Page 147 of Resurrection
My pulse is wild and loud in my ears, louder than the MC Hammer song. "Nothing is falling apart, Nomes."
I despise myself for causing her pain. "You’re everything," I plead. "You’re everything I want. I've denied myself for seventeen years. I can't continue doing that anymore."
The hallway fades into nothingness, leaving just us and this thin thread of connection that feels like it might snap at any second.
"Please don't—" I barely whisper before my words are swallowed by a sudden sharp pop and panicked cries. The music cuts out abruptly.
Our heads whip toward the gym. Another pop-pop ricochets through the air. For a split second, everything is dreamlike—my vision smudges at the edges as if I've stepped into a painting that's melting off its canvas.
And then it hits me. I know what this sound is. It’s gunfire.
33NAOMI
My mind goes blank,and suddenly, I can’t feel my knees.
Deep in my gut I know what this is but my brain hasn't caught up yet.
A scream splits the air, high and primal, before the first group of people burst into the hallway from the gym.
The chaos that follows is ugly. Bodies crash against each other like a frantic tsunami tide.
"He has a fucking gun!" someone shouts.
The blood in my veins turns to ice.
"We gotta go," Ty’s voice says next to me. He grabs my hand, and his touch wakes me up from my stupor.
We start running. I don’t know where. We're swept along with the panicking crowd, down the corridor connecting the gym facilities to the neighboring building. Left, right, left again.
What's happening?
Is this even real?
Or is the world ending?
I'm spinning out, but Ty’s grip never wavers as we continue our escape. There’s a set of classrooms that come up on our left, and I see several people hide there, ducking under the tables, trying to stay low.
I don’t look back. I'm too scared. I can hear the sporadic shots rattling somewhere behind me, but I don’t dare check to see what’s going on. My fear won’t let me. It burns through me, makes everything blurry, makes everything seem like it’s not real, like I’m in some strange nightmare.
We turn another corner. I stumble, and my hand slips from Ty's. He catches me, breathless and wide-eyed, his grip tight and sure.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes."
He kneels down and removes my shoes, muttering about how someone could break their legs in these heels. I let him do it; I'm too shaken to think clearly.
Another familiar face appears out of nowhere—it's Theo. We used to call him Blabbermouth back then. Why this matters now, I have no idea. My mind seems scrambled, pulling random details from its depths because it can't fully process the situation.
"Get out of here, you two!" Theo yells, waving his hands urgently.
"What's going on?" Ty asks, jumping to his feet. He's holding my shoes in one hand while the other grips mine tightly.
"I don’t know! Someone’s got a gun!"
"A gun?" I repeat stupidly.
But Theo’s long gone, disappeared behind some door. Could be a closet, could be the teachers’ lounge.
