CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER SEVEN

Two minutes pass before Wyoming picks up the phone, two precious, precious minutes. 

    "Lt. Wyoming speaking, how may I be of help?" I hear from the other side of the line.

    "Hi, please listen carefully because we don't have much time" I start, "There are three explosive devices, type PE-4, located in the stadium of the Sycamore Peak High School, where a ceremony is currently taking place. The charges will detonate in.." I look at the clock, "28 minutes from now, at 12:45PM. This is not a joke, please evacuate everyone immediately!"

    At first, she doesn't answer, so I continue by detailing the locations of the bombs to the best of my memory, by the information I've received during my first time at the station.

    She still doesn't answer, and for a moment I fear she ruled me off as a prank, but finally she speaks.

    "I dispatched a team over to the school as a precaution, but this is a serious matter, if you're bluffing, this will have severe consequences for you, so speak up now" she says

    "I am dead serious", I say, ignoring my unintentional dying pun, "The this bomb is a dud, so it won't explode, but the other two will kill a lot of people if you don't evacuate the place"

    "Well, thank you for the information. I will handle the situation and take you in for questioning later, please be available and do not leave town, or you will be regarded as a criminal" she hangs up the phone, and I let a huge breathe out, wiping the sweat off my face.

    I call Chloe again, she must be confused like hell.

    "Todd! What's going on? Five minutes after you called the police arrived and evacuated everyone, saying there are bombs in the stadium, did you know about that? What happened? Are you ok?" She asks so fast I can't even manage to slip a single word in.

    "Cho, hey calm down" I say, "Pink wasabi, remember? I'll explain everything at school, I'm glad you two are safe"

I hurry to school, and when I get around halfway to it, I hear a loud Boom! from the stadium, I hope nobody got hurt this time around, even here the ground is shaking a little, but I couldn't have imagined the hell on earth occurring at school if I hadn't been there already, seeing it with my own eyes.

    Even before I get inside the school boundaries, the noisy sirens are roaring all around me. There is no guard at the gate, he probably went to help the police or to check the area when the explosion took place.

    I exit to the yard, it's full of crying students, stressed teachers and police officers trying to organise the messy crowd. One teacher, standing next to the fence, is taking care of three wild students, but it looks like she is about to break down herself, her eyes red from tears.

    BOOM! Another bomb explodes, and everyone screams, whatever order the police managed to bring was dispelled immediately. A crew of firemen exits the building, coughing, but lifting a few students that look to be injured, but not critically.

    I look around and find Tyson and Chloe, talking with Lt. Wyoming, not understanding anything. The lieutenant probably picked them because they were outside the stadium, alarmed by my call. I clear a way and approach them, Chloe forming me with an unexpected, violent hug. I am knocked back slightly, but hug back, comforting the weeping sack of tears that has landed on me.

    I turn to the lieutenant, "Hi, I'm Todd, your informer", I say and Chloe lets go of me, "I'm glad you listened to me, were there any casualties?"

    "None as far as we can tell", the lieutenant answers, "Thank you for saving all these people, and I'm sorry to bother you, but will you please come with me? I want to clear out everything that happened"

    "Of course, but could we do it later? I want to make sure my friends are ok" I reply, looking at Tyson, who wears a face of total admiration, he wouldn't have admired me if he knew how many times I failed and let him die. The lieutenant smiles and nods, leaving us three and heading back to her crew.

    Chloe tugs at my shirt and whispers weakly, "Thank you", I hear her hoarse.

    I look at her face and I clear the dried tears off it, feeling like a f*****g awfully-written romance character, but I don't care about any of that, she needs comforting.

Although it is not my house, I always felt a warm, welcoming atmosphere over at Chloe's place, like I'm part of the family. Her backyard has a white, wooden porch that I helped them build back when we were twelve, and a nice three person porch-swing we always used to hang out on.

    After explaining everything that has happened, leaving out details such as Tyson's head injury and Chloe's charcoal body, we all agree that I need to sleep. 

    Chloe's bed is softer than mine, but with us three laying in there, the softness of the bed is just right and my exhaustion beats me to sleep so fast I don't even remember what was just said.

***

It is dark outside when I wake up, it must be around midnight, so I try sleeping again, but a small rumble in the room alerts me. I open my eyes, but before I am able to rise up, I feel a sharp pain as what I can only make out as a knife plunges into my chest, filling my throat and mouth with the warm taste of iron. 

***

I wake up again, that did not just happen, did it?

    I pull myself up and lean on the wall, sitting in the bad. My eyes are not adjusted to the darkness so I probe around, trying to reach the light switch, but I am stopped by a knife sticking right into my heart. My eyes shoot up and my head drops to my chest, I can't control the direction in which I'm looking, I fucked up!