Chapter 63: Leave

Chapter 63: Chapter 63: Leave

Chapter 63: Leave

After confirming that Verna Carson’s hidden ledger contained no direct address, phone number, or contact for the larger cult, Axel Vance closed it and tucked it away as evidence. Seth Brundle was still flipping through his notes and making occasional corrections, while Lionel Cosgrove looked increasingly impatient as he pressed a hand against the slowly closing hole through his chest. He had already stuffed several pieces of his recovered flesh back into the wound, but the damage was still obvious enough that an ordinary person would have been lying in a morgue.

Lionel finally looked toward Axel. "Can we get to something important now, like food? I feel like somebody scooped out half my insides, and I’m pretty sure my body is burning through everything I ate yesterday just trying to put itself back together." Axel ignored the complaint and headed downstairs, knowing Lionel would follow as soon as food became involved.

The atmosphere inside the kitchen was almost suffocating. Ryan stood near the cabinets and mechanically opened one after another even though most of them were nearly empty, while Heather Miller sat at the dining table staring blankly at nothing. Nikki had wrapped herself tightly in a blanket and curled up in one corner, her body still trembling after everything she had witnessed.

Blood, dust, and exhaustion covered all three of them. The excitement of arriving in Texas to inspect Heather’s inheritance had disappeared completely, replaced by grief, fear, and the realization that one of their friends was lying dismembered in the basement. When Axel and the others entered, Ryan finally turned toward them with a hollow expression.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Ryan asked, his voice rough. "Kenny... he..." The words caught in his throat, while Heather lowered her face into her hands and her shoulders began trembling again.

"First, we eat something," Axel said. The advice sounded almost absurdly ordinary compared with the horror surrounding them, but giving the group one simple task was better than letting them sit there and unravel. A few cans had already been heated on the stove, and that was apparently going to be dinner.

"Finally," Lionel said as he immediately pulled out a chair. He opened a can of beans and started eating with the enthusiasm of someone who had not spent the last hour walking around with a chainsaw wound through his torso. To Lionel, the day had been unpleasant, but after surviving Vera, Freddy, Jason, and his own supernatural transformation, it was nowhere near enough to ruin his appetite.

Heather stared at him for several seconds before looking toward the entire group. "What exactly are you people?" she finally asked, sounding genuinely uncertain whether she wanted to know the answer. Axel leaned against the doorway and answered first.

"Miami police."

Lionel barely looked up from his beans. "I’m just a mama’s boy with terrible luck." Seth, meanwhile, straightened his white coat and said with complete confidence, "And I’m the greatest scientist of this century."

Heather and Ryan slowly looked at one another. Somehow, those answers made the trio even harder to understand. Before either of them could ask another question, the scraping sound of Lionel’s spoon against the bottom of the can filled the room.

Lionel scooped up the final bean, chewed, then tossed the empty can aside. "Anything else? That barely counts as an appetizer." He casually touched the still-healing hole in his chest and added, "I’m probably going to need another ten thousand calories before this thing closes."

That was finally too much for Ryan.

"Enough!" he shouted, slamming both hands against the table as he stood. His eyes were red from grief and lack of sleep as he stared directly at Lionel. "Kenny is downstairs cut into pieces, and you’re sitting here complaining that you don’t have enough food?"

Lionel raised his eyes and studied him calmly. "You’re still alive, aren’t you? Then worry about staying that way first." He pointed his spoon toward Ryan and added, "And if you’re planning revenge, you’ll need enough strength to do more than scream at a can of beans."

"You—"

Ryan’s hands shook with anger, but Seth interrupted before the argument could get worse. "He’s being insensitive, but the practical point isn’t wrong. Extreme stress burns through energy, people stop eating and drinking properly, then they make worse decisions because they’re exhausted."

Ryan turned toward Seth in disbelief.

Seth shrugged. "Biology doesn’t stop because you’re grieving."

"That’s enough," Axel said, and the room immediately quieted. He set down the can he had taken for himself and looked from Ryan to Heather and Nikki. "I know none of this is easy to accept, but falling apart in this house is not going to help Kenny."

Axel’s expression became more serious. "Your friend was murdered by a man who had been physically altered by an organization that experiments on human beings, extracts spiritual energy, and creates things that shouldn’t exist. We already found evidence connecting this place to the same cult I encountered in Miami, which means the problem is bigger than one family in one Texas town."

Heather slowly lowered her hands. "So what are we supposed to do?"

"Leave."

Ryan immediately looked up.

Axel did not hesitate. "You leave this estate, you leave Newt, and you get as far away from this place as possible."

Ryan slammed one fist against the table again. "How can we just leave? Kenny is still downstairs!" His voice cracked as he added, "That monster killed him. We can’t just drive away like none of it happened."

Lionel leaned back in his chair and pointed toward his own chest. The enormous wound was still moving slightly as his altered body attempted to repair itself. "See this? Leatherface put a chainsaw straight through me."

Ryan said nothing.

Lionel continued, "If I had a normal body, there would be another pile of meat in that cooler right now. You really think you can take one hit from something like him and keep fighting?"

Ryan opened his mouth, but no answer came.

He knew the truth.

Leatherface would have killed him in seconds.

Axel shifted his attention toward Heather because she was the one person the cult had specifically prepared for. "Verna’s letter named you as the person who was supposed to inherit everything she was doing here. If the organization behind her is still active, do you honestly think they’re going to forget you exist?"

Heather’s face drained of color.

Axel continued in a steady tone. "Staying here doesn’t help anybody. It only turns you into the easiest target they could possibly ask for."

Heather’s fingers tightened around the edge of the table.

"They could come back for you," Axel said. "Maybe they try to force you into continuing your grandmother’s work, or maybe they decide you’re more useful as another source of spiritual energy. Either way, sitting inside the house they already know about is the worst choice you could make."

"No," Heather whispered, shaking her head. "I don’t want any part of this."

"Then your job is simple."

Axel looked directly at her.

"Stay alive."

The words settled heavily over the room. Axel told Heather, Ryan, and Nikki to get out of Newt immediately, avoid the Carson estate, and put as much distance as possible between themselves and anyone connected to Verna’s old life. For the time being, the safest destination he could offer them was Miami, where he had police contacts and enough federal connections to make disappearing into the crowd much easier than remaining in rural Texas.

Ryan’s jaw tightened again. "And Kenny?"

Axel looked toward him. "I understand wanting revenge. But revenge isn’t something you accomplish by getting angry enough and running at a monster with a piece of broken furniture."

Ryan looked down at the wooden club he had been carrying.

Axel continued, "Your friend is already dead. I’m not interested in adding three more bodies because you decided grief made you bulletproof."

The harshness made Ryan flinch, but Axel’s voice softened slightly. "I’m a police officer. Keeping civilians alive is part of my responsibility, whether I’m wearing a uniform or standing in a house full of cult evidence."

He paused before adding, "And personally, I’m not letting this end here."

Heather looked toward him.

Axel’s eyes moved to the ledger in his hand. "I’m going to find out who is behind this organization, what they’re doing, and how far their network actually reaches. Kenny’s death, Verna’s victims, Leatherface, the experiments in Miami—none of that gets buried and forgotten."

The room went silent again.

Anger remained on Ryan’s face, but it slowly gave way to helplessness. Nikki pulled the blanket tighter around herself, while Heather stared at Axel as if those words were the first solid thing she had heard since discovering the basement.

After a long moment, Ryan finally unclenched his fists. "When do we leave?"

"Now."

Ryan blinked.

Axel continued, "Your car still runs and you have enough gas to get started. Head east, keep moving toward Miami, and don’t waste time hanging around unknown towns unless you absolutely have to."

He reached into his pocket, pulled out a small piece of paper and a pen, then wrote down a trusted contact number. "If something happens that you can’t handle, call this number and use my name. Explain that I sent you."

Ryan accepted the note carefully.

Heather slowly pushed herself away from the table and stood. Her eyes moved through the kitchen, then toward the hallway leading deeper into the Carson estate. Only hours earlier, the mansion had represented a family inheritance and a new beginning; now she looked at it as though the walls themselves were contaminated.

She finally turned toward Axel.

"Thank you."

Axel waved one hand. "You can thank me after you make it to Miami." His expression became more serious as he added, "And don’t start telling random people everything you saw here."

Heather nodded nervously.

"The supernatural part of this case is dangerous information," Axel explained. "I have the ledger and other evidence, and I’ll deal with the official side through people I trust. Until then, openly talking about the cult only gives them another reason to notice you."

Ryan folded the contact note and put it safely away. Nikki slowly climbed to her feet, still wrapped in the blanket, while Heather grabbed whatever belongings she could carry without wasting time. None of them argued anymore.

Under Axel’s urging, the three survivors packed only the essentials.

Then Heather, Ryan, and Nikki walked toward the car waiting outside the Carson estate.

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