Chapter 7 - The Unholy Sanctuary
Greg’s phone was a tracking beacon, and we had led Margaret’s men straight to our hiding spot.
I rolled the window down and threw the glowing phone as far into the dense woods as I could.
I told everyone to get out of the car and run toward the church.
We kicked open the rotting wooden doors and slipped inside the sanctuary.
The air was freezing, and the moonlight filtered through broken stained-glass windows.
We barricaded the heavy doors with a broken wooden pew.
Mark collapsed onto the floor, clutching his side in extreme pain.
I noticed a dark red stain spreading across his jacket.
He had been grazed by a bullet during our escape from the docks.
Emily immediately tore a piece of her own shirt and applied pressure to his wound.
Lily was crying silently, holding tightly to my leg.
I heard the sound of heavy boots crunching on the snow outside.
Flashlight beams swept across the stained-glass windows, casting colorful, terrifying shadows on the walls.
Someone hammered on the heavy front doors.
A voice called out, telling us that the building was surrounded.
It was Vanessa.
My sister-in-law had come to finish the job herself.
Vanessa yelled that if we handed over the ledger, she would let Emily and Lily walk away.
I knew she was lying.
I looked around the dark sanctuary for any possible exit.
I remembered my father telling me about a trapdoor beneath the altar used for storage during the winter.
I ran to the altar and pushed the heavy wooden table aside.
Beneath a dusty rug, there was a rusty iron ring embedded in the floor.
I pulled it with all my strength, and a square section of the floor groaned open.
A dark, narrow stone staircase led down into the old catacombs.
The front doors of the church began to splinter as they battered it with a heavy ram.
I hurried Emily, Lily, and a bleeding Mark down the stairs.
I pulled the trapdoor shut just as the sanctuary doors finally gave way with a deafening crash.
I locked the bolt from the inside, plunging us into absolute darkness.
We walked blindly through the freezing stone tunnel.
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Suddenly, a blinding spotlight clicked on at the end of the corridor.
A figure stepped out of the glare, holding an assault rifle aimed directly at us.
