“I’m going out there,” I tell the group.

“We’re coming with you,” Wind says, volunteering Jimmy. Jimmy doesn’t oppose.

“Jan, lock the door once we go out,” I order her. I grab the baseball bat under my bed and the three guys exit the room. I hear the lock click immediately after we leave. I hear rapid footsteps and the beam of a flashlight. Rodney Cooper, the elderly counselor, quickly appears.

“Get the fuck in your rooms. We’re handling the lights. It’s just a blackout.” Mr. Cooper disappears down the dark hallway.

“I’m not buying it,” I tell my friends.

“Maybe it’s just a blackout,” Jimmy says to me.

“Yeah, dude, you’re too on edge,” Wind agrees.

“We have to get to a working phone. There’s a payphone right outside of the building. If we get out there we can call Henderson.”

“Seriously, Vince?” Wind groans.

“Fine. Jim, you stay with Jan. Wind, go help the counselors get the power back on.” Jim knocks on the door and calls to Jan. She lets him in. Wind sprints down the hallway. I make my way towards the front entrance with my baseball bat. After about five minutes of sprinting through the dark, I find the door. Before I reach it, I hear a wooden kind of slamming like someone breaking down a door. “Shit,” I rasp under my breath. I pull on the door, but it stays still. I hit it with my shoulder, but it doesn’t budge. I decide that I need to go and make sure Jan’s okay. The tile floor hurts my bare feet, but I can ignore that for now. When I get to my room, I find a broken door and even worse: an empty room. “Fuck!” I scream. I’m able to find Jan’s purse and her car keys. The window to my room is only on the first floor so I open it and jump out.

I’ve never run faster in my life than I am now. I make my way around the building and realize I don’t know how to drive. Suddenly a pair of headlights illuminates the street. I turn around to find a yellow taxi pulling up. The window is open. “Hey stranger!” The familiar taxi driver yells to me.

“Cain! Cain! He got her again! We have to get to the Cliffs.”

“What?”

“Anson! They released him from prison and he’s got Jan.”

“Well, what the fuck are you waiting for? Get in the car!” I open the car door and slam down into the seat. Cain doesn’t wait for me to close the door before speeding off. “They promised this wouldn’t happen…,” he sighs.

“Well, it did.” My sweaty fingers run over and over the baseball bat.

“You gonna bash him in the head?”

“Just about.”

“I’ll use my gun.” The streets are mostly empty so we get to the Cliffs within minutes. We drive past the spot where the crash happened and get to the parking lot. From here, we start running up the hiking path. I’m nearly blind with rage, but Cain is collected. “Stop! Vince, stop!” I skid to a halt.

“What?”

“Look.” He points towards a conspicuous patch of vines. He walks over to them and moves them out of the way. They reveal a metal door that is cracked open.

“Holy shit…,” I whisper. We both run through the door. Inside is a dark cave with many different pathways.

“Choose one, Vince. I’ll choose another. Use that bat if you need to.” We go our separate ways and I realize that I’ve never been more terrified in my entire life. I can smell him. Through the scents of the musty cave, I can smell him. The same smell from that invaded the garden lingers in this hallway. I come to an opening. In the center of the room is a table. Strapped to the table is Janet Kagney. I whisper her name to catch her attention. She yells for me to hide and I listen. Anson appears through an adjacent walkway, wearing similar clothes to the ones he wore in the garden. He chuckles maniacally as he approaches Janet.

“Well, well, well, your little boyfriend should be showing up soon,” he hisses. Anson presses a button on a remote, revealing a large television monitor. It shows the entrance to the lair. Luckily, he hadn’t been watching it when Cain and I entered. I creep up behind Anson, brandishing the slugger. With one swift motion, I crack him right over the spine. The savage falls to the ground and I step on his back. He groans wildly in pain.

“Anson. You bastard. Tell me why you want to hurt Jan.”

“It’s not Jan I want,” he rasps.

“What?”

“It’s you, Vincent, my boy.”

“What?

“I’ve been trying to get to you for the past fourteen years,” he groans. I step back off of him, but keep the bat at the ready. “You see, Vincent. Your father didn’t die in a house fire. In fact, he didn’t die at all. He’s right here.”

“No…”

“Christopher Anson Jabbe.”

“No…” A tear falls from my eye. “It can’t be.”

“Your older brother tried to torch the house. Then he ran away forever. He was trying to kill me. He blamed me for your mother’s accident. So he tried to kill me.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Cain almost killed us both fourteen years ago. Now he’s trying again.”

“Cain? No. Shut up. You’re spewing shit, Anson.” I suddenly hear rapidly successive footsteps. Cain jumps out of the shadows, desert eagle in hands. I don’t have time to stop him. He fires several shots towards Anson. I shield my eyes, but I can feel the warm blood splattering onto my legs. I put my hands down when it’s over.

“You okay, Vincent?” He asks in a concerned tone.

“You… you’re my… brother?”

“Yes. I am. I was going to tell you.”

“You just…just killed our father,” I gasp.

“He deserved it. He’s a fucking lunatic. He was supposed to die fourteen years ago. We can be brothers again now. We can be a family, Vincent.”

“Cain… no. You killed a man. There was so much I could’ve learned from him. He deserved a fair trial and…”

“You’re delusional, Vince. He didn’t deserve shit. Come with me. I’ll keep you safe from the cops.” I walk over to Janet and release her from the straps.

“I won’t.”

“You’re going to regret this, brother.”

“Don’t call me that. Janet, let’s go.”

“You’re going to regret this,” Cain repeats, brandishing his magnum. Without looking back, Jan and I pick a random corridor and take it. This is too surreal for me to stomach. It feels like the world’s crashing down on me. I can’t take it. Suddenly, things go black.