“Holy hell Em, you just killed him in one swing!” Dan said, more surprised at her strength than the fact that the large man was spilling the contents of his skull onto the carpet. Emily SLAMMED the bat down again. This time onto his face, breaking his nose and teeth.
More thunder came from above.
“Are you hurt?” Emily asked Dan, who was looking at what she had done. Shocked and mortified.
Just then, a loud KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK came from the front door of the library. It came between the rolling thunder. The three of them turned around at the same time. It played out in slow motion as they turned their heads toward the door to see a man knocking. The fading lights of the police cruiser and ambulance behind him made out a vague shadow of his face. Jon could make out he was wearing a flat-brimmed hat.
Holy shit. It was the man in sweatpants who was asleep on the ground next to that girl by the dorms. Mark, Dan, and Jon passed by him when they went to get Jon’s cell phone. Now, he was awake and banging on the door. The computer that once showed CNN blocked off the lower half of the flat-brimmed man’s body, but Jon knew he was wearing those sweatpants.
The man outside started making demands on the other side of the bloodstained door. “You idiots! Let me in! They’re gonna kill me out here! C’mon, open up! RIGHT NOW!” The three remained frozen looking at him. The knocking never seemed to stop. “Open it up or I’ll FUCKING kill you! Got it? OPEN IT UP!”
“Guys,” Jon said, breaking the frozen silence that trapped all three of them yet again, “look behind him.”
There were more people coming up behind the flat-brimmed man through the blue and red flashing lights. Each time the lights flashed, the bodies came closer. One of them grabbed the flat-brimmed man. It looked like a fight was breaking out between the two.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
Now, two people were pounding on the glass door. The flat-brimmed man was no longer there. Instead, a young woman with glasses and a man with a white undershirt banged their fists.
“Let us in ASSHOLES!” the woman yelled.
“OPEN the door up or we’ll BREAK it down! I swear to GOD!” the man said soon after. Behind them, more lingered. Some appeared to be in fistfights while others were standing still, giving the thirty-yard stare.
Jon, Emily, and Dan were made of stone. Between the rage that stood outside the library door, and now the darkness that almost covered them all, it appeared they were trapped. But little did they know, they weren’t trapped inside by those who wanted in from the outside. They were trapped from the inside by Mark and Kevin.
Chapter TWENTY-TWO
The Rifle
Beneath the light of the dining room chandelier, the rifle sat in the cardboard case, gleaming up at Little Jon and his father. A smooth, brown wooden stock with a long, black barrel that shined. Atop sat a black scope. Other than the old guns Big Jon had in the basement and the virtual shooting machines on Xbox and PlayStation, Little Jon had never seen such a pristine firearm.
“What do you think? You wanna hold it?” Big Jon asked, placing his arm on Little Jon’s shoulder. A smile painted his face as he caught his son’s reaction.
“Sure.”
Little Jon wrapped his fingers around the stock of the rifle and pulled it from its box. Heavy. He admired its beauty up close, feeling the glide of the wood. The end of the stock leveraged into his armpit as he focused one eye down the scope, pointing the barrel at the door to the garage. His finger was on the trigger.
“Just be careful there, Jon. You must treat every gun as if it’s loaded. There are not any bullets in it, but you must follow proper trigger discipline, ok?” Big Jon said, still smiling at his son enjoying himself.
“Whoops!” Little Jon said, releasing his trigger finger. He handed the rifle to his father. “I guess I have a lot to learn, huh? I don’t think I’ve held a rifle like this before. It’s nice.”
“You sure do, that’s why we’re going to take this bad boy out in the woods as soon as deer season starts. We’ll get you trained and everything. Get you some camo. What do you think? I believe you’re old enough to get a buck with your old man.”
“Let’s do it! You think I can do it?” Little Jon asked. His eyes still stuck to the rifle.
“Oh, I have no doubt in my mind. My father taught me, and if I can do it, you most certainly could!”
Little Jon smiled a genuine smile. So did his father. Big Jon couldn’t remember the last time that his son was so quick to liking something he’d brought home. Papers to sign up for middle school basketball was a bust. The fishing poles didn’t start a fire in his belly. A gun. A Remington 700 is all it took huh? Big Jon thought to himself as he smiled back and shook his head in a manner of near disbelief. There was finally something that the two of them could agree on with a shared amount of excitement.
Chapter TWENTY-THREE
Knock Knock
Kevin was the first one to wake up.
As his body rose from the ground, he scratched his eyes and felt around the carpet for his glasses. Dried blood stained above his lip and his eyes were crusty. His nose was stuffed with tissues. “Where are they?” he asked with a congested sound. “Where are my glasses? Why’s it so dark in here?”
“Kev, are you alright? We got your glasses right here,” Dan said, grabbing them off the help desk and handing them to Kevin. Kevin snatched them right out of his hand and put them on.
“They’re broken!” Kevin shouted. “You broke my glasses! Why’d you do that?”
“Kevin, you passed out on the crosswalk. You fell right onto them!” Emily explained. Her eyes were darting back and forth between the door and Kevin.
“Don’t lie to me, you bitch! You broke my glasses!” Kevin stood up. His eyebrows were curled, making an angered facial expression that no one would’ve thought he was capable of. His normal, innocent face looked contorted. It didn’t look like Kevin at all. “Come here!”
Kevin tried to grab Emily, but Dan intervened and pushed him back. “Whoa Kev, you better chill buddy. What’s gotten into you?” Kevin shoved back at Dan, but he didn’t have the same strength as the country boy. “Kev, I’m warning you. Don’t do this.”
“DON’T TOUCH ME!” Kevin screeched. The sound of his voice was frightening. So strange to hear that volume coming from him. “You broke my glasses and now I’m gonna break you!” He shoved at Dan again with greater might, making Dan move backward a little bit. The surprising strength came out of nowhere.
Emily held up the bat, pointing the tip to Kevin’s face, trying to intimidate him. “You callin’ me a bitch? You want some of this, Kevin? You wanna try me? Don’t do that again!” Kevin grabbed the bat with both hands and started a tug-of-war with it. “Fuck you, Kevin!” Emily shouted, yanking. Dan got on Emily’s side and helped her in the struggle. The two of them pulled the bat from Kevin’s tight grip.
As Jon stood to the side, unsure of what to do, he felt a hand wrap around the bottom of his leg. He looked down. It was Mark. He had his hand gripped onto the bottom of Jon’s leg, above his shoe. His eyes were open, but they didn’t blink. They just stared up at Jon.
“Mark? What are you doing?” Jon asked, starting to wiggle his foot. Mark’s hand squeezed tighter.
“Mark? Stop that!” But Mark didn’t answer nor cease his vine-like grip.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. The man and woman were still right outside the doors. It was now background noise that played between bouts of rumbling thunder.
“Kev! Man, I don’t want to hurt you!” Dan said, raising his voice. “Just calm down, let’s all relax for a sec!”
Kevin took a swing at Emily, but she blocked with the bat. Dan stepped in and SOCKED Kevin in the face, sending him back in a tizzy. The tissues fell from Kevin’s nose, onto the carpeted floor.
Emily wound up the bat.
“Wait a sec, Em! Don’t!” Dan shouted, trying to stop her. But she continued and hit the side of Kevin’s head as if it were a baseball. WAM.
His body was the tee. The sound of hardwood CRACKING against bone rang out into the library. Kevin’s head jerked to the side. The broken glasses flew right off his face and soared a few feet in the air. His body collapsed backward onto the backside of the help desk. Blood came oozing from his right ear and nose again. Both nostrils streaked bright-red blood onto his blue shirt. A tooth came out from between his lips.
“Jesus Christ!” Jon shouted. Vomit was rising in his throat.
Mark released his grip from Jon’s leg and turned to see what had happened. “What the fuck, guys? You killed Kevin!”
“Fuck!” Emily’s face became red and wet as she started to cry. “He was coming at me and I. . . fuck, oh fuck!”
“Holy hell, Em!” Dan said with his hands on his head, pushing his John Deere cap upwards. Heart pumping. Adrenaline streaming. No one spoke for a few moments.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
Kevin was still alive. He shifted his body back and forth as he clutched his face to stop the bleeding. There was no way he was getting back up as he spit another tooth from his bloodied mouth onto the carpet. “Why you bfff I ougtttt fu fu-” He tried to speak, but nothing intelligent could come from him now. Only blood and teeth, filling his mouth with disgusting drivel.
Thunder crashed overhead.
Mark stood up and leaned over Kevin’s body. His eyes scanned over Kevin’s face, taking in all the gore. He turned back at Emily. “You’re a real bitch you know that? What kind of person swings a bat at my friend like that? LOOK AT HIM!”
Emily couldn’t speak or curse, she was so upset. The whole situation was out of control.
“Hey man, we didn’t mean to! He was coming at us, you saw it! Emily was scared, alright? Don’t do anything crazy now,” Dan said with his arms extended out again.
“You’re a hillbilly moron fuck, Dan. Always were,” Mark said in a calm but sinister manner. The tone struck Dan as it appeared to have hurt his feelings at the moment.
“Mark, c’mon. Please, what’s happening?” Emily asked, wiping her eyes.
“Shut up!” Mark shouted, wide awake. He continued with his angered ranting. “Dan’s a real mess. I’m always the one that has to help him get through his classes while he’s busy bullshitting around all day. You think I’m gonna listen to him now? Think I’m just gonna stand here and let you two beat the hell out of us? You KILLED Kevin. THAT’S RIGHT! You KILLED him, you BITCH! FUCKING BITCH!”
Mark charged toward Emily, but Jon grabbed him from behind, holding onto both of his arms. Dan got in front and placed both of his arms on Mark’s chest.
“Kevin’s still alive!” Emily sobbed. “I’m sorry!” She was crying hot tears. They burned her eyes. Her brain was operating at one hundred miles per hour and had no time to react again to the insult of the B-word.
Mark irked around, trying to free himself from Jon and Dan’s hold. “Get off of me! Right now! BOTH OF YOU, OFF!”
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
Both of Mark’s elbows pushed back and into Jon's stomach. Mark turned and swung at Jon but tripped over Kevin’s feet. His body fell to the ground and Dan jumped on top of him to hold him down to the floor. Kevin jumped up and grabbed on the back of Dan. Punches began raining down onto Dan’s spine from Kevin’s blood-soaked fists.
Another CRACK of the bat came down onto Kevin’s head. His body plopped backwards onto the library carpet with his head leaning on the backside of the help desk. Blood splattered all over the wood. Jon’s vomit let loose and spewed onto the side of a bookshelf he was standing near. The gore was too much. The blood was everywhere. His stomach couldn’t handle it.
The bat swing stopped the fight between Mark and Dan for a moment until the site of Kevin’s now dead body on the ground brought more rage out of Mark. He pushed Dan off him with a punch to the face.
“Dan, watch out!” Jon yelled as Emily was about to strike down the bat again. Only this time, it was above Mark’s head.
Dan gathered himself and crawled back away from Mark. Emily brought the bat down, but Mark moved his head out of the way, causing her to slam it into the carpet beside him. Thud. Then, he brought his leg up behind Emily’s. It made her knee bend inward and she fell right next to him on the floor. The baseball bat rolled over by Jon’s feet. Mark scrambled on top of Emily and grabbed her neck, strangling her. As she fought back, Mark began to hit her head hard onto the floor, rubbing and brushing her face with carpet burns.
“Get that bat! Get that bat!” Dan shouted at Jon. His eyes were blinking fast, still in a daze from the punch. Jon was still gathering himself from his sickness. He felt like those old cartoons where birds and stars circled around the head of Wile E. Coyote. “C’mon man! Pick it up!”
In the brutal haze all around him, a voice spoke to Jon in his mind. For a moment, it was the only sound that could fill his thoughts.
If you’re gonna do it, you gotta do it now.
The room spun. The voice remained.
Now, Jon.
Everything whirled back into focus as Jon grabbed the bat with both of his shaking hands. He wanted nothing more than for Dan to have to do this, but it was what it was. No time to waste. Mark was now a maniac who was strangling this poor girl on the floor of the library and it was up to Jon to put an end to it all.
I don’t want to kill him he thought to himself, but I have no choice.
Now.
Time slowed for the moment. Jon brought the wooden bat down upon the back of Mark’s head in a fearful, adrenaline-filled slam. Jon’s heart was beating so fast in his ears he didn’t quite hear the CRACK of the wood hitting skull. Pure blunt force. Mark’s body slumped down on top of Emily’s. She screamed as the grip of Mark’s hands went limp and his body lay heavy, almost kissing the back of her head with his loose, open lips.
Dan was up again and was quick to grab Mark’s body off of her. Mark fell to the side and it looked like there were no signs of breathing. No signs of life. Jon hit him hard enough in the back of the head to kill him in an instant.
“Em, are you ok?” Dan asked while he and Jon pulled her up from the floor. He wheeled out a chair from the help desk so she could sit down, which she did as she caught her breath and rubbed her neck. Her face was red. By the looks of her messy hair, she appeared to have just gotten off a roller coaster.
“I’m ok! I’m ok! I just need a moment,” she coughed. “Thank you, guys. Holy shit.” She coughed again and wiped her eyes with her tie-dye shirt. “Thank you so much! I owe you guys my life! I thought I was dead. Honestly, the scariest moment of my whole fucking life. Holy shit. Fuck!”
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
Dan and Jon looked up at the door which now had more people banging to get in. Two girls and another guy joined the flat-brimmed man and were mashing their fists. Through the dark, they could see the glass shaking. The people outside looked soaked from the rain. The red and blue lights from the emergency vehicles were blocked out now.
“OPEN IT UP!” one would say.
“Let us IN!” another would follow. Almost chanting now.
“WE’LL KILL YOU!”
Emily sat, leaning over the computer swivel chair. She was paying no mind to the constant knocking from outside. Her eyes traveled from Kevin’s body to Mark’s, then to the fat man’s body by the vending machines. “I can’t believe this you guys,” she said, still sounding out of breath. “I can’t believe we killed them. All three of them.” Now her tears made their way back into her eyes. “What got into them?” Emily wept and covered her face with her shaking hands.
A loud BANG came from the front doors. It was so loud and startling, that it snapped Emily’s head up from her sobs as she shrieked. The three of them were now all standing and facing the door to the library. It had a large gash in the glass. At first, they couldn’t tell what the maniacs had done to cause this until the red and blue lights illuminated
two of the people outside running at the bloodstained door, holding a bench.
BANG. CRACK.
“Oh shit! They’re trying to break their way in!” Dan shouted as he pointed out the use of the bench. “We gotta get the hell outta here. No way are we gonna be able to take them all on. They’ll rip us to shreds! Shit!”
“Upstairs!” Emily screamed as another BANG and CRACK rang from the door. “C’mon!”
The three of them bolted to the stairs that sat to the left of the front doors. Jon grabbed his backpack and held it by the handle on the top. No time to grab anything else.
As they approached the steps, they each took a glance at the evil and horror that lay only a few feet away from them behind a now deteriorating shield. Even though the darkness of the library and the cover of nightfall and pouring rain, they could each see out into the eyes of rage, the hunger waiting to come inside. None of their once former classmates looked human. They looked as furious as demons.
There were two sets of stairs and at the top of them was a wooden door, similar to the ones used for the bathrooms. Except this door had a vertical window in the middle of it and a silver plating on the right-center with a circular key lock. Usually, this door was propped open. Now, it was shut and locked from the night before. The three of them pushed and pushed until they realized that Kevin’s key would be the only way to get in.
“Em, where’s the key?” Dan asked with a face that read no time to waste.
She patted her pockets. “Shit! I don’t have them. Fuck! They gotta be downstairs!”
Dan pushed her aside. “I’ll go! Is it on the help desk?” he shouted as he flew down the set of steps, back down into Hell.
When the Sky Goes Dark Page 12
