CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Brandt was ahead of them, somewhere around the support wall. Gage was certain of it. He moved away from the corner. “I have a plan, but I need you all to buy into this, okay?”
“Sure,” Jess whispered.
Bryan simply nodded, looking pale. Gage had no way to know for certain, but if Bryan used to get killer headaches before, he could only imagine the mother he must have right now.
Allison eyed him suspiciously. He didn’t expect her to like his plan any better once he explained. “I’m bringing back Mrs. Hirsch.”
“What?” Bryan managed to say.
Allison stepped away from them. “No way! You want her to come after us, too?”
“Do you have another plan? Because we’re listening,” Gage asked her.
Allison shook her head. “Maybe if we run, we can get past him.”
Gage was losing patience and they were wasting time arguing. “Really? That’s your plan? We’re not bringing back a ghost, Allison. We’re bringing back a person. She might not even have a soul. I don’t know what happens when I bring things back.”
“Just have Bryan zap him!” Allison hissed.
Jess motioned to Bryan. “Look at him, Allison! Does he look like he can keep this up all night?”
Allison glanced at Bryan. Even in her fight or flight induced craziness she had to realize it was impossible for Bryan to nuke Brandt and every entity into oblivion without hemorrhaging to death.
“Look,” Gage said. “We still have to get through Riley and the Evil Sisters are likely to make a reappearance at any time. If Bryan is going to use his mojo on anyone, it’s got to be them. Maybe we can use Mrs. Hirsch to take out Brandt.”
Allison shook her head. “She’ll kill us.”
Jess lightly shook her arm. “Wake up, Allison! It’s not like we’re going to stand around and watch! She’s going to gain us some time.”
“Go for it,” Bryan said.
Jess nodded. “Do it.”
Gage thought about Mrs. Hirsch. Saw her in his mind. He pictured her as though he were standing right in front of her lifeless body, concentrating on her as he’d last seen her alive. He exhaled through his mouth, as though blowing air onto the faces of the images in his mind. We need you, Mrs. Hirsch. Are you there? We need to get out of the house. Brandt is blocking us.
Would it work? Mrs. Hirsch was much different than a bird or dog. He kept concentrating. He sensed the housekeeper stirring. Although he wasn’t in front of her to see it, damned if it hadn’t worked. He had no way to know her thoughts or even what she was doing. He only sensed her and her emotions and man, was she was pissed.
“She’s coming,” he said at last.
He wondered if the communication worked both ways. Could Mrs. Hirsch hear him? Sense their fear? Their hesitation? Even so, what would it mean?
Allison tried to push past him. “Wait,” he cautioned. “Not yet.”
Allison pulled away, dropping the camera Bryan had handed her. Jess scrambled to catch it before it hit the ground. Allison bolted, forcing Gage to go after her.
“Damn it, Allison! Wait!” Bryan was right behind him, as well as Jess. Allison ran ahead, still in full freak-out mode. It didn’t do much for not giving away their location, and it wasn’t helping them find the broken window.
Gage feared Allison would be right. By chasing after her, they’d probably put themselves directly in Mrs. Hirsch’s path—or Brandt’s.
“BRANDT!” came Mrs. Hirsch’s gravelly voice from deep within the basement. She didn’t quite sound like she had when alive, but then, she was in a body that had been dead a couple days.
More shuffling and banging noises he couldn’t identify. Mrs. Hirsch sounded closer now. “BRANDT!”
Allison stumbled, tripping over something she’d run into in her blind attempt at escape. Gage grabbed her and she kicked and fought against him. “No!” She wailed. “Let me go!”
Something crunched beneath Gage’s shoe. Jess panned down with the camera. Glass. Thank God for broken glass.
“The window!” Jess exclaimed, panning the camera to reveal their escape route.
“Jess, you should go first,” Bryan said. “Then Allison. Gage and I will try to hold off everyone else.”
Jess shook her head. “Get Allison through first. Then I’ll go.”
Allison had stopped struggling but was still crying. Without waiting, she scrambled toward the open window. It was several feet above the basement floor, and not a full-sized window. Gage hoisted her up and Allison grabbed the window frame. Once her feet wriggled through, he called to Jess. “Just run, okay? I’ll find you.”
She didn’t seem so sure, but nodded. “You’d better.”
His only thought was to get Jess to safety. That meant more than getting her out of the house, but he had to start somewhere.
Jess handed Bryan the camera and Gage lifted her enough for her to grab onto the windowsill and finish pulling herself up. Once she wriggled through, she poked her head back in. “Come on.”
“Bryan’s gotta go next,” he said. “He’s not doing well.”
“No,” Bryan said. “I’m the only one who can make them vanish. Go, on.”
“I’m not arguing with you,” Gage told him. “Once you’re up, you can help pull me through. Now move!”
Bryan tossed the camera up to Allison and let Gage give him a leg up.
“BRRRAANDT!”
Jess helped guide Bryan through. “Gage!”
Her warning made him turn to find Riley coming at him, his ashen face contorted with anger. Gage braced himself. There was no time to get out of Riley’s way.
“Run, Jess!” Gage shouted.
“No!” Jess screamed as Bryan pulled her away.
Riley flung himself forward, and unexpectedly went right through the window.
“Jess!” Gage yelled. “Jess!”
Shit! He was after Jess. More screaming. Jess’s voice. Allison’s. Bryan’s, too.
Gage backed up and took a running leap, grabbing onto the window frame, cutting himself on jagged glass. He pulled himself up, and pushed his way through.
Bryan had Jess behind him, trying his best to guard her. He was squared off with Riley. And Allison was running for the woods.
Something grabbed his foot and Gage kicked. Brandt? Hirsch? Whoever it was, they were strong. The pain in his ankle felt like they were trying to snap his leg in two. He rolled over, ignoring the pain. Brandt. He was halfway out the window. The Dr. Brandt they’d known was lost behind those crazed eyes. Gage brought his other foot down on Brandt’s face a few times—hard. Brandt rocked backward with each kick, his nose bleeding and clearly broken.
Gage managed to free himself and scoot backward. He might have knocked him back into the house, but Brandt kept coming. Gage stood and an intense bolt of pain shot up his ankle. He’d twisted it, but at least he was able to put weight on it.
And the hits just keep on coming, he thought.
His only hope was that Mrs. Hirsch would do something to Brandt. At least slow him down.
Bryan and Jess hurried to his side, Bryan helping to steady him.
“I’m good,” Gage said, hobbling. “We’ve got to go. Did you get him? Did you get Riley?”
Bryan sighed. “No. I tried. He’s gone, but not because of me. Maybe he went after Allison, I don’t know.”
Gage forced himself to put a little more weight on his leg and they made their way toward the front of the house. They couldn’t leave, not without sending Riley to the Twilight Zone first. Even then, he’d be back. “The front gates.”
“We’ve tried that before,” Bryan reminded him.
“Yeah, but this time, it’ll be different. He’s coming for us. I hope you’ve got enough juice for one more shot. When Riley comes for our asses, hit him.”
Bryan frowned. “I don’t know if I can get rid of Riley as long as I did the girls. He’s stronger.”
Bryan really didn’t look well. The moonlight made them all seemed pale, but Bryan’s complexion looked downright gray. Gage mustered what he hoped was a half-assed but comforting grin. If they didn’t get out soon, Bryan wasn’t going to make it.