What's Enough?

Chapter 175

"Mom," No service at the top of the screen. My breathing shudders as I slowly step out of the elevator. The air in my lungs gets caught in my stomach as my mouth drops open. I cover it with my hands as my eyes scan the bodies on the hallway floors. "Oh my God," The hallway floor is covered with them also painted with red.

A faint whimper comes from Violet's body below me; I drop down to the floor, "Violet," Slowly turning her over, I spot the bullet wound in the middle of her stomach. Blood comes rushing out, and I spring into action. I pull her back into the elevator and prop her up against the wall. Red fluid comes out the side of her mouth; I repeatedly tell her she is going to be okay, even though I don't think she is.

Taking off my jacket, I press it hard against her wound to slow the bleeding. "Who did this?" I ask.

She tries to talk; she tries to formulate words despite her quivering lips and the overflow of blood rushing out of her. I tell her it's okay and not to try anymore. I have to get her out of her; she's not going to make it if I don't get her help soon. I grab my phone and try to make contact somehow even though there's no service. It's useless. I stick my head out of the elevator and look both ways; the hallways are clear...well clear of human life, everyone else is dead.

"I..." she swallows hard. "I don't...want to die,"

"You're not gonna die," Think, think, think. Shit. Okay maybe, the doors are open; they lock from the outside but can't be locked from inside also. "Hold this here, 'll be right back,"

"Please don't go,"

"I'll be back," I make sure she is holding the jacket to her stomach and then walk out of the elevator, tip-toeing down the hall.

I have to step over bodies every five steps. These kids are someone's children, someone's nephew, nieces, cousin, grandson, granddaughter. These kids were someone to someone, and they're all dead.

Wait. Ryder!

Instantly I begin to panic even more. Is he even here? He wasn't here this morning. What if he came late? When I went outside, we were in third period. It was five minutes away from lunch; from the number of bodies laying on the floor, I'm guessing the shooting started once the bell rang. Everyone is in the hall; we aren't in class, so that was the perfect time to go on a killing spree. No one ran outside. I saw no one, so I know that the ones alive are in the classrooms, and by the items, I see built up through the classroom windows, I know they have barricaded themselves in, that is, whoever made it to a room on time.

I hope Ryder is in one of these rooms safe and not a floor bleeding out; better yet, I hope he isn't here at all.

Ryder POV

The back of my head hurts like hell.

I keep knocking it against the fucking wall. Thirty minutes. More like thirty hours thirty years. We have been locked in this room forever.

"Mr.Adams, can you please stop!" The teacher sitting under the desk asks, whispering to me, for the fifth time, I didn't stop ten minutes ago, so why does he think I'll stop now? Honestly, I would stop if I could. I can't, though. The pain keeps me from thinking about Jayda, well, not think about her, but it's keeping me stabilized for now. I want to knock all that shit in front of the door over and storm out of here to find her. Where the fuck is she?

The shots fired seconds after the bell rang. The gunshots came from the floor below us, but everyone was still running ramped; the teachers told us all to go into the rooms; I tried to go the opposite way, but it was too many people, I got pushed back into the room, Mia and I. Before I knew it, everyone was barricading the door, and there was nowhere for me to go. The call went straight to voicemail, and when I texted, the messages never said delivered; that was before the power went out.