There Has to Be A Place Better than This, In Heaven

Title is from Thugs Mansion by Tupac Shakur. Yeah, I'm a closet Tupac lover, whatcha going to do about it, punk?

I am so sorry for the short chapter, but honestly this is the only way to get around it. I don't want to give up completely, so I'll keep attempting to update as soon as possible, but until the exams are over, the chapters will probably be short. But hey, short is better than nothing, right?

Thanks everyone for the reviews and support for the story. Again I'm sorry it's so annoyingly short. :S

The gunshot echo was soon overpowered by a blood curdling scream from the young girl. Immediately her father's protective arms were wrapped around her, holding her body tightly against his. The gun crashed on the tiles, swiftly followed by heels colliding with the floor as Sherry made her escape, a stream of tears flowing behind her.

Chris gently let go of his screaming daughter, and made his way toward the slump body on the floor. The main doors slid open, allowing Jill to see the scene which had unfolded. She quickly ran up to blood splattered Anna, and attempted to pull the girl's sight from the body in front of her.

"Go. Jill, get her out of here." Chris demanded, rolling Luke's body so he now lay on his back. Jill froze in shock at the gaping hole which had torn through the man's upper chest. She had seen it all before, but gory scenes never failed to disgust her."Now!"

Jill blinked, and swallowed away the sick which had threatened to come up. She grabbed Anna's shoulders and frantically tried to bustle her out of the room.

"No! He's got to be okay! ...No!" Anna screamed, pushing away Jill's grasp across her abdomen. "Let me go!"

Chris, ignoring the pleas of his daughter, immediately ripped the arm off his shirt, pushing it up against the wound attempting to curb the bleeding. He was always good in bad situations, he acted so fast, he wouldn't realise what he had done until after. The minute the door opened once more, Jill wrapped her arm around the younger girl's waist, and forcefully pushed the two of them through the door.

As the doors closed, Anna desperately clung unto Jill's top, tears and blood staining the top in the process. Jill didn't complain just silently stroked Anna's hair. Jill wasn't much older when she witnessed the events at the mansion, she could fully relate to what the poor girl had to just witness. Anna continued to cry, stopping only on occasion in need of a breath. She wasn't as strong as Chris and Jill; she had never seen anything like it before. What was made worse was the bullet was headed directly for her, had Luke have not protecting her, she would be in a worse state than he was now.

Jill reluctantly pushed Anna off her, and gently grasped her shoulders.

"I know it's hard... But we have to get out of here." Jill whispered carefully to Anna. She sniffed and nodded. Her hand's continued to shake vigorously, and it wasn't until she began to walk that she realised how light headed she had become. On top of that, she was overcome with sickness; slowing her pace she tried to regain her composure.

Anna reached out weakly for Jill as her world slipped into blackness.

"You should get out of here too."

Chris shot his eyes up to the source of the voice. Laying eyes upon a woman clad in a red dress, he frowned at her presence. She quickly bent down to his side, and helped to put pressure upon Luke's wounds. Chris wasn't a doctor, he hadn't a clue what he was doing, and he hadn't even checked if the man was still breathing, he just acted as he felt necessary.

While the woman held the cloth in Luke's wound, Chris began to tie loose ends of the shirt fabric around Luke's shoulder to keep it tightly in place. He occasionally shot glances to the woman next to him. He didn't recognise her, and in a place like this, he definitely didn't trust her.

"Get out of here, Chris. You're running out of time." She said, retrieving a first aid spray from the bag around her back. It wouldn't necessarily save Luke, but it would sure as hell help.

"What? ...How? ..Who are you?" Chris babbled, confused by the mysterious woman. She hushed him and brought a delicate finger to his lips.

"It doesn't matter. What does, is your daughter. You need to get out of here alive. You're wasting time." Her voice was calm, she didn't tremble or worry. She didn't fully understand why she was willing to help him so much, perhaps she was growing weak with age, or maybe her feelings for Luke were less platonic than she thought.

"But..." Chris tried to argue back. He didn't want to leave a man to die, and he wished to know who was behind this hell hole, the only name he got was Sherry's. The woman gently tapped her finger against his thin lips, silencing him once more.

"I'll look after him. Now go, before we both get caught." Chris glanced once more around him. In any other circumstance he would have stayed and fought to gain the answers he wished for. But now, he was a father, he began to realise he had responsibilities that before he never did. He couldn't leave Anna alone again.

Chris whispered thanks to the woman, she replied with a sly wink. He sprinted out of the room, following Jill's exit earlier.

Now alone, Ada began to worry. She had to try and get Luke medical attention as quickly as possible, it was a race against time. The entire time she and Chris were caring for him, she refused to look at his face. But stealing a glance now, it all became so real. He looked so empty; his glasses were thrown across the floor and his once handsome clean face was now sickly pale with occasional blood scatters over it.

She carefully brushed back his dirty blonde messy locks, playing her fingers through them. She didn't know why she felt the need to be so close to him, maybe because to get him the help he needed, she knew that would most likely result in her never seeing him again.

"You'll finally be free." Ada breathed into his ear, finishing with a light kiss on his cheek.

Standing tall in the brightly lit room, blue eyes scattered their glance to the different computer screens monitoring the every move each person took. Her eyes scrutinised the tiniest of actions from each of the figures, confused as to how they were leaving so easily. The door to the room slid open, as a teary eyed Sherry stepped through. The silhouetted woman refused to turn to her failed employee.

"They're getting away." Alex said. Her voice as calm as her demeanour. She wasn't agitated or worried, that alone put fear into Sherry's mind.

"I'm sorry...I... I tried to stop them." She blurted out nervously.

Alex merely hummed in response. She had nothing to say to the young woman. Maintaining the silence, Alex fixed a long piece of blonde hair behind her ears.

Sherry became more and more agitated. She couldn't tell if Alex was upset or angry, the woman gave nothing away. She began to nibble in the inside of her jaw. All she wished to do was to please Alex, yet it seemed she even failed at that. And now, she feared she would lose the only person she ever had.

...

"Don't you have anything to say?" Alex asked impatiently.

"No..."

"Well I'll talk then, shall I? Any particular reason why you killed one of my best scientists," Sherry gulped, she now knew Alex was pissed, "...or why Anna and her parents are leaving scot-free?"

"Jill isn't the mother. Anna doesn't have the antibodies..." Sherry whispered.

"Ah, okay... So any reason why you didn't tell me this when you first found out?" Alex asked, keeping her back to the woman. Sherry was frozen in fear; she didn't know what to say. She knew at this moment she was treading on very thin ice.

"You see, now the BSAA now about our intentions. Essentially a lot of our work is finished. Everything I've built will be gone, all because of you." Alex drawled out. In reality, Alex knew she had nothing to fear, she had done the great disappearing act so many times, this would prove no different. She could still continue on, all she needed was Jill. But for the meantime, she was having too much fun watching Sherry squirm in fear. "...Anything you want to say for yourself?"

Sherry didn't say a word, her heart was beating so loudly, she could have sworn Alex could hear it.

"My, my, Sherry, didn't you learn anything from English history?" Alex asked, patronisingly. She turned to face the younger girl. Sherry furrowed her eyebrows in confusion at the sudden topic change.

"Charles the first of England? ...No?"Alex asked teasingly, pretending to prompt the little girl. Sherry quickly shook her head, staring into the bright blue eyes that were filled only with evil. "...Well he was like you. Refused to speak in trial..."

Sherry still stood dumbfounded, unsure of what the relevance was and of what exactly to say to her superior.

"And do you know what happened to him because of it?" Alex teased once more, she enjoyed the younger woman writhe beneath her words so very much. She placed her hand into the pocket of her black blazer. Sherry once again shook her head, her blues eyes now laced with worry.

Alex lowered herself to Sherry's height slowly, and approached the girl's face. A small sadistic smile forming on her thin lips sent shivers down Sherry's spine.

...

"He was executed." Alex whispered. Sherry squeezed her eyes shut, as in one fluid motion Alex brought the pistol to her head and, without a shadow of a doubt, pulled the trigger. The young woman's body fell back silently, as blood and matter had been splattered to the other side of her. Alex merely watched the lifeless body without any regret; she now had to focus on getting herself out of sight once more.

Again I'm really sorry!

Artichoke,

x