Chapter 7

At that moment, we heard gunshots coming from down the hall. Shit, another class was being hit by terrorists! We rushed to the door of our classroom, but we were not so foolish as to run out into the hall before we knew what was going on. Marlene carried a small mirror in her purse, and she dashed back to her desk to fetch it. Only moments later, Marlene was back and using the mirror to examine the corridor. Nobody was visible, so we slipped out, staying close to the floor.

We had hardly gotten out the door when we heard more gunshots coming from the next room. There were some screams of pain and a lot of crying. That room was used for art classes, so there were no desks to shelter behind. We ran to the door and stopped. The door was completely open, but we could not see the shooters when we used the mirror.

I formulated a quick plan which I whispered to Marlene. I had her stay where she was while I ran to the other side of the door. Once I was in place, she and I banged on the wall with our batons. I hoped that would sound enough like muffled gunshots to draw the shooters to the door where we could reach them. The sounds would have fooled me, so I hoped that it was having the same effect with the shooters.

We heard some talking in a language we could not understand. At least, there was no more shooting. Then we heard footsteps headed our way. A man inside the room shouted something we couldn't understand, and a gun barrel poked out the door. There was nothing to see but that gun barrel, but there were kids in the room possibly dying because they had no medical help. Ah, there it was. I could hear sirens out in the street. Either the cops or the medics, or maybe both, were finally coming to our rescue.

Nevertheless, we couldn't wait. Being careful to stay shielded by the wall, I grabbed the gun barrel and pulled. Dammit, that thing was hot! But I did not dare turn loose. I fell back and the gun began to fire, probably by accident. In any case, I did drag a man part way out of the classroom. The moment that he was far enough out for her to reach him, Marlene smacked him in the kneecap with her baton as hard as she could swing it.

The man had no choice but to fall. As he fell, she swatted him over his ear with the end of her baton. Both of us could hear his skull crack, so we were down one enemy. The other man shouted something and leaned out of the doorway. That was all I needed to hit him in the windpipe with my baton. He dropped his gun as he tried to open up his windpipe to let air through. Of course, that didn't help, but it did make him cast aside his gun. That was when I hit him in his right temple and cracked his skull. I just could not wait for him to suffocate.

I used the mirror to check for any more terrorists in that room. I did not see any, so Marlene and I ran into the room to see what we could do to help the wounded. Blood was everywhere, and there were wounded kids lying about writhing in pain.

I had Marlene use her cellphone to call 911. She got through amazingly quickly and gave the dispatcher a quick rundown on what we had seen and done. Naturally, the dispatcher told her to stay down and out of the way. A SWAT team (Special Weapons and Tactics) was headed to the school and should be here within 30 minutes! Bullshit! The woman on the other end of the 911 line had obviously paid no attention to what Marlene had said.

I lost my temper and snatched the phone from Marlene's hand. "Listen to me, you stupid bitch. We don't have 30 minutes to wait on a SWAT team. Room 109 has four dead, and 17 badly wounded students who are bleeding all over the place. We don't know how to help the wounded, so you get off your fat ass and get some EMS out here to the middle school. If you don't, I will personally beat the living shit out of you, you stupid fucking bitch!"

"You ... You can't talk to me like that. I have procedures that I am supposed to follow. I can't just do things like you say, no matter how many dying people there are."

"You fool, you had better start running now, because I am coming after you as soon as I can get away from here!" With that, I hung up and handed the phone back to Marlene.

Marlene looked at me and said, "Did you mean that?"

"You can damn well bet on it. That stupid bitch is up to her earlobes in shit."

"Okay, Tom, I'm with you!"

That's when the cellphone rang. Marlene answered it. "Yes, Chief, we just called 911 about the trouble at the middle school. I'm Marlene Higgens and Tom Watson is with me. We have just killed four terrorists, and we are trying to get some help out here for the wounded students ... No, we don't know if there are anymore of the terrorists inside the school ... No, we are not going to stay cool! Tom and I are going on a terrorist hunt. We would appreciate it if your people did not shoot at us because we don't have any guns. We are experts in stick fighting, and that is what we have used so far on the terrorists ... Yes, I will call back to 911 whenever we have anything else to report, but you had better get that stupid fucking bitch off the phone by the time I call back ... No, that's it. Goodbye."

Marlene put the phone in her pocket and said, "That was the Chief of Police. He said that the SWAT team would be here as soon as they could make it. He asked for more details as we found them."

We used the mirror again to check the hall. It was clear, so we moved to the next room, 107. The door was open and nobody was in the room. It was one of the math rooms, but it was not in use at this hour. Rooms 105 and 103 were also empty, but Room 101 was full of dead people! There were no terrorists in there.

We crossed over to Room 102 and saw some blood, but no dead people. We had no idea what that meant, but we did not hang around looking stupid. Room 104 had kids hiding on the floor, and the teacher was under his desk. I gave them a quick rundown of what we knew and suggested that they run for their lives while they still could. Mr. Smith wanted to know who we were to give such orders, and I told him that we had just killed four terrorists and did not know how many more there were in the building. "You can stay were you are if you are willing to die, but I would run like hell if I were you." That was when Smith completely lost control of his class. The kids jumped up and started running out the door. Very soon, Smith was mixed in among them.

Rooms 104 and 106 were empty and a mess. It looked like these kids had run already. I sure hoped that they had. Room 108 had the door closed and locked. We did not know what that meant, but we didn't try to force the door. Just as we turned away from the door, four people ran into the hall from outside. They were carrying very mean looking guns. Marlene and I dropped our batons and raised our hands. Thank God, the men from the SWAT team knew who we were and were looking for us.

One of them said, "Pick up your batons and scoot out the door. We'll take it from here. From what I hear, you two did an outstanding job, but it's now time for us to do ours. Please go, now. I would hate for either one of you to get shot." Well, we agreed with that sentiment and hurried out the door.

We were met by the school principal who gave us hell for not following protocol and staying in hiding until the cops showed up. God Damn! I just walked off about half way through her tirade, and Marlene laughed and went with me. Right then, I was sick of that fucking school and their stupid rules. If I had my druthers (preferences), I would never set foot back in that school. However, at the moment, I had a 911 dispatcher to deal with.

Marlene and I caught a bus headed down town, and made our way to police headquarters. Very politely, I asked the man at the front desk where to find the 911 dispatcher, and he gave me directions. We got to the office, and we didn't pause, but marched right in. A man in a police uniform was sitting at the desk fielding calls.