“Noah?” I take his hand firmly but gently. It flutters in my grasp like a trapped bird but I don’t let it go. I have to get him back to the washroom. It’s the only option. Not ideal, but safer. At least we’ll be together.
I pull the bottom of the broom handle slightly, sliding the rectangular head into the hall as I coax him out. “Noah. Come with me. It’s time to sweep.”
Noah doesn’t speak, but he has lots to say to the few people who know how to listen. No, his body says. He pulls away. Rocking side to side. Tapping his head. Noah knows his schedule, the photos Kim uses to cue him for his next activity. Lunch is over. Caf duty is done. It’s library time with Kim now. This isn’t right and he knows it.
“Come on, Noah,” I urge, slowly turning up his hat so he can see. He tilts his head, watches me in his peripheral vision, as usual. As much as I want him to, he never looks at me directly, but I know he is listening.
I push the broom head with my foot and he follows its handle out of the closet. His free fingers twiddle his hair, worrying the strands left around the bald spot behind his ear.
BANG!
Instinctively, I duck down, dragging Noah by the arm. The explosion came from the main stairwell. Close. Too close.
“MUTANTS RULE!” a guy’s voice shouts before getting drowned out by a series of blasts.
BANG-BANG! BANG!
Noah shrieks and raises his arm, breaking free to cover his ears.
BANG-BANG!
The stairwell window explodes, raining shards of glass down the hall.
“NO!” I reach, grasping at Noah’s track pants as he tries to bolt. “Stay with me! NOAH! Stay here!”
But it’s all too much for him. And he runs, broom in hand, back the way I came, disappearing around the corner.
I take off after him, terrified his long stride has already taken him out of my reach. But as I turn right, I run headlong into something huge. Someone huge. And ricocheting off the barrel chest, I fall back to the ground among the broken glass.
I look up to see the Hulk towering over me. He’s got my brother by the scruff of the neck. And no matter how Noah shrieks and flails, the Hulk holds fast.
I don’t know whether to be terrified or thankful.
Then, with his free hand, the Hulk reaches down for me. “C’mon! Move!”
The three of us run back down the hall, circling wide by the west stairwell doors. We sprint for the men’s room, slamming into one another as we hit the locked door.
“Open up!” the Hulk pounds on it with his huge fist.
“She can’t open it,” I say, breathless. “It’s against the rules.”
“C’mon, Izzy!” He pounds harder. “It’s us. Open the damn door!”
A few pops echo in the empty hall. Not nearly as close as the last ones, but just as unnerving. Especially when we hear, “This is the police! Put down your weapon!”
The blasts continue and seem to be growing louder. Closer. Any second I expect to see gunmen come running around the far corner.
The Hulk looks at me and we both know, there’s no way she’s opening it now.
“Screw this!” he yells and lifts his huge furry foot. He kicks the door hard. Once. Twice. On the third, the wood splinters around the lock, and the door flies open to reveal Isabelle cowering and freaking in one corner. While in the other, Xander watches us all through the lens of his camera.
Click.