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“They’re letting people out,” Abel informed us. He reached down, grabbed ahold of my hand and dragged me to my feet. His eyes blazed bright green and the look in them told me not to argue with anything he had to say. “If they’re letting people out then we are not hanging around.”

He moved towards the exit, pulling me along behind him. As we moved he laced our fingers together which seemed more intimate to me than our palms pressed together.

People either moved out of his way or he shoved then roughly out of it. If it were me I’d have gotten out of his way. The twins were huge and could likely do some serious damage. I felt like a dwarf standing beside them and I wasn’t exactly short.

The teachers were all yelling their own version of the same thing.

“Remain calm.”

It was a little late for that one, but I guess things could always get worse.

“Leave in an orderly fashion. No pushing or shoving. Let’s try to be civil here people.”

Again, it was a little too late. Where had they been with this sound advice when we’d been out in the courtyard where there had been both pushing and shoving? Huh? I tell you, these people were serious A-holes.

“There will be no school tomorrow. Classes will resume on Monday unless you’re notified otherwise.”

This announcement actually had some people cheering. Let’s hear it for a three-day weekend. These people were unbelievable.

“If you feel sick dial 911 or have someone take you to the nearest hospital. Do not attempt to drive yourself. If you drive yourself, you could be putting not only you but everyone else on the road in danger.”

This one was my favorite because it sobered everyone who’d just been celebrating the upcoming three-day weekend. Nothing could put a damper on your joy like thinking about turning into a human fountain of blood.

We made it through the door and out of the cafeteria unharmed. As we made our way out of the building more teachers and staff lined the hallway repeating everything the teachers were saying in the cafeteria.

Abel held on tight to my hand as he pulled me along behind him. The hallway was quiet save for the teachers and staff. The students scurried towards the exits and if they spoke they did so in whispers. It was a drastic change from the loud noise in the cafeteria. Two EMT’s carrying an empty stretcher between them passed by us just as we made it to the door that would lead us outside. I wondered if there were more EMT’s on the way because these two plus the two I’d seen earlier didn’t seem sufficient. And, who knew who else had barfed up their own blood in the time since we left.

The bright light of the sun shined down on us as we walked outside. It chased the chill of the last hour away. The parking lot and the front of the school were lit with flashing red and blue lights. There were three ambulances parked right up front. One must have just pulled up because the EMT’s were only then climbing out. Two fire trucks were parked on the grass beside the student parking lot. Freaking fire trucks. Police vehicles were parked everywhere. The lawn and sidewalk was scattered with very official looking people in uniforms, most of them some form of police officer. Holy crap. This seemed excessive.

“You’d think there was something dangerous and life threatening inside the school.”

“Shh,” Tyson leaned into me from beside to whisper in my ear. “Don’t say things like that too loud out here. It could be taken the wrong way and we don’t want that, especially not now with everyone on edge.”

I couldn’t argue with his logic.

We tried to give the officers and fire fighters a wide berth as we made our way to Tyson’s Audi and the twins monster truck but there were so many of them it proved difficult to avoid them. There were simply too many of them.

I didn’t understand why they were all here. Wasn’t there real crime happening somewhere that some of these people should be off solving? Weren’t there criminals to catch? Speeding drivers to ticket? If ever there were a perfect time to commit a crime in this town it would be now. Possibly even the next several towns over.

After I was safely inside Tyson’s Audi he turned and grinned at me, blinding me with his outrageously beautiful smile. “Do you think it’s weird that I’m suddenly starving right now?”

I made an eww face at the thought of eating food after watching so many people spewing blood all over each other. I didn’t think I could stomach eating anything.

Tyson burst out laughing.

Chapter Seventeen

I called Mr. Cole on the ride home. He didn’t ans

wer and I figured that meant he was still at the hospital with his brother’s family. I left him a brief message explaining to him why school was let out early and that there’d be no school tomorrow. I left out all the gory details and simply told him there was some seriously contagious flu outbreak that spreads like wildfire. I didn’t want him to worry about me, not when he’d already had so much to deal with. I hoped my mother was behaving like a reasonable adult for him.

“Sweetheart,” Tyson called gently. “We’re home.”

Shit.

I’d completely spaced out on him. Had he been trying to talk to me?

“Are you still planning on spending the night at my house tonight?” He asked me.