The Vendeleer Brothers Book 3: Nightmare on Holly
Chapter 18: Game Plan

Ian and Roderick did not even need to communicate with each other to try to figure out oa plan. Instinctively, they both ran for their apartment, which had a perfectly good car that they could use to make a clean getaway. Neither of them dared to look behind them to see if they were being followed. After just a couple of minutes, they were completely drenched in sweat.

“How-do people-live in this?!” Ian gasped in the thick humidity.

“It-sure makes-running-from bad guys-kinda-difficult-.” Roderick agreed, feeling relieved when he saw their apartment come into view.

There were no more zombies at their residence, but there was certainly evidence that they had been there. There were blood smears on the outside walls where they had clawed at the siding, and all of their windows were busted.

Our PDU insurance better cover this… Ian thought to himself grumpily.

He glanced over to his brother, and with horror, realized that the negative of Roderick was right behind him.

“Roderick!!” he yelled.

Too late.

The negative Roderick wrapped its arms around his neck and tackled him to the ground. Roderick began struggling and fighting against it.

“Ian! Grab the keys!” he managed, pulling the negative’s arms off his throat. Ian nodded and ran into the house and straight to the key bowl. However, as soon as he grabbed them and turned around, he came face to face with himself. He quickly dodged a punch, not really looking to fight at all.

“Roderick! Can you get to the car?!” Ian yelled as he ducked under the negative’s arm and raced for the door. When he got outside, he saw that Roderick had been put into a headlock.

“I’ll-try-bro.” he struggled. Ian’s negative grabbed him from behind and tackled him to the ground. He could feel the breath knocked out of him, and he looked up right as the entity picked up a brick to bash over his head.

“Holy craaaap!” he exclaimed, moving out of the way like a spaghetti noodle only just in time. He kicked the negative in the face, while at the same time, Roderick bashed his negative into a tree. The two of them ran for the car. Ian got there first, and cranked it, his hands shaking. Without even waiting for Roderick to get there, he backed out of the driveway, rolling down the passenger side window in the process. Roderick jumped through the window, his feet flailing up in the air, and Ian sped off, leaving their negatives in the dust.

Ian tried to bring his breathing back to normal as Roderick shimmied himself into the car and put on his seatbelt.

“Well, this is sure going to make things interesting…” his younger brother commented. “We’ve got a guy with an entire team of superpowered people that he can control at his whim, and he wants us dead.”

In response to this, Ian scowled.

“Oh yeah? What else is new? I feel like the past year has been nothing but paranormal, supernatural, dangerous crap. Oh if Stephanie could see me now…”

At the thought of this, Roderick laughed.

“Oh yeah! I she broke up with you over the stuff we were doing before, I can’t even imagine what her reaction would be if she saw what we do now.”

Ian smirked.

“Well, as a wise man said once, she was a B anyway.”

Roderick raised a brow.

“A wise man huh? Well then.”

He sat back in the seat, letting out a breath of air.

“You know, it’s kind of crazy how we slipped into a fairly normal conversation after almost getting killed again.”

Ian’s eyebrows furrowed forward with concern at this thought.

“This better not turn into a normal thing…” he muttered.

However, deep down, he somehow knew that it would.

“I say we just kill the guy.” Jordyn said bluntly.

Ian and Roderick had just related all their new information to Jordyn, Brian, and Holly back at the PDU, and Jordyn had immediately pulled out her gun.

“We can’t just-kill him.” Ian said with disapproval.

“Why not?”

“Cause-it’s not right.”

Jordyn groaned.

“Ian. He’s holding a group of people hostage, and he’s murdered several others. If I get a clean shot, I’m going to take it.”

“Well, you might not actually have to shoot him Jordyn…” Brian said thoughtfully. The others turned to him expectantly.

“Elaborate please.” Jordyn scoffed.

“Ok. So, I’ve been working with some things with Everett, and… there might be a way for me to… in theory, suck out his powers.”

The others stared at him.

“Can you do that?” Ian asked. Brian shrugged.

“I can try.”

“Then let’s do it!” Roderick grinned, throwing his hand into the center. “Go team!!”

Brian and Holly immediately threw their hands in as well, and then with a sigh, Jordyn and Ian did as well.

“I’ll go get my stuff ready!” Brian exclaimed, running ahead. The others followed, and Roderick found himself falling a little behind with Holly.

“You’re not obligated to come you know.” he told her quietly. Holly gave a little chuckle.

“Of course I’m not. But you owe me some money for your truck. And if you die, you can’t pay me.”

Roderick shook his head with a smile, and then felt her slip her hand into his. Immediately, he felt his heart jump into his throat, beating at a million miles an hour. He clasped his fingers around hers, feeling nervous about going back to Holly street to face whatever horrors awaited them, but feeling giddy at the girl walking next to him.

“Um… Roderick?”

“Yeah?”

He looked over to her to see that her face was a little flushed.

“Um… I know this… may seem a little… uh… out of place, but… um… just in case… something happens, would you… be open to… a kiss?”

Roderick blinked in surprise.

“Right now?”

“Yeah.”

“With the others right up there?”

“We could go somewhere private really quick…”

Roderick looked ahead, trying to take in what she was saying.

“So… are we talking a peck? Or…?”

“A peck? Are you kidding me?” Holly scoffed. “It would be more than a peck.”

As much as Roderick liked the sound of that, there were other things to be focussing on at the moment.

“Holly, as much as I would like to, I don’t want to kiss you just because you’re worried one of us might die. When I kiss you, I want it to be on my own time. Not on the timetable of some dangerous circumstances.”

“Oh… Ok…”

Roderick glanced over at her to see that she seemed to be a little let down. He nudged her and gave her a little wink.

“So I guess if you want that kiss, you’re going to have to make sure everything goes right.”

Holly smiled.

“Guess I will.”

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