Dreaming Big

Chapter 4: Alarm

Chapter4 : Alarm

Charlotte’s P.O.V.

Normal teenage girls spend their Friday nights going out with their friends or boyfriends, going to parties, that kind of thing.

Then there was me; running through the dark halls of the top military school in the country with another fugitive, literally sprinting for our lives.

“No! Wrong way!” I whisper-shouted to Chase, roughly grabbing the back of his shirt and yanking hard backwards. He stumbled a bit and whirled angrily around to face me. “Then you lead!” He snapped, pushing me forward. “Fine!” I retorted, taking the lead and running straight down the hall. It was-if possible-even darker than before. I could barely see a few inches in front of me. The only way I knew Chase was behind me were the steady footfalls following me down the hall. I stopped just as I nearly toppled down the stairway.

“When we get to the bottom of the stairs, take a left and keep running. The teachers normally hang out on this floor and I have no idea what to expect,” I whispered to him, trying to make out the specific steps going down the stairs. He didn’t reply, but I didn’t repeat what I said. Slowly, I descended down the steps. He followed close behind, nearly breathing annoyingly down my neck. He was literally on my heel. Evey so often he'd tread on the back on my shoe, making nearly fall face first down the steps.

 "Stop that!" I snapped, losing my patience. It came out louder than I expected it to, and my voice echoed around the empty stairwell. We froze, and I slapped a hand over my mouth. "Idiot!" Chase furiously whispered at me. I resisted the urge to push him off the stairs. How could a person you just met be so annoying? We stood there for a long moment, barely breathing as we listened for the sound of footsteps. My heart beat frantically in my chest, the seconds seemingly to be hours, praying that no one would come.

"C'mon," Chase said after a few minutes of silence. He prodded my hard in my back, and once again I almost fell down the steps. Sighing mentally, I continued on. Of course, Chase hadn't backed up. Making it to the end of the staircase, Chase pushed ahead of me and went straight through the doors without even checking to make sure the coast was clear. Fine. Let him get caught. At this point, I couldn't care less. I could get by better on my own anyway.

But I followed him, keeping my distance as he swaggered down the hall. And he called me the idiot. We came to a fork, and he didn't hesitate to turn to the right. I almost didn't tell him he was going the wrong way. Almost. "Chase, wrong way," I called lowly. Without hesitation, he strode around and walked down the other way. He didn't't even say thank-you. "You're welcome," I told him sarcastically, jogging to go up to his shoulder.

We continued down the dark hallway, me being the careful one and jogging ahead to make sure we wouldn't be caught. It was a few more minutes, then I could finally make out the faint outline of the only safe door here. It was an old loading door, no one used it anymore. It was also the only one that had a camera positioned so you could sneak up behind without being seen and turn it off, and when it turned off, the alarm for the door did too. Of course, my sister and I figured that you only had a few minutes before someone realized that there was something seriously wrong and came looking. Luckily for us, we only needed a minute.

"Stay here," I whispered to Chase. Cautiously, I crept thought the shadows to the mounted camera. It was positioned in between another doorway, so if you could crawl up the doorway like Spider-Man, then it was easy to turn off. I positioned my feet and began to climb. My finger tips brushed the upper part of the dusty black metal, looking for the little button that turned it off. Just as I touched it, a piercing alarm went off.

Startled, I lost my footing and crashed to the ground. I jumped up, the hallway now flashing with red light as the siren continued to wail. That's when I noticed Chase, standing at the door, hand on the handle like he had just tried to open it. I swore, completely losing my temper and furiously climbing back up the wall to hit the button on the camera. "Chase you idiot! I told you to stay still!" I snapped, hitting the button and jumping down.

"How was I supposed to know an alarm was going to go off? You didn't tell me!" He shouted, looking angry and a little bit startled. I ran over to the door, shoving him aside and throwing my weight against the door. It opened uneasily with a groan. "GO!" I snarled, barely able to keep the heavy door opened. "Hey you kids, get back from there!" A voice shouted down the hall. Chase darted through the door, and I followed after him.  The door slammed shut after us, and we were thrown back into complete darkness.

"C'mon!" I whispered frantically, starting to walk through the cluttered warehouse. You wouldn't be able to see your fingers if you  held them in front of your face, but I could navigate this place better than anywhere else. It was the old mechanic room, a class the girls could take to learn handy things; fixing cars, repairing sinks, that kind of thing. I had taken it knowing that one day I'd need to know these things...that and I liked cars.

"Wait! I can't see anything!" Chase whispered, the fear clear in his voice. I continued to walk. "Just follow my voice," I snapped, not really caring if was caught anymore. There was a loud crash, followed by the sound of boxes crashing to the ground. "Oh for goodness sakes!" I said, turning around and rushing back over to him. "Where are you?" I asked. "Here," He said, close to my left. I reached out and grabbed his hand, turning to drag him forward. I tried to ignore the electricity that raced through my arm at the touch.

I lead the way, running through the pitch-black, Chase's large hand gripping my small one. I could hear the teachers and security guards frantically shouting and banging at the door, trying to get to us. Just then I could hear the door bang open. But it was too late. Chase and I were alrady sprinting across the school grounds, to the tiny hole into the fence, and into the woods.