Without saying a word, my father scooted the chair back, stood up and walked out from the desk. Unlike how he usually walked, his stride lacked any sense of urgency. His usual loud footsteps were replaced with calm, quiet steps that you had to focus on to even hear. He stopped in front of the fancy desk. He was standing up straight with his long arms clamped behind his back. He looked straight over the maids and butlers and directly at us with a face devoid of emotion.

My father was similar to me in appearance. He was slightly taller, as one would expect. We shared the same brown hair, although his was combined and tidy. Our noses, ears, and mouthes were both small but his eyes were light blue. He had no facial hair aside from a neat brown mustache. He wore a standard black suit and brown khaki pants with black loafers, which wasn't all that uncommon. He almost always dressed in formal attire. Despite being in his mid fifties, he could easily pass for early thirties because of how youthful he looked. The only unusual part of his appearance was a medium sized dagger that was resting in a holster that was attached to his belt. My father having a knife didn't make sense; he had always preferred a gun for protection.

No words were spoken for what seemed like hours, although in reality it probably didn't last more than ten seconds. The tension was several times worse than when I was alone with Mary and Mr. Reginald. I looked over to Tucker, who had once again lost his playful demeanor, and seemed to be studying our father. Mary was analyzing the room, probably trying to look for potential ambushes, while Mr. Reginald was standing tall, looking directly into my father's eyes. Every instinct in my body was telling me to run from this room but I knew it would be too much trouble convincing the other three, as I probably wouldn't get too far on my own.

Mr. Reginald was the first to break the silence. "Mary, we need to leave," he said without looking at her.

"No I believe you should stay," my father interjected.

Everyone looked at him, shocked. It was the time first someone possessed has actually spoken and there was no deviation in their voice. He sounded just like he usually does, like a regular middle aged man with slightly raspy tone. It raised the question, was he even possessed?

Mr. Reginald's face changed from suspicion to one of concern. "Mr. Price, are you alright? I believed you were part of the possessed."

My father chuckled. "Thank you for your concern Reginald, but I've taken way too many precautions to get infected by a virus."

Mr. Reginald bowed. "As it would seem."

"And Mary, thank you for taking care of my sons."

Mary bowed. "It was no problem sir."

Then his gaze fell upon Tucker and me. His somewhat joyous expression turned apologetic. "I apologize for keeping you two in the dark. I just didn't want to cause you two to panic and become paranoid."

I let out a nervous laugh. "It's fine."

Tucker, who was basically mean mugging father, did a complete expression as he went back to his regular laid back expression. "No problem pops, I can handle a couple zombies on my own." He flexed his arm as if to back up he's claim.

Father laughed. "Really? I'd like to see that. Well hopefully you shouldn't have to. The containment squad should be here soon."

"Containment squad?" I asked

"Yes, to counteract the chemical bomb that's plaguing the mansion. I called the authorities and they're on their way to quarantine the place. We just need to sit tight and wait."

I looked at him. I wanted to believe my father as it sounds exactly like him but those crimson red eyes set off alarms I couldn't ignore. I looked at Mary, whose face as usual was difficult to read. However, I doubt she trusted the man standing in front of us. Neither did Tucker. Mr. Reginald I wasn't so sure about.

My father flashed Mr. Reginald a bright smile. "That reminds me, Reginald. There's a book on the shelf that's too high for me to get. It sucks being short, you know. Would you be so kind as to grab it for me please?"

"Of course sir." Mr. Reginald followed my father as he turned his back as started walking towards the bookcase in the back. The maids and butlers lined up in two rows with their respective roles to give Mr. Reginald room to walk past. They kept their heads down as a sign of respect as Mr. Reginald walked past. Mr. Reginald fast walking caught up to my father's slow steps and soon Mr. Reginald was right behind my father.

My body felt shaky and my mouth was dry. I casually put my hand inside my pockets and touched my gun. My gut told me something bad was about to happen.

"Calm yourself, Young Master," Mary whispered without changing the direction of her gaze.

I took a deep breath but the shaking didn't seem to stop.

I watched my dad carefully but he seemed to make no sudden movements. His actions seemed innocuous. Or at least that's what I believed until I looked closer and saw him slowly put his hand on the hilt of the blade. Unluckily for him Mr. Reginald was already charging up a punch. As soon as my father turned around to stab him a punch was already headed towards his face. However, a maid that appeared to have been hiding behind the desk jumped in front of his first and taken the blow.

She flew into the black knife and immediately lost consciousness. My father removed the knife and threw the body at Mr. Reginald. He caught her but unexpectedly met with stab attacks from my father who looked like he was hoping to catch him off guard. Mr. Reginald jumped back with the woman in his hands still. As he did, he felt a sharp prick in his back as one of the maids previously in line slashed his upper back.

"Ack." Mr. Reginald let out a small cry.

I took out my gun and aimed it at my father. "Mr. Reginald!"

Before the maid had time to react, Mr. Reginald freed one arm and punched the maid in the gut. Then he laid down the injured maid.

All of us ran up to him, past the rest of the maids and butlers who didn't seem to care about us. He wasn't in danger, but the cut definitely had to be painful.

"Ol man Regi, you good?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Just a scratch," he said.

I looked at him, astonished. "Just a scratch? What do you mean, you're bleeding."

"I've survived far worse, Sir Arthur."

"It's a shame," my father said as he smirked. "I was hoping to pick off the weakest link but I see I made the wrong choice."

What disturbed me is he was looking me as he finished that sentence, as if he could see through me. He didn't even try to hide it, like he was taunting me. I held my gun up to him, although the way he was staring at me told me he knew I wasn't going to shoot.

"We need to get out of the mansion, "Mr. Reginald said. "This fight isn't to our advantage."

Mary and Tucker nodded.

We got up and ran past the possessed staff who for some reason didn't seem to mind us leaving. Even my father was indifferent. We got close to the stairs and Tucker was about to run up when he suddenly stopped. He grabbed me and Mary and pulled me back. Mr. Reginald looked up and followed suit with Tucker. A second later a large hoard of the mansion staff flooded into the room. We ended up having to back up more and more as they kept coming in. However, they didn't seem to attack. Instead they stood there like robots awaiting instructions.

My father put his hand and his chest bowed politely. "It would seem this is game over," he announced.

"No way is it gonna end here. You can't expect us to go down with such small numbers," Tucker boasted.

He smirked. "We'll see."

With that the staff started attacking us from both sides. With Mary, Mr. Reginald, and Tucker they were dropping like flies, but there seemed to be no end to them. Mary was slippery and they couldn't seem to hit her no matter how many there were while Mr. Reginald, despite having a tanky build, was fast enough to one shot anyone with a punch. Tucker, although not as agile as Mary was fast enough to take out multiple opponents easily with his powerful knees and elbows. Sadly, I couldn't fight well so all I could do was wait until someone was in a jam because I only had five bullets.

The swarm kept coming, which forced us to back up each time a new wave came in. This isn't good, I thought. We're eventually going to be backed up into a corner. I looked around to see if a way to stop it this. I looked at my father, who was now grinning eagerly, as he waited for us to be defeated by sheer numbers. I noticed he was still grasping that strange black knife and then it came to me.

"Grab the knife my dad is holding!" I yelled. "That's what's controlling them.

Mary stopped for a moment. "Roger," she said before stabbing two of them in the stomach.

"Aight, let's end this."

"Will do."

Mary, Mr. Reginald, and Tucker looked at each other and just nodded, as if they had already planned for this beforehand. They all turned around and sprinted straight for my father. There were three butlers protecting him, but they couldn't keep up. Mr. Reginald clobbered the butler in front of him while Mary and Tucker simply juked them. Purple miasma started seeping off the tip of the blade similar to outside. As the three got closer to him, he sidestepped Mr. Reginald's punch as if it was in slow motion. He quickly took out the knife and Mr. Reginald fell to the floor.

"Mr. Reginald!"

Behind Mr. Reginald's body, Tucker and Mary sprung out and attacked father with a flurry of attacks, but they couldn't get any of them to connect. Tucker went low to sweep his feet but Father just jumped and kicked him across his face. Tucker stood his ground but our father was already within stabbing distance and dug it into his chest. His body was shaking and he tried to remove the knife, but our father just dug it in deeper. Eventually, our father took out the blade and Tucker fell on his stomach.

"Tucker!"

Mary ceased her attacking and retreated to where I was standing. Maids and butlers now surrounded us. I guess they didn't see me as a threat, because they all jumped on Mary. Mary responded by dealing with all of them like it was natural. She flipped one over, stabbed another one in both legs, and ducked and broke the arm of one who tried to sneak behind her.

There didn't seem to be any stopping her.

I looked over to Tucker and Mr. Reginald's bodies who were still in front of my father. Tucker. Mr. Reginald. They're dead. They aren't coming back. Even Mary can't handle them forever. Then she'll die. With no one left to protect me I'll die too. Never to be seen or remembered again. We'll just be forgotten. It's hopeless...

My head was spinning and my vision became blurry. I closed my eyes but I still felt dizzy and nauseous. Why try though? With Tucker and Mr. Reginald gone, we have no chance of winning. Even with my gun I'm pretty much deadweight and Mary can't take them all on alone.

You're not allowed to die, a familiar voice whispered in my head.

After hearing that, my breathing calmed down and the nausea seemed to go away, although my vision was still blurry. I tried to gauge what was happening around me since the possessed were all ganging up on Mary, although she didn't seem to bothered by it. No matter how many of them there were, they couldn't seem to touch her. I looked around the room to see that the purple haze was now engulfing the room, which might be what's messing with my vision. I tried to think of a plan to get out of this situation but it looked so grim. Eventually Mary was going to tire out and then they were going to kill me. I felt so useless.

Suddenly a voice snuck into my eardrums.

"Listen Young Master."

"Mary?"

"We don't have a lot of time," she whispered. "I'll keep the attention of the crowd. I need you to to take the blade away from your father.

"But we don't even know if that'll work."

"We don't have any other options. Do whatever you have to do to get it away from him. Even if you have to shoot him."

With that, her voice disappeared. I turned around to see Mary endlessly fighting the possessed staff. It seemed like they were getting faster, but she still managed to dodge everything.

I looked towards my father. He was there, smirking. I gripped my gun harder. I don't know if I can shoot my father, but If I don't do anything Mary and I are going to die. Besides, if I give up Mr. Reginald and Tucker's sacrifice will be for nothing.

I took one last deep breath to try and get rid of my nerves, although it clearly didn't work. Right after exhaling I sprinted towards where my dad was, although the haze made it hard to clearly see him. Three of the butlers blockaded me. One tried to grab me but I dodged it and ran left to pass them but the one on the far left threw a right hook at me. As if my body was moving on its own, I ducked under it, grabbed his arm, tripped him up and flung him over my shoulder to the ground.

Not wasting any time, I ran past the other two and kept running towards my dad, eyes locked on the mysterious dagger. I was almost at the blade when a sudden force caused me to halt. I looked on my right to see a kitchen knife lodged in my side. Blood was spilling out onto the floor. Weirdly enough, the knife wasn't painful at all. If anything the blood gushing out was far more terrifying.

Ah, I'm going to die, I thought. I'm sorry Mary, I was useless till the end. My vision got even blurrier and my consciousness started fading as more blood oozed out.

You can't die. Can't die. Can't die. Can't die. Can't die. Can't die. Can't die. Can't die.

The voice in my head kept repeating this singular line. The voice had a feminine tone and her voice was very soothing. Just the sound of her voice made me not want to give up.

"Can't die," I muttered. I grabbed my gun, which I was now miraculously still holding onto, albeit weakly, and aimed it in the direction of the maid who stabbed me. I pulled the trigger but between my blurry vision and my ears ringing, I had no way of knowing if I actually hit her. It wasn't until what I assumed to be an arm flopped on my leg that I was sure she was dead. I slowly walked closer to my father, who now just looked like a silhouette. A figure stepped between my father and me, presumably one of the two butlers, and blocked the path once again. Without hesitation, I aimed at his head and shot. The tall figure fell over like a tree that had just been cut down.

"Can't die," I muttered. "Can't die. Can't die."

I continued walking forward. My body was on autopilot at this point. I felt weak. I wanted to lie down and go to sleep, but my mind kept telling me keep going. I eventually managed to get within arms reach of my father. Even this close, I couldn't even see his face. It was all just a blur. Nevertheless, I pointed the gun at his head. But before I could pull the trigger, my hands went numb. I looked down to see the mysterious blade tearing through where my heart is supposed to be.

"Checkmate."

He yanked the blade out and my limp body fell back. My consciousness was fading as I heard screaming in the background.

"ARTHUR!"

I'm sorry Mary, I thought. Maybe if I was more competent we would've made it out of this. I felt so tired and weak. All I wanted to do was close my eyes and go to sleep. What was left of my vision turned into darkness as my consciousness faded.