Killer of Giants

by Oliver Lockhart

possibly be any worse than here was almost enough to make me smile.

  Feeling the weight of Allie’s eyes on my back, I glanced over my shoulder.

  Her bottom lip wobbled. “I did this.”

  A lump of guilt hardened in my gut as I continued down the hall. In Chicago, all this would be behind me, living as a nobody where no one knew me, and no one had a reason to hurt me. It wasn’t my fault people were getting hurt here. I never asked for trouble, and I’d already had my fair share. Once I was on that bus, I’d forget about Cannondale. A new life.

  It sounded good, but it wasn’t working for some reason. The thought of leaving made me feel empty, like part of me was about to die. If it was the right decision, why did I feel so hollow?

  Raj gave me a hurry-up wave as he opened the door to the schoolyard, and in that moment, something my old man once told me came to mind. When I was thirteen, he caught me cutting class and lectured me like I’d been living a life of crime. “The man you'll become isn’t about chance,” he said. “And it won’t be about things that happen to you, it’ll be about the decisions you make. Every man is the sum of his decisions, and if you always take the easy option, it'll build up like a debt you can’t repay.”

  I looked over my shoulder again. Allie stepped back until she hit the wall and slid down onto the floor, burying her face in her hands.

  That was it. There was no leaving her like this. I stopped mid-stride and let my bag drop to the floor.

  “Come on!” Raj shouted. “Let’s go.”

  I rushed back to Allie and crouched next to her, putting my hand on her shoulder. “I’m not leaving. Not till we fix this.” She searched my face and put her hand on mine, the heat from her body warming my chilled fingers. I scanned both ends of the hall. Rhonda’s admin office was at one end, and the door to the library was at the other. A speaker for the school PA system hung above the library door. I called out to Raj, “I’ll get Kyle and Bundy out of the art room. When I do, you and Allie get everyone out.” Not waiting for an argument, I pointed at the library. “I’ll meet you in there after.”

  “After?” Allie wiped her eyes. “What are you doing?”

  Raj’s shoulders sank, and he leaned his head against the doorframe.

  I sprinted down the hall to Rhonda’s office and pushed open her door. “Rhonda, didn’t anyone tell you?”

  Her fingers hovered above the keyboard. “Tell me what, honey?”

  “Calvin Johnson’s taking selfies with everyone out the front.”

  She gave a wry smile. “Am I really supposed to believe that?”

  “He’s here for an NFL Hall of Fame school visit. Didn’t you see him on the news last night?”

  She tilted her head. “He’s what?”

  “I just thought you’d want to know, that’s all. He’s leaving soon anyway.” I stepped away from the door, and her eyes narrowed. With a gasp, she whipped a hand mirror out of her purse and ran her tongue along her teeth. Tossing the mirror onto her desk, she leapt up, pinched the sides of her dress, and hitched up her pantyhose. I waved her out. “Better hurry. He’s leaving.” She scurried down the hall, and I slipped into her office and shut the door.

  The door had no lock on the inside, so I dragged a metal filing cabinet from the opposite wall and hauled it behind the door. Her desk was cluttered with stacks of paper, framed photos, and a microphone for the PA system. I took a deep breath and pressed the red button on the base of the mic stand. The button lit up and a crackle erupted from a speaker on the wall. I leaned close to the mic. “Kyle and Bundy–” The speaker let out a high-pitched squeal. “I’m in the admin office. Come and get me.” I let go of the button and wiped the sweat from my brow.

  A frenzied clip-clopping of heels from the hall grew louder. Rhonda appeared at the admin window, her face screwed up as she rattled the door. “What are you doing? Get out of my office!”

  I leaned in to the microphone and pressed the button again. “Isn’t this what you want? Come on. I can’t wait forever.”

  Outside, Gordie limped up to the window on one crutch, his phone tucked between his ear and his shoulder. He scrawled on a sheet of paper and pressed it to the glass.

  THEY’RE COMING

  As far as my plan went, this is all I had – from here I’d have to wing it. The door shuddered with a heavy thud and Rhonda pushed through, tipping the filing cabinet onto its side and spraying folders and paper across the floor. “Look what you’ve done. Get out of my office. Get out!”

  Staying here would make me a fish in a barrel. I leapt over the filing cabinet and shot past her into the hall. With my heart jumping out of my chest, I shouted over my shoulder at Gordie. “Meet me in the library!” Fifty feet ahead, the door at the end of the hall crashed open. Kyle and Bundy lurched through, locked onto me, and started in my direction.

  Changing course, I darted into the stairwell and thumped the button on the wall on my way through. The magnetic lock released, and the door creaked closed behind me as I shot up the stairs. At the second floor landing, the door on the level below me creaked open, and puffing and stomping echoed up the stairwell.

  I continued up the stairs, my legs weakening and the heavy clomping of shoes below growing louder. At the third floor, I thumped the button on the wall, letting the door fall closed behind me, and raced into the hall. Without looking back, I ran to the first door along the hall, elbowed it open, and stumbled into darkness.

  Slivers of light filtered between the blinds, enough to make out the dim outline of a teacher’s desk at the front and six large student benches filling the rest of the room. As my eyes adjusted, I could make out a poster of the Table of Elements with burnt edges on the wall, and a glass cabinet in the corner filled with test tubes and corked bottles. A door on the far wall was stenciled with “STORAGE”.

  I scooted to the back of the room and crouched behind a bench. Outside, the frantic clomping of shoes grew louder. They’d have me cornered if they came in, and the only hiding place was the storage room, and maybe the cabinets under the benches. With a feeling of dread that I was making the wrong choice, I pushed open the sliding cabinet door and crawled inside, tucking my knees into my chest and cramming my shoulders under a shelf of beakers.

  At the front of the room, the classroom door’s hinges creaked and footsteps moved across the floor. Silence. Making as little noise as possible, I eased the cabinet door closed.

  A muffled whisper came from across the room. Several feet away, a sliding cabinet door squealed on its track and slammed shut. I tensed, hugging my knees tight as shoes padded across the linoleum floor. My cramped hiding place pressed at me from all sides, the air getting warm and stale, and the smell of chemicals and burnt plastic stinging my nose. I strained my neck to get my mouth closer to a small ventilation window at the front. The only thing worse than being dragged out of this child-sized coffin by Bundy and Kyle would be if they trapped me inside.

  One by one, cabinet doors rolled open and slammed shut, each one nearer than the last. The sweat on my back turned cold.

  Somewhere in the room, glass smashed and tinkled onto the floor. The footsteps grew louder, and the hairs on my neck prickled. On the other side of the ventilation window, someone in jeans stepped behind the bench next to mine. Bundy’s back and head came into view as he crouched and slid open the cabinet. Straightening, he moved out of view, and his footsteps circled behind me.

  With the slightest rustle, I shifted my leg and pressed my shoe hard against the cabinet door track. Silence. The cabinet door rattled and jammed hard against my shoe. Inches from my face, a grunt came from the other side of the thin wooden panel next to my head as Bundy pushed against it. I gritted my teeth and strained to keep my foot from slipping.

  Nearby, a door creaked open, and Kyle called out, “Over here.”

  The pressure on my shoe eased and heavy steps plodded toward the storage room.

  I lowered my foot and held my breath, listening. I wouldn't even have the slimm
est chance trapped in here if Bundy came back to finish the job. Even so, staying put was probably the safe option, but every fiber of my claustrophobic being wanted to get out of this dwarf-sized death hole before he came back. Pressing my fingernail to the edge of the laminate, I guided the door open and climbed out hands first. A tingling pain rushed into my legs as I crawled along the floor to the side of the bench.

  At the far wall, Bundy stood peering into the storage room. I pushed myself to my feet and crept past the ends of four benches to the front of the lab. With my eyes on Bundy, I opened the classroom door, slipped out into the bright light, and let the door fall gently closed behind me.

  In almost blinding light, I ran down the empty hall, turned the corner, and continued past the music room. Relief rushed over me as I neared the stairwell, breathing fast. Even if they caught on, a head start might be enough to get clear of them and away from this place permanently. I wiped my brow and threw a glance over my shoulder. No sign of movement. With thirty feet to go, the stairwell doors swung open, and two girls stepped out, one in blonde highlights and the other in heart-shaped glasses. Brittany and Aisha.

  I staggered to a stop, searching their faces as they stared back at me. This wasn’t going to end well.

  Brittany’s brow wrinkled, like she was calculating how best to screw me over. And then, her expression softened