She pulled away from him, but he grabbed her around the waist and held her tight. He pressed his lips against hers.
“You’re mine, all right?” he asked between their lips.
She kissed him hard and backed up a step. “Absolutely. Now, stop trying to waste time, and let’s go get these phones.”
“If I die out there, I’ll be so disappointed.”
“You won’t be the only one.”
“You definitely won’t be the only one,” Lance added from behind them. “We’ll all be pretty disappointed.
Robbie had almost forgotten about the rest of the kids waiting on them to leave. He didn’t care though. They were going to be here, safe, secure in this room while he and his girlfriend would be out there risking their lives to search for this bucket of cell phones. Its whereabouts? Nobody knew for sure. They’d be traipsing around in the dark, blindly seeking something that could save their lives.
This whole ordeal started early this morning, as far as Robbie could tell. It was the longest day ever. How could it have been this morning that he’d been woken up by Nitsy and her morning crew? Was it really only today that he’d shared breakfast with her before the big meeting? It seemed like so long ago.
When death comes in waves the way it did in the auditorium, death itself seems to take on a whole new meaning, or its own persona. It becomes death as a whole. So much death. The individuals get lost in it, and for the first time since it started, Robbie thought about some of the faces he’d seen in the crowd. He remembered conversations he had with kids, nameless companions, excited to be a part of this big leadership conference. The laughing, the joking, the elation. All positive energy.
They were all dead now. Or worse, they were those things. Their parents were at home looking forward to seeing their children again soon. Waiting to hear all the stories. Excited to watch the digital recordings promised by the program. Only thirty dollars each if the kids wanted to bring home a video of their experience here at Stonewall Forge. Robbie’s parents had paid the fee. He was sure Nitsy’s had too.
He’d never seen a cameraman on site, which meant there were cameras around. The thought had never crossed his mind before, but he bet the auditorium had a few. Would anyone ever see what happened in there? Would the local news get ahold of it? Would the government reach it first? This seemed like one of those situations that would result in a cover-up.
They could die right now on their way to get these phones and there was a good possibility nobody would know the truth.
What would the story be? He imagined it would be something like contaminated water that poisoned them all. No, it would be a gas leak. Then they could set the place ablaze and the story would be that an accidental spark ignited the gas and the entire student body went up in flames.
“Are you ready?” Nitsy asked him.
He nodded, but he wasn’t ready. He could never be prepared for something like this. The only thing he knew for sure was they needed to get the hell away from the campus before something like that “accidental” explosion wiped them off the face of the earth. He’d never had a reason to not trust his government before, but whatever was happening here, this information would need to be locked up and never shared with the public.
Robbie had seen his fair share of conspiracy theory videos on YouTube. He was still sifting through mental debris when Nitsy popped the door opened softly and listened with her ear at the crack in the door. Everyone behind them remained perfectly still. Only silence filled that dark void beyond. No howling, no crying, and no screaming. Wind blew past the corridor and ruffled the flyers posted on the corkboard next to the door.
Nitsy peered up at him, waiting for his encouragement. Robbie nodded and watched her close her eyes, take a deep breath, and then gently pull the door open further, but only wide enough for the two of them to slip through.
Here they stood, hand in hand, unmoving as they tried to get a sense of where they were and what was around them. Nitsy surveyed the area. Robbie did too. He needed to make sure they could get back to the room in a rush. The first time, they’d run blindly through the campus halls until they came upon the unlocked music room. If they were chased this time and ran in the wrong direction, they may never make it back.
When the door behind them was closed, probably by Lance, the click echoed through the hallway and might as well have been a bullet shot from a .44 Magnum. It cracked so loud, Robbie was sure it would awaken and alert anything sleeping or quietly stalking the halls.
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath.
They remained still for a moment. If anything growled, Robbie would turn and bang on the door behind them. They could return to their safe slumber. It wasn’t too late.
He listened intently.
No growl.
No scream or shriek.
No voices.
Nothing.
Finally, when he was sure the door’s click was unheard, he pulled Nitsy by the hand in the direction he was sure led to the auditorium. She followed, which meant he was right. If not, she would have yanked him down some other path. It was already clear to him that she was someone who liked to be in the lead.
It’s why we’re the ones out here looking for the phones.
As they crept down the hall, something caught Robbie’s eye out in the courtyard to their left. It was parked near the statue of Stonewall Jackson. It was a wheelbarrow and sticking out of it was some yard equipment. He saw the handle of a shovel and a rake.
Leaning in close to Nitsy, he whispered, “Just a second.”
She shook her head when she saw where he was going, but he didn’t care. Those were potential weapons, and he wasn’t too fond of being out here unarmed. He carefully pulled out the shovel. He was about to go for the rake when he saw a rust-stained machete inside the wheelbarrow.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
He pulled the machete out, and it scraped the bottom of the metal wheelbarrow so hard he was sure everything and everyone in West Virginia heard him.
“Fuck,” he swore again under his breath.
Nitsy raced toward him and grabbed him by the arm, whispering into his ear, “Are you crazy?”
“Weapons,” he said as he handed her the shovel.
The rake might have been a better weapon, but it was long and awkward. The shovel was heavy enough to cave in a skull. She accepted it, and he held the machete up proudly. She shook her head again.
Something roared nearby.
It could have been a lion for how ferocious it sounded. It was far away, but it sounded like it was on the hunt.
A growl sounded off a little closer than the roar.
“We should go back,” he said, knowing he was the wimp here, but also knowing this wasn’t the time to feign bravery. This was about staying alive.
“You’ve got a machete now,” Nitsy reminded him. “And I’ve got…” she looked down at the makeshift weapon in her hands and continued, “…a shovel. I’ve got a shovel. This will have to be good enough. If you’re too afraid, you can go back, but we need those phones and I’m capable of getting them. I have to do this.”
A look flashed across her face, and it took Robbie a moment to understand it. Her jaw muscles flexed, and her eyes squinted. It was determination, and he wasn’t sure why she felt she needed to take it upon herself to save them. Why was it her responsibility? He couldn’t answer that now, and he figured if they made it through all this, he would ask her about it. For now, he would have to trust her, and there was no way he was letting her do this on her own.
With a quick kiss on her lips, he said, “Lead the way.”
Each step they took had to be slow, cautious, and planned. Robbie found himself holding his breath from time to time, so he could hear better. The beating of his heart and his own panting made it hard to decipher sound.