. That's where the camper van came out of.. there must be une sortie, droite," i say pointing the way of the garage. "she's right. let's go," maya says bringing us behind her.

———

"Lockdown initiating.. in 5.."

"Hurry up," maya says as we ran super fast to the garage. The door was slowly closing.

"..4"

"go! go! go," berger yells.

"...3"

"We can make it," charlie says.

"...two"

We were almost there.

"...one."

The door shuts right in front of maya and we all stopped.

"gah!"

"go back," maya points back and we run.

———

We run till we came to a closed off area where there was a pillar thing.. that contained a glowing yellow rock ball placed on top of it.

Charlie stops to look at it and gets closer, going up the small rock steps.

He slowly reaches out to take hold of it. Once he grabs it, the room became more bluer.. dim.

——

Third POV:

Meanwhile, Lizzie spots a bearded, skinny man when she walked out of the restroom and is now trying to find a place to hide as the armed man is looking for her, upstairs.

——

"Generating predictions."

Charlie was heavily looking into the ball. Berger goes up to him and shake him, "charlie. charlie!"

charlie looks up, "huh?"

"come on," i tell them running down the path. It was a straight path, lighting up a bright blue.

"Whoever is in here, i know you can hear me," we hear a man say in an intercom. We stopped running.

"We have this place locked down so there is no escape," he says.

"We've come to retrieve an object and we followed the energy trail to this exact spot so we know it's in here," he continues.

"The van..." maya says. "We came for the object. not you, so you have a choice. You can just give it to us and no harm will come to you. Or you can get in our way and you will be sorry," he says lowly.

"Oh.. no," berger says.

I tap on maya's shoulder. "What did he say," i tilt my head. Maya shakes her head, "pas bien."

I nod my head. Charlie looks at us. "Bien? we are not good, what do you mean good," charlie freaks. "I told her it wasn't good, you dumbhead," maya rolls her eyes.

———

Third POV:

Lizzie was hiding behind a pillar, upstairs finding a way down. "Where are these intruders," Argon came through the door, just arriving.

"They're downstairs and there's someone up here. A girl," Jersey says. "What if she called the cops," argon says. "Not possible. I set up blockers around the house," Hawaii says taking a bite out of a pizza slice.

"Did you block every frequency," Argon looks at him.

"Does spongebob live in a pineapple," he remarks. Argon and Jersey looks at each other weirdly.

"Looks like we might have to get our hands dirty tonight," jersey says, pulling out a gun.

"Hey.. killing kids is not a part of my contract," hawaii stands up, walking to them.

"hey.. hey, hey. Woah- woah.. who said anything about killing kids," argon looks at him.

Lizzie was listening in on them from upstairs.

"Alright, we're gonna find her and we're gonna scare her, right," argon continues.

"Uh huh," jersey agrees, not sounding very reliable. "Good, cause i don't kill kids," hawaii says. "No. Totally, totally, totally," argon shakes his head. "But uh.. what about adults.. adults are fine right," he shrugs his shoulder. "adults are fine. I kill adults all the time," hawaii smiles. "Yeah, exactly," argon says.

pew

The laser gun shoots at hawaii and he falls down, Lizzie was watching and gets startled. "One less adult," argon smiles.

Lizzie tries to walk away very slowly.

creak

The two men hear and stand up to go to the sound. Jersey immediately aims at the railing, where lizzie was. "Freeze!"

She gasps, looking back. She puts her hands up.

"Who are you," argon calls out. Lizzie was at the end of the balcony.

"I'm.. Lizzie Mcgonagle.. Elizabeth. And i'm.. fourteen years old. And.. i look really mature but i'm just starting to feel comfortable in my own skin. And i'm too pretty to die, okay? I'm way too pretty to die.. and i don't know why you guys wanna kill me. Because i'm so pretty and i have so much more of life right now. You guys don't.. have as much life to live as i do. And i really just don't want you guys to kill me. please don't kill me," she rambles on. Her breathing was out of normal. She was wailing. Her voice was higher. She was freaking out, begging for her life.

"shhh..." argon shushes her. Then her sniffles and breathing stops.

"Please..." argon tells her.

ding

Lizzie looks behind her when the doorbell rings. "Who is that," argon points at the door, still looking at Lizzie.

"I-i don't know.." lizzie lies. "Did you call the cops," argon's voice raises. "No! I swear, Lizzie cuts him off.

"Did you order food," he asks. "No. no, it's not food. There's pizza over there. It's DiGornio, not delivery," she points over at the table with her finger but her hands were still raised in surrender.

"Who is DiGornio," argon shakes his head. The doorbell continued ringing. Lizzie looks back without saying anything. "Is that DiGornio at the door," he asks. "No! No!"

"WHO IS DIGORNIO," Argon shouts.

"I.. don't know why you guys are here," she wails. Her voice sounds like her throat was closing up. But she wasn't crying.

"Get her down here," argon tells jersey.

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