He looked at Stefano in horrified amazement, a slow painful death. They were trapped in a house that was being controlled by four lunatics. Mesmerized by the tragedy of his actions, Doug watched as Ernesto reached over and flipped a switch. It took him a moment to realize the loud click he heard was actually all the exits locking.
It took John, Abe, and Roman a few seconds to react, but it was a few seconds too late. Vivian, Ernesto, Stefano, and Tony were already half way out a hidden tunnel. By the time they had run across the room to the tunnel, which was quickly closing, all John could grab was a purple sequined sleeve of his Aunt Vivian's sleeve, and then they were gone.
He saw Jack look around the room and make a futile attempt at opening the door. He advanced to the switch that Ernesto had used only moments ago and flicked it up and down uselessly.
"What do we do now?" he exclaimed, voicing all of their thoughts.
While Abe and Roman tried to open the door by force, Doug sank down onto a stiff chair that was not meant to be dropped down on like that. There was a strange smell filling the air, but he couldn't quite place it. Everyone turned to Sami as she gasped.
"Oh my God, it's smoke! They lit the house on fire."
Frantically, everybody ran to the door at once, thinking that combining their body mass would be enough to force open the door, but Stefano was too smart for that. Doug didn't join the group, opting instead to sit and calmly panic. Calmly panic, was that an oxymoron? He was never going to see his daughter or Julie again.
He could see smoke steadily seeping through the cracks in the doorway. The others thought quickly enough to remove excess clothing and stop up the openings. He sat uselessly, despair filling all his senses. They were fighting a loosing battle. At least Hope, Julie, and the ones left in Salem already thought they were dead. They had already mourned and started to move on.
As much as he despised that fact in the last couple months, in his last few moments of life he embraced it. The months he spent here hoping and praying that they would return home had been for nothing. Stefano, Ernesto, Tony, and Vivian had given them anticipation, only to pull the rug out from beneath them, thereby causing even more pain. It looked like they had accomplished their goal, pain for everyone. He rose as strength filled him; there was no way they could let the bad guys win.
Hastily, he ran to a window in the room. Just as he thought, it was sealed shut and wouldn't give an inch. He lifted another high-backed wooden chair from beside him and prepared to hit the glass. He pulled his arms back, building momentum, and then struck the window as hard as he could. It didn't even crack. He repeated the action several times with no encouraging results.
Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw movement. Moving closer, he could see someone, no a lot of someone's trying to open the front door. Signaling to the other occupants of the room, everybody came over to help him attract their attention. They banged on the windows and screamed until finally the three that seemed to be leading the group caught on.
Seeing one person's face clearly for the first time, Doug felt optimism return to him in a rush.
"Bo! You have to get us out of here."
"Dad! Is that really you?" he heard Hope cry out.
"Hope, honey, it's me. We can't get out and the mansion is on fire. The window won't break."
"I need everyone to move away from the window. I'd suggest hiding behind furniture far off to the sides. Do not go in front of the window."
Realizing what Bo was about to do, Abe rushed all the residents to follow orders. One or more of the cops outside began firing several of rounds at once until the glass broke. Both sides worked rapidly so that enough glass was cleared away from the window pane for people to pass through. The women were let out first, each celebrating by collapsing in relief on the grass. Once he was safely on the ground, Doug pulled his daughter into a fierce hug.