Within These Walls

Chapter 8

"Get upstairs!" someone shouts.

I stagger up and lurch toward the metal stairs. Two beeps. They're slightly longer than seconds but not long enough. There's no way all of us will make it in time.

The stampede swallows me. Bodies press and jostle. I count the beeps. Eight. Nine. I'm nearly to the first landing when an elbow smashes into my head, slowing me down.

"Move!" someone screams to my right.

Fourteen. Fifteen.

I hug the railing and ride out the pain as it hits me. Around me, screams echo. Metal clanks as some of the kids fall.

"Help!" someone screams when it's over. "Please help me!"

I spot the boy: tall and gangly, pinned to the opposite railing. His foot's twisted between the bars, bent wrong.

The beeping starts up again, and I flinch in anticipation. There's nothing I can do for him now. Nothing I can do for anyone else. I push harder, forcing myself to keep up with the crowd.

Six beeps.

There's a flash of reddish-brown hair ahead of me. Carson is trying to get up, but the crowd keeps pushing him back down. I've been forcing myself to ignore the others, but I can't abandon him. As I reach his side, I wrap one arm around him and pull him to his feet.

"Hurry, Carson!"

We make it to the top floor on the twelfth beep. The teens split apart like streams of water from a hose. Marcus is already inside our block. I shove past him seconds before the beeping cuts off.

I sink against the wall, my heart hammering harder now than when I was in trouble. It's only when the danger is gone, when fear no longer has any basis, that I ever allow myself the luxury of falling apart.

"Hey, look—isn't that your roommate, Carson?" Alec asks.

Baxter. I've only seen glimpses of him all day. He was at a back table during lunch, mingling with a quiet group that reminded me of the smart crowd at school. Now he's on the floor about ten feet from us, halfway between the stairs and the doorway.

He's facedown. Not moving. A few feet from him are a couple of others who didn't make it.

Alec steps closer, his feet almost at the doorway. "Hey! Baxter! Get inside!"

Baxter moans and lifts a trembling hand in our direction. His bracelet is beeping, but he's not moving.

"He can't get up," I say.

"Like I said," Marcus says. "Survival of the fittest. And he's not exactly the alpha type, is he?"

Alec snorts. "You've been reading too many werewolf books."

The beeping stops. A second later, Baxter's body jerks. It's weird seeing someone under the effects of the bracelet. The way his body turns stiff as a board, his clenched fists, the harsh sounds coming out of his throat. It lasts all of three seconds before his body relaxes again, but I know it feels like a lifetime.

He stays motionless when it's over.

"You think they'll stop doing that to him?" Alec asks.

"I don't know," Carson says. "Maybe we should help him."

"You want to get stuck out there, too?" Marcus scoffs.

That's the last thing I want, but leaving Baxter out there doesn't sit well with me. It's funny in a not-so-funny way. I've spent my entire life surviving alone. Depending on myself and no one else. Mom stopped taking care of me when Sam came into our lives. He gave me the bare minimum to exist. Not much of a coddler, that guy. He taught me to look out for myself and no one else.