Touched by the Fear

[20]

"I don't know," Scott answered.

Lydia sighed dramatically. "Can we go now?"

Stiles and Scott nodded. Just as they started to move down the hall, an odd rumbling rose above them. Six pairs of eyes looked up at the ceiling.

"Run," Scott said before he pushed them forward.

Their shoes squeaked on the tiles but the sound was engulfed by a crash as something burst out of the ceiling panels. The sound was deafening in the stillness but Hollis didn't look back. The millions of questions that had sat on the tip of her tongue vanished. The only thing she cared about was getting away from whoever was chasing them.

The doors to the cafeteria slammed open, and the six of them rushed in. Her heart beat quickly from the exertion of running and the terror that ran through her. She looked around the room, seeing empty tables waiting to be filled by students.

"Scott, wait-not here-not here," Stiles said but his words hung in the air, already forgotten. Nobody paid attention to what he had said. Everyone was too preoccupied with the situation they were in.

Hollis stood off to the side, getting her breathing under control. Now that they were somewhat secure, she wanted to know what was going on. But before she could form a question in her mind, Scott spoke.

"The vending machine. Help me push it in front of the doors," Scott said.

"What was that? Scott, what was that?" Allison asked, panic laced in her words.

"Seriously, guys, what's going on?" Hollis asked, looking at both Scott and Stiles. But neither of them spoke a word.

"What happened to the ceiling?" Lydia asked curiously.

Hollis turned to look at her, tilting her head. Lydia shrugged and was about to answer when the sound of screeching echoed in the room. All heads turned towards Scott, who struggled with the vending machine.

"Just help me!" He said, aggravated and scared.

Everyone shared a looked before Jackson and Allison went to help. Even with three people pushing, it took a lot of effort to move the machine in front of the door.

Hollis didn't believe it would keep whoever, whatever, it was out, considering how it had crashed through the ceiling tiles just moments before. But she held onto whatever shred of hope she had. That hope was soon ripped from her as Scott's panic increased. It was like a disease, infecting each and every one of them one by one. The fear was almost visible, suffocating and thick in the air around them. Hollis wrapped her arms around herself, her eyes flickering to the door and straining her ears to see if she could pick up on any sounds outside.

"Chairs. Stack the chairs—" Scott said and moved towards the neatly stacked chairs that sat atop the tables.

Lydia, Jackson and Allison went to help, pulling the chairs from the surface and putting them in front of the door. A chair was thrust into her hands, pulling her out of the numb trance she had been in. She moved it towards the door, unsure if it would hold.

"Guys, hold on," Stiles' quiet voice echoed in the room. But, again, no one paid attention as they worked. "Guys, wait a second. Hello."

Hollis place one more chair down and looked towards Stiles, whose voice managed to break her terrified thoughts. "Stiles, what's wrong?"

"Stop standing around and be useful," Jackson growled, loudly placing a chair on the floor.

"Okay, nice work. Beautiful job, everyone. Now what do you think we should do about the twenty foot wall of windows!" He said, motioning towards the windows.