You Saved Me

Hour Nine: Escape

"Stay close to me and stay against the wall," Noah warns and I nod slightly, my acknowledgment seems to be good enough for him and he turns to look both ways down the hall. The hall seems longer than I remember and as I scan the multiple doors I notice that two of the doors of the six have been forced open.

"Hey," I tug on his sleeve and point to the doors, he looks at me confused but when he realizes I want to go check it out he shakes his head no. I frown and stick the middle finger up at him, I yank my hand away and stride to the nearest open door. I can hear Noah's frantic steps behind me as I check the room to make sure no shooter is in here.

Then there she is, my freshman math teacher, she was a bitch to everyone and probably still is but seeing her laying there with blood coming from her ear is something I would never imagine. I scan the classroom and notice it's empty.

"Hello? I'm Kate, a senior. If anyone is hiding in here don't come out yet, stay here where you are safe. We are getting help," I whisper loud enough for it to sound through the class, and hopefully into the closets and cabinets in the class.

"Next class?" Noah asks me and I nod before he checks the hall again and we sprint to the other side of the hall where I do the same thing, except there is one boy laying on the ground.

"He was a junior, best catcher on the team, wanted to go to Duke. President of the junior class and straight A's," Noah sighs when we zero in on his limp body, a pool of blood surrounding him and I hold back a sob. The teacher seemed to have left and other students come out of hiding when they hear Noah's voice.

"What are you guys doing? It isn't safe," a petite girl who is definitely one of those smart sophomores that can basically skip a grade.

"We are helping you, all of you stay here while we find a way out," I nod to them one last time before backing up into the silent hall. Noah is already waiting in the hall for me, he is looking at one person's locker that they never had the chance to close. I distract him from that, we can't get too upset now. Not when the student bod and staff depends on us. Holy shit, every student, every teacher, administrator, and janitor have just unwillingly put their lives in our hands.

(I didn't think of this then, too caught up in the moment, but I realized that this will forever be the most responsible thing I will have ever done. Every obstacle won't be as bad because if I got through this I can get through anything.)

With that thought in my mind I force Noah and me to push forward, we finally make it to the end of the hall and we are about to make a left only to see the back of the terrible man with a gun in his hand, jiggling doorknobs one by one. We back up in a panicked state and Noah pushes open the door to the girls' bathroom where we quietly step inside. The drip-drip sound coming from the bathroom sinks irritates and terrifies me at the same time because it seems like the minute sound will attract the shooter.

I feel my shoes starting to soak through and step away from the water puddle, my shoes squelch echoing against the walls. The sound making me aware of every danger that encases us in this small room.

The wolf lurks outside somewhere, sniffing for his prey that hides in the shadows, waiting to be killed. Waiting for the right moment to escape in a moment of courage.

The awkward stench makes me shift uncomfortably, the metallic quality strikes me as unusual but I ignore it, focusing on my breathing and regulating my heart beat. It's not until I finally give in to my reflexes of turning at the smell do I place in my head that it is a dead body. A very familiar body in fact. My body gags and then lets out whatever I have eaten today, the sound of my vomit hitting the ground registers in my head before the fact that it's Blair's dead body lying in a pool of her own blood. The wound still dribbles blood down from her ear and the sight makes me gag again, but nothing comes out. Noah who heard me puke quickly turns around takes in the scene then takes my hand, covers my eyes and drags me out of the bathroom door before the sound of my spew can alert our predator.

My eyes aren't uncovered until we are in another room and the door is locked behind us.  Noah continues to cover my mouth as I take a breath and sob, the sound muffled by Noah's hand. He pulls me close to him and I push my face against his chest, continuing to cry. The hug does nothing to comfort me but I continue to lay in Noah's arms as I calm down. A few moments after I collect myself I am pushing myself off Noah, prepared to start up the journey again.

"Ready?" He asks, and I notice that there are tears in his eyes also, I squeeze his hand and nod my head. 

After hopping from classroom to classroom and marking down those that will need medical help we are finally in our last class. 

"Alex should be in this one," I whisper nervously to Noah. He nods slightly to show me he heard and turns the knob. It's locked. Oh thank God, it's locked. He didn't get in. He didn't get in! My next breath escapes into a giddy laugh, he didn't torture all of these student's minds. It's locked. Noah smiles widely and looks at me. the pain from seeing Blair dissipates by a minor fraction knowing that those kids in there aren't all dead.

"Okay, listen to me. We don't have any more time to go into the classrooms, we covered most of the floor which should be good. We have to get to the end of this hall then down and through another set of stairs and we are free. Are you prepared? I look up and left you'll look back and right when we run, got it?" Noah never breaks eye contact with me as I nod, too scared to actually speak. He throws his head in the direction we have to go and we both start sprinting down the hall.  

Before we get to the door we look both ways down the intersecting hall and finally, we dash down to the main level. Except now we have to go through two more wide open hallways to reach the next stairs, the one that leads to the safety of the police. I look outside the nearest window and stare in amazement. The sky is dark but the school is lit up from police sirens and candles, dozens of candles are raised high into the air. People crowd the streets anxiously, some fighting the cops to do something, anything to save the kids. And in the midst of the crowd, I see my eldest brother, Jason, crammed in between a crying woman and a prayer circle. He is biting his nails and I watch him as he scans the windows and doors. Finally landing on the window that shows me, his eyes light up and I watch him scream something before my parents are at his side. My mom's  eyes are puffy and my dad's hair is in every direction that couple with his bloodshot eyes. In the irony of it all, I smile and wave at them as if I am on TV. They wave back and then I am off, Noah is dragging my wrist down the hall and my feet automatically follow. 

"C'mon, Kate. We are almost there, so close to the ex-" and then I crumple to the ground, an earth-shattering scream escaping my throat. From outside the school, I hear an uproar of chaos from the people. They probably heard my scream. Noah pulls his hands from his ears and quickly scoops me up in his arms, I stare dizzily at the blood pouring from my hip, the pain making me dizzy. Or maybe it's the fast loss of blood. I don't really know but I stop worrying about that as I close my eyes and drift off to the sound of Noah's heartbeat against my ear.