ANISHA'S POV
It was a long drive, and considering that Yellowleaf is a very mountainous city, we were going through the highs, the lows, and the curves. After what seemed like eternity, mainly because of how cramped we were in the seat, the car stopped. I sat uncomfortably between pastor Everdeen and Dylan, with Liam clinging very close to me. Something must have gone terribly wrong. No-one told us that, but the way in which we left the warehouse was enough to show that things had gone really bad. We were roughly blindfolded and dragged into cars.
I heard the sound of other cars stopping both in front of and behind ours. Someone opened the car doors and I heard footsteps of people walking. Later, we were pulled into a place. After walking for a while, we were made to go down some stairs. The flight seemed to go on forever. I was very tired and felt like I was going to faint, but I had to keep going. Clutching the child in my arms, I kept taking one step after the other, hoping that each step I took would be the last, yet they never seemed to come to an end. It was after a long time that we stopped, and we were forced to sit down. The surface was hard and felt like wood, so I just assumed that we were sitting on benches.
Indeed they were benches, for when the blindfolds were removed, I realized we were seated on a long bench, in a room which was better kept, comparing with the room where we had been held earlier on.
While I held tightly to Liam, Dylan held my hand and squeezed it as a way of reassuring me. Pastor Everdeen hugged me and patted my shoulder now and then. I felt a sense of deep warmth welling up from within. I started to imagine that this must be what it feels like to have a father. I imagined the pastor as my daddy, and I squeezed his hand tight. I felt I had found a father in him, and I assumed that he too had found a daughter in me; at least I hoped so.
None of us spoke to anyone, for we were surrounded by seriously angry men, and we dared not utter a word.
We waited for a very long time, and there was dead silence. It felt like it was more than an hour as we waited for what our fate would be. Then we heard the sound of a door being slammed, angry footsteps, and Eden's voice calling out from a distance,
"Doctor Dylan de Milo! You have messed up with the wrong man!!"
I felt a knot building up in my stomach, and I was gripped by great fear.
"Bring me my tools!! I want to look them in the eyes as I kill them in the most horrible manner! You will die a very slow death. It will take a while before you breath your last! Slowly I will kill you, in great pain, you will die!!"
He walked in, and we faced a very angry Eden. There was no telling what he was capable of.
"What is Bubbles? Who is Bubbles?" he barked into Dylan's face. Dylan's head remained tilted to the right, as if he could not move it back anymore. When he finally moved to straightened his head, he came face to face with the lunatic.
I thought Dylan was going to back down in fear but to my surprise he said "now that the cops are after you, why don't you walk away while you still have the chance?"
"Walk away? Walk away, you say? Israel Bassard never walks away!!" he started to beat his chest in crazy movements. Pastor Everdeen bowed his head and started moving his lips; he must have been praying.
"You mean Eden Salatto? Who are you, man? Israel Bassard? Eden Salatto? What do you need?" Dylan spoke.
"Are you talking to me right now? Do you know who I am?"
"I don't know whether you are Israel or Eden, but whoever you are, what do you want from us?"
"You are in a place where no one will ever find you!! Even if the cops come, they will search everywhere and leave without finding you!! This is a secret place which only I know about! You have messed up with the wrong man!!"
"Since you're going to kill us, why don't you just kill us now!!" Dylan shouted. Fear gripped me, I so much wanted to tell Dylan to be quiet, but I was too scared to open my mouth.
"I will kill you, de Milo. Slowly. I will take my time to kill you, all of you! And the death will be very slow and very painful, trust me!" He spat in his hands and rubbed his hands together. Only heaven knows what that disgusting gesture meant; if at all it meant anything.
When Eden left the room, he assured us that we were going to die in great pain. There were more than ten armed men with him, and they all left the room with him. The door was firmly shut.
"I never imagined this would be the way I would die," Pastor Everdeen began to speak.
"Don't speak like that, pastor. I believe the police will soon find us. It's all thanks to the prescription that you wrote, Dylan" I struggled to believe what I was saying.
The door was opened forcefully, and in marched Eden.
"You have existed enough in this world!! Your time to die is here!! Take them to the room!!!" he ordered to one of his men.
We were taken to a room which was very small. In this room, there was neither window nor air ventilation. The men tied Dylan's hands and feet, they did the same to the pastor. I was tied last, and Liam was taken away from us. The men who tied us used thick silver tape to tie each person's wrists together. The same tape was used to tie the fingers of each hand together, so as to make sure that none of us could use our fingers to temper with the thick rope which was tied on top of our wrists. Finally a heavy metal chain reinforced the whole thing. Each person's feet were secured even more tighter than what was done to the hands. In addition to being extremely uncomfortable, it was also very painful, and the chains felt heavy.
"Please, please I beg you! Please do not take Liam away from me", I cried and begged with all my heart.
"What do you want, Eden? I can give you anything you want, if you want money you can get millions or even billions from me. I promise you….."
"Shut up, de Milo! Look here. This is a gas tank. I am going to release this gas and it will slowly leak and you three will inhale it. You are going to suffer a lot of pain and anguish, starting with itchy and tearful eyes, you shall cough your lungs out and you shall vomit blood. Blood shall come out of your nose and ears, you will foam from the mouth, and you will lie in pools of your own blood, then you will die" Eden started to walk away, just like that!
"Eden! Eden don't do this!!" I cried out after him.
Our cries fell on deaf ears. Eden stood at the door and stood.
"Gas", he gave an order to Toast. The man nodded and walked towards the gas tank, switched it on and then walked out, closing the heavy metal door behind him.
"So this is it," pastor Everdeen said.
"Seems like it," Dylan spoke.
"I deserve it", said the pastor.
"Why would you say that?"
"You see, for many years, I have kept a huge secret to myself. I came here to Yellowleaf in order to be alone with God, asking for His forgiveness. I have guilt on my heart. My heart carries a heavy burden."
Both Dylan and myself looked at the pastor and none of us said anything. I was crying, but I was not sure what exactly made me cry. Was it the fact that we were facing death, or was it because I had no idea what they were going to do to Liam? I felt that the police force had greatly let us down, and I cursed them all in my heart.
"Did you get the time to talk to God about it?" Dylan asked in a concerned voice.
The pastor slowly shook his head and said, "Not really. I would have wanted to be alone in the mountains, and pray. But anyway, I did pray back at the warehouse."
"Sorry to hear that. I'm sure we all have done things that we're not proud of." Dylan comforted the pastor.
I failed to say anything. Although I was feeling sorry for pastor Everdeen, I was drowning in my own issues.
"Don't cry, Anisha. Let's hold on to the last hope which we have. Who knows, the police might appear any minute from now." Dylan tried hard to console me.
"I don't think so. The room is already starting to be clouded by the scent of gas. We are locked up in here, and by the time the police comes, that is if they ever come, we will all be dead."
Hot and itchy tears ran down my face as the countdown began; the countdown to my death.