Kinetics: In Search of Willow Read Free

But
between the shouts and cheers, something was being drowned
out.
    One of the other guys had just scored
and the few kids sitting in the bleachers cheered. It wasn't until
we formed up to start again and the gym quieted that we heard
it.
    Screams.
    They weren't the shouts of spectators,
which normally accompanied our games and occasionally our
practices.
    They were screams of
terror.
    The other team's center stopped with
the ball in his hands and looked around. Others also stopped and
began to listen. Within seconds, everyone was looking toward the
double-doors that led into the school.
    "What's happening?" Pete asked, wiping
at the sheen of sweat on his forehead.
    "Everyone stay back," yelled Coach
Greene as he waved us back. He peered through the doors' small
windows.
    "Coach, what is it?" someone asked
from the back of the room.
    Coach Greene's face paled, and his
eyes darted back and forth.
    "Outside! Go outside," he yelled,
pointing to gym's back door, which led out into the parking
lot.
    The others looked at each other,
waiting for someone to take charge. I sucked in a breath, not fully
sure of what to do, and ran for the back door. I slammed my hands
on the bar latch. It swung open, hitting the brick wall adjacent to
it.
    I stopped in my
tracks.
    About twenty feet in front
of me on the grass, a pillar of fire blasted up from the ground.
From a single point on the ground fire shot up, spread out and
began circling the school. A wall of fire now stood between us and
the outside.
    I couldn't move. I wanted to get away
from the wall of fire, but my legs would not budge. In my head I
was screaming at myself to back up, close the door and hide. But
every muscle in my body was locked. I couldn't feel any heat coming
off the fire, but it didn't matter. It was too close, heat or
not.
    Tim had followed me out. He shook off
his shock before I could.
    "Fire!" he yelled.
    He grabbed the back of my shirt and
pulled me inside, yanking the door shut behind us. I tumbled back
and hit the floor hard.
    I gasped, not realizing that I had
been holding my breath, and looked down at my hands. They were
shaking violently. I pushed through the shakes and got to my feet,
deliberately not looking behind me at the door standing between us
and a raging fire.
    My friends, teammates and I gathered
around Coach Greene, looking for some explanation for the chaos
rising around us. The screams from inside the school were getting
louder. We were trapped.
    And then it hit me: Willow was still
in the school.
    She could be in trouble.
    "I have to go in there. Willow's in
there," I said.
    The adrenaline that had taken over
while I stared at the wall of fire rushed back through my limbs. I
ignored the protests from my friends and sprinted for the door,
ducking under Coach Greene's hand when he tried to catch
me.
    I slammed the doors open and tumbled
through. My legs locked when I saw what lay beyond the
doors.
    Students and teachers alike were
writhing and screaming in pain on the floor of the hallway, blindly
lashing out at things only they could see. Screams echoed down the
hallway from every corner of the school. The ceiling lights were
flickering in and out and whole sections of hallway were doused in
darkness.
    I hesitated for only a
second before I took a breath and started to job down the hall
toward the classroom where I knew Willow should have
been.
    I carefully stepped over
people lying on the linoleum floors. Some were muttering under
their breaths, and others were outright screaming.
    One of the janitors was
crawling across the floor shouting,
"Bodies!  The
bodies ."
    I inched around him, trying to stay
away from his grasping hands. He saw me and held out his hands.
"Save me. Save me!"
    I jumped away from his grasp. He
rolled over and hugged the wall, slamming his fists into the
concrete and drawing blood.
    Shaking, I crept down the hall,
careful not to step on anyone.
    They were all the same. All the
students and teachers in the halls were