Alice Stranger

No Explosives

We wound up back in the gym, sitting in a creepy triangle, and staring at each other. It was official. We were the worst at coming up with ideas. Sierra was too nervous about either dying or getting expelled (which one was worse it was hard to say) to really come up with anything. All of Greg's plans included vandalism of school property, or explosives... Which still vandalized school property. And my brain was fried from trying to process everything that had happened. Ten minutes later I almost had a heart attack when the door opened. I sighed in relief when I saw it was the jock kid whom I had sent out earlier. He smiled sheepishly and said, "Sorry, I uh saw the light on." He walked toward us slowly, all of us staring at him. When he decided to sit down we all looked at him. "...Yes?" Greg asked. "Um... Whatcha guys doing?" Was his reply. We continued to stare at him. Was this guy serious? I asked him to do one job, not be our new pal. He cleared his throat and said, "My name's Josh. And I wanna help." I rolled my eyes but Sierra nodded. The Josh guy smiled at her in return. I glared at her and she sighed saying, "It's not like we're making much progress on our own, Alice! Besides, I know Josh. We're in World History together." I looked away. She was right. Whatever. We updated Josh on our goal. We needed to get all the gunmen's attention and lure them out of the school and on our tails. Sounded simple enough. But when we weren't even sure where these bad guys were it was hard to know where to start. Josh was nodding along as we all voiced random ideas, each one worse than the last. "What if we just used the intercom. Then everyone would hear us." He said. We all stared at him in silence. "That would actually be perfect." Greg said. Sierra was starting to get into it now, nodding and exclaiming, "Yes, and that'll let em know where we are! The main office!" I grinned at all of them and stood up. "Then let's head to the office." I said.

After sneaking into the office, and making sure it was empty, we quickly closed the door and locked it. "Okay," Greg said. "So after the guys with the guns start heading our way, how are we supposed to leave the school?" Josh was going through papers in the office's cabinets and he pulled out a school directory. "We can use the gym's back door." He said, pointing it out. The rest of us agreed and then were silent. After that? What? Out onto the street and into the city? We'd most likely get shot before then. I sighed and sat down on one of the few chairs. I cried out when I realized my friend's faces were melting away and then replaced by open sky. I frantically looked around me. I was on a rooftop garden, and I wasn't alone. My father stood close to me. "Alice," he said loudly. "We don't have much time. Do you know where we are?" I was breathing fast and my heart was about to come right out of my chest. But I looked around and saw Central Park near us. "Y-yes." I said shakily. "Good." He said. "I'm unable to get into your school, or very close to it right now. It's hard to explain, but for right now we'll just say there's a sort of... Forcefield around it. I need you to follow these directions-" he strode towards me and shoved a piece of paper in my hand. "And come straight here. I've gotten permission to bring you all to the main building. Now hurry! We don't have much time." Immediately I was thrust back into the scene of my school and I opened my eyes to see everyone gathered around me. Sierra was crying again, and Greg was yelling my name. Josh looked terrified. "I'm okay." I breathed out. They all gasped in relief. "What happened to you?!" Sierra asked. "I had an.. An episode." Josh looked majorly confused, but Greg was nodding. "So this is what you meant by your 'daydreams'." He said softly. "Yes, but usually I'm the one controlling them.. " I said. "This time. Well, this time my father's helping out." I lifted my hand, showing them the paper still gripped tightly between my fingers. They stared at it in shock. I quickly laid it on the table and read through the directions. They listed the streets and back alley ways to get to the rooftop garden. I was a little unfamiliar with them, but Josh said he recognized the area. He was turning out to be more useful then I had originally thought. After we walked through the plan a few times we all sat in silence. "I want to do it." I said after a few moments. "No, Alice, me or Greg can do it, really." Josh said. I shook my head and said, "No.. No I need to be the one to do this." My hand was shaking when I reached for the intercom. I took a deep breath and then pressed the button. "I know who you're looking for," I said, trying to make my voice sound stronger then I felt. "It's me. I'm the dreamer. And I'd like to see you try and catch me." With that I turned around, shot out the door, and ran for my life. The slapping of our feet echoed in the empty halls as we ran for the gym. We heard yelling from behind us and we ran faster. Sierra screamed as the sound of a gun went off. We were almost there now. The door was in view. Josh reached it first, wrenching it open and holding it as we all hurtled toward through the doorway. We were all gasping for breath but we didn't dare slow down. The gym door slammed open with a bang and I looked back at the horde of men. Bad idea. They were terrifying. Huge and rough they looked like hardened criminals. The amount of guns they had certainly helped the image. I cried out when I saw the read headed boy was still with them. He was obviously injured, hardly able to run at all. We flew out the back door and into the sunlight. We hit the pavement running, the gunmen not far behind. Josh was in the lead, Greg close behind. Sierra was a little behind me, but I was slowing down, unable to stop myself from glancing back at the red headed boy. "Alice, come on!" Greg yelled back to me. I heard another gun shot but I kept slowing down. I was trying to think of something, anything, to help the boy. Desperately, I thought back to what my father had said. If he was right, and my daydreams were actual places then that meant I could visit them. Not just with my conscious, but my whole body. Another gun shot rang out and I shuddered. I pictured myself running right beside the boy, close enough to snatch him away from the other men. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to imagine the scene. I yelled in frustration when nothing happened. I looked over my shoulder in time to see the boy go unconscious. I wanted to scream but instead I concentrated on my mental image. From one place to another, simple enough. And then it happened. One second I was running in front of them, the next I was beside the red haired boy, wrenching him away from the shocked man who was holding him. I squeezed my eyes shut and pictured myself at the rooftop garden. Please work again, I prayed silently. A bright flash and a sudden wave of nausea came over me and I opened my eyes to see that it had worked. We were on the rooftop. I slid to the ground, no longer able to support the boy. My vision was growing dim, and I struggled to keep my eyes open. I registered my father rushing to me, him shaking me and saying something. But I couldn't hear anything. It was like I was underwater. I struggled to breathe, my vision now covered in dark spots. Please let the others make it, were my last thoughts before completely blacking out.