Dissonance - Book One

forty-three

Hordes of students flood the hallway, pouring their way through the school, pushing one another aside. It's chaotic and uncivil to say the least: humanity at its worst when we need each other most. Some teachers can be heard yelling over the pandemonium, trying to direct students, while others run, only concerned with saving themselves. For a brief moment, I see Mrs. Ranaldi in the crowd, trying to direct traffic, but she's swept away by the wave of students. One student punches another in the face, knocking him to the ground. His head hits the floor hard and he looks like he's been knocked unconscious. No one stops to help him, as I look on in terror. Blood trickles out of his ear and spreads over the tile. Wyler sees this and drags me forward.

"Don't let go," he shouts, locking on tighter to my hand. "And whatever you do, DON'T look back."

"We need to find Lex," I shout, as he pulls me through the crowd, not only because she's my best friend, but because I can only imagine how much worse my survivor guilt will be if I survive this and she doesn't.

"There isn't time."

I'm shocked by his response. I would have thought his first instinct would be to find her. He looks at me and he can see in my eyes that I'm not going anywhere without her. As we turn to go back the way we came, we're stopped by the shrill sound of screaming from the other end of the hall. The wave of people is changing direction and they're headed straight towards us.

"What's going on?" I grab a girl's arm as she runs past.

"The emergency doors are jammed and won't shut. The bunker is useless. They're telling everyone to evacuate and get to higher ground."

Unbelievable. Millions of dollars in reinforced steel designed to house nearly 2,500 people, endless practice drills, and it's all for nothing. We should have known better than to think a government sanctioned evacuation plan would run smoothly. The bunkers had been a risky idea from the start. They weren't even "bunkers" really, so much as giant floating steel boxes. A more appropriate name would have been, submarine, or perhaps, Noah's steel arc. I suppose they did their best with the knowledge they had at hand and the limited public dollars at their disposal. It had been an uphill battle for the schools to get the bunkers installed in the first place. There was big money and lobbyists fighting them every step of the way. I'm sure the lobbyists would be laughing right now, and saying "I told you so" if they weren't, most likely, running for their own lives as well.

The crowd becomes more unruly and I can tell we'll probably destroy one another before the disaster even reaches us. That's when I see her dirty blonde hair poking up out of the crowd. I've always hated how tall she is. She dwarfs me when we stand next to one another, especially when she wears heels. It makes me feel small and unnoticed. But today, it is thanks to her height that we're able to spot her among the mass of students and I find myself feeling grateful for the silly thing that made me feel insecure.

"Lex!" I scream, but my voice is lost in the frantic wailing of the crowd.

"Lex!" we yell together this time, at the top of our lungs.

She turns and sees us. Lex knocks people aside, trying to weave her way through the pandemonium, and they're nearly trampled by the swarm of students. All societal norms have gone out the window. It's every man and woman for themselves.

When she finally reaches us, she grabs Wyler and hugs him tightly. He lets go of my hand and I watch it fall to my side as he wraps his arms around Lex. She kisses him on the lips and I look on in jealousy, angry with myself that I care so much about this when the world around me is falling apart. Then, as if she didn't notice me at first, she turns and hugs me too.

"Thank God you two are together! I've been looking for you everywhere!"

My cheeks turn red and I feel as if she can see the scarlet letter of betrayal burned onto my chest. There's no time now though, for any of this drama. We have to find a way to escape. The crowd has turned into a sea of tiny heads, all trying to push and shove their way through the doors. Things are getting ugly and they're only going to get worse.