Chapter 4 - The Escape Path
Mister Vance held Ethan suspended in the air, his grip tightening like an iron vise around the boy's small neck.
Ethan kicked his legs desperately, gasping for a breath of air that simply would not come.
The old funeral director's eyes were utterly devoid of any human emotion.
"You really are a persistent little pest," Mister Vance sneered, tossing Ethan violently backward into the corridor.
Ethan hit the hard floorboards, coughing and sputtering as oxygen finally rushed back into his burning lungs.
Inside the embalming room, Richard was cursing loudly and trying to tie a makeshift tourniquet around his bleeding leg.
"Do not let the kid get away!" Richard yelled frantically from the floor.
Ethan scrambled to his feet and sprinted wildly down the dark, winding corridor.
He did not know the layout of the massive building, but he knew he had to find his way back to the main chapel.
His mother was still trapped inside that shattered wooden box.
He rushed past rows of empty viewing rooms, the terrifying silence of the building echoing in his ears.
Heavy footsteps thumped loudly on the floorboards right behind him.
Mister Vance was surprisingly fast for his age, and he was swinging that heavy iron pipe with deadly intent.
Ethan ducked into a narrow side room filled with towering stacks of floral arrangements and funeral wreaths.
He frantically pushed a heavy wooden cabinet in front of the door just as Mister Vance slammed into it from the outside.
"You cannot hide in there forever, boy!" the old man shouted, violently smashing his pipe against the wood.
Ethan backed away from the rattling door, desperately searching the dim room for another exit.
He noticed a small, grated air vent located high up on the far wall.
May you like
He quickly stacked three sturdy wooden flower stands on top of each other and climbed toward the ceiling.
Just as Ethan kicked the metal grate loose and squeezed into the dusty duct, the barricaded door completely splintered apart.
