Chapter 33: Running

Tuesday 9-Oct 2007

Chris looked around the classroom quickly. This was it. Time to say good-bye. They probably wouldn't ever be coming back.

He grabbed Shahia's hands. "Get your kit. Get Maria. I'll get Hassan and Alyssa. We'll meet at the station." He squeezed her hands quickly, and jumped up, knocking his desk over. Quick, everything needed to be done quickly.

Everyone was turning to look at him. "Lisa, David. Go with Shahia. RUN!" Lisa, just because. David, because he could think on his feet and could probably keep up with the girls. Shahia was already getting to her feet. She had her escape kit in her hand.

He looked around the room, thinking. "Joe, Geno, Malcolm, come with me." Joe, just because. Geno, because he wanted someone not afraid to cross the law, and Geno could run. Malcolm, because he had balls, and he could run too.

All of them were in the anything club. Now was time to make good on their promise.

He bent down to grab his own kit out of his bag and headed for the door. The others weren't as quick off the blocks as him and Shahia. Lisa was just passing through the door behind Shahia, but David was just standing up with a confused look on his face.

"They're trying to take Shahia's kids. RUN!"

There was no hesitation after that. David almost caught him as he made it through the door himself.

They were nearly together as they reached the end of the drive. Chris had never run like this before ‑ no warm up, not paced, just absolutely flat stick. He was powered by sheer terror that he wouldn't get to the school in time.

At the end of the driveway they parted. Shahia turned towards the daycare centre with Lisa and David close behind. Chris turned towards the primary school. He glanced back and saw that all three of them were within ten metres of him. It was better than he expected.

While he ran, he considered what he needed to do. Hassan and Alyssa were hiding in a place that he'd found a long time ago, back when he was at their school. In the corridor that connected most of the classrooms, there was a storage room that was unlocked during the day. Inside that room was a series of cupboards. At the back, there was a loose wall board, and behind that, through the spider webs, you could slip down to underneath the building, in the caretaker's storage area.

Chris had snuck in there with Hassan and Alyssa during a primary school working bee a few weeks earlier and showed them how it worked. It'd been fixed, so he'd used a jemmy bar to loosen the wall panel again and left them a lever to push the wall panel shut and a little LED light so it wouldn't be pitch black in there. He was carrying that jemmy bar now, it was part of his kit for just this. He would need it to force the lock on the caretaker's door, since that outside door was usually locked during the day. Of course, all this was dependent on whether they stayed hidden long enough ‑ it was a good spot, but it would only last for so long. How long might depend on where Mr Parslow's loyalties lay, and Chris didn't know about that.

What a relief that he hadn't got around to taking his kit out of his bag!

As they approached the school, Chris slowed and considered his options while the others caught up with him. They were approaching on the corner of the staff car park. They had to go round the other side to get to the caretaker's door. Oh damn! There was a police car in the staff car park. Just what he didn't need. Well, he'd have to hope that this was routine, that they weren't expecting trouble.

He stopped and pulled his jemmy bar out of his kit. Fitting the words between his breaths, he said, "Hassan and Alyssa are hiding round the other side. We need a distraction here. Geno, can you disable that cop car and make as much noise as you can for a few minutes?"

Geno looked at the police car and his face creased into a delighted grin. "YES!" he cried. He pulled a flick-knife out of his pocket. Chris's eyes widened ‑ he hadn't known about that. It was a surprisingly large knife to hide in a pocket. Geno looked like all his Christmases had come at once.

"Don't hurt anybody or break more than you have to!"

Geno glanced at Chris, nodding. He ran towards the car park. As he crossed the road, he reached down and picked up a small rock off the verge.

Chris started running along the road round the school. There were a lot of trees around the edge of the school. They might get around the other side without being spotted. As they turned the first corner, the suburban quiet was rent by the distinctive sound of glass smashing and then the wailing of a car alarm. Presumably Geno had attacked the police car.

They reached the gate nearest to the caretaker's door. Chris could see no evidence of anyone around. He stopped and turned to Joe and Malcolm.

"That's the door there. I'm going to bust through there, bring them out, and run. If anyone comes, you hold them off. You don't have to fight them, just keep them away from us. If you can, lay a false trail towards Shahia's home."

They nodded. Joe said, "Good luck, Chris." Malcolm just smiled at him.

"Thanks." It was a simple plan. Hopefully not much would go wrong with it.

He ran down the path and up to the door. He'd checked the door when he'd shown them this hiding spot in the first place. It had a single bolt with a padlock on it. He'd decided that the weakest spot was between the bolt and the door.

He jammed the jemmy bar down hard between the bolt and the door. Bracing himself, he pulled the jemmy bar up as hard as he could. The bolt ripped out of the door. Because he was pushing hard against the door itself, the door slammed open, smashing against a hollow wall. Chris fell to the ground. The noise reverberated up the building, loud even compared to the car alarm.

Chris picked himself up and wasted a few seconds searching for the light switch. Once the light was on, he made his way into the storage area. Left, behind the first set of alcoves. He turned and found himself blocked by a huge mess of steel wire netting. Behind it, he could see Hassan and Alyssa, holding each other tight, clearly scared out their wits.