by D Haltinner
The door swung open. Audrey was standing there, shirt untied from behind her head, but she held it over her face. “Are you coming?”
Darren nodded. “Sorry, I just-”
“Freeze! Drop the gun!” A voice yelled from the hallway.
Darren snapped his head around. A man not ten years older than Darren stood in the hallway twenty feet away. Legs spread, semi-automatic in his hands trained on Darren. His face was beat red and the corner of his lip was raised, making a fresh cut from shaving twitch on his lip.
Audrey gasped. Darren knew she could see the man through the crack in the door.
“Go!” Darren said to her.
She pulled back into the room.
Darren turned to look at the man, keeping his gun pointed at the ground. He looked at the man, then looked past him toward the entrance. There was no sign of any other police officers, but he couldn't be alone.
They’re sneaking in through the other doors.
Maybe. Or maybe he’s alone.
He’s probably not that stupid.
No, but maybe he’s more brave.
Brave? One cop against two nuts with guns?
Okay, brave was a bad word to use.
Yeah, it was.
Arrogant is more fitting.
Doubt it. Who in their right mind would go against armed terrorists alone?
Him.
The man stepped forward, legs still spread. He looked like he had just gotten off of a horse after riding for the last day and a half. “I said drop it!”
“You don't know what you’re doing,” Darren said.
“I’m stopping you before you hurt someone.”
“I have no intention of hurting anyone.”
“Good, let’s keep it that way then. Drop the gun.”
“I can’t.”
“You can. We'll walk out of here, and everyone will be alright.
“No, I can’t. You don’t know what’s going on.”
“You can tell me after you put the gun down. I’ll listen, maybe I can help you.”
“It isn’t that simple.”
“I’m sure it’s not as difficult as you think.”
“Look, this is bigger than you realize.”
“Then put the gun down and we’ll talk about it.”
He continued to step forward, gun unwavering.
“I can’t put it down.”
“Don’t make me pull the trigger.”
“You don-”
A gun shot rang out.
Chapter 62
Darren closed his eyes. He expected to be feeling pain swarming through his body, but all he could feel was the soreness of his knees. Did the cop miss? Or did the bullet sever the nerves, leaving him unable to feel the wound?
There was a thump that sounded from the hallway ahead of Darren. Something soft hitting the floor.
Darren opened his eyes. The cop was on his knees, bent over, clutching his arm to his chest. His gun was on the floor a dozen feet behind him.
Did his gun backfire? Was the bullet a dud? Darren looked down at his own body as the man began to wail on the ground before him. Darren didn’t see any injuries and he felt alright.
“Come on!” Audrey said from behind him.
Darren spun around. Audrey was standing in the crack of the door, gun still pointing at the man, a trail of smoke rising from the barrel.
Darren didn’t wait for her to have to repeat herself. She stepped back into the room, and Darren pushed his way inside, ripping the shirt off his head when the door bounced shut.
“You shot him?” Darren asked.
Audrey pulled the shirt off of her own head. Darren didn’t think she had ever looked more serious than she did at that moment. “I couldn’t let him hurt you,” she said. “Plus, I only got his arm, he’ll be okay.”
Darren almost asked where she had aimed, but decided against it. “Then let’s get out of here before his buddies show up or he realizes he still has another arm that works.”
Audrey carried the gun in one hand, and her disguise in the other, moving straight to the open hatch. “They’re going to see the hatch when they come in after us.”
“I’ll block the door, just get down there,” Darren said, picking up the backpack after shoving his own mask and gun inside.
Audrey put her stuff into the bag and climbed through the shelf to the hatch. Without a glance back to Darren, she found the footholds in the cement wall, and climbed down into the shaft.
Darren went over and handed the backpack down to her. He stepped out of the shelf and then pushed it right up against the door. He had nothing to put behind it so that it couldn’t be pushed out of the way by the door, so he maneuvered it at an angle so that it pushed right against the slop sink in the corner.
The police won’t rush to break down the door, thinking that the gunmen were inside the small room, but when they did try and come in, it would take them awhile to break the door-it was solid wood after all.
Darren made one last check to be sure nothing was left behind, then climbed down the hatch after Audrey. He reached up and closed the metal door after him, leaving them in the darkness until Audrey fought her flashlight out of her pocket and turned it on.
Dark circles lined her eyes. At first Darren thought it was a trick of the flashlight, but he soon realized that it wasn’t. Her hair was snarled, and falling from its ponytail on the back of her head. Her mahogany waves had turned into a dreadlocked mess.
“Come on, let’s keep moving,” Audrey said, turning and starting down the path toward the admin building.
“Wait,” Darren called.
Audrey stopped and looked back.
He wanted to tell her it was all going to be okay. That what she did was necessary. But all that came out was: “Thanks.”
She only nodded, then turned back north.
Darren followed.
They moved fast through the silence, Darren staying a few feet behind Audrey each step of the way. They got to the hatch below the administrative building and Darren climbed up to open the hatch, but was not able to get it open.
“Stuck?” Audrey asked.
“I don’t know,” Darren said. “It’s not moving at all, it seems more than just stuck.”
“It’s probably blocked off.”
“Maybe someone locked it.”
“I guess we shouldn’t waste much time on it.”
“They probably heard what’s going on by now.”
“The police did show up,” Audrey said. “I’m sure they spread word fast and started to evacuate some of the other buildings.”
“What about the science building though?” Darren asked.
“I’m sure they got word.”
“But would they evacuate it?”
“Why not?”
Darren jumped down from the hatch. “The people would have to pass by Painter Hall though,” he said. “They may have locked them in instead.”
“You think we should check? They could have evacuated across the street.”
“If we really want to get people away from the void, yes, we should check.”
“What about the lab though?”
“Think the men will be there?”
“I don’t know. They might be too preoccupied with other things right now.”
“We’ll sneak in like last time.”
“If we can.”
“True.”
“They might still be watching and waiting for us still.”
“I’m sure they are.”
“I suppose we need to check at least.”
Darren nodded. “We should. If we can at least make sure everyone is as far from the void as possible.”
“Okay, then let’s go.”
Audrey led the way back down the path with Darren at her heels. Her hair bounced as she sped up, and Darren almost asked her to slow down in order to spare his knees unnecessary pain, but he decided to push past it.
They passed the hatch going back up to Painter
Hall and sped passed it. Darren watched it pass overhead, wondering what was going on above them at the moment as they tried to catch the gunmen. They would have bombed the building if they knew that one of them was Arab-that's the proper way to deal with a terrorist.
When they got to the top of the steps, Darren put his hand on Audrey’s shoulder to stop her. “We should probably turn the flashlight off so the men don't see us coming if they’re still standing guard.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Audrey said.
“Why not?”
She gestured at the steps.
Darren stepped up to Audrey’s side and looked down the stairs to where the flashlight beam vanished. “It’s still expanding.”
“And fast,” Audrey said. “Think the science building will be engulfed yet?”
Darren tried to judge the distance from here to the theatre, following the outline of the sphere in his mind. “I don’t know,” he said. “Not yet I don’t think. On the verge of it, but probably not quite.”
“Think we should still go?”
“We need to get people out before the void envelopes it, don’t you think?”
“I guess so.”
“Let’s keep moving before it grows again though.”
Audrey sighed and gave a slight nod before starting down the steps. She paused in front of the void, looking at its surface with-dread?-concern, then pushed into it.
Darren watched as she vanished inch by inch until her flashlight entered as well. He felt his way along the wall through the dark, not sure how far from the border of the void he was until he bumped into Audrey.
“Sorry,” he said.
“It’s okay.” Her hand reached back, bumping into his arm before finding his hand. Her skin was as cold as the walls of a crypt and as dry as sandpaper.
She led the way down the steps faster than Darren had led the way earlier, but with more confidence than he had himself. They reached the bottom of the steps and paused in a second.
Darren heard nothing. Not even Audrey’s breathing. No trucks passed overhead, sending vibrations into the ground. No irritated remarks from Professor Coleman and his balding companion.
Audrey squeezed Darren’s hand, then turned following the wall south. They moved fast, and every time Darren dragged a foot on the cement from his weak knee, she squeezed his hand and pulled him even faster.
Darren bumped into her as she stopped at the opening for the tunnel leading up to the science building. “Sorry.”
Audrey dragged him up the stairs. Dragged was an understatement-she pulled him the entire way because his knees didn’t want to bend that far. By the time they reached level ground, Darren’s lungs were panting from the fast trip, but Audrey’s lungs were as calm as they had been since she last pulled the trigger.
A minute later light appeared as Audrey fumbled with her flashlight with one hand. “Looks like we’re out of the void.”
Darren looked back behind them, seeing the edge of the void a dozen feet back.
“And not a moment too soon,” Audrey said.
Looking back the other way the caved in section was visible just ahead of them. “That could have been hell on my knees.”
“They still hurt?”
“A little.”
“Can you make it?”
“You know there is no choice.”
“I suppose not.”
“Let’s keep moving before we lose too much time,” Darren said. “We still have to stop what’s inside the void after we’re sure the building is empty.”
Audrey nodded, but said nothing. She started down the tunnel again, weaving her way around the rubble with Darren matching her every step. They moved with more caution toward the door leading into the laboratory, finding it closed when they reached it.
Audrey stopped and looked up at Darren, putting her finger to her lips to tell him to be quiet. Darren nodded, and Audrey pulled her flashlight into her sleeve to dim the light. She pulled the door open, slow and cautious.
There was no light coming from inside of the room. Audrey left the light in her sleeve and shined it around the entrance, illuminating nothing unexpected or different from their last trip.
She waved Darren forward and moved along the wall toward the door leading into the next room, choosing the path furthest from the glass display case that left nothing about the human anatomy to the imagination. They moved faster when they rounded the corner, and the door came into sight. It wasn’t until they closed into it that they saw the door was closed, but this time there was no light coming from the crack at the bottom of it.
Audrey stopped at the door, stood behind it, and waved Darren back behind her. She hesitated for a second and then began to turn the handle as slow as she could. There was a faint click when the latch pulled into the door and it fell open an inch. Audrey’s grip on the door tightened, the filtered flashlight still showing her white knuckles as she pulled the door open the rest of the way.
She motioned to Darren and then moved inside the next room.
The whiteboards had all been slid off to one side, leaving the entire area bare. The table was just as it had been left by the man, a sole piece of paper still left in the place that Kurt had bent over the surface as he talked.
Audrey pulled her flashlight out of her sleeve and ran it’s beam across the room. “That was easier than I expected.”
“We’re not done yet,” Darren said.
Audrey’s beam fell on the steel rungs of the ladder leading to the hatch beyond the conference table. “Come on.”
Darren followed Audrey to the hatch and stood at the bottom of the ladder as she climbed up to the hatch. She let out a grunt as she pushed on the steel door, but it refused to move for her.
“Is it stuck?” Darren asked.
“I think I’m just not strong enough,” Audrey said. She aimed the flashlight back down at Darren. “Want to give it a try?”
“Sure.”
Audrey climbed back down the ladder and pointed the flashlight up to the hatch as Darren climbed upwards. He braced his shoulder against the hatch and used his whole body to push, his knees shaking as the pain came alive.
The hatch didn’t move at first, but with a light chirp of metal on metal, it swung open and Darren found himself standing with his head in a storage room. Audrey’s light glistened off of glass beakers and flasks. Scales and boxes of supplies sat in a mess that looked on the verge of tipping over.
“Where does it lead?” Audrey called up to Darren.
“Looks like the biology lab’s supply room.”
“That opens right up into the classroom, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“Hear anyone?”
Darren hesitated, listening. “No.”
“Do you want to check it out together?”
“I think I can do it alone if you want to wait there,” Darren said. “They probably evacuated everyone anyways.”
“Okay, want to toss me one of the guns though?” Audrey said. “Just in case?”
“Sure, hold on.”
Darren climbed into the storage room and sat at the edge of the hatch to let his knees relax for a moment while he pulled his backpack off. He dug out one of the revolvers and leaned into the shaft with it, holding it by the handle for Audrey.
Audrey climbed up two steps to reach the gun and took it before hopping down to the cement floor. “Be quick.”
“I will,” Darren said as he slid the backpack back on.
“Be safe too.”
“I will.”
Darren left the hatch and went to the door leading into the biology lab. There was light seeping out below the crack in the door, letting the door handle be seen when Darren reached out for it. He opened the door, looked into the lab, and stepped out of the closet.
He picked up a metal trash can within arm’s reach and put it in the door’s path so he couldn’t be locked out, then headed between the groups of tables to the door leading to the hall.
The corridor was empty. He opened the door and reached out with his head, and hearing nothing except the heated air whistling out of the vibrating vent in the ceiling a dozen feet away, stepped out into the hall.
Darren wandered toward the main stairwell, taking a second to glance into the classrooms that he passed. Word must have been sent to the building right away for them to have cleared out everybody that fast. If that was the case, then there should be no reason to worry about McCormick Hall either. The school did have an emergency escape plan for just this kind of incident, and it was almost reassuring to know that it actually worked.
Too bad he was the terrorist this time.
What would mom think if she found out it was him?
She never would.
Rachel might have recognized him.
She wouldn’t tell anyone.
Why not? She had nothing but resentment in her heart after being dumped for a new girl.
They’ll never catch a suspect though. There’s no one in the building to catch.
It’s only a matter of time before the police decide that the standoff is worthless since their suspects aren’t responding or making any sounds.
Then they’ll climb into the tunnel?
Why not?
They wouldn’t get very far. The void would stop them cold.
Probably, but they won’t give up.
Maybe, maybe not.
Darren climbed the steps, listening for any sounds that might mean someone was in the building, but heard nothing. He cleared the second floor, then the third, and skipped the fourth floor. He traveled back down to the biology area without worrying about making too much noise on the steps.
He found the lab and went back in, panting from his trek up and down the steps. The trash can still held the door to the supply room open, so he kicked it back to where he found it and stepped back inside, going straight to the hatch.
“I’m coming down,” Darren yelled into the hatch to give Audrey a head’s up, and climbed down the metal rungs.
It was dark. Audrey’s flashlight was either turned off or she had wandered off to explore. “Audrey?” he said into the room.
No reply.
“Audrey?” he said louder.