by RH Fox
Dreia scooped Tommy up to soothe his crying while the other two children crowded close. She turned to watch for Sam and was relieved to see him already striding toward them.
“Let’s go,” he ordered, not even slowing as he passed.
Dreia fell into step beside him, urging the kids along in front of them.
When they made it to the end of the park and turned back toward school, Sam walked another two blocks before whirling to face her.
“What the hell, Dreia!” he hissed. “Why didn’t you tell me you were carrying a gun?”
“Language!”
“I don’t give a rat’s furry ass about my language right now. What are they going to do, fire me?”
“Just because your job’s not on the line doesn’t make it right to scare the kids. You need to calm down.”
“Calm down? Calm down?! That’s rich, coming from someone who just pulled a gun on a kid.”
“I . . .” Dreia went silent as movement behind them caught her attention.
She turned seconds before a baseball bat caught Sam on the side of the head, dropping him to his knees. Dreia immediately crouched down, shielding Tommy as the two teenagers whirred by on their bikes. Brakes squealed, and they turned to make another pass.
“Came to teach you a lesson, bitch,” Tag yelled.
“Stay down,” she ordered the other two children, pulling them toward her.
Sam was holding his head, and Dreia could see blood dripping between his fingers and running down his neck. He barely moved in time to keep the bat from hitting his head again, and it glanced off his shoulder as the teenagers passed by again. Dreia cried out in pain when a tire iron came down hard on her back as she ducked over all three children.
Brakes squealed again as the boys turned once more. Dreia let adrenaline take control and stood, pulling her pistol and pointing it at the teenagers.
Tag’s friend froze at the sight. “Come on, man, let’s go. You said we were only going to scare ‘em.”
“She ain’t gonna shoot us. She’s a teacher,” Tag spit out furiously and started peddling. “Extra points if you can hit one of her brats!”
Making a split-second decision, Dreia fired at Tag. He was close enough that she saw his eyes widen in surprise when the bullet entered his body.
His hands left the handlebars to grab his stomach, causing the front wheel to turn and the bike crashed into the curb. The other boy took one look at his friend on the ground and panicked. His bike wobbled as he rushed to get it turned around.
Dreia hesitated, then fired again. The bullet caught the teen in the leg and he screamed as his bike went down, too. He jumped up and ran into the closest yard, limping awkwardly. She lowered the gun and watched him disappear behind a house.
“What the hell are you doing?” Sam groaned around the pain in his head. “They’re kids!”
“We need to get back to the school,” she said, voice cracking. “He’s going to go tell the others.”
She turned to look at Tag laying on the ground. Blood soaked the front of his t-shirt and he was crying.
“You shot me. You really shot me,” he kept repeating.
Dreia looked up to see people coming out onto their porches, pointing at her. She was having a hard time catching her breath.
Sam stood up, wobbling a bit on his feet. He lurched over to Tag and tried to stop the bleeding, but the boy had fallen completely still. Dreia took a few steps toward them, but froze when Sam pinned her with a look of horror.
“I think he’s dead,” he said in disbelief. “You killed him.”
“We need to get back to the school,” Dreia repeated in a thick voice. Her eyes were blurry with tears that wouldn’t fall.
Sam wiped the blood from his hands onto his own t-shirt. Then, he grabbed two of the kids and started off at a brisk clip. Despite her own insistence that they leave, Dreia continued to stare at the teenager laying on the curb until Tommy took her hand and tugged her in the direction Sam had gone. She realized she still had the pistol in her other hand and quickly put it away. Then, she picked Tommy up and jogged to catch up with Sam. No one else spoke as they rushed to get back to the school.
6
Rena paced nervously outside the school’s front entrance when they approached. She took in their expressions, along with the blood on Sam’s head and shirt.
“What happened?”
“Is everyone else back?” Dreia spoke past the lump permanently lodged in her throat.
“You’re the last group.”
“How many kids were brought back?”
“Counting these three, seventeen. I’ve been sending staff home as they return. Steve, Beth, and Marlene all volunteered to stay and help. They’re feeding the kids in the cafeteria. What happened?” Rena’s voice raised an octave.
Dreia’s heart sank when she realized Matt hadn’t shown up. She waited for Sam to tell Rena what she’d done, but he remained silent as they headed inside.
“We need to lock all the doors. Immediately. And move the kids into the . . . the . . . art room. It’s windows only face the courtyard.”
“Dreia, you’re scaring me. What happened?” Rena asked a third time. She pulled a large ring of keys out and used the hex to lock the bar on the front door. “Sam, can you take these three to the cafeteria while I talk to Dreia? And check the teacher’s lounge to get ice for your head. We haven’t opened the freezer in there yet, there’s a good chance it’s still frozen.”
Still not saying word, Sam led the kids down the hall. Rena took Dreia’s arm and pulled her into the front office where hardly any light came in from the courtyard. They went to Rena’s office where she’d lit a candle, and the flickering light made the shadows dance.
“You’re not supposed to have candles in the building, it’s against district policy,” Dreia said, realizing exactly how ridiculous she sounded.
Rena pushed her down on a chair. Then, she walked over to her desk and pulled out the bottom drawer, producing a bottle of vodka.
Dreia choked out a surprised laugh as the unshed tears began to silently stream down her face.
“What?” Rena said innocently, raising her chin. “You kept a gun in your car. I have my secrets, too.”
At the word gun, Dreia lost the tenuous hold on her emotions and sobbed into her hands. Rena put the bottle down in alarm and rushed around her desk to rub Dreia’s shoulder. Several long minutes later Dreia recounted everything that happened through hiccups and dry heaves.
Rena took it all in, gazing at her without judgement. “You were protecting three of our students and a friend.”
“Friend? Ha!” Dreia made an annoyed sound.
“Fine, colleague then. Dreia, it sounds like hurting people was just a game to that boy. He was trying to hit children with a tire iron, for heaven’s sake. I don’t even want to imagine how his behavior would have escalated over time. You warned us about this only hours ago. It was obviously self-defense.”
“But was it? He didn’t have a gun.”
“Because you’d already disarmed him. Listen to me. I can’t imagine what you’re feeling right now, and I’m so very sorry you had to do what you did. But, you’re the one who made it clear that troublemakers would be the first to take advantage of the situation. That poor boy made some horrific choices, and as a consequence his life ended in violence. I’m positive that you did what you thought needed to be done to keep the children in your care safe, and I’m sure you saved countless future victims by stopping him now.”
Dreia let the absolution sink in. She wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to justify what she’d done in her own mind, but it helped that Rena didn’t think she was a cold-blooded killer.
“Thank you,” she choked out.
“Now, what should we do? Do you think this Stubs guy is really going to show up here?”
“Without a doubt. I just don’t know when it might be. I have no idea how long it’ll take the other boy to run back to the park. He was injured,
so he probably slowed down when he was out of sight. We need to leave, because this building is too large to defend. There’s too many entrances and not enough of us to watch them all. Even the interior rooms aren’t that secure. Stubs had quite a group already, and we didn’t see a single policeman the whole time. We’re sitting ducks here.”
Rena absorbed what Dreia said before speaking. “Where can we go? None of us live close enough to walk back every day and check for parents.”
“How about the fire station? We can leave a note on the door here, telling the parents we’ll be back daily to check.” Dreia glanced at her watch, seeing it was already after seven.
“That might work. We can check the steps from a distance, to see who might be waiting.”
“Exactly! I’ll write a note and tape it to the front door. I want to leave one for Matt, too. You go tell the others and get the kids ready. Where’s my bag?”
Rena pulled it out of her closet. Then, she grabbed her own purse and shoulder bag, heading for the door. “We’ll meet you down at the bus doors. It’ll be good and dark by the time we head out, and that exit is facing the direction we need to go. Oh,” Rena walked back and took the vodka bottle off her desk, shoving it down inside her oversized bag, “I’m certain I’m going to want this later.”
Dreia agreed wholeheartedly, then grabbed some blank computer paper and a marker. She wrote the note for parents first, making it clear they needed to be visible at the front entrance on even hours between eight in the morning and six in the evening. Next, she wrote her note for Matt, careful to word it in a way that wouldn’t give away anything too personal.
M ~ We had to leave the school. I’m not sure when I’ll be on the road home, but I’ll take my normal route when I am. You’ll find my initials where we usually pick up movies and on the menu in the window of our favorite Chinese place if I’ve already passed those points. If I decide to take the alternate bridge, I’ll initial the electrical box near the last intersection. Be safe and I love you! XOXO
She didn’t dare sign her name, positive Stubs would eventually make his way to the school and see it. Instead, she put a huge swirl under the X’s and O’s. She’d done the same thing on every letter she’d ever written Matt when he was deployed overseas. There was no doubt in her mind that he’d recognize it.
Thinking about Stubs brought back the image of Tag laying on the ground. Dreia knew Rena was right, she’d done what she thought necessary. However, that image was going to stay with her for a long, long time. Dreia stuffed the emotions threatening to overflow into a mental box and locked it up tight. She shelved it next to the one holding the feelings telling her to leave immediately and get home. Dreia had to make sure the students were safe first, especially since her actions now led the danger straight to them.
Peering out the vertical window set into the heavy steel door at the school’s front entrance, she saw no sign of movement on the street. She contorted awkwardly to keep the door propped open with her foot, so it couldn’t slam and lock her out while she rolled tape over every inch of both notes. Satisfied they’d stay dry if it rained, she made sure the door clicked securely shut behind her. Then she headed down to meet the rest of the group at the bus exit.
Marlene still hadn’t given up glaring at her, and Sam wouldn’t meet her eyes at all. However, Tommy immediately came up and slipped his small hand into hers. The continued trust after what he’d witnessed helped soothe her heartache more than anyone’s words could. She crouched down to his eye level.
“Doing okay, buddy?”
He solemnly nodded, and she pulled him into a tight hug. He wrapped his arms around her neck and squeezed, laying his check against hers. Dreia was reminded of Chase hugging her the same way when he was little and almost started crying again. She gently disengaged his arms when the group moved toward the doors.
The adults cautiously checked the street before starting out. It was well past dusk and almost impossible to see into the heavy shadows under trees and next to houses. Dreia glanced up and found it to be a new moon when the unmitigated darkness enveloped them completely. Steve and Marlene led the way, Beth and Sam stayed near the kids in the middle, and Rena and Dreia brought up the rear for their short trek to the fire station. Tommy walked between them, since he refused to release Dreia’s hand.
Rena leaned over his head to whisper, “Considering everything that’s happened, I really think you should go ahead and start home in the morning. There’s no need for all of us to stay with this few kids. We’ll be safe with the firemen, and hopefully they can radio the police station to let them know what’s going on. But, more importantly, you have a longer trip than any of us, with your own kids waiting at the other end. All our kids are grown.”
Despite her strong feelings of responsibility for the students, Rena’s suggestion was extremely tempting. If Stubs and his group did discover the students at the fire station, it might be better if she wasn’t with them anyway. The last thing she wanted was for students to be caught up in any sort of crossfire, bullets or otherwise. Furthermore, the distance between her home and the school had been lengthened to a day’s travel on foot. The thought of getting home sooner ultimately clinched her decision.
“As much as I don’t want to abandon the students, I think you might be right.”
“You’re not abandoning anyone, Dreia. It’s thanks to your quick action that we were able to get most of our students home. I can’t imagine what the schools who didn’t act immediately are dealing with right now. I think we can handle seventeen kids without you.”
They were both quiet the rest of the way to the fire station. Once they arrived and explained the situation, firemen rushed around preparing blanket pallets for exhausted and emotional children. The novelty of staying with their teachers all evening and then visiting a fire station had worn off. Most of the kids simply wanted their parents now. When Dreia finally got the last teary child to sleep, she sank down next to Rena in a corner of the station’s small dining room where the adults had spread their own pallets.
“Everyone’s asleep except Steve. He’s sitting out front to help keep an eye on things with the chief,” Rena told her quietly.
“Any word from the police station yet?”
“None. The chief told his guy to keep trying, but they haven’t heard anything since the original contact Linda and Jeff mentioned earlier. Do you think that’s significant?”
“It could mean lots of things. Battery life in the walkies could have been shortened, or they might be out handling problems.” Dreia hesitated, but decided to be completely honest with her friend. “There’s always a chance they heard disturbing news from a higher authority, too, and headed home.”
Rena looked shocked. “What about their job to protect the public?”
“How long are they supposed to do that at the expense of their own families? They’re human, Rena. Look at Stubs. He figured out what’s going on quickly enough to start gathering like-minded people in our quiet neighborhood. Can you really fault those whose protective instincts drove them into public service, who probably know better than anyone that things are only going to escalate, for wanting to protect their own families?”
Rena let that sink in. She pulled the vodka out of her bag and took a big swig, then handed it to Dreia.
“How do you know so much about all of this?”
Dreia took a drink and passed the bottle back while she reflected on Rena’s question.
“Well, it all started when I read a book about a pandemic here in the United States. It was fiction, but the author made it sound so conceivable that I could easily visualize it really happening. Not necessarily the pandemic, but the breakdown of society afterwards. That’s when I started asking my husband questions about preparations our government has in place for catastrophes. While he’s not an expert in that area, his answers did nothing to reassure me.”
“Wasn’t he in the military?”
“Yeah, the Marine Corps for fourteen years
. You’d think he’d be more interested in preparing for emergencies than he is. It’s frustrating sometimes. Anyway, after not getting much from him, I began to follow the news covering natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes, paying close attention to the stories told by the people who were directly affected. Of course, there were lots of feel good tales, like when the Cajun Navy responded to all that flooding in Houston. Can you imagine how long some of those people would have been stranded if regular people hadn’t jumped in to help rescue them? But, later, when the main news outlets stopped sending their star reporters, I continued to pay close attention and was overwhelmed by the high statistics of supply shortages and rising crime. The thought of something happening on a nationwide level, where people would be left to help each other or completely rely on the government, began to terrify me.”
“If the government knew there was a chance something like this could happen, why haven’t they done anything about it? At least told us it was possible?”
“Some have tried. However, I’m convinced most politicians treat normal citizens as nothing but sheep now. For decades, they’ve worked to ensure the flock becomes increasingly dependent on what society provides, thus easily controllable. And I’m not only talking about programs like welfare or food stamps. Everyone is reliant on what we call the grid. Think about it. People completely rely on cities for their electricity, gas, water, trash removal, and most depend on stores for everything they use . . . food, clothing, tools. These are all things our ancestors were able to provide for themselves.”
Rena was quiet for several minutes before responding in a stunned voice, “You’re absolutely right. How did we not realize what was happening? We’re more educated as a whole, yet it’s only made us more ignorant. We don’t even know what we don’t know anymore.” The revelation floored her.
“Greed, the bane of humanity. In a relatively short time, Americans evolved from producers to consumers. And politicians kept passing new laws to keep it that way. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love our country. However, I truly believe that moral, upstanding politicians have become outnumbered by the ones just out to line their own pockets. I mean, get this, there’s been lots of press on global warming lately and a huge push for solar panels and clean energy, right?”
