Outside the School Gates Contd 2nd Ch

It was right then, I had a sudden swooping feeling in the pit of my stomach; I knew something was very wrong. The room twirled around me for a minute, as I tried to hold onto what felt like my sanity. The feeling, or premonition almost, was so strong it scared me. The fear was unreasonable, I tried to tell myself, but I knew it was not. If I was right in what I thought…and, considering our school’s reputation, I knew I very well could be. We had sons and daughters of the mayor, famous basketball players, some big state officials, a designer at iMac company, to name a few off the top of my head. I stumbled to a seat, trying to block out the idea.
I knew I had to get to my friends. Moira, Lulu…I tried to think. Mackey and Moira were in AP Pysch, which was downstairs at the end of the hallway; pretty far. Lulu was right across the hall from me. Rose…I couldn’t remember. I sent her a text quickly, and then one back to Mackey.  They both responded quickly. Rose was in a Math exam, in the next corridor. From her windows they could only see the baseball field and the Woods, and none of them knew why we had stopped testing. My fingers hesitated over the soft black buttons. Rose was smart, but not street-smart. I clicked to Mackey’s instead. It read:
our crzy teacher just left – she wont tell us wtf going on. Mayb a lockdwn? 
         I looked out the windows again. Most of the men had gone, already divided into threes and fours and gone into the building. I felt my heart beat louder and louder. If they were really coming into this AP Building, Moira and Mackey down on the first floor would be the ones to see them first. I told her that, wishing I could say something to Moira too. Her cell phone had been taken away a week ago when she had snuck out last Saturday night.
         I turned back to the door, searching for Lulu. She was coming back into the window’s small frame, just having looked through her window too. But, she was on the opposite side of the school, so all she could see was the long winding driveway.
‘Is there anything out there?’ I mouthed, hoping she understood. She pulled out her own cell (a battered, silver razor) and sent me four words.
         the gates are shut

         Suddenly, there was a loud boom downstairs, and a few doors slamming. I felt the whole upper floor stiffen, straining to hear. A deep man’s voice echoed up the staircases, and a softer voice – the head Shaney? – responding in a would-be calm voice. I was glad Ms. Treaber had left the door open, and a boy in our class slowly reached out and pushed it farther out. Some of the students were inching towards the door, listening, others still frozen by the window. Heavy pairs of footsteps were spreading out in the halls below, while others clomped up the steps, up to our level…
         With a quick snap, Ms. Treaber suddenly ran back into the classroom, her sharp bun sagging in the back. She closed the door as softly as she could. Her face was very distracted; she was trying hard to look calm.
“Students,” she said in a quick, panting voice, glancing up at the door, “we may be in a conflicting situation. We will all get through this, but I need you all to be quiet and cooperative, understand me?”
I wanted to scream at her. If those footsteps were indeed coming up the steps, we had a few mere seconds until their owners came into view. I could tell she knew it too. Her frightened face took in the students, standing by the door and windows, and cried, less quietly this time,
“Quick! Please get back in your seats! Now!”
         I was in the row second-closest to the door, one seat from the front. I shot a glance at Lulu. Her class was in disarray, people were moving and talking, the door still ajar. Their teacher had left.
We gazed at each other for a split second, and then something large and black obscured the view as it took up the entire window. The door, softly closed minutes before, was slammed open and a single man walked in. All in black, he was tall and lean, with a black buzz cut and eyes that seemed to glint as much as his silver earring. In his hands was a large gun, as long as my arm. He held it lightly, perfectly horizontal, and swung it carelessly from side to side in an arc around him.
“Everyone out. Now.”
No one moved. I don’t think we could if we had wanted to.
Without any change of expression, the man, still swinging his gun, let off a series of bullets at the window. A shower of glass exploded with a terrible screeching scraping sound that tore into my ears like fingernails. Sarah Phillips, still sitting in the seat closest to the window, let out a scream before quickly trying to stifle it, low whimperings slipping out instead. Heart racing, I looked at her. There was blood in her silky strawberry hair, and from where I sat across the room I could see a few glints of glass still embedded in her arms and skin.
“NOW!” yelled the man.
         Walking out the door, down the hallway and stairs, and into the grand furnished library – I remember none of it. Maybe it was like when you get a huge burst of adrenalin, and all you can do is focus. Just put one step in front of the other, terrified to let out any kind of noise as the heavy boots walk behind you. Through it all I could only register two things – relief that Sarah had stopped whimpering, and the fact that Lulu’s classroom was empty.
         When we reached the library, we saw about 6 other men with guns and five more classrooms worth of kids. Only two teachers remained. In a panic I looked for my friends, or anyone, but at first I couldn’t see anything. Then, huddled against the wall with some other students (one of them a boy who she had laughed about earlier that morning), was Rose. She looked absolutely terrified. I knew I must have appeared that way too. All we could do was look at each other; our guard had begun shoving our group against a different wall, angrily pulling tables away so we couldn’t cower under them. My panic was starting to smother me and I realized I was gasping for air like a fish. I could think was ‘where is Lulu?’ Her class had been right across from mine, she should be here, kept repeating itself in my mind.
         I slid down the wall, finding myself sandwiched between Sarah and Nick, the boy who sat behind two seats behind me in English. I noticed one guard leaving the library, while ours stayed behind, moving over to position himself between the two classes. I glanced at Sarah, she was shaking badly, and the drying bits of blood were beginning to turn parts of her hair dark. I looked at the rest of the library, at the new class that just came in. One student still had goggles in his hands from a Chemistry exam. In the crowd I saw Sade, his dark eyes wide in his face. I looked away for a minute, hoping Moira and Mackey’s class had come too, but the library doors swung shut. When I looked back, he was gazing at me, his expression unreadable.
         Ms. Treaber inched over, temporarily blocking my line of sight as she leaned over Sarah, trying to stop the bleeding. Quick as a flash the man strode over, roughly grabbing her by the shoulder and shoved her away back farther down the wall.
“Stay there, don’t go near her.”
“But she’s bleeding! Let me just clean her up – you know you can’t have the students harmed, you don’t know which ones you want yet!”
         While her intentions were good, Ms. Treaber’s words sent a chill down my spine that raised the hairs on the back of my neck. Yet? Was she stupid? Did the woman honestly not know Sarah was a scholarship student? I felt the color drain from my face. So they were here for the important students. And once they figured out who was worth keeping, would they care what happened to the rest of us? Sweet, clumsy, lovable Sarah, no one more in this school deserved her hard-earned 4.0 more.
         The man, eyes narrowed in anger, pointed the gun to me.
“You. Clean her up.” I nodded frantically. He ran his head along his black buzz cut, and then called over to one of the other men. This one, in big black boots and in need of a shave, was clearly his inferior. As his slanted eyes turned to me, I gasped. Dimly I heard our guard telling him to go with me to get the first aid kit from the office. I sank down into the wall, shrinking away as far as I could.
         I didn’t think it was possible for me to be more terrified, but this man’s eyes and sneering lips had me grabbing at the carpet, pathetically trying to find something with purchase to grab onto. Every instinct in my body screamed at me to not go alone with this man. His hands were dirty, they couldn’t stop moving along his pockets and belt. The way he looked at me, the way they both did, told me neither cared if we took any detours or wasted a little time on our way down the hall. My skin was ice cold, so numb I could hardly feel the tear sliding down my left cheek.
          I was unaware of the looks my classmates were giving me, or the horror in Ms. Treaber’s eyes as she realized what she had potentially done. My hand had found something on the ground, a soft, bony thing. My mouth was moving, I tried hard to choke the words out.
“I – I don’t know where it is.”
“Well then,” sneered the buzz-cut, “I guess you’ll have to go look for it, won’t you?”
“Please-“ I gasped.
“I know where it is” Said a voice. I looked around in shock, as relief rolled over me in ways, the voice was near by. It was Nick, gazing up at the two guards, his eyes burning. Nick, I suddenly remembered had been rumored to have used a gun before…
“I only need one,” sneered the shorter one, but the buzz-cut overrode him.
“The bitch is right,” he jerked his head to Ms. Treaber, “we need to be sure they’re all in good shape. Take both of them.”
         The second guard did not look happy. He wildly waved his gun, shouting at us to move. As Nick stood up, I felt my left hand being yanked upward; it was his wrist I had blindly grabbed onto before. I forced myself to let go. Even as I registered this, a small beeping tune vibrated out from my pocket. Through his shouting, the guard didn’t seem to notice. Sarah had fainted, hopefully from fear instead of loss of blood. Our new guard shoved us both forward with the length of his gun, and we were almost at the door when another sound, this time clear and audible, rang out in the silence.
         I stopped immediately. I knew that tune – how many times had I had to endure it as it sang out with texts from boys during multiple movies and lunch periods? It was Rose’s, someone had just texted her. Unfortunately, her guard realized it too.
“Who was that?” he shouted at her.
“I – I  don’t –“
“WHO was it?!” he yelled again, his long gun shifting in his arms. Rose seemed to be on the verge of tears. I was sure it was Mackey, or hopefully Lulu, but she couldn’t tell him that and not get them into trouble. Poor Rose, so smart in class, she often didn’t use her head once she was outside it.
“Was it your parents? Or a friend?” I silently begged her to answer because with each question the guard was becoming more and more enraged.
“It was just, just my cousin! Today is her birthday!” Rose cried out quickly.
By now our guard had started pushing us back to the door again. The last I saw was Rose sitting, typing a text message as the guard rested the gun on the crown of her head while the other guards started taking everyone’s cell phones. As I looked back to the door, my eyes were locked again to Sade’s on the opposite wall – and then we were outside in the silent halls, his black eyes burned into my vision so quickly it was the only thing I could remember of his face.

“Alright,” said our guard, still in a dangerous mood, “where is it?”
“They keep it in the teacher’s lounge,” said Nick at once. I quickly hid my misstep at his words. My subtly was wasted though, because unfortunately the guard had realized it too. He hit Nick on the back of the head with the butt of the gun.
“Nice try,” he sneered, “But we’re going to the office. Sorry if that messes up any plans of yours. Now. Where is the office? Move!”
         I walked half a pace behind Nick, staring at him and trying to see what he intended on doing. He was going the long way, doubling around before taking the hallway to the office, but it was doubtful our guard would realize that. The school, with its whitewashed walls and spacious rooms and corridors, felt like a ghost we had stepped into. I tried hard to hear something, but there was absolutely nothing. In the library we had just left there were about 1/3 of the students that occupied the AP Building, and I assumed they had put us there because it was the biggest room they could find.  Where were the rest of them? All crowded in a classroom somewhere? Or separated, room by room? The last thought made me shudder.
         We had reached the main hallway, with the office at the very end, when I found an answer to both questions. I had forgotten about our Assembly Room. It was a large, circular room, amphitheatre in style designed for conferences, with another doorway leading to the Commons. I remembered my first day here at Cambridge Prep, how I had sat down in one of the armchairs by the fireplace, with the school crest sitting above the mantle, thinking how lucky I was to be able to call this my new school. It was positioned close to the office for easy supervision, and that must be where the rest of the students were kept.
         Soon we reached the office, and Kevin stopped just inside the doorway. He pointed to one of the office doors.
“It’s in there, I think.”
I hurried to it, pushing it open. The door was heavy, and despite my efforts it swung silently shut. It seemed that the guard was staying outside with Nick, and before I knew it I was leaning against the wall, eyes closed, as I tried to push out the events of the past hour. The images bombarding the inside of my head were crippling, I fought hard to steady myself and look for the kit. It was easy to find once my hands stopped shaking; the large white box kept falling through my fingers.
“It’s ok, _______, calm down,” I whispered to myself. I was never a person for hysteria, but I could feel something inside of my cracking in two. As I got up, the beeping tune sang out from my pocket again, and I jumped. With a quick glance at the door, I crouched down and opened the two text messages. The first one was from Mackey, and it probably said the same thing she had sent Rose. Not that Rose would ever read it, even if we did all live through this…
we’r in the basement. Thy took Casi, Andrew, Madeline & 3 other kids
I knew all those names. So did most of the students. All three had parents high in the government, or, in Madeline’s case, a father who owned a huge string of casinos out West. Flashy money, we’d always said. Still trying to work out how they had gotten to the basement (I didn’t even know where it was), I opened the new text, cursing at my slowness. Outside the door I heard the guard say something, a softer reply, and a sharp clunk and thud as something big hit the floor. The next text message had me pause in shock. It was from Lulu, so tense and short I could barely understand it.
Bbal ppl got out. Lokd thmslvs in tchrs lounge.
Mind racing, I quickly set the phone to silent, slipped it in my pocket, and grabbed the kit. I opened the door without a thought; the last message had temporarily stymied my fear.
“Sorry, it took me a while to-“
His bring brown hand suddenly slapped my right cheek, and I was thrown against the copier machine. The whole side of my face was stinging with thousands of tiny hot needles as I gasped for air. In the corner of my eye, I saw Nick sitting against the wall with a purple bruise swelling on his jaw. His face was dead, completely empty. The guard was yelling that I had taken too long, and when I didn’t react immediately, he pulled me up, one hand gripping the inner part of my thigh. I fought down nausea as I struggled desperately to get away, but he only held on tighter, and his other hand was exploring all of me, there was nothing I could do to make him stop.


I don’t remember when it finally ended. I do remember looking at Nick for a minute – his eyes were huge in his head, he looked sick. Then we were walking back down the white hallway, it looked grey to me now. The heavy kit kept bumping against my leg, and I remember looking at the empty Commons and Assembly Room as we passed by. Of course, they were empty…but I couldn’t think about anything, and I had forgotten the two text messages.
When we came back to the library, the large room was completely silent. Every head turned and stared at us – I wondered what we looked like. Nick at least had the bruise – I had nothing but disheveled hair. In the direct center of the room, one of the library’s recycling bins was filled to the brim with cell phones and a few Ipods. As we sat back down against the wall a guard was dropping a half-smoked cigarette into its center. I trembled, hoping to God they didn’t search me for one.
My head banged unsteadily against the wall as I squished in next to Sarah – she was awake, and gave me a small smile.
“What took you so long?” demanded the buzz-cut guard. He looked impatient and irritated.
“The princess here couldn’t find the kit” whined my guard. I flinched at these words.
“Well you” the superior said to me, “clean her up. She’s still bleeding.”
         I looked dully at Sarah, and was surprised to see that this was very true. I opened the kit and began rummaging through it – but I realized I didn’t even know what I was looking for. Sarah’s hands came into view, she helped me pull out gauze and alcohol. She mostly pulled out the glass and cleaned the small cuts by herself. Everything was backwards; I was supposed to be helping Sarah, but she was helping me. When we were done, the buzz-cut grabbed the kit away and placed it in the middle of the room too out of anyone’s reach.
         The guard with the slanted eyes had taken a small silver cell phone out of his pocket, and, leering at Nick and me, went over and dropped it in the smoking recycle bin. The sight of his face directly focused at mine sent a shudder convulsing through my body. I looked down at the carpet, not daring to look up at the many students looking at me, or worse, Ms. Treaber’s expression. In the silence, I was trying to decide what color the carpet was. Threads of red, with lots of blue, or was it grey? It was really difficult. I had just determined it might be deep green when I felt something gripping my left wrist.
         Confused, I stared at it. It was Nicks. His varsity ring seemed big on his finger. I tried to think of something else to fill the silence, so I thought about Nick. Even though my deadened state, something was nagging at me. Why had he wanted to go to the teacher’s lounge? There was no point, once we had gotten there and our guard saw it wasn’t there, he would have probably hit us both some more and turned us back around to the office. Why then? I looked at his face; he was staring intensely at me. But I couldn’t think why, nothing was making sense… His bruise had turned darker now, a deep blue-black. I remembered hearing the sounds outside the room when I had looked at Lulu’s message.
         Lulu’s text message. What had it said? I closed my eyes and leaned against the wall, and felt Nick’s hand squeeze mine. I tried hard to remember, but it was easy, the words were embedded in my brain. ‘Bbal ppl got out. Lokd thmslvs in tchrs lounge.’
So, she was saying the basketball people, maybe? While not as popular as the Varsity Soccer players, at our school the basketball players had always been respected as the rebels. Everyone knew there were in the AP Building only for their skill. Who needed good grades? They were all tall, huge, muscular guys who were always skipping class. If you needed someone taken care of, you went straight to them.
         My eyes snapped open. That must have been it. They were probably fooling around, waiting ‘til last minute to go in and start the exams, and when the men came in, they would have holed up fast in the biggest room they could find. No one should have been in the lounge anyway, all the teachers were assigned to classrooms, giving exams… My heart began speeding up again. When we had first left the library, Nick had said he thought it was in the teacher’s lounge. Something close to desperation hit me at the thought. If we could have just gotten to that room…
         Nick’s hand was still tight on my wrist. If he had known, it was a pretty bad excuse, the guard had seen right through it. Of course, Nick, Varsity Soccer player that he was, had a reputation for things like alcohol and maybe gun handling, not good grades. He had tried, more than anything I’d done. But one more thing didn’t fit in. Nick had no way of knowing that some of the students had escaped. There was no way he could have found out, unless…
         I looked back at him again. Thankfully my sneering tormentor had gone over to the other side of the room, where Sade’s class was, and the buzz-cut guard had drifted over to talk to one of the other men. So slowly, I pulled out my cell phone, and, not daring to breath, slid it open. We were so tightly wedged together it was easy to hide the black phone behind the two of us. I was only hindered by Nick’s hand, which had refused to let go of me. Praying none of the guards would look over, I pressed to my most recent texts and opened Lulu’s for Nick to see. I felt him stiffen and nod next to me as he read it. With his other hand, he gingerly felt the swelling bruise on his face.          
         And then it clicked. Nick had known about the students in the teachers lounge. He must have found out the same way I did. When I was in the room reading Lulu’s text, was it possible he had been trying to do the same, hiding his cell phone from the guard? I remembered the guard hitting Nick just outside the door, and then when we came back into the library, he had grinned at Nick as he had tossed a silver cell phone into the flames…It had been Nick’s phone.
Unless by some miracle, it seemed I was the only one left who had a way of knowing what was happening around the school.
         




Hours passed. No one came in, and only one guard left, whittling it down to a total of three. Besides Ms. Treaber and the Chemistry teacher, the library was filled with just students. In the two times I checked no one sent me a message. I asked Lulu where she was, but I still hadn’t gotten a response. Maybe they had taken her phone too. In the silence I looked at my fellow classmates, trying to direct my thoughts to them instead of what kept circling around in my mind. Because when we sat there, occasionally shuffling our feet, staring at the walls, there was nothing to keep me from feeling the groping hands of the guard. The way the moisture from his hot breath on my neck sent chills down my spine. I tried desperately to think of something, anything else, and so I found myself sharing eye contact with Sade.
         Did anything really matter any more? I thought. I was suddenly exhausted, but my muscles were locked in placed. A little later, people gradually began to whisper amongst themselves, and the three guards, grouped together talking in low voices, apparently did not care at the moment. I sighed; I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath. Nick’s hand, slightly sweaty at the edges now, had not moved. He had stared, completely immobile, gazing at the top half of the wall across from us the entire time. Once when I looked at him his face was tormented, and before I could help myself I wondered if he was thinking about what he had seen in the office.
         Now, finally, he came to life. I moved my left arm; he looked down at it, as if wondering what his hand was doing clamped on to me.
“Thank you,” I whispered, “for coming with me.” We stared at each other for a moment, and he tried to smile.
“It was pretty stupid of me,” he said, “about the teachers lounge, I mean. There’s no way they could still be in there now.”
I didn’t say anything. I knew he was right; the chances of that small group of guys with no gun, and no idea of what was going on outside still resisting were few. What could they do against a small army of guys with guns? But then a thought occurred to me. I glanced at the guards, hovering by the doorway.
“Do you know how to reach any of them?”
         After a second he motioned for the phone. I gave it to them, and, very carefully, he sent out two texts with the exact same message.
“There. I tried.” He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. “How long do you think we’ve been here?”
Since I still had my cell phone, I should have known. It now read 12:47. My English exam seemed years away, and I had no idea when it had started. Looking at the time though, made me realize I was hungry. Really hungry.
“I don’t get it though. I thought they were supposed to take all the rich important kids to a separate place and hold them for money” I said. Nick motioned to the guards; they all seemed agitated, the buzz-cut and another snapping at each other while the one with slanted eyes pressed his back against one of the walnut bookcases and lit a cigarette.
“I think it won’t be long now” he said. I looked away. “So,” Nick continued, “what did you think of question 9?”
         At first I honestly did not comprehend the question.
“Are you serious?”
“I do care about my education.” This of course, we both knew to be complete bullshit.
“Huh. Well in that case, it was B. Chivalry emerged the same time Middle English became the common language because of the French influence of William the Conqueror.”
His green eyes were staring at me intently.
“Oh,” he said, still not looking away. “Guess I got that one wrong.”
I looked away across the room, oblivious to Sade watching us. We sat in silence for a minute again. I noticed Sarah was unconscious once more, but I decided to leave her. It was probably better to asleep now than awake in the present hell. As I thought that, images of my tormentor tore my mind once more like a bomb. It was like a movie I couldn’t switch off, like I was a freak who could experience all five senses of a memory. Step right up for tickets – you can relive any past event for only $19.95. Physiological effects like sweating, shaking, etc not included.
         I tried to stifle a sob, pulling my knees up to my eyes, wishing I could hide forever. Wishing one of those men in black would shoot me, shoot us rather than keeping us frozen in our own whispers, without a clue or hope. Salty tears flowed down my cheeks and onto my jeans as I hid my face. I could hear Nick’s worried voice, rising as he asked me what he had said wrong, what he could do to help. I rocked back and forth, pressing my lips together to block the sounds inside me as my teeth bit into the side of my mouth.
         I heard one of the men walk up, and yell at Nick to shut his face. He was angry, and responded with something I couldn’t understand. Next thing I heard was Nick groaning in pain. I stayed where I was and didn’t make a sound, begging them to walk away. A minute passed; and thankfully, the guard, whoever he was, decided to ignore me and walk back to the door.
I don’t know how long I stayed like that, bent over, forehead resting on my knees. In the dark I could almost pretend none of this had happened, and the exhaustion swept over me again. I promised myself I would not fall asleep, I didn’t think it was possible anyway, in the state I was in now. Barely aware of what I was doing, I leaned against Nick, the top of my head resting on his shoulder. Before I knew it, I was dead to the world.
When I raised my head some time later, the first things I heard were sharp, barking calls of the men. My tongue tasted like salt, and my eyes itched and scratched together when I blinked. I head a headache; with my eyes still closed I tried to block it out, but that only brought more attention to my growling stomach. The shouting continued, sounding eager and impatient. It only took me a moment to realize they were they were calling out names of students.
I looked up, realized I had been leaning against Nick, and pushed myself up against the wall. He gazed over at me.
“Sorry,” I mumbled. I wasn’t sure if it was for me using him as my personal pillow, or me remembering the guard hitting him right before I passed out, but it felt like the only thing I could say.  He shook his head.
“Don’t worry about it.” He motioned over to the guards, they were all standing in the center of the room, one reading from a printed list. Around them huddled around 13 students. Sade, I saw immediately, was one of them. “They’re almost done now,” said Nick quietly. “They’re taking anyone who they think might have the slightest value.”
         I watched in something akin to horror as Jessica Adams, a short, pretty brunette shuffled up, staring at the carpet. I could see in her face she had been expecting to be called. What must it have been like, I suddenly wondered, to know you would be one of the students called up? You’d be hoping and praying they didn’t, that they’d overlooked you…but then wouldn’t you feel the guilt, the look in your peers’ eyes as they gazed at you, both knowing you should be up there as much as they were?
         Nick was talking again.
“…was thinking, and I don’t think these people are professional. I mean, they’re dangerous, and know how to operate, but I don’t think they’ve ever done anything with kids before.”
“What does that matter?” I asked.
“I don’t know, it might be easier to…confuse them, or get away, if something happens.”
         I stared at him.
“Nick,” I said, accidentally raising my voice an octave, “another thing about them never dealing with kids before is that won’t hesitate to mow us all down.” I shuddered. “And do… other things…”
         I could see his eyes flinch when I finished, but I didn’t stop. “What are you planning to do Nick? What can you do against these people? You think you can do anything?” He whipped around, turning his body directly towards me, his face inches away.
“Better that,” he growled, “than something like what happened to you happen again.”
         I didn’t look at him. Heart beating, I gazed over at the group of students, standing there with wide eyes; some of them terrified, others – resigned? I tried to block out Nick’s words. Sade, standing there, wasn’t looking at anyone – he looked lost in the small crowd. Usually he was always so solid, like a big dark shape that could anchor me down. Regretfully, I turned back to Nick.
“You got a text message while you were asleep,” he said. Glancing at the guards, I pulled out my cell phone, inched closer to Nick to hide its light behind me, and opened the new text. I was terrified of what I might read, and forced myself to read the familiar block letters. It was from Mackey, and had been sent only four minutes ago. 
The men came bak & took Moira n Kevin
         I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Moira, Moira, Moira…my best and first friend at this school. I couldn’t believe they had taken her too, I thought we were all safe. I knew Moira’s uncle was the head of a big shipping company, but I had never thought that would affect her today. Nick was right; these men must be desperate to get money from wherever they could find it.
         My hands were shaking. Moira and Sade…how long would it be until they took someone else too? Besides Mackey, I was probably the only one with a cell phone, and with Nick with me… I looked up at the guard with slanted eyes; he was leering at Jessica. My lungs seemed to burn as I gulped in air. Not this time, you bastard. Not this time you sick son of a bitch. Without meaning to, I stared at Sade again, and he caught my glance and looked back. I tried to tell him I’d try, I’d try to…what? Like I’d said, what could I do? But I would try anyway.
         Nick had seemed to notice this change.
“Look, we’ve got to do something. Once they get the important kids out of here, I don’t know what they’ll do.” He swallowed. “You didn’t hear what that guy said to Anna and some other girls.” I didn’t need to look to know he meant the guard who had taken us the office.
“Ok, ok.” I took another big breath. “What should we do? Call our parents? To say what? When this first started I was going to call mine, but they don’t even have texting, and that’s the only thing we can do without the guards seeing!”
“I know,” he replied. “When you were asleep, some kids in our class said they would help, they’re going to come with us and make a break for it.” I closed my eyes.
“How many?” I asked.
“Including you and me – six,” he said.
“That’s it?” I cried, forgetting to whisper. Luckily the guards were still occupied with the 15 students.
“I could only tell so many people!”
He was right, I realized with despair. Our small English class was sitting by itself along this part of the wall. All the other classes were the same way – huddled together in tight, isolated groups. Nick continued;
“We’re going to need a diversion, something to keep them busy, and something to let us know where to run.”
“What should we do? Hoard ourselves up?”
“No,” he said immediately. “No one knows what happened to the basketball players.” I swallowed. The chances of this actually working were hard to imagine.
“Nick,” I asked. “If…somehow, we got out, would they, would they kill some of the students?” The last part came out as a squeak. He shook his head.
“I heard them talking, and I don’t think they would do that. Over one of their walkie-talkies their superior said they absolutely are not supposed to touch us.”
“But,” I whispered, tears leaking out, “we already know some of them don’t care about that part.” Why couldn’t I get a grip on myself? “Nick, I can’t just leave all these kids, there are classmates, not strangers. What if something happens to them because of us, because we left to save our own skins?”

Then he actually grabbed my shoulders and shook me. I blinked in shock. No one had ever done that to me before, much less the kid who called me a nerd in 7th grade. In the corner of my eye I saw Sade move abruptly.
“If we don’t get out of here, I don’t know what these men will do. If we can really escape, we can help everyone else get out too! But we can’t just all run out at once – we have to sneak out and then get everyone else! There’s police and all sorts of people just outside the school gates, if we could just reach them – !”
         I could see now the effect all this was having on him, having to sit here, helpless. Now I saw more of what kind of person Nick really was. On a regular school day he was a wicked soccer player with a shady reputation. But he was also, in one word, a doer. I suddenly wondered if he would go without me if I didn’t come, and was afraid to guess the answer. I already knew it. And if he left, would I really sit and watch him go? It wasn’t like I hadn’t been hurt already, wasn’t like these monsters couldn’t mess me up even more. I looked back at Jessica.
“Who else is coming?” I asked.
“Alan, Ted, Claire and Chris.” I couldn’t help feeling a little relieved. Two of the boys were strong soccer players. “But we need someone to get them distracted. Someone who’s willing to stay behind. It should be easy, like faking sick or something, I just don’t know how to ask, no one will do it.” His hands curled into fists as the veins running along his arms tightened. “I know I wouldn’t do it.”
“I’ll do it.” We both whipped around. Sarah Phillips, who had been sitting quietly this whole time, leaning against the wall, eyes closed, now looked up at us, her usually-bubbly face set. I couldn’t believe my ears. We had both thought she was still unconscious. “You need a diversion right? It shouldn’t be too hard. I’m naturally a diabetic anyway, so I’ll know what I’m talking about.”
I had forgotten she was diabetic…thank God she would only be pretending this time.
“Are you sure?”
“Don’t worry. Hopefully they’ll think you used my getting sick as a good time to run, not a planned thing.”
         I was sure we all heard the forced note in her voice, but we all ignored it. The guards had stopped talking, they were going to move the students very soon.
“Where will you go?” Sarah asked. I could see a tiny gleam of glass in her hair.
“The back staircase” I said immediately. Hadn’t Rose just come from there this morning, all flushed from her make-out session? No, that must have been years ago. “It leads straight to the back parking lot, and if we can just get behind the tennis courts, we can go-“
“Right into the Woods,” Nick finished for me. I nodded. He turned slightly and whispered into Ted’s ear as I pulled out my cell phone once more and sent a text to Lulu and Mackey, telling them what we were going to do. After a few minutes of tense waiting, my phone lit up for a second in my pocket. It was Mackey, telling me good luck and saying that she had heard one man say police had completely surrounded the school’s encircling gateway if we could just get there. I wished desperately Lulu would answer, she had only replied once and I was afraid something had happened to her. Pretty, delicate blond Lulu…By this time the four other people had been told (it reminded me of a sick game of telephone) and were ready. But Sarah shook her head, and after hearing what she said, I had to agree with her.
         Sarah’s distraction was good, but we needed to get the six of us out of the library completely unseen – otherwise it was no use, the men would catch up with us in a second. For once, Nick was silent.


         We were ready. Sarah’s jaw was set, the six of us scattered along the wall were tense and ready to spring up and run. The third guard, a big black guy, had just led the students out the library doors; the look Sade gave me as he left sent a spasm of pain through my chest that had me breathless. Somehow, Ms. Treaber, through all our whispers and shooting glances, had realized we were planning something; she kept scanning the room, waiting for something to happen. That was fine by me, I just hoped she wouldn’t get in the way.
         The heavy doors had just swooshed shut when Sarah took a breath, squeezed my arm, and began to shake. The small yelp I let out as she slid to the floor and started to shudder convulsively was not entirely an act. Suddenly Ms. Treaber was in front of her, dragging her away from the wall so that all eyes were focused on the two of them.
“Help! She’s a diabetic, she needs help now!” she screeched into the muffled quiet. The slant-eyed guard jumped at the sound.
         Looking at Sarah, I couldn’t completely swallow the bile rising in my throat. She was terribly convincing as she shuddered on the ground, eyes half way closed and jaw drooping. Ms. Treaber, with her hands hovering around her, made it is easier for Sarah to make the scene more real. The guard looked slightly queasy now, he backed away a step, looking revolted. The buzz-cut guard leaned over, drawing Sarah up by her armpits. Her dancing legs refused to hold the weight, and he bought it. His face was strewn with genuine distress.
“Why didn’t you tell me she was a diabetic earlier!” he roared at Ms. Treaber.
“She never said anything!” blubbered Ms. Treaber, a note of hysteria breaking the words that I was sure was half-real. “She never told me…and oh, she’ll go into a coma – she’ll die! We need to get her insulin, now!”
         Nick’s hand grabbed my wrist like a vice. I was so tense the air couldn’t seem to get to my lungs fast enough, I was quivering, waiting, waiting…
The buzz-cut guard apparently realized his companion would be useless in helping Sarah, and ordered him to help get her just out the library doors and then stand guard while he took her to get medicine. Ms. Treaber, on the other hand, was becoming just as bad, wailing and crying and grabbing Sarah, trying to help ease her performance. I was afraid one of the guards would slap her.
         Then – the four of them were outside the door, with the shaking girl halfway between them. Through the glass window, we could see Ms. Treaber shouting something, if possibly, louder, than before, and suddenly fainted dead on the floor. With a string of curses, the guard bent down to her, while the buzz-cut had turned away, hands full with Sarah. I remember Nick yanking on my wrist, and suddenly we ran, crouched as low and fast as we could, across the library and through the white metal back door. As Ted, last in line, pushed the heavy door shut, we raced down the steps, stumbling and jumping six steps at a time.
“Go go go!” someone was shouting.
The black rubber against the white linoleum of the stairs was burning lines in my vision; I was in a puzzle of chaotic piano keys. My heart was filling my ears, blood rushing in my brain. Someone pushed past me, I was too slow, but I had to keep up. We reached the bottom and flung ourselves at the door, hurling ourselves outside in cool afternoon air. Could it really have been that easy? As re raced across the parking lot, skirting around the outer edge near the cars, a rush swept through me. We had made it outside at least. We could do it.
Near the end of the line of cars, we slowed, Nick in front, searching for a hint of black movement near the windows or school courtyard. Up the small slope overlooking the sport fields was the sidewalk and wrought iron gate, black against the blue sky. Thankfully, so far it was the only thing that we could see.
“Ok,” panted Nick as we kept moving, hidden behind a trio of SUVs, “crouch as low as you can, it’s only a chain link fence that surrounds the tennis courts, but as soon as we finish the third court we’ll be out of sight.” We all looked at the stretch in front of us – there was nothing to shield our six shapes from anyone outside. I glanced at the school’s maze of windows. Every instinct was screaming at me to move as precious seconds trickled by.
“Ok, go!”
         Distracted, I became last in line, running as hard as I could over the grass beside the tennis fence. Everyone was struggling to go fast and keep low at the same time – no matter what Nick said, it was impossible to do both. In the distance I heard a noise, like an alarm or roar or peal of thunder. I didn’t dare look back. We were close; Nick was only a few feet away from the end of the fence.
         Suddenly he was past it, then Chris, then Ted, then Claire – I gave a huge leap and stumbled at the sharp decline as the courts ended. We were running, tripping stumbling, and, in Ted’s case and mine, rolling down the hill towards the baseball field and beyond that – the Woods. Just in front of the baseball fields were two storage sheds, and we sped behind them, doubling over and gasping in their protection.
         My breath came out in wheezing laughs; and my heart was pounding. I couldn’t believe we had made it this far. We were in a direct diagonal line to the Woods, with the field and metal benches to our left. It was the boy Chris, not Nick, who spoke now. Nick was rubbing the lower part of his chest where I knew a guard had hit him with his gun.
“Ok, ready to run for the trees?” asked Chris. We nodded. We all knew we were covered by the slope’s cover, but as we neared the trees, we also came back into view of the school and the courtyard.
It was the last stretch. We had to get to the Woods now, any other option was unthinkable.
         As our feet thudded on the soft grass, faces kept shooting through my vision; Sade standing in the center of the room with Jessica staring at her feet, Rose with a gun to her head, and Sarah’s grey eyes as the glass exploded around her. The guard’s leering mouth and twitching hands, Lulu’s pale frightened face across the hallway, Nick’s sick expression in the office. Only the shadows of the trees brought them to a cease. Intense relief tore through me as we paused, jogging deeper in, relief breaking the tense masks on our faces.
“We made it,” I muttered.
“Thank God.”
“C’mon” said someone, and we quickly made our way deeper into the Woods.