Superstition {On hold}

Chapter 7

Chapter VII

Beth

Everyone in the room was up on their feet, screaming in a frantic panic. Sobs and yells flooded the cafeteria. Tables toppled, glasses broke, trays clattered. A few people slipped on the pool of blood that was seeping beneath the cafeteria doors. Beth stayed where she was, trembling, with her eyes tightly shut and her hands firmly cupped against her ears; too frozen by fear to move. The rising smell of sulphur was thick in her nostrils. "No...This, this isn't happening!" Beth heard someone shout somewhere above the chorus of cries and yells.

"Out! Get us out!"

"T-Tabitha...She can't... she can't be dead, can she?"

"What was that thing!?"

"Somebody call the cops, for crying out loud!"

"Blood, there's blood all over the floor..."

"Help us!"

"Beth, Beth—dang it, BETH!" It took a moment to realize that it was Travers who was bellowing her name. Beth unwillingly opened her eyes, gasped and looked around with her eyes darting around in all directions, taking in the new scenario. Travers and Reece were already on their feet with their eyes wide with confusion and shock. Reece was leaning against the table with his chest rising and falling rapidly, like a panicked rabbit. He could barely stop his fingers from trembling. Travers had his hand on Beth's shoulder. He was quivering, too, though not as bad as Reece.

People fell over tables. Some landed on toothpicks, broken shards of glass, forks and knives. Others got trampled on before they could get up. A few of the trampled just lay on the ground, still and unmoving. Beth hoped they'd just fainted, even though it was obvious that they were most likely...

BOOM!

The sudden sound made Beth's stomach clench tightly. "What the hell was that?" she yelled.

Travers cursed. "An explosion, I think."

Another one. The building trembled. Dust fell from above. "We have to find a way out," Beth shouted above the crowd. "The kitchen. We can use the back door!" Beth drew in a shaky breath and turned her head to the food counter. She could hardly see it, what, with everyone stampeding around all over the place. Travers and Reece followed her gaze and silently knew what they were about to do and what had to be done to do it. She had no idea how she was going to make it all the way to the counter and into the kitchen with everyone bumping and falling over each other. She knew that at any moment, she may trip over and land on something sharp or get trampled under the feet of rampaging teens, but she had to try. For the sake of survival, fore if she didn't, God knows what'll happen to them.

Reece tried his best to calm himself down. He muttered something under his breath, too low for Beth to hear, took in a deep breath, and pushed himself off the table. He gave Beth and Travers a reassuring nod, with dread now less obvious in his eyes. He balled his hands into fists to gain some control over the trembling and said, "Let's go."

Pushing and shoving, they went, as they tried to make it to the other side of the mess hall. Beth stumbled a couple of times, but quickly found her balance and pushed on. Travers, who had his fingers wrapped around her arm the whole way, got a few elbows to the face, but managed to press on by elbowing people back with Reece's help, which was a little surprising. Reece wouldn't hurt a fly! It was obvious, though, that they didn't care who they hurt on the way, as long as the three of them made it to through the back door in the kitchen. Basic selfish human nature.

A small surge of hope flowed through Beth when she finally had a clear view of the counter and the shut kitchen doors behind it. It was just a few steps away! Travers and Reece saw it too and fought their way through even more forcefully than before. "We're almost there!" Travers called out. "Just a couple of steps and—"