Keepers of the Moon

Chapter 13. The King (4)

The sudden rush of adrenaline cleared my head. I grabbed Abi more tightly and shared a stern look with Miss Wells. If I had thought that she would panic, I was wrong. She looked serene, calm and calculating. We both darted inside the castle, immediately drowning out the peaceful rain. The cantina was deserted and we just saw the little girl named Maddy disappear behind a door. We ran after her, Wells still holding on to two little children who had an absolute look of terror on their faces. With fear coursing through our bodies and hearts pounding in our chests we caught up with Maddy. Without even thinking I grabbed her by the collar and hoisted her into my free arm. I could feel Abi slightly shifting to make room for her friend. The girl hung like a ragdoll in my arm, but never said a word, tears were streaming down her face. She had heard the bomb go off. I just hoped everybody was still moving toward the bus, instead of scattering in fear. Then my bright idea suddenly turned into a disaster.

Four boys were running ahead of us, they were frantically looking around, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

‘Boys! Right here, follow us. Stay close!’ We slowed down a bit and Abi’s read-headed friend grasped the drenched hem of my coat. I felt him tugging at it and felt comfort in the fact that I now knew that he was following me. The other boys trailed behind Wells and together we formed a short train of mortified faces. The further we got along, the more people were running past us, some with medical kits, and others with fire extinguishers. The heavy, penetrating smell of smoke filled my nose and made my eyes water. It mixed with my growing anxiety and I felt like I was about to explode from the tension. Wells was as pale as a sheet of paper and her mouth was drawn into a thin line. She hadn’t said a word about what was happening, because we both knew that this was as dangerous as a situation could get.

Now that we were slowed down by four little children it took us longer to catch up with the remaining five. The corridors were now filling with people who were running in all different directions, depending on whether they were fleeing or carrying out tasks. A siren started blaring and suddenly all the lights went out. There were a few shouts of fear and surprise as people ran into each other. I felt Abi’s unease growing and I could hear her moaning through the deafening noise which seemed to come from the walls. After a few seconds in darkness, frantically searching for our exit the emergency lights popped on. Eerie red, flashing lights pointed out the nearest exits.

‘This is an emergency evacuation, everybody move toward the exits in the main entrance hall, the eastern wing, library, kitchens or the medical wing. The western wing is in lockdown, all exits blocked, please move toward the closest exits. Give room to the fire crew and medical staff. Keep calm and help each other…’ The broadcast was suddenly cut off by a sound that made me stop dead in my tracks. Miss Wells bumped into me and I nearly dropped Maddy.

But it didn’t matter.

I had heard that sound before.

It was haunting me in my nightmares.

I relived it in my daydreams.

I could still feel the pain in my body.

Like it never truly left me, it was still inside of me.

Miss Wells was saying something, but the alarms were drowning out her voice. I had to steady myself against the wall as I was fighting of a wave of panic. Abi had pressed her hands against her ears and was rocking back and forth. Her childish face distorted into pain and agony. I needed to hide, we needed to find somewhere safe. Somewhere they wouldn’t find us. The sickening fear erased me from existence.

All that was left was a memory.

A nightmare.

Pain shot through my shin and it snapped me out of the spiralling mind, controlling fear. Miss Wells was yelling in my face, with a stern look in her eyes. I inhaled sharply and started coughing due to the heavy smoke that was now pouring into the corridor.

‘We need to go!’ She gave me another kick and send me further along. I exhaled with every passing step, I bit on the insides of my cheeks until all that I could taste was blood. The pain kept my mind busy, drowned out the burning terror.

More gunshots could be heard, not only through the radio, but also from behind. We moved as quickly as we could between the growing mass of scared bodies. Someone in an orange safety vest ran past us, skidded to a stop and turned around. Without even a word he placed one kid on his shoulders and took the other three in his arms. I nodded to him, but he had already started running. We ran after him and to my great surprise and relief we found that Fergus had rounded up the remaining children and was waiting for us at the entrance. He looked frightened and was looking around in fear as people whizzed past him in a frenzy of panic.

‘Oh, thank the Gods! Fergus you are marvellous!’ This was the first time I heart some emotion in Miss Wells’ voice, I could almost hear a smile break through her tension. The four of us were about the leave through the door when the high wall to our left suddenly blew apart. Rocks and pieces of torn apart tapestry were shot through the air and I got the wind knocked out of me. The sudden blast, threw me of my feet and I landed on my back. Hard. Both girls were still wrapped safely inside my arms, but I could see they were screaming. My ears were ringing and dust stung in my eyes. For a moment I was completely disoriented and the world had changed into a cloud of moving feet and soundless screaming people. And odd serenity filled my head. Then everything suddenly washed back in and the chaos returned.

The main hall had been blown apart and the high ceiling was showing large cracks. Rubble was scattered everywhere and heavy clouds of dust were slowly settling down. The large tapestry that had made the hall look and feel like home, was completely obliterated. Through the dust I could see daylight pouring in. The outer wall was gone. Inside people were scrambling to their feet. Most of them were covered in dust and blood. Others didn’t get back up at all. Miss Wells had landed just a short distance from me and other than a nasty gash on her forehead she seemed fine. She too was already getting up and pulled both kids back into her arms. She looked around and shared an empty look with me.

Adrenaline was coursing through my body and the world seemed to slow down. I looked around, my heart calming down, my mind again clearing, fear taking a backseat. My body took over.

Fergus had been covering the children with his body and the actual entrance had been spared throughout the blast. They were all shaken, but still in one piece. The man who’d been carrying four kids was also already on his feet. A young boy hung limp in his arms. Then more gunfire came from the remains of the wall and I was already running toward the door. Miss Wells was following suit. We bolted out of the door and luckily spotted the bus right away. The grounds were in complete chaos, people were shouting and shooting at each other. From the right men in heavy, black armour were pouring out of armoured trucks, targeting security personnel, but not really caring about collateral damage. Bullets were whistling past us and I just kept running. The bus was parked on the left, just behind a wall. Without any remorse I threw in both children through the doors on the side and shoved them underneath the couches.

‘Stay there!’

I turned around and pushed Miss Wells into the bus behind them. Fergus was coming round the back, his face completely white. He ducked behind the wheel after he found out that the bus driver had ran off. With the world falling apart around is we managed to get everybody on board. I caught Abi’s eyes and I could only see fear and tears. She looked right through me.

‘I’m sorry.’ I kept repeating those words inside my head. I had failed. She wasn’t safe. I’d done the one thing I swore I would never do to her again.

I was about to get on the bus when several bullets hit the pavement next to me and sent debris flying everywhere. I felt it puncture the skin in my legs and I turned around. Three armoured men were standing in a pile of people. They all wore the familiar moss green tenue that I’d also worn with pride. Anger flared inside me. Something in my mind snapped.

One of the men raised his weapon at me, while the others started targeting the bus. Time slowed down, I made a decision. Everything for Abi’s future.

She had to live.

‘Fergus! Hit it!’ I heart the bus pulling out with screeching tyres and I started running. With a scream of agony, fear and anger I ran straight into the man who had been aiming at me. I tackled him to the ground with all my rage and started pounding him with my fists. The surprise knocked him out and I whirled around to face my other opponents.

More men came running, I was utterly alone.