Seven Rabbits by Timothy King

Author:Timothy King [King, Timothy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-03-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Everyone in the room was silent. Chase assumed everyone else was holding their breath, too, because he didn’t hear them breathing. He released his breath slowly, allowing the air to escape from his barely open lips. He tried to make as little sound as possible, even avoiding shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

Floorboards creaked on the other side of the door, and the few slivers of light coming through the space at the bottom showed the shadows of two boots. The shadows grew bigger as the person approached the bedroom door. The sound of boots scuffing across the floor was impossibly loud in the otherwise silent room. Chase held the brass lamp he found on the bedside table like a baseball bat, causing his mind to drift back to Little League. How long had it been since he had held a bat? He exhaled again. He pictured them kicking the door open and rushing into the room, saw himself taking one, maybe two swings. He envisioned bashing one of the masked men in the head with those swings. It was something he did before football games. His dad called it visualizing success. Now he was visualizing survival. He squeezed the lamp even tighter. They probably couldn’t take them all, but he was damn sure he was taking at least one of them with him.

Outside, the clouds shifted slightly. The faintest ray of moonlight passed through the windows. Chase could make out the silhouettes of his teammates, huddled in the center of the room with their weapons raised.

Someone tapped softly on the bedroom door.

Every muscle in his body tensed. He steeled his nerves, hoping he would have the courage to bash a man’s skull when they entered the room. Just take one with you, he thought to himself.

Someone knocked again. This time, it was a playful knock, the same one that reminded Chase of his father. It echoed a rhythmic beat through the room.

Chase was acutely aware of the sweat beading down his chest and back, a single droplet sliding down the concave valley of his spine and rolling down his lower back. His white knuckles numbed as he tightened his grip against the brass lamp. The muscles in his shoulders started to shake under the weight.

Again that same playful knock.

Chase glanced to his left at Justin, his own fear was reflected in the older boy’s eyes. Justin held the knife in his hand, the blade pointed down. Irish stood in front of him. Chase rested his left hand on Irish’s shoulder, attempting to keep tabs on him in the darkness. Irish shook uncontrollably under his grip.

Behind him, Lemichael’s breathing grew heavier. He sounded like he was hyperventilating. Stealing a quick glance back, Chase could see the red stains that blotched his face, evidence of the earlier beating.

“We got this,” Chase whispered. Nobody responded, but Irish seemed to shake a little less.

Chase waited with anticipation for someone to kick the door in, sure the masked men would come flooding into the bedroom and hack them to bits with their machetes.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.