Page 85 of Shelter for Morgan

Morgan covered her pocket where she’d dropped her cell phone, wondering if she could make a call to 911.

But she held back.

If it was the chemistry teacher in his classroom and she called the police on him, that wasn’t a really good way to make friends at the school.

There was a decent amount of open grass area between her building and the other one, but it wasn’t a crazy amount of distance.

A quick look from one side to the other told her that there was no one around, at least someone she could see. She picked her way across the grass and tilted her head toward the windows as she moved closer to the classroom.

Morgan saw a few people in the room. By their size there were a few students and one adult.

She leaned over to look into the window, but darted out of sight when someone turned in her direction.

“What was that?” The voice was softer than she would expect from an adult. More likely a student.

“What was what?” That. That was the voice of an adult.

“I thought I saw something outside.” The same voice as the first.

“You always see shit outside, Jeff. You’re too fuckin’ nervous.” Another voice… likely a student.

So far, nothing too strange, but she had to wonder why they were all at the school after hours.

Especially given Officer Munder’s rules.

Then again, she was new. Maybe it was just for people like her or maybe they were starting to loosen the rules since there hadn’t been another shooting or even a theft on campus since before she’d arrived.

“Just do your work, Jeff.” That same adult voice.

“Dude. I’m tired. Do we have to do this all tonight?”

“Damnit, Jeff. We’ve had to cut down on the nights we work because of that shit Benji pulled.”

Benji?

Morgan’s heart started beating like crazy.

What did Benji have to do with this?

RHETT

The truck made it back to Station Seven in a decent amount of time, but it wasn’t until they walked in the door that he saw Benji at one of the tables, arranging some sandwiches on a tray.

The young man looked up and looked relieved to see Rhett and the others walking in the door.

“Umm… Miss Kylie and I made sandwiches for you guys.”

Rhett smiled and Benji looked almost relieved. “I’m going to wash up and be right back.”

Benji nodded and went back to arranging the platter for the firefighters.

As he walked out of the room, he saw Peace rush across the room to give his wife a kiss.

A kiss she playfully tried to avoid. “You’re covered in soot!”

When he came back in, Rhett put a sandwich on a plate and grabbed a bottle of water before he sat next to Benji at one of the small side tables.

“Thanks for waiting. Are your parents okay with you coming by the station?”

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