The effect was instantaneous. His words leaped from mouth to mouth and swept through the mass of teens in half a second. Like a bomb, panic exploded in the crowd. Shrieks and screams split the air. Everyone began frantically pushing, trampling, trying to run, but no one knew which way to go. Hysteria broke loose like a wild animal as teens crashed through dividers, beat down booths and counters, even knocked each other down in a frenzy to escape. There was an ear-splitting groan, and one of the towering rides swayed and crashed to the street, overturned by the stampede. The chaos choked the very air, but the unrelenting gunshots cut through it all, drawing steadily nearer.
Panicked, Reed whirled around. Elijah was not by his side anymore. Reed caught sight of his friend off to the right near the edge of the crowd. Alec was there, too. But, before Reed could move in their direction, the two boys turned and plunged into the heart of the frantic mass. At the same instant, Gabe flashed past him in the same direction.
The shots, pounding in a ceaseless, deadly rhythm, were closing in on him. Not twenty yards away, teens began dropping. Those nearby fought wildly to scatter, but the surrounding crowd was a wall, too thick for them to go far. It was a slaughter.
Without warning, a girl not five feet from Reed spun and dropped to the road, her long brown hair falling around her into a growing, red pool on the cement. Reed stared, horrified. There was no more time; he had to get out now or he… he would be next. It was surreal to even think it. I have to get out of here. Without a second’s hesitation, he turned and dove into the crowd.
The terror-stricken mass fought him for every step. His progress was agonizingly slow. With each ragged breath, his heart raced faster, beating against his ribs in a throbbing, clutching, growing fear. Someone’s elbow struck him in the jaw. He knocked it aside and kept going. But the shots weren’t getting further behind him; they were gaining on him. He couldn’t move fast enough in this crowd!
Suddenly, Reed was slammed from the side and hurled to the ground by a boy running for his life. He felt the concrete smash into his body and the boy’s foot dig into his back. He heard the boy curse as he stumbled over Reed’s body and then a strange, sickening thud. A choking gasp, and the boy fell full length on the concrete, unmoving.
Reed lay where he had fallen, stunned by the impact. One more second—half a second—and that bullet would have buried itself between his shoulder blades. He made no move to rise. Something in the back of his dazed, terrified mind told him to stay low. He wasn’t sure he had enough strength to sit up anyway. The shots continued, and he heard the bullets ripping through the air above him.
The panicked cries and screams began to lessen. Waves of teenagers were fleeing either up to the Dorms or down to the city.
They’re leaving me. The thought sliced through Reed’s dulled mind like a hot iron. He was about to be left alone with an armed murderer. Without the crowd, there would be nothing between the two of them, nothing between himself and the unthinkable. He would be dead in seconds.
You can’t stay here! You have to move! Gathering his quivering strength, he rolled to his stomach and began to crawl painfully across the pavement toward the Dorms. Horror cudgeled his mind and goaded him on, screaming to his terrified brain. Move! Move! Move!
He grimaced, clenching his teeth as he dragged himself across the rough concrete, but his frantic mind felt nothing, understood nothing. One thought occupied his entire being and clutched at his heart. If I don’t make it… if I don’t make it…
The cement ripped several buttons off his shirt. It scraped the skin of his forearms tender; he was missing a piece below his left elbow. He could taste dust in his dry mouth and feel grit in his eyes. The stretch of concrete was eternal. There’s no way you can make it in time.
He wasn’t sure how far he had crawled before it happened. The firing cut off. He stopped moving and dug his cheek into the rough surface, cringing. It did not start again. He lay for another moment, waiting. Nothing happened. Cautiously, he raised his head. Still, the shots did not resume. Taking a deep breath, he struggled to his feet, rubbing his arms, and looked about him dumbly.
It was horribly still. A handful of other teens remained standing on the road. The collapsed ride lay not far away in a heap of twisted yellow metal like a mutilated Titan. Shredded canvas hung limply from booth frames and overturned counters.
It was over.
But the ones standing were not the only ones left on the street—not nearly. Reed passed his hand over his eyes to clear his mind from the nightmare, but the ghastly vision did not depart. Most of the crowd had vanished, and left where it had once been were bodies, scattered on the ground. They had been kids not half an hour ago, living and laughing; but now they were groaning, bleeding, dying. Bodies—kids—just like him.
Like a curtain, his previous blind terror fell from Reed’s mind. A new sensation rushed through him, pushing back everything else. Just like him. It was strange, foreign, but suddenly he wanted nothing more than to help them, to do something.
Apparently, he was not the only one who had the sudden awakening. The others who were left broke from their trances and fell to work immediately, going from victim to victim, looking for signs of life.
Reed dropped down next to the nearest boy and rolled him over. He started when he saw the face. It was Will, who had first brought the news of the carnival to Reed and Reagan. He was not breathing. Reed sat back, staring. So this was death. It seemed different now with the horror of its reality lying in his lap. This was what he’d escaped only minutes before. One shot was all it took, and there was nothing he could do about it.
He dropped his eyes from the still face and saw that Will’s hand still clutched a CD of the Hordes of Hell. It was shattered by the bullet that had taken his life and dyed a deep scarlet.
Reed stood up slowly. There would be time for sadness. Now, others needed help. Sirens began to wail in the city below. Ambulances were on the way, but they would be too late for some. Reed hurried on to the next form.
Some of those who had fled to the Dorms began to trickle back. Some of them, after staring at the scene for a moment, also set about helping the fallen. But not all. The shock was too much for many; they collapsed against trees or fell to their knees wailing, rocking back and forth. The rest worked on.
The returning trickle turned to a rush. More teens appeared on the road and began helping feverishly. Shirt sleeves, whole shirts, bottoms of jeans and skirts, scarves, and fair prizes became bandages. Belts turned into tourniquets and makeshift stretchers. There was a strange sense of urgency and kinship like nothing the Hill had ever experienced. It was a single heart, a single drive, a single truth in three simple words: just like me. Friends or strangers, it didn’t make a difference. They were fellow humans, and that was all that mattered.
For the next two hours, they did what they could to clear the roadway for the emergency vehicles, comfort the wounded, and help load them into ambulances. Some of the victims could walk on their own or with help from other teens. Others could only be moved by the medical staff and had to wait for assistance. These were the worst, often crying hysterically and begging someone to stay with them. Several had to be extracted from the wreckage of the fallen ride.
By the end of it all, Reed was exhausted. He paused to survey the scene as the last ambulance roared down the road into the city. Dozens of other Dorm residents, looking just as tired as he felt, remained and watched the sun set red in the west.
They had done it, Reed realized. Catastrophe had struck, but they had rallied together. They may have run at first, but they had all done their part in the aftermath. Reed felt proud to be one of them.
As he turned back up the hill, he caught sight of a familiar group half-way up the slope. Lucy, Katy, Kara, and Sarah were gathered in a little knot near the Dorms. He hurried to catch them. As he neared, he realized they were not alone. Alec, Elijah, and Gabe, looking no better than anyone else, were with them. Reed hadn’t thought about the three after they had vanished into the crowd but, seeing them now, he was relieved of a subconscious worry. They were still alive and walking.
“Well,” Alec greeted him as he joined them, “you’re a sight for sore eyes. You’re not hurt, are you?”
“Me?” Reed glanced down at the remnants of his shirt and realized for the first time it was covered in blood. “No, just tired. That’s somebody else’s.”
“Same here,” observed Elijah, eyeing his stained arms. “We probably need to wash this off outside. It’s really not safe.”
They found a faucet on a wall of one of the dorms and took turns rinsing their hands and faces. As Reed leaned against the wall, waiting for his turn at the water, the adrenaline that had carried him through the long, traumatic ordeal gave out. All the emotions he’d forced back rushed over him, not to be stopped, and he was suddenly tired, heartbroken, and sick. The full horror of what had happened and what he had seen struck him in a crushing reality. His former pride faded and, instead, he felt cold and shaken to his very core. All it had taken was one man, one gun…
Reed had a sudden thought. “Hey, what happened to the shooter? He just stopped all of a sudden, and I never heard anything about him.”
“Somebody took him out,” replied Gabe, drying his hands on his thighs.
“Somebody?” exclaimed Lucy. “You mean you did.”
“I did not,” countered Gabe. “Alec and ’Lijah did most of it.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Wait,” Reed interrupted, “you guys did it? How? He had a gun!”
“Well, we tried to talk him down first,” said Alec, shaking the water from his arms, “but that didn’t go over very well. In the end, it took three of us, but we got him.” He paused and rubbed his jaw. “It wasn’t quite as easy as I wish it had been, but we had a few things in our favor. Never mess with ’Lijah in a fight.”
Elijah had his face in the stream of water and couldn’t reply.
“What happened to him?” Katy asked timidly. “Did you… did you… kill him?”
“Oh, no,” Gabe assured her, “Just incapacitated him. The police took him after they got there. Maybe he won’t have too many internal injuries or concussions.” He paused. “Okay, so maybe it’s wrong, but I really don’t care if he does.”
The momentary distraction passed. Reed leaned his tired back against the wall, absorbing the warmth that radiated from the bricks, and tried to right his shaken psyche. There was so much horror, so much pain. The others must not see him like this. He had to pull himself together.
Elijah, drying his face and arms, looked up and met Reed’s eyes. “How are you holding up?”
Reed only shrugged. Elijah straightened and joined him by the wall. “It’s okay to not be okay, dude,” he said, leaning against the warm bricks. “We’re all shaken up. Somebody tried to crack the fishbowl, and we can’t just walk that off.”
Reed rallied his failing spirits. “He tried,” he answered, “but he didn’t, did he? Maybe the Hill’s tougher than you think.”
Elijah cocked his head and searched Reed’s face. “Do you really believe that?”
“Of course! Didn’t you see the way everybody pulled together? I love this place.”
Elijah stared into the distance but said nothing. Sarah approached before Reed could say anything else. “’Lijah, I hate to bother you, but would you mind walking us home? It’s not that far, but I don’t want to take any chances tonight.”
“My pleasure,” Elijah replied, awakening from his distant mood. “Cody might be wondering why I’m not back by now. I should get going.”
After they had all finished washing, he and the two girls started down the sidewalk toward the apartments. As the others turned toward the Dorms, Reed, on a sudden urge, turned back and called after the figures disappearing into the dusk, “Hey, ’Lijah! Thanks for earlier. I’ll keep working on that knot.”
Elijah waved. Gabe gave Reed an odd look. “What was that about?”
“Oh, nothing.” Reed forced a half-smile and a shrug. “Anyway, I’m tired, and I need to go make sure my roommates are okay.”
Lucy looked concerned. “Do you think they might’ve gotten hurt?”
“No, but it’s a good excuse to go up and get into bed.”