Looking For You

Chapter 70 - Run

Chapter 70 - Run

This is the beginning of the end.

The alarms have not stopped ringing and my heart speeds up as the sound escalates in my ears. Panicking is the only thing that’s acceptable to do right now, because I have no idea what’s going to happen and I never knew the war could be this scary.

“Christian, what do we do?!” I frantically exclaim, pulling at my hair as I scramble around the room. Christian is as scared as I am, and we both have looks of fear painted across our faces; crinkled frowns, trembling lips and panting breaths. Last night’s memories are totally wiped from our memories because the now is taking over, being more important that anything else right now.

“Get the guns.” Christian says sternly, pointing to the bag sitting on his desk. I jump to them, my hand reaching into the bag to grab a hold of one, Christian taking his gun from the bag. As we hold them together, my hand shakes dramatically, creating a sound of the gun rattling over the alarm. This is bad.

“It’s going to be okay, Aimee. Just remember our plan, okay?” Christian says, bowing his head and resting his hand on my shoulder. I know he’s trying to be brave, but I can feel his fingers trembling on my shoulder. I just place my hand holding the gun down to my side, Christian repeating his okay, and me nodding.

“Right then, let’s get going.” He says.

Without another word or dawdle, we take off, keeping the guns held tightly in our hands. Out into the hallways we go, following the fearful crowd that panics and keeps calm on the inside, wanting to get through this peacefully. Some people give us terrified looks and whisper to their friends that we’ve got guns, but I just keep walking, staying close to Christian and never losing sight of him.

I try to look out a window, but I don’t see anything. I would’ve thought bombs and explosions would be going off outside or something. Or maybe that’s later to come…

The entrance to the cafeteria is crowded, never before seen like this. The whole population of the college is trying to get in through these two doors, but more students are spilling into our eating area from other doors the teachers never let us go through. We are now evacuating into a place we used to gather in for meals, happiness and laughter. We are now gathering for safety, hope and comfort. Nothing will ever be the same again.

Christian takes my arm to steer me through the crowd, never letting go of my arm as we’re both becoming squashed between bodies. I never let go of my gun, holding it to my chest so that it doesn’t get knocked. The cold feeling of the gun sends chills down my spine and makes goosebumps rise all over my arms. I don’t even know if it’s loaded or not, but I never put my finger on the trigger.

The sound of the cafeteria is quite frightening because people are talking so fast that you can’t make out a single word anyone is saying. I keep my mouth shut, my voice saved for later, and am led out into the open in a corner where Christian stands beside me. My body has gone so fragile that I’m scared to move another limb. Christian just calms me with a weak smile, one that is struggling to stay straight.

As time passes, the cafeteria becomes full and less people are filing in. I saw Mason walk past, but he didn’t see me. I wish I could talk to him; about anything. He’s been so kind to me and so generous — I wish I could’ve spent more time with him.

Squeezing their way out of the cluster of people, Tiffany and Tibby come running to us, Tibby jogging because of her newly recovered leg. She got off her crutches a couple of days ago and I thank God for helping her heal just in time for the war. She would’ve struggled with getting around to safe places.

Their faces are so lost and confused, reminding myself that only Christian and I knew this was going to happen. They probably woke up thinking, “oh, another practise drill,” but once we heard the alarms, we knew exactly what that meant. There’s no room for practise drills.