Constant Fear

CHAPTER 22

Laura didn’t have plans to do a lot of exploring. The campus was completely deserted, and she suspected Andy wasn’t even there. Jake was probably right. Andy had gone off with his buddies and had forgotten all about her.

Laura chided herself for thinking Andy would embrace her with open arms. She had been foolish to expect it could have been so easy. She contemplated turning around, but felt even more foolish to abandon her quest after coming so far to find him. She was wet, muddy, and discouraged. But the air around campus didn’t smell like poison. It was worth taking a minute to look around.

If anything, Laura was curious about the school. This is where Andy spent most of his time. She felt connected to him just by being here. The possibility of having a relationship with her son was foremost on Laura’s mind when she ambled across The Quad and entered the Academy Building through the massive front doors. She thought the building would have been secured, but people had left in a rush, or maybe these doors were never locked.

Either way, the door was open. Laura entered an elegant marble foyer, which featured impressive columns and a magnificent high ceiling. She had dreamed of having the kind of home that people would gawk at, and her fantasy always included a marble foyer. She knew it was grandiose, but what the hell.

Inside the massive foyer, Laura heard noises, odd muted sounds that seemed to be coming from a doorway to her right. The closer she got to that door, the louder the sounds became. The wooden doors were closed; Laura pressed her ear against them and listened. She could hear one man doing most of the talking, and it sounded to her as if he spoke with an accent. Perhaps he was part of a work crew assigned to check the air quality or test for chemical contaminants.

Curiosity got the better of her. Laura pried the door open a crack. All she wanted was to take a quick little peek inside. She peered into a darkened auditorium.

Her thoughts froze as an icy fear settled into her chest. From her vantage point, Laura could see five kids seated on classroom chairs onstage. Their wrists were bound with rope and all were gagged. Onstage loomed three savage-looking men, each holding a massive knife to the throats of three of the kids. Behind them was a second row of men, each more brutal-looking than the next, armed with an array of assault weapons she’d seen only in the movies.

Recoiling from fright, Laura inhaled with a gasp and fell sideways. She stumbled into a trash can pushed up against the wall next to the door. The auditorium door slammed shut with a hard bang as the trash can toppled, making its own thunderous crash. One thought immediately dominated all others: Run!

Laura dashed across the foyer and slammed into the front door, using her hip to push against the crash bar. The door swung open and she toppled outside. Momentum carried her across the top landing and in a flash the stairs loomed before her like rocks materializing out of a fog.

The misty rain turned those same stairs dangerously slick, and Laura was going too fast to navigate them safely. She misjudged the first step and her arms flailed wildly as she fought for balance. She tripped down a few more stairs, but somehow managed to stay on her feet.

At the bottom step, Laura lost her footing completely. She teetered and then toppled over. It happened so fast that she couldn’t get her hands out in time to brace her fall; she slammed face-first onto a cement patio. The intense impact felt as if it had compressed her brain against the back of her skull. Blood poured from a gash on her forehead and oozed thick goo into her eyes.

Wiping the blood away with the back of her hand, Laura labored to get to her knees, still dazed. She heard a sound. A door opening. They were coming. Men with guns, with knives.

Get up! Run! Run!

Fear choked her breathing.

Laura staggered to her feet and broke into a frantic sprint. She was impervious to the pain in her knees and head. Blood gushed from the wound in her scalp, blinding one eye, but she could still see The Quad in front of her, maybe ten, twenty feet away. It was a massive expanse of brown and green grass. No place could have left her more vulnerable, but her mind wasn’t clear. Her only thought was to run ahead, and as fast as possible.

Weaving awkwardly, Laura lurched onto The Quad. Her feet slipped on the dewy grass. Her arms spun for balance, but this time she kept upright. Blood seeped into her mouth. The taste of it on her tongue and down her throat nauseated her, but still she ran.

With wind battering her face, Laura risked a glance over her shoulder. Four men were coming down the stairs. They had no trouble navigating the slick surface. Two of them were leveling rifles. Laura diverted from a straight course into a zigzag pattern, thinking it would make her a harder target to hit. She had seen the tactic used on television, and somehow the reference came to her at the moment she needed it most.

Beyond The Quad, beyond another brick building, stood a thick patch of woods. Somewhere within that thicket was the path she had used to reach the school, but the woods would be fine if she couldn’t find the path. Probably better. Laura could lose them in the woods.

From behind, Laura heard a loud crack and boom that rolled off into the distance. The hum of a bullet sliced through the heavy air. There was another crack. Another bullet zipped past. This time Laura saw where the ground erupted from the impact. The tree line was just ahead. Laura tried to lengthen her strides.

Keep running… keep running…

She heard another boom and felt the air part. The forest was in front of her. Not too far. She could make it. The burn in her legs became intense, and an agonizing stitch developed in her side. From somewhere within, she dug deep and found another gear that actually quickened her pace.

Almost there… almost…

Another rolling boom came, followed by a pfft sound. That was when Laura felt the sting. It didn’t hurt at first. It was more like an odd and strange sensation-a breeze traveling through her that shouldn’t have been there. But then came the fire. A wickedly sharp pain radiated up from her right side. Laura tumbled to the ground and rolled several times. Blood continued to pour from the gash in her scalp; but now, it was pouring from this new wound as well.

From the ground, she touched her side. Her hands came away slick and red. She staggered to her feet. Adrenaline was all that kept her moving as it also held the shock at bay.

Glancing behind her, Laura saw the men readying to fire again. She darted into the woods just as a bullet splintered a tree by her head.

Laura sank into the dark. She could hear men’s voices behind her, coming at her. The trees offered some cover, but the forest still had the bare and brown look of winter. Still running, Laura peeled back the jacket she wore and lifted her sweater to inspect her side. A massive red stain spread across much of her midsection and traveled partway up her armpit. Her light cotton shirt was drenched with blood. Pain more intense with each breath came at her with the force of a hurricane.

Laura plunged on ahead. Was her vision dimming, or had a cloud covering darkened the sky? Voices cried out. They were searching for her, but she had vanished inside the gloom and was still on the move. With each stride, Laura felt weaker.

Five minutes on the move became ten. Ignoring the painful burn, Laura kept one hand on the cut to her head, and the other pressed against her side, but her life force seeped between her fingers.

She was wobbly on her feet, moving in whatever direction she managed to stagger. The men’s voices receded into the distance like the fading forest light. Soon Laura’s frantic, haphazard run downshifted into a trot, and then it became something of a drunken stumble, until she slowed almost completely and ping-ponged from one tree to the next without direction or purpose.

The men’s voices were gone, gone like the feeling in her leg and the pain in her side. Oh, the bliss-it was such pure bliss to have no more pain in her side. It had been like a hot poker squeezed through a tight hole in her skin. Now everything was cast in a delirious haze. The world had a glow, and Laura felt connected to the trees and muddy earth as never before. Droplets of water clinging to the tree branches and moss shone like spinning diamonds. Was she even moving? No, she was floating. She sensed her body moving as if the wind itself carried her.

Off in the distance, Laura saw twinkling lights. She went toward them. Walking, or flying, or pulled by some invisible force, she couldn’t tell. Just follow the shine. It’s right there. Just reach for it. The twinkle came in alternating colors. Red. Blue. Red. Blue. It flashed and whirled and summoned her with its own gravitational force.

Laura emerged from a shroud of trees and reached for the lights, but she couldn’t take hold. She sank to her knees and felt hands descend upon her. Many hands. Touched by angels. The touch made her spirit rise, and she lifted her arms up to the heavens to beckon for more. The colors that drew her here danced before her eyes. Red. Blue. Red. Blue.

Laura fell to the wet earth, and she understood there were no angels by her side. These were police officers. They knelt and talked to her in loud voices. Laura opened her mouth, but did the word come out?

Can you hear me? Did I say it?

Their lips moved, but Laura couldn’t make out what was said. Her ears were filled with a deafening roar like powerful ocean waves crashing against massive rocks. She felt the life leaving her body. Peace coming to her. Finally she had found it. What she had been searching for since she had left Jake and Andy. But one thing had to be said. That word. Had she spoken it?

Laura tried once more. Her blood-splattered lips were so dry. She was so thirsty. If she closed her eyes, the thirst would go away. And the cold, too. But a memory came back and Laura marshaled one final effort. She put the word in her throat and spat it out through red-stained teeth.

“Hostages.”

Then, finally, she was at peace.