It lasted just a few seconds, before both the flash and the lingering echoes dissipated. I was thankful for Zander’s steady hand on my back as it was, no doubt, the only reason I hadn’t fallen flat on my butt. My heart beat rapidly in my throat, as I looked around. Everyone seemed to be okay, though they were all equally shaken. A few had even started heading toward the door.
All at once, the sky began wavering like hot asphalt on a summer day and softened to a milky white glow. All trace of the massive primary flare began to melt away. The colors moved organically, like a school of fish weaving around obstacles. Bursts of soft orange slid languidly through the buttery yellows, before spattering and spreading like huge raindrops.
The twisted spokes of orange and umber danced and rippled, before slowly building into a cresting wave of red and purple. I was transfixed, unable to bring myself to look away from whatever cosmic artist was sliding these colors around on his canvas. I felt Zander's gaze shift towards me every few minutes, but avoided his eyes, unwilling to let myself get lost again in their coppery depths.
Not part of the plan, I reminded myself. That’s right, just focus on the pretty colors.
After what seemed like hours, the colors muted and slowly melted together. The heavenly artist had grown tired of his work and had seen fit to rinse it all away. What was left was a muddled backdrop of muted purples and blues, and for the first time that day, the sky sank into darkness.
Orange tracers lingered, but the stars were finally starting to peek through as a wavy jade ribbon swirled languidly across the sky, then another and another.
Each seemed to build off the one before it, rippling outward like a stone dropped into a pond. Their soft glow slowly faded as the rings expanded outward past the horizon. A sense of contentment settled over me and I smiled to myself.
Zander squeezed my hand and I squeezed back, instinctively leaning against his shoulder. He looked down into my eyes, smiled that crooked smile, and for a brief moment I felt at peace.
Chapter 7
Trapped
We had all seen something amazing that night and despite the heat, everyone seemed reluctant to walk away. Zander's fingers were still curled gently around mine and to my surprise I did not pull away when Riley and Micah approached us. The look in her eyes was practically screaming, I told you so.
“Was that not the most incredible thing you have ever seen?” Riley dragged Micah along by their intertwined hands, wiping sweat from her forehead. “It was even better than I thought it would be— totally worth the heat.”
“Yeah, it was actually really awesome,” Zander said. He turned to Micah, smiling broadly, as they clapped hands. “Dude, thank you so much for inviting me. I am sorry I ever doubted you.”
His hand tightened around mine a little as he spoke and I felt my face heat. I silently blamed the sweltering temperature on the hot tar rooftop. Still, I found myself staring down at my feet, shuffling a few loose pebbles with the toe of my boot.
“Okay, so, I don't know about you guys, but I am roasting,” Riley chirped, pulling her phone from her pocket. “Jesus! It’s one hundred and two degrees you guys. Let's get inside before we melt.”
I was suddenly very aware of just how much I was currently sweating. My thin black racer-back clung to my stomach, and my jeans were rubbing uncomfortably against my sweaty hips. The heat was so heavy it pulsed like a living thing. A rogue bead of sweat rolled quickly down dip in the center of my back. My skin prickled at the sensation.
“Um, yeah,” I agreed, suddenly very self-conscious. “I feel like my boots are melting up here. Maybe we should go.”
“You know what,” Riley said, scooping her arm through Micah’s elbow. “We should totally go to D.Q. and get some ice cream.”
“I dunno, Ry,” I said, patting my pockets reflexively. I had only made seven bucks tonight, and it was already earmarked for my plan.
“My treat.” Zander scooped up my backpack and tossed it onto his shoulder as he dragged me playfully towards the door to the stairwell. I laughed in spite of myself and followed willingly behind him. Despite my best efforts, I was having fun.
“Blake, Sara, are you two coming or what?” Riley asked the couple who were still making out.
“Not yet,” snickered one of the twins as they elbowed their way into the stairwell.
“Get a room,” laughed the other.
“In a second,” the guy muttered as he came up for air, ignoring the heckling of the idiot twins. “Just prop the door, Riley. I swear I’ll close it when we come back in.”
“Okay,” she said, hesitating. “But seriously, it’s getting like, heat-stroke hot up here, so make it quick.”
“Wrap it up you two,” Falisha giggled as she and Zack ducked past them through the door.
The rest of us piled into the stairwell, grateful for the slight reprieve from the sweltering heat outside. The soft chattering of conversations bounced around in the corridor as we descended. Zander had his hand dangling back and an awkward angle, intent on holding mine the entire way down. When we reached the bottom, we found the rest of our group clustered together just inside the door to the gym.
“What's going on guys?” Riley asked. “Why are you all just standing there? Open the door so we can get out of here. Ice cream and air conditioning are calling my name.”
“Yeah, about that,” Zack replied, with a nervous laugh. “It’s kinda stuck.”
“What do you mean, it's kinda stuck? Either it’s stuck or it’s not stuck,” Riley snapped at him. “Just turn the stupid knob and open the door.”
“Yeah, thanks genius, like I hadn't tried that,” Zack said, rolling his eyes. “Did you, maybe, lock it accidentally when you came back up earlier?”
“No way,” Riley said, pushing her way toward the door. “It only locks from inside the gym.”
She hovered, nervously, over the keypad next to the door, then slid her card through and grabbed the handle. When it didn’t budge, she tried scanning her card again, jiggling the handle frantically.
“This doesn't make any sense. The door should open. The light is green.” She pointed to the small green dot at the top of the unit. “The green means it's not locked. I don't understand why it won't open. It should open!”
She tugged violently at the handle, muttering, “Open, damn it, open!”
I nudged Micah in her direction, and he ran to her side. He drew her close and slowly led her away from the door. I had never seen Riley like that, and apparently neither had he. It set my nerves on edge.
“It's gonna be okay, Ry. We'll figure this out,” he whispered in her ear. “Just take it easy.”
“Let me take a look at it,” Zander offered, his voice steady and calm.
Mike and Andy stepped to the side, and everyone cleared a path. Zander pulled me gently along behind him as he approached the door. He released his grip almost reluctantly and knelt down by the access panel as he clicked the flashlight app on his phone. His steady hands made quick work of the panel casing, and soon he was prodding and poking his way through the tangle of wires inside. After a couple minutes of ciphering, he stood.
“It looks like the security system is operated remotely. Based on the chip configuration, I would say this thing is a PX35 model. They became pretty standard for most schools after the whole Columbine thing,” he stated evenly. “It's a pretty basic model, so the only way this door could be locked, would be if the administrator triggered it via mobile command or if there was some kind of error.”
“Well, Mr. Hardy knew we were all going to be up here, so it doesn’t make sense for him to lock up on us. It took me months to get all of the approvals needed for this stupid thing.” Riley held a plastic key card in her small, shaky hand. “It's a day-pass card, so it will only work for twenty-four hours, but it was supposed to temporarily disable all the interior locks until I rescanned it in the key panel outside.”
Riley was on the verge of tears, shaking and twitching in Micah’s arms. He se
emed to be having a hard time holding her back as her anxiety increased.
“We have to get out of here,” Riley stammered. “I— we can't stay in this stairwell. There’s not enough air in here.”
Falisha pressed even closer to Zack's side and the rest of the stairwell erupted into worried chatter. The panicked ramblings grew louder, and with each passing second that ticked by, Riley grew more distraught. Zander’s eyes met mine, and he grabbed my hand. Frustrated by the chaos that was quickly taking over, I slid two fingers into my mouth like my dad had taught me and let loose an ear-piercing whistle. The crowd fell silent and stared at me in shock as the last of the echoes dwindled away into the shadows.
“Shut the hell up,” I demanded, then nodded to Zander, letting him know he had the floor.
“Um, thanks, Liv,” Zander smirked at me, before returning his attention to my panicked classmates. “Let's all just take a deep breath and calm down. As Riley pointed out, the only reason for the lock to malfunction would be a simple network or electrical error.”
“How does that help us?” Zack asked, pulling Falisha closer.
“If we can confuse the signals a little, we should be able to get out of here,” he smiled. “Does anyone have anything with a USB plug? Maybe a cell phone charger?”
Murmurs and rustling echoed through the stairwell, as everyone dug around in purses and pockets. Falisha's hand shot forward first, a battered iPhone charger dangling loosely between her fingers. She hugged her phone protectively to her chest and dropped the charger into Zander’s outstretched hand. He removed the outlet base from the end and looked over me.
“Can I borrow your phone for a second, Liv?” he asked.
I unlocked it and set it in his hand, without a second thought. He plugged Falisha's charger into the base port on my phone and turned back to the panel. He pulled a small pocketknife out of his front pocket, and used it to pry the connectors from a jumble of red and blue wires near the bottom of the panel.
To me, it looked like a tangle of multi-colored noodles, but Zander appeared to be in his element. He went straight to work, undeterred, sorting and separating wires, cutting some and reconnecting them to others. After a few minutes, he pushed the jumbled mass of copper and plastic aside, and slid the jump end of the charger into the USB port inside the base of the unit.
I couldn’t see what he was doing clearly, but after few quick slides and a couple clicks, the red and green lights on the unit started blinking together. After a few more clicks, and some fast moving thumbs, he removed the USB from the port and handed me my phone. I handed Falisha her charger, without taking my eyes away off of Zander. He stood, popped the casing back on the unit, and stepped back. The stairwell went completely silent.
“Key card, please,” he said softly.
Riley passed it to him, her hand shaking, and Zander quickly slid it through the scanner. After what seemed like forever, the little light on the box blinked red, then back to green. It let out a high-pitched beep and Zander grabbed the handle and turned it slowly. The loud clank of locking mechanism clicking its release reverberated from the walls around us.
Cheers erupted as he pulled the door open, and we anxiously piled out into the gym. Micah rushed Riley over to the bleachers, where she immediately lowered her head between her knees.
“Thank you,” Micah mouthed to us, as he rubbed slow circles into her back.
“That was amazing,” I said, turning to Zander. “Where did you learn how to do that?”
“Long story,” he said, looking away as he pushed his hair out of his face. “Is Riley going to be okay? She seemed pretty upset in there.”
“Yeah, I think so,” I said, turning toward the bleachers. “I guess she's not big on small spaces.”
Guilt boiled inside me. Riley was not just my best friend, she was practically my sister. How could I not know she was claustrophobic? Had I really spent so much time hiding from the world, that I barely knew the one person I actually trusted in this world?
“Let's go check on her, okay?” I nodded in Riley’s direction.
“Sorry I freaked out back there,” Riley said, swiping tears from her face as we approached. “Guess I forgot to take my meds today.”
“Don’t worry about it, Ry,” I said, waving her off. “Let’s just get out of here. That ice cream is sounding better by the second.”
“I’m in,” Zander said, lacing his fingers through mine.
Even in her weakened emotional state, the gesture did not escape her scrutiny. She glanced dramatically down at our clasped hands. Riley’s eyes met mine, twinkling wryly, before looking back down at clasped hands. Her smile transformed her tear stained face. She stood and stepped closer to me.
“Interesting,” she said, with feigned curiosity.
“Shut up, Riley,” I said, rolling my eyes.
Zander quirked a brow at me, and Riley giggled even harder as she wiped at the last few tears on her cheeks. Despite her subtle gloating, I was grateful to hear her sounding like the obnoxious little sprite I knew and loved.
Pop!
“What the?” Someone yelled and something that sounded like gunfire rang through the gym.
Pop...........Pop-pop!
One of the twins dove to the floor, followed quickly by the other. They covered their heads with their hands, while the rest of us searched frantically in all directions for the source of the ear-splitting noise. Then, like every teenager in every scary movie ever made, we ran towards the potentially deadly sound. We shoved our way through the gym doors and landed in a tangled heap in the foyer. We wrestled apart just inside the glass doors of the main entrance and climbed back to our feet.
A loud buzzing, like swarm of angry bees, pulsed from the telephone pole across the street. The air around us smelled heavily of burning plastic. Every few seconds, the transformer box at the top of the pole would crackle and pop. A burst of small orange sparks rained down from it, bouncing carelessly off the tops of the vehicles parked below.
Across the street, and throughout the parking area, the cars appeared to be sinking into the pavement. The brand new blacktop was bubbling like a prehistoric tar pit. Screams echoed through the lobby as everyone started to panic.
“It’s the tires,” Micah shouted pointing towards the parking spaces in front of the building. “Look at the tires!”
Zander's bike was parked just yards away. It began wobbling back and forth. He flinched as the front tire blew out, and a half a second later, the back. The bike rested on the rims, the shredded rubber tires were completely useless. The bike was off balance and slowly sinking in the tar. The kickstand, half buried and no longer able to support the weight of its bulking frame, snapped off, and disappeared into the goo. Zander’s bike collapsed in a heap.
“No!” Zander shouted, lunging for the door. “My bike!”
“Stop,” Jake seemed appeared from nowhere, his slender frame attempting barricade Zander.
Jake was a good foot shorter than Zander, but he didn’t back down. He stood there, shoulders back, hands raised in front of him. His body language suggested surrender, but his fierce tone did not. The town’s storm sirens chose that moment to blast out their warning. The sound was faint, muffled by the safety glass and concrete walls. Even though we all heard it, our eyes were fixed on the standoff between Zander and Jake.
“Move,” Zander strained through gritted teeth. His hands were clenched tightly into fists at his side.
“No,” Jake said, the size difference between them becoming painfully obvious.
“Move. Now.” Zander said, taking the slightest step forward.
“No way in hell, dude,” Jake ground out. “You are not going out there. The sirens are going off, there are sparks flying everywhere, and shit is exploding!”
Jake’s brown eyes were fierce, but pleading. There was a determination there that even Zander, in his current state, could not deny. Zander unclenched his fists, laced his hands together behind his head, and started pacing i
n a small circle. Jake did not move.
“Seriously, man. Don’t get yourself killed over a stupid bike,” agreed Zack, now rooting himself next to Jake. Zander stopped in his tracks and turned to face them both.
“You don’t understand,” he said, his eyes glistening. “It’s not just a—”
“Oh, God,” Riley cried and took off, running into the gym.
“Riley wait!” Micah bolted after her.
I looked at Zander and the second our eyes met, we tore off after them both and were a short distance behind Micah within seconds. Micah finally caught up to Riley just before she reached the stairwell. He caught the inside of her elbow, her momentum spinning her in a circle.
“Micah,” she screamed at him. “Let. Go!”
“What the hell do you think you are you doing, Ry?” Micah screamed at her, his eyes wide. “You cannot go back up there!”
“I have to,” she pleaded, pulling against his grasp. “Please, let go!”
“Riley—” he said, pulling her away from the door.
“Micah, please! Sara and Blake— they haven’t come back. They are still on the roof,” She sobbed, sagging into Micah, who looked like he had just gotten punched in the chest. “I have to go up there.”
“Shit,” Zander yelled, raking his fingers through his hair.
“Micah, please?” Riley cried, trying desperately to peel his hands off her arm.
“I’ll go and check it out,” Zander said, turning to me. “You guys stay here. Don't move.”
Before I could protest, he disappeared up the stairs. I grabbed a dazed Micah by the arm and dragged him over to the stairwell door. He was winded and confused, but there was no time to coddle him. I gathered his t-shirt at his chest and pulled him forward until I was an inch from his face.
“Micah, focus,” I shouted at him. “I need you to hold this door open. Do not let it shut, do you hear me?”
Killshot (Icarus Series Book 1) Page 5