Author's Note: Hi everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates! Been pretty busy but here's the new chapter!
Due to the heavy lock down that Donald ordered, Phil and Jasmine didn't have a choice but to stay in the lab while they thought of a way to escape. They sat at the corner, hidden from view, just in case anyone came in to find them.
Phil hugged Jasmine closer to him as night fell. Realizing that Jasmine wasn't talking, he loosened his hold on her to look at her.
"You okay?" Phil asked
Jasmine thought for a while before she shook her head, "No… I'm not okay."
She turned to Phil, "I can't help but feel that this is all my fault. Maybe if I hadn't run out on him, this wouldn't have happened. My best friend… My parents… He's doing all this because of me."
"I started all this… I made him what he is." Jasmine said
Before she could continue going on, Phil stopped her.
"Stop saying that. This isn't your fault. Nemeth had lost his mind way before the two of you got together. You've got nothing to do with it." Phil said
Jasmine closed her eyes as she felt the warmth of her tears welling up in her eyes. Phil cleaned away a tear that escaped before cupping her face so that she would look at him.
"This is all part of Nicholas' plan to make you lose hope. He's a fucking son of a bitch and we're going to bring him down if it's the last thing I do." Phil said
"What if I've already lost hope?" Jasmine asked
"Don't even think of it. As long as I'm around, I'm your hope." Phil replied
Jasmine smiled a little and Phil leaned into kiss her.
"And don't doubt that." He said, "All we have to do now is beat Nicholas at his own sick game."
"And I know how we can begin." Jasmine said
Phil looked at her and she was looking at a cabinet that they hadn't looked at before. Staring at them through the glass was a part of a gun.
The next morning, the both of them woke up around the same time to see Ryan looking at them. Almost immediately, Phil stood up, pulling Jasmine along with him and used his body to shield her.
"No… Please don't be alarmed… No one knows you are here except me…" Ryan said
"Why should we believe you?" Phil asked
Ryan looked and pointed at the cameras, "Because I re-programmed the cameras here in this room. We can move freely because all the security personnels can see is an empty room."
"Why are you helping us? I thought you were afraid of your brother." Phil said
"I was… But… After seeing what happened to Jas' parents… I rather die with no regrets." Ryan said
Jasmine lightly pushed Phil's body aside and looked at Ryan, "What's wrong with my parents?"
Ryan looked at Jasmine before looking down guiltily, "They… They changed."
She immediately held Phil's hands and squeezed it. She knew it was bound to happen but she didn't expect it to be that fast. Phil gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, knowing that it would stop Jasmine from dwelling further into the cause of it.
"What are you doing here anyway? And how did you find us?" Phil asked
"When I heard Donald with the others, I knew that you won't have enough time to run. So, this would be the first place you'd hide." Ryan replied
"But that still doesn't answer my first question. What are you doing here?" Phil said
Ryan takes out a small tablet from a satchel he was carrying and passed it to Jasmine.
"What is this?" Jasmine asked
"It has all the information you need." Ryan replied
He powers up the small tablet and said, "There is a map of the entire building inside and I've circled several spots on it that might be useful to you. Especially the armoury."
"Ryan… If Nicholas finds out, you're going to get in trouble…" Jasmine said
"Then so be it. My brother has done a lot of bad things in his life and this is one of them. I don't want to have to carry the burden of his dark secret for the rest of my life without doing anything to prevent it." Ryan said
He walked across the room with Phil and Jasmine following him. He stopped right outside of Anthony's cell and pointed at a shelf by the corner.
"That's a fake shelf. The book on the left is a trigger. Pull it and you'll open the hidden entrance. Just follow the route and you'll find yourself at an exit to the next floor where the armoury is." Ryan said
Jasmine turned to Ryan and smiled gratefully, "Thank you."
Ryan smiled back just as Jasmine hugged him. She squeezed him a little tightly and he reciprocated.
"I'm sorry, Jas. For everything but thank you for giving me a chance to make things right." Ryan said
Just as Jasmine let go to look at Ryan's expression to understand what he meant, he roughly pushed her towards Phil and hit the button by the side of Anthony's cell door. Before Jasmine could react to what was going on, Ryan gave both of them a sad but grateful smile as the cell door closed.
Jasmine turned to bury her face in Phil's chest as blood splattered on the partition window. Despite not hearing any screams, Jasmine could only imagine what was going on inside. As her body shook from crying, Phil hugged her tighter, with his eyes closed as he couldn't bring himself to look at the window which was slowly being painted red.