Page 31 of Unnatural
Deep disappointment descended.I’ve lost him. Again.
She walked past the school, unhurried now, stopping at the corner of the grand, stone building and looking to her right.
It felt like her heart did a strange dip and swerve. There he was, standing at the fence, watching the children play.
The world seemed to grow brighter, then everything faded except for him and the patch of ground he was standing on. She opened her mouth to call to him, to say what, she wasn’t sure.
I’m here.
Don’t disappear.
Wait.
It’s me.
The words crowded her mind, all of them seeming wrong yet right.
Then she heard a number of distant pops before an alarm suddenly rang out. Autumn turned toward the building where the sound was coming from.A fire drill?A teacher called calmly to the children on the playground, and the children began walking toward her.Yes, a drill.
But before she could form another thought, the sharp sound of unmistakable gunfire split the air, the laughter ofthe children turning instantaneously to screams.
The white-haired man bolted toward the schoolyard and ran along the fence. He kicked open a gate and sprinted inside. It all happened in less than thirty seconds.
Autumn ran too, toward the children in navy-blue uniforms, scattering in terror as the gunfire continued, popping loudly, coming from somewhere just beyond. She saw a woman near the swings, who was ushering children toward her, go down, the children around her grabbing their heads and ducking as the screams grew louder.
The man with the moonlight hair stepped in front of several running children, pushing the first one so that he flew backward into the others. The wall directly behind the spot where they would have been erupted in concrete craters as bullets hit.
Autumn pressed herself to the fence, her gaze flying around, trying to make sense of what was happening, attempting to figure out what to do.
“Amon!” the man yelled. His ball cap had come off, and now she could clearly see that dazzling shock of silvery blond hair she’d seen only briefly on the street.
The crowd of children were converging on an outdoor stairwell as another man appeared from around the corner of the building. Autumn stared, her breath coming in sharp pants, sweat dripping down her cheek. There was an adult body next to the slide. The teacher who’d fallen near the swings remained unmoving, and Autumn could see the puddle of blood pooling around her body.
She heard the sounds of little feet running up the mostly obscured stairs, a line of them at the base still fully exposed.Oh God, run!The moonlight man had moved quickly toward them and was now the only obstruction in the front of thosechildren pushing and clamoring for cover.
“Get out of my way,” the man with the gun gritted out.
“No,” the man with the white hair grated back. His voice was hoarse, guttural, deeper than she remembered it, no longer that of a boy.
The face of the man with the gun morphed from cold resolve to indecision as the sound of sirens rose in the distance. The gunman glanced toward the place where the stairwell was enclosed by an outside wall, that coldness blossoming again but now overlaid with what Autumn could only call violent yearning.Bloodlust.He raised his weapon toward the still-exposed children at the base, and the man with the moonlight hair spread his arms wide, acting as a human shield. The gunman fired repeatedly, the blast of gunfire mixing with the piercing screams. Her moonlight boy jerked back, righting himself and then jerking again and again—performing a horrifying dance—as the bullets ripped into his flesh. The children pushed forward, the last one finally making it around the concrete barrier and into the covered stairwell just as the man who’d shielded them crumpled to the ground.
Autumn, who’d been mute with shock, screamed then—a sound of horror—and the gunman’s head whipped toward her as he raised the gun again.Oh God. Oh no. Brace.Autumn turned her head and clenched her eyes shut, hearing the weapon fire and waiting for the slam of a bullet that didn’t come.
With another terror-filled cry, she opened her eyes to see the gunman lying still on the ground, a spray of blood surrounding him, blood trickling from the gunshot wound at his head.
Autumn brought her hands to her mouth, giving herself three breaths to get hold of herself before springing intoaction. She ran from one wounded teacher to the second, tears trickling down her cheeks as she put two shaking fingers to their still pulses. A wail rose inside her, and she tried desperately to hold it back, or she’d lose it completely.
Save the ones you can, Autumn.
If there was anyone to save.
She moved to a third teacher. She was gone as well.No children were shot. Not out here at least.Autumn’s shoulders shook as she moved past the dead gunman, kicking his weapon aside irrationally. He was no danger anymore. She then ran to the man with the moonlight hair. The sirens were drawing closer. How far away? Fifteen blocks? Ten?Hurry. Please hurry.She knelt beside the man she’d followed here and looked at his face. It was him, there was no doubt. She brought her fingers to the scars at his temple, the place where she’d once seen the bolt-like object embedded in his skin.
She looked up and around, searching for what, she wasn’t sure. Someone else who might help? Someone to call to? But there was no one. Only her. All the others were safely hidden inside, waiting for the cavalry to arrive.They’re coming. Hold tight. They’re coming.Her gaze darted to the still form of the gunman again, as if he might rise from the dead at any moment and continue on some form of weaponless killing spree. Autumn looked back at the man, once her moonlight boy. There was blood soaking his shirt and more on the thighs of his black jeans. He’d been shot in the chest at least twice, maybe three times, and in the legs as well. Horror coursed through her, making her feel heavy and numb.
A sound came from his throat. A moan.
Autumn jolted.You’re alive.
