More screams

I froze with a gasp. I raised my arms in front of me, shielding myself. Too late to run. Too late. I squeezed my hands into tight fists. Could I fight him off?

“Rachel?” He called to me. And as he hurtled closer, I saw that it wasn’t a masked man, after all. His face had been covered by the deep shadow of the hallway.

“Brendan!” I shouted. “I … I’m so glad it’s you.”

He ran up to me, breathing hard. “Rachel, why did you run away? What are you doing here?”

“I … thought I saw someone,” I stammered. “Someone running really fast, and I thought—”

“You shouldn’t ever leave the group,” Brendan said. He locked his eyes on mine. “You know you’ll be safer if you stay with everyone.”

“Oh, Brendan,” I sighed. I threw my arms around him. “I’m so … frightened.” I pressed my face against his cheek.

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to him. He held me tight and lowered his face to mine. We kissed. A long, sweet kiss. Sweet but desperate. As if we were trying to force away all the horror.

He ended the kiss and narrowed his eyes at me. He didn’t say anything for a long moment. I could see there was something he wanted to say. Finally, he whispered, “You’ll be safe, Rachel. You’ll be safe from them.”

I blinked. “How do you know?”

He didn’t answer. He leaned forward and kissed me again. I shut my eyes. I really did want the rest of the world to go away.

But we both pulled back when we heard the screams. Hoarse cries of horror, echoing down the hall.

A chill shook my body. I was still holding onto Brendan. I didn’t want to let go.

But another outburst of screams made us pull apart. We both turned toward the sound.

“Please … not again,” I whispered. “Not another murder.”

26.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-20