Chapter 7 - The Escape from the Ashes
The entire cabin erupted into a massive wall of blinding orange flames in a matter of seconds.
The fire spread across the wooden floorboards with terrifying speed, instantly cutting off the path to the front door.
Chloe crawled away into the smoke, laughing insanely as she disappeared into the burning bedroom.
I knew I could not save her from her own madness without sacrificing myself, and Anna needed me to survive.
I grabbed the heavy hunting rifle from the floor and used the wooden stock to violently smash the living room window.
I dove headfirst through the jagged glass, tumbling out into the freezing mud just as the cabin roof began to collapse.
I gasped for clean air, my lungs burning aggressively from the toxic black smoke I had inhaled.
As I watched the cabin burn to the ground, a sudden realization hit me like a physical blow to the chest.
Chloe would never have kept Anna in this remote cabin because the freezing temperatures would have killed the baby prematurely.
My mother needed the baby to die naturally during childbirth so she wouldn't be investigated for murder by the authorities.
There was only one place my mother felt truly safe and entirely in control of her environment.
I ran to my car and sped toward the massive, abandoned Victorian estate where I had grown up as a child.
I parked a mile away from the iron gates and sprinted through the dense woods to avoid triggering the perimeter alarms.
I found the hidden cellar door near the back patio, realizing the rusted padlock had been recently replaced with a new one.
I raised the heavy tire iron and smashed the lock repeatedly until the metal finally shattered into pieces.
I pulled the heavy wooden doors open and slowly descended into the pitch-black darkness of the underground basement.
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Suddenly, a heavy blunt object struck the back of my skull with devastating force.
The world instantly went entirely black as my knees buckled and I collapsed onto the cold concrete floor.
