by Kate Morris
“It’s okay,” he whispered. “Come on. We’ll go out the back. I know another way to…”
One of the parrots said, “Alert, danger. Alert, danger. Danger.”
It made his blood run cold. He knew the birds could just be repeating phrases and words out of boredom. They did that a lot, but something about their frantic noises and rattling around in their cages coupled with the words of warning sent a chill down his spine. There was also a ferret, mice, and gerbils in the biology room, and they were all hysterical. What he heard next multiplied it.
Someone coughed in the hallway. At first, he thought they might get caught, that someone was about to unlock the tech center’s door and enter. Then the person began mumbling in a strange manner. It was the same kind of gibberish that he’d heard before. He’d heard it from that woman at the pharmacy. Then again at the festival by the knife-wielding freak. And in the alley when he’d wrestled that man away from Wren. One glance her way, and he knew she was thinking the same thing as the birds reached fever pitch.
Then someone slammed against their door. He jumped back and took Wren with him. It was time to go.
He half dragged her to the rear exit that led to the other side of the school. Elijah paused and put his ear to the door as another crashing sound at the other end of the tech center, an eight-hundred square foot oblong room, sounded off. Whoever was on the other side of that door didn’t seem to care if they were caught in the school after hours.
As he pushed open the door, a shrill sound came from one of the birds. It didn’t seem normal. Then both were screaming, their cries echoing the hallways.
“Go!” Wren urged and shoved at his back.
He jogged with her hand still in his and held on tight. They made it to the stairs when an inhuman scream hit their ears. It sounded like a woman. It didn’t make it any less terrifying.
“Elijah,” she whispered urgently and clung to his arm instead.
He pushed open the door and closed it behind them. Then he turned to set the lock just in time as something crashed into it. How had she caught up to them so fast? She was on the other side of the building a second ago.
When he turned, Wren was already down the first set of stairs to the platform below. He ran and jumped the last three steps and caught up to her before she hit the ground floor. Then they rushed to the bottom floor, the basement, except now they had to cross all the way back to the other side of the school to connect with the tunnel system. They rushed through another door, and he closed it behind them quietly. They kept moving. He was in uncharted territory, and the door behind him didn’t have a lock.
Chapter Twelve
“Which way?” she asked when they came to an intersection of hallways.
“Not sure,” he answered honestly. “Left. Let’s go left.”
Wren nodded and stayed close. It was dark, but neither of them wanted to turn on the flashlights on their phones. It felt safer not being illuminated right now.
“Was that…was that one of those things?” she asked, not wanting to call them humans anymore.
“I think so. Maybe,” Elijah answered quietly. “This way. Come on.”
They went through a door marked “Maintenance Only” and were back in the tunnel system a second later. Elijah locked the door behind them.
“Let’s just keep moving,” he said. “Can you jog?”
“Can you keep up?” she teased. She really wasn’t joking. She was about to damn well sprint and beat the gold medal record. Adrenaline was coursing through her. She was scared out of her mind. Those birds freaked her out, too. They knew something wasn’t right. Maybe animals could sense it, or maybe they could sense something was just wrong, or perhaps they could sense them.
He chuckled and nodded. Then he lit their way with his phone since it was a lot darker in this tunnel. She dropped her hand and ran alongside him. When they turned the corner that would take them to the gym, something banged behind them. Maybe ductwork again. Maybe not.
She spoke what she was thinking, “Do you think animals can sense them or something?”
“I don’t know. If they do, I’m buying a dog in the morning,” he said.
“Me, too. Maybe three,” she announced as they arrived at the gym door. “Wait. Listen first.”
“I don’t think anyone’s in there. We were just in the gym. We were the only ones left, remember?”
She pinched her eyebrows together and frowned. He listened at the door, pressing his ear against it. Then he shrugged.
“I don’t hear anything.”
Wren nodded, and he opened the door. He was right. Nobody was there.
“Let’s go,” he said as if she needed him to. “I just need my bag.”
She nodded and followed him back to the locker room area and waited outside again. Wren nearly jumped out of her skin when a noise to her right frightened her. It came from the pool. Not wanting to look, but needing to, she tiptoed to the double glass doors and glanced in. She didn’t see anything. The water looked almost black in the dark corners where the security lights weren’t projecting far enough. She reached out and turned the deadbolt connecting the two glass entry doors. Something inside of her, a survival instinct maybe, told her to get the hell out of the building.
“Hey,” he called down the hall to her, making her jump and spin. “Ready?”
Wren nodded and rushed toward him, looking over her shoulder twice at those doors leading to the pool. Elijah led her to the entry doors and paused before going out. It was raining pretty hard, which she hadn’t even noticed in the school.
“Can I catch a lift? I walked to school today,” he said.
“I thought you had a car,” she remarked, looking around him toward that hallway that led to the pool.
He nodded. “I do. I just wanted the cardio. I didn’t want to hit the treadmill during lunch.”
“Oh,” she said, admiring his dedication. “Yeah, fine. Sure. Let’s just get out of here.”
He wasn’t far from the school anyway, probably three miles. Wren glanced out the glass door again, feeling edgy.
“It’s okay,” he reassured her. “Ready?”
She nodded as he pushed open the door.
“Just…” he said and paused. “Just stay close.”
Glancing down that hall again and keeping her hand over the pistol under her right breast, she said, “You know what’s in my jacket. You should give yourself that advice.”
He smirked knowingly and replied, “True. Let’s go.”
They ran through a real downpour to her car, which was parked relatively close to the gym. Somewhere nearby, she could hear dogs barking. In the back of her mind, Wren wondered if they were like the birds, nervous because those things were close. It made her run faster and hit the remote ten yards from the car. Once they were in, she hit the locking mechanism.
A chill ran through her, and it wasn’t just from the cold rain soaking through her clothes. Something was in that school just now. It wasn’t her imagination. It wasn’t just a janitor or some kid messing with them. That was enough to get her moving. She fired up the Honda and sped away from the school, blowing the stop signs until she came to a red light at the end of the street leading to the main drag.
“I’ve gotta call the cops,” he remarked as he ran the sleeve of his jacket over his face to dry it. “Slow down. You’re driving recklessly.”
“What? No way,” she said and grabbed his phone out of his hand. She through it into the backseat somewhere. “No cops.”
“Hey, what the hell?” he said with force. Leaning over his seat, he dug around until he located it on the floor. “Jesus, Wren.”
“You aren’t calling the cops.”
He sighed and ran a hand through his wet hair. Hers was dripping. Her makeup was probably running down her face. She was soaked to the bone. They both were.
“Fine,” he gave in. “I’ll call the sheriff. He’s a booster. He won’t give us any trouble. I won’t even tell him you’re wit
h me.”
“No. And I don’t know what a booster is.”
Elijah sighed and said, “He supports the football team. I’ll call him when I get home. That way, we aren’t anywhere near the school when they show up.”
“Why do you want to call him?”
“Because, Wren, in a few hours there’s gonna be janitors showing up to clean the school buildings. If one of those…people is in there, don’t you think they should at least have a fair warning? The cops need to go in and check it out. That wasn’t just a bird hitting those doors. You heard it. Whoever it was, they followed us through the school tracking us. I think we just gave them the slip, got lucky.”
She remembered the feeling she had by the pool, too. Was it legitimate or was her imagination running wild because she was afraid?
“Fine. Fine, you can call him when I drop you off,” she allowed.
She pulled into his driveway around back like he’d shown her the other night.
“See you,” she said and put it in reverse.
“Hey, wait,” he said, laying his hand on hers. “Come inside. Let me at least get you a towel. I…I need to talk this out with someone. Alex is at work, and it’s only eight. You’ve got time before you need to be home, right?”
She nodded, hoping that he couldn’t tell her hand was shaking under his. It probably wasn’t a good idea to go home just yet anyway. If Jamie were there, he’d know something happened. He read her like a book. Unfortunately. Instead, she followed him into the laundry room.
“Give me some layers, and I’ll throw them in the dryer,” he offered.
“No, it’s fine.”
He smiled and said, “You’re too thin already to stand there shivering away more calories.”
She cocked her head to the side and gave him an unpleasant look. He just motioned with his fingers impatiently that she should listen to him and hand them over. Reluctantly, she started removing her jacket. Then she remembered she had on a shoulder holster. Too late, she tried to shrug back into her leather jacket.
“I already know about it,” he told her. “It’s fine. I’m not gonna tell anyone or I would’ve already. Come here.”
He walked away, and she followed, although she should’ve sprinted out of his house when his back was turned. Elijah led her to a laundry room and turned on the low wattage overhead light. It was a small room but tidy and painted in a minty bluish-green that she liked. It reminded her of the ocean colors near the shores back home. It was tidy, all except for the pile of laundry on the floor in front of the washing machine. For a bachelor’s pad, though, their house was very neat and clean, what she’d seen of it.
“Take off your stuff,” he instructed and stripped right in front of her all the way down to his bare torso. Wren just stood there staring. He certainly wasn’t shy. “Gimme your shirts.”
“No!” she protested.
“I’ll turn my back,” he offered and went to a cupboard that looked like the antique wardrobe in his mother’s bathroom upstairs. He dug around inside and pulled out a long-sleeved shirt. “You can wear this.” He tossed it over his head, and it landed on her feet.
“Fine,” she said with irritation and turned her back to him just in case he was a perv and peeked. Then she removed her jacket, hoodie, and tank top. The tank top wasn’t too bad, but it was damp. She removed it anyway. Then she grabbed up the shirt and pulled it over her head. It came down to the middle of her thighs.
“Gimme’ your pants, too,” he suggested. “I’ll throw them in. Mine were soaked.”
She wasn’t too keen on the idea, but for some reason, Wren also didn’t want to seem like a prude. This boy was hugely popular, hung out with all the jocks and their cheerleader girlfriends, and probably went to crazy, wild parties. Not that she cared about any of that stuff. But she stripped out of her baggy dark jeans anyway. They were soaked.
“Want to borrow some shorts?” he asked.
“No, this shirt could be a dress,” she joked, getting a laugh. Wren turned and couldn’t have been more shocked. He was standing there in only his boxer briefs. “Oh, um, sorry.”
“It’s cool,” he said and pulled on sweats but didn’t bother with a shirt.
He acted so nonchalant, so she tried to, as well, but probably came off as an uncomfortable loser. After he shoved their clothes into the dryer and started it, Elijah handed her a towel down from a cupboard for her hair.
“Thanks,” she murmured.
“You okay?” he asked and tipped her chin back with his forefinger.
Wren pushed his hand away and nodded. “Yeah, fine.”
“Are you hungry? I’m starving,” he said.
“You seem like you’re always hungry,” she observed.
“You look good in my number,” he said, briefly touching the tip of his forefinger to the center of her chest.
She looked down. It was a black, long-sleeve tee with the number seven in orange lettering that took up most of the front. Elijah spun her by putting his hands on her shoulders. He ran his fingers across the top of her back.
“Brannon,” he told her. “You’re wearing my name and number. What’s this?”
His fingers stopped and traced over the leather of the holster under the shirt. He turned her back around to face him.
“You know what it is, Boy Genius,” she quipped.
“Do you ever take it off?”
Wren answered honestly because he already knew about the pistol. “Only when I sleep. Then it sits beside me on my nightstand or under my pillow.”
“Remind me not to sneak in your window at night,” he joked.
“Why would you?”
He folded his arms across his chest, which made his biceps look even bigger. Was he doing it on purpose? It didn’t seem like it.
“You know, to get my shirt back if you forget,” he joked. “I wouldn’t mind, though. You can keep it if you want, wear it to school even.”
Why would he offer that? He paused a moment as if he, too, were surprised to have said it. It had to signify something. Wearing a boy’s jersey? Sounded like a bad idea. Wren’s mind was racing with too many questions she didn’t need the answers to. So, she went with defense mechanism instead.
“Gee, Wonder Boy, how many others have worn this?”
“Not a single one, Australia,” he said, causing her to pivot on the ball of her foot and glare up at him. Somehow without her shoes on, he seemed even taller. “Hey, don’t give me that look. You were warned.”
“I didn’t say ‘Golden Boy’,” she argued.
“Still wasn’t nice,” he returned with superiority. “And I was being nice. I said you look good wearing my shirt.”
She inhaled sharply and exhaled with irritation. “I couldn’t wear this at school anyways. One of your groupies might beat me up.”
He chuckled. “Says the girl who’s always packin’ heat.”
“Shooting fellow classmates over a boy’s football jersey is usually frowned upon.”
Nodding, Elijah said, “Probably true.”
They stood there a moment. She, uncomfortable. He, probably just fine. Or so he seemed.
“Let’s call the sheriff,” he suggested and indicated she should leave the room by sweeping his arm past her.
Her heart rate accelerated as much as it had the first time he suggested the police in the car, but she followed after him to the kitchen table. Elijah placed the phone on the counter and hit the speaker button and dialed. The sheriff, strangely enough, sounded excited to hear from him.
“Thank you, sir,” Elijah said for the third time after being complimented for his “great game.” Then he looked at Wren and rolled his eyes. “I was calling actually to report some strange behavior at the school tonight. At the gym, you know. I was trying to get in an extra workout when I heard some commotions in the school.”
He shrugged as if he weren’t sure it was believable. It was good enough, so Wren nodded for him to continue.
“There were some strange
noises, and I think someone might’ve been in trouble in there. After what happened at the pharmacy…”
“Yes, son, I heard about that. Now, don’t you go doing anything risky like you did down there. We need you in top shape. Your coach called and said to make sure you were staying out of trouble.”
That was odd. Wren couldn’t figure out why the head coach of a high school football team would talk to the sheriff about his player. Maybe that was a normal thing in America. Apparently not because Elijah looked at her as if were pissed.
“Yes, sir, I am. It’s just that it sounded really bad. I heard what happened at the festival, too. Can you tell me if you know anything about that? Seems like some people are getting sick with some…”
“Don’t you worry about that,” the sheriff said. “Just get yourself ready for the big game Friday night. Nobody’s sick with anything serious. This is nothin’ but a simple flu bug going around. Just knocking some folks down harder than others.”
“But what about the man at the festival? I heard he got really violent and tried to stab some people. I looked in the paper, but there wasn’t anything about it.”
She knew Elijah was lying. They were right there when it was happening. They knew exactly what the man did. He maybe had looked in the paper, but apparently, it wasn’t being reported.
“Aw, just some druggie. Everything’s fine. Remember, Friday night’s tomorrow, young man. I’ll see you there.”
Elijah picked up on the man wanting off the phone, so he quickly added, “And you’ll send some men to check out the school? I mean, the janitorial staff comes in late at night. I wouldn’t want…”
“We’ll handle it, Brannon. Thanks for the tip.”
The sheriff ended the call, and they stood there looking at each other. Elijah shook his head and gave her a somber expression. The sheriff just lied to them.
“I know him,” he said quietly. “That wasn’t like him. He’s told me a lot of stuff the last few years he probably shouldn’t have. You know, people he’s arrested, stories, some funny, some not so funny. He’s never blown me off like that.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t have trusted him.”