Noah opened the closet door. Emma, standing behind him, watched nervously as he did.
Noah opened the closet door and then—suddenly!!! A chicken came out of the closet!!! But its head was missing, blood dripping onto the clean silk carpet as it ran briskly out through the main door.
Noah and Emma were both startled by the headless chicken running past them, still catching their breath as they tried to process what the hell had just happened.
Suddenly, they heard the sound of someone falling. They quickly reacted to the noise and saw that someone had been pushed down the stairs, which were on the left side of the LED TV. Noah rushed toward the fallen man. He checked his face and then...…
Saw that it was Ron—but something was missing. His left eye had been plucked out, and a bandage was wrapped around it to stop the blood flow. He was in terrible condition, as if he had been brutally beaten with a bat or a crowbar. His body was still trembling from the beating.
Suddenly, Ron spoke in a quiet and weakened tone:
"Run away... They are...… They are here."
Noah, still scared and worried, tried to understand what Ron was trying to say. Emma was still standing in front of the closet, anxious. Suddenly, something struck her—a chicken cannot live without its head for more than one minute. That meant the one who tortured Ron was still here.
Emma rushed toward Noah to warn him about the danger.
"Noah!!!"
Before Emma could finish her sentence—
BANG!!!!
A bullet passed through Emma's eye. She froze and looked toward the direction from which the bullet came. Suddenly, a masked figure dashed toward her with a knife and tried to stab her. Emma barely missed the slash but still received a cut on her cheek.
Emma staggered back a few steps, frozen in terror. Noah, who had also noticed the masked figure, saw that the figure was wearing a red cloak. Suddenly, it hit him—the Freedom Tower terrorist attack. The same outfit.
Suddenly, a voice came from upstairs:
"Our plan was that he would come upstairs and I would kill him. You should have stayed outside so that if he ran away, you could chase him."
Another masked figure wearing the same outfit came down from upstairs, tossing a gun in his hand.
"But you were dumber and more impatient than I thought," he said mockingly.
The first masked figure standing in front of Emma looked toward Noah and replied in an irritated tone:
"I was thinking of killing that unexpected girl. Then the one we actually have to kill would run upstairs, and you would kill him. You're the one who ruined the plan."
Noah looked at the first figure and noticed something familiar... those shiny green eyes.
The figure standing on the stairs sighed.
"Fine. I'll kill the main target, and you kill the woman."
He stopped playing with his gun and aimed it at Noah. Noah gulped in fear. He looked around the house, observing every detail, trying to find a way to escape this hell alive—a small open kitchen in front of the main door with a wooden table and chairs in front of it. On the left side was an LED TV, a big sofa with a glass table in front of it, and the closet. On the right were the stairs and a basement door beside them. A pure silk carpet lay on the floor, now ruined by the chicken's blood.
Noah pulled off a shoe from his foot. The masked figure was confused but didn't care and pulled the trigger.
The bullet sliced through the air. Noah threw the shoe toward the masked figure and—luckily—the bullet collided with the shoe, redirecting its trajectory just enough to miss Noah. The damaged shoe hit the masked figure, distracting him for a few seconds.
In those few seconds, Noah rushed toward the green-eyed masked figure who was about to shoot Emma.
"Turn behind!!" Noah shouted.
The green-eyed figure reacted to the voice and turned around—and Noah slammed a punch into the figure's stomach with all his strength! Before the figure could recover and pull the trigger, Emma grabbed a chair from the wooden table and struck the back of the figure's head with it.
The masked figure became dizzy from the impact. At that moment, Noah pulled off the mask—and became flabbergasted.
His suspicion was true.
It was the receptionist.
The second masked figure on the stairs became annoyed by Noah and Emma teaming up against his companion and aimed his gun at Noah. But then he felt a brutal punch. He stumbled back from the impact and saw—
Ron!!!!
Despite being brutally injured and missing an eye, Ron was still standing to save his friend and assistant. Ron screamed at the top of his lungs:
"Noah!!! Emma!!! Run away!!"
A rush of adrenaline washed over Noah. But before he could react, Emma grabbed his hand tightly and, with full speed, dragged both herself and Noah out of the house...…