The Ghost Whisperer

Part 20

I try to resist the pain as I walk towards the door. Gun carefully tucked inside my jacket, I cringe as I step over the bloodstains on the floor. With each step, my foot throbs painfully. I can't do anything about it now. I just hope it doesn't get worse.

Upon reaching the door, I hold on to it for balance. I take deep breaths and wipe the sweat off my forehead with my left hand. It hurts...my face and my foot hurt. But wait...what am I saying? Those kids had it even worse than me and they're still trying to stay strong. Especially Jonathan with his broken leg. I have to endure it.

Wait a second...THE KIDS!

Moving as fast as I can I make my way towards the emergency exit. The sound of me pulling open the door cuts through the silence in the hallway. As I go down the stairs, I hear a man's voice echoing in the space.

"Yeah, that building. They're all in here. Get the guys from the base too if they're done with the fire...I can't! My legs got shot!... Ok then..can't talk for long, the reception here is bad...hello?..." he says and hangs up.

Shit...his phone! I forgot he had a phone! Now they know our location.

Hurriedly but carefully, I run down the stairs trying to put less pressure on my injured foot.

"Wha...? How are you alive!? Where's Martin!?" He yells as he sees me. He's halfway on the stairs of the first floor. Guess he crawled. There's blood everywhere on the stairs beneath him. He has lost a lot of blood.

"Hey! What was that gunshot!? What did you do? Answer me or I'm gonna rip you to pieces!" He yells as I go towards the second-floor door Ignoring him. I need to do something about him, quickly. And we also gotta get away from this place till the police shows up. It may take a while since this town is far away and kinda isolated.

As he continues to shout, I enter the second floor through the emergency door. Limping towards the room where the kids are, I hold on to the wall for support. Upon reaching, I knock on the door three times just as planned.

"Open up, it's me" I utter as I brush aside my hair from my face. I place a hand on my cheek trying to ease the pain. Should have brought painkillers too.

I can hear the shelf being pushed aside and see the knob being turned. The door opens revealing a little boy with freckles and a green jacket. He looks up at me and a shocked expression forms on his face. I enter the room as he steps aside.

"What happened!? Your...face.." says Alice worriedly. All the kids who were sitting down, get up and surround me.

"It's ok. Listen, take this" I hand her the other gun with which Martin killed himself. I know handing a gun to a kid is wrong but desperate times call for desperate measures.

"A..a gun!" She says surprised and scared at the same time.

I grab my bag from the floor and look inside. Good, there's still some chloroform left in the bottle.

"Miss Lisa, your hurt. There's a bruise on your foot" Says the boy with the freckles. They all are worried about me. I feel somewhat touched. I look down at my foot and yes, it does seem like it's starting to bruise and swell a little.

"Look it's ok. I'm fine. More importantly, we need to get out of here. One of the men called the others so they'll be here soon. I need to knock him out quickly." I say as I wear my bag, holding onto the bottle of chloroform and turn around to walk out the door.

"Let us help you, please," the buzzcut boy says.

"No. Stay here until I get back" I order them as I enter the hallway and go towards the emergency stairs using my phone flashlight to guide me. I need to do something about my foot. Wrap it up in some cloth or tape.