Chapter 14 - The Convergence in the Dark
"RUN!" Sarah shrieked through the smoke.
Evelyn didn't wait. She kicked the warping steel door open with her foot, bursting out into the dark carpeted hallway just as Ethan was stumbling backward from the blast.
Ethan was blind in the sudden darkness, his face covered in soot, his hands reaching out wildly. "Evelyn! What did you do?!"
Evelyn sprinted past him, her boots flying over the carpet.
Behind her, inside the smoking utility room, Sarah stepped out into the doorway, holding the heavy steel wrench high above her head. As Ethan turned to chase Evelyn, Sarah brought the wrench down with all her remaining strength, striking Ethan squarely across the back of his neck.
Ethan let out a choked roar of pain, collapsing heavily onto the carpeted floor.
Evelyn reached the grand staircase, plunging down the dark wooden steps two at a time in the pitch-black house. Below her, in the foyer, Clara was scrambling toward the front entrance, her hands feeling along the wall in the dark.
"Ethan!" Clara screamed into the dark. "The doors opened! The doors opened!"
Evelyn reached the bottom of the stairs, her eyes adjusting to the faint afternoon light streaming in through the suddenly opened security shutters of the living room windows.
She saw Clara standing near the heavy mahogany front door, which was now swinging wide open on its hinges, letting in the cool, crisp breeze of the outside world.
Clara turned, seeing Evelyn approaching through the foyer. The old woman raised the leather leash once more, her face twisted into an insane, desperate mask of maternal protection.
"You won't ruin my family!" Clara shrieked, lunging toward Evelyn.
Evelyn didn't stop. She didn't slow down. Carrying Lily securely in her left arm, she raised her right foot and delivered a fierce, driving front kick straight into Clara's chest.
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The impact sent the old woman flying backward out the open doorway, crashing heavily onto the concrete steps of the front porch. The leather leash flew from her hand, bouncing down the steps into the green grass of the lawn.
Evelyn stepped over the threshold, out of the house of horror, and into the blinding brightness of the sun.
