Falling bodies

T he door was standing halfway open. A pale triangle of light slanted into the room.

Reva stared open-mouthed, standing awkwardly, swallowing hard. Pam stood just ahead of her, also frozen in fear.

“I said I’ll take care of them,” Pres called irritably to his two partners.

Take care of them. What did that mean? Reva wondered.

She heard Diane’s voice out in the hall. She was asking Pres something.

“Okay,” he muttered.

The door was pushed shut.

He didn’t come in.

Reva gaped at Pam. Giddy laughter escaped her throat. “We’re safe.”

“For now,” Pam said, sobering quickly.

Reva crept along the wall, stopping just short of the doorway. Pam followed right behind.

“As soon as the door opens again, we run out,” Reva whispered, cringing in pain. She had leaned against the wall with her broken arm, and the pain roared out like a raging fire.

Pam nodded solemnly, listening to the conversation between the three kidnappers on the other side of the wall. “Which way do we run?”

“Right,” Reva whispered. “Toward Santa’s World. And scream as loud as you can. Maybe we can wake up the guard.”

Pam touched the swollen welt on her cheek. “Shhhh. They’re coming.”

She took a deep breath.

The walls seemed to shimmer and shake for Reva. The whole room grew brighter, glowing until she had to shut her eyes. The floor tilted first one way, then the other.

Don’t freak, Reva, she scolded herself. You’ll never get away if you totally lose it.

She heard footsteps in the hall.

The door started to open.

This is it, she thought.

Pres entered the room. He took several steps, staring straight ahead at the two empty folding chairs.

Reva just had time to see his mouth drop open in shock. She heard his astonished gasp.

Then she and Pam took off.

Out the door. Into the narrow passageway.

“Hey—” Danny’s startled cry echoed in the hallway. He and Diane were against the wall several yards away. They seemed to freeze, startled by the unexpected sight of the two girls fleeing.

Reva’s sneakers squeaked over the hard linoleum floor. Her broken arm flopped painfully against her side. She kept her good arm stretched out in front of her, as if poised to stiff-arm tacklers.

“Help!” she screamed. “Hellllp!”

Pain cut through her body as she ran. Turned right. Hurtled herself past dark, empty storage rooms.

She could hear Pam right behind her.

“Hey—stop!” Danny’s angry shout.

She turned her head without slowing her pace. Danny and Diane were close behind, Pres a few yards behind them.

“Ow!” she cried out as she collided with a large metal trash basket. “Oh!” She spun off it. The trash can rolled noisily back into her pursuers.

Reva lurched onto the selling floor.

So bright. Christmas decorations sparkling in the night light. Gold and silver tinsel everywhere. Shimmering Christmas balls.

Like a fairyland, she thought.

Only this is no fairy tale.

“Help! Help us—please!”

“They’re going to catch us!” Pam shrieked breathlessly.

“Split up!” Reva cried. “Split up! Go!”

She saw Pam turn, stumble, quickly regain her balance, and push herself off a display case of children’s boots. Reva kept going, running straight, gasping noisily for breath, her chest about to explode.

She turned. Then turned again. She ducked low, turning and twisting through the maze of display counters and aisles.

She couldn’t see her pursuers. Had she lost them?

Into Santa’s World. All red and green, silver and gold. Past the enormous wooden sleigh. Past the reindeers staring glassy-eyed at her as she ran. Past the elves lined up as if waiting for Santa to ascend his gold throne.

“Help! Please—help!” Reva tried to scream, but her voice came out a hushed whisper.

Where was the stupid security guard? Maybe there wasn’t one on this floor. Maybe that’s why the kidnappers chose this floor.

I can’t run much farther, Reva realized.

She reached a wall, a dead end. With a gasp she took a step back. Then another.

Which way? Which way?

A hand touched her back.

“No!”

She spun around.

Santa Claus grinned at her.

She had backed into a Santa mannequin.

Just like in my dream, she thought, gasping for breath.

She started to run again. Around a display of children’s sweaters. Into the toy department.

“Where did she go?” Danny’s voice, in a distant aisle, sounded confused as he chased after Pam.

Maybe Pam is getting away, Reva thought.

She bumped an enormous lifesize Ninja Turtle stuffed animal that guarded an aisle in silent menace. Its head bounced angrily.

She glanced back. And saw Pres behind her, his dark eyes burning furiously into her back.

Diane and Danny must have gone after Pam, Reva figured. Got to lose Pres. But how?

“You can’t get away, Reva! There’s nowhere to run!” He sounded as breathless as she did. She saw that he was holding his side. He must have had a pain in it from running.

With a powerful heave of her one good arm, Reva shoved the big stuffed animal into his path.

She heard Pres cry out and stumble.

Then she made a sharp left, staying low behind a tall display of Lego blocks, ducked behind a long glass display case of slot cars, and flung herself out into the aisle beyond the toy department.

“Help me! Won’t someone help me?”

She was hurtling down a long, twisting aisle of budget clothes.

I—I can’t breathe, she thought. I can’t take another step. I—

She could hear Pres somewhere behind her. She knew she couldn’t give up.

With a desperate burst of speed she turned a corner—and ran headlong into someone.

“Oh!”

No. Not someone.

A mannequin. Another mannequin. Not Santa this time.

A wide-eyed woman with bright red hair, dressed in red and blue ski clothes. Reva cried out as pain shot up her shoulder. The mannequin toppled backward onto another mannequin, which fell onto another.

A whole row of mannequins, Reva saw.

All toppling over backward.

Like bodies, she thought, her chest heaving, her temples throbbing.

Like human bodies.

Falling dead, all in a row.

She gaped in breathless horror as the bodies clattered to the floor, landing in a stiff heap of arms and legs, their solid lifeless eyes staring up at the ceiling lights.

And then, before she could start running again, a hand grabbed Reva’s shoulder and held on.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-20