Tooth and Nail (Draft In Progress - Book One)

Chapter 7 - Hack and Kill

I opened my eyes to see the pale yellow ceiling of my dorm room glowing, lit by the sun outside my window. What was the sun doing up before Wake Up Call? It's not even seven in the morning yet... It's not supposed to be light outside! I rolled over to face my bedside table and alarm clock. Nine twenty-two. What the hell?!

With sudden adrenaline, I leap from my bed and get dressed as quickly as I can. I've already missed breakfast, and the start of the first class. I know it's not a prank, because even teenage geniuses can't tell the sun when its time to shine. Tripping over my pant legs, I stumble across the small dorm to the Jack-and-Jill bathroom between mine and Zack's and the Ryan twin's rooms. I don't bother with the bathroom light. With one hand at a time, I tug on my jeans, and with the other I brush my teeth and try to fix my hair without a comb or water. No time to be careful. I have no time! How the hell did I sleep through my alarm, wake up call, AND Zack poking me to wake me up before class began after he came back from breakfast to get his trumpet?

My jeans finally reach waist height and I fight the metal button through the denim stitched hole it belongs in to keep them in place and I spit, rinse, swish, and spit again. Sunlight fights in through the curtain on the high window above the shower and reflects in the mirror, making me squint as it glares in my eye. My hair is still a mess, but my director won't judge and the others won't care how I look, only that I was late to practice on the last day before the concert.

When I pull my shirt on over my head, I pause for a moment to think about what I need to do next, and the silent room around me, I realize, isn't silent.

There is yelling.

And screaming.

People crying.

Roaring and heavy footsteps and the sound of shoe rubber skidding on the hallway linoleum as people make swift turns and stops and spin around and run the other way. Doors are slamming, there is a bullhorn blaring out "REMAIN CALM AND FIND A BUDDY", and sirens on the street outside. Finally, realizing why I hadn't woken up, I look around to really see the room I'm standing in the middle of. Zack's stuff is every where, all over the floor and thrown and strewn about the room. His waterbottle is beside his bed, empty and open lying on its side, and his shoes have been kicked, showing his path to the door.

The door.

Its still locked. And my lights are off. No one knows I'm in here. I'm in here alone while everyone is panicking outside. They're running around in terror and I'm just standing here in my room.

Maybe if they don't know I'm in here then in here is the safest place to be.

Soon, the sounds of horror outside is washed out by my racing, heavy heartbeat. The cold tile floor beneath my feet is beginning to warm as my hot blood rushes all around my body, and begins to share that warmth with the floor. I'm getting dizzy. I'm feeling dizzy. The room is spinning. I'm in danger. I can't pass out now!

My eyelids are getting closer and closer to closing themselves, and I can't feel the cool air around me anymore. I need to run. I need to pack and escape whatever it is that everyone else is running from too. I need to get out I need to-

Call Jezebel.

With new vigor, I manage to find my cell phone in the recesses of the duffel I packed for camp in. My fingers are rapidly moving but not in the way I want them to. More like panicking on their own, shivering, spazzing, uncontrollable. I fight them to dial the house number. It rings. It rings again. It rings a third time and the dull tone is cut off by a blaring beep. I look at the screen, no service.

"Jezebel..." I say, then my mind ceases to work. I can't think of what to say. I can't even make my mouth move. "Jezebel..." I say again, struggling to form words, any sound at all. Why now, oh why now? "Jezebel..."