Yet a Stranger (The First Quarto #2) - Gregory Ashe Page 0,92
and the big guy sat on his ass in the mud and snow.
After that, Theo had pretty smooth sailing. He stuck close to the buildings that lined the quad, moving around the perimeter instead of plunging into the milling chaos. The last thing Auggie had done before breaking away was point at Eveleigh, the robotics building. Eveleigh was one of the oldest structures on campus. It had the same faux Gothic details as the other original buildings: the stonework, the leaded glass, and the tall, swooping frame with vestigial buttresses. It also had a large balcony that faced the quad. Whatever Auggie had seen, Theo guessed that it involved the balcony.
To clear the quad, Theo had to merge with the press of bodies funneling out of the exit. For a handful of heartbeats, he was carried along by the current. Bodies jostled him. Fingernails clawed at his sleeve. He caught a whiff of cotton-candy perfume, and then a stronger whiff of coffee. When someone checked him at the hip, he stumbled, envisioned himself going down, the flood of bodies flattening him against the pavement. Instead, though, he stumbled free, caught a breath of the jaggedly cold air—clean air—and realized he was out.
He found Auggie running in the opposite direction, coming toward him from the far side of Eveleigh. Even in the dark, even at a distance, even with the panicked voices and the shouts and cries for help making Theo’s adrenaline surge, even through the layers of clothing, he knew Auggie the moment he saw him.
“He hasn’t come out,” Auggie shouted. “I saw him go into the building from the balcony, but he hasn’t come out.”
“Great,” Theo said, grabbing his arm. Auggie was still moving pretty fast, and his momentum swung them both in a circle, but Theo held on. “Now we’re leaving. We’ll call the police—”
“I already called. I couldn’t even get through to dispatch.” He pried at Theo’s hand. “They’re overwhelmed, Theo. My phone wouldn’t even work on a second try. Everybody’s calling the police right now.” He grabbed Theo’s hand again, but this time, he didn’t pull. Wrapping his fingers around Theo’s, he looked up and said, “He’s going to get away.”
Theo thought of Luke, the flies, the spin of the whole world suddenly out of his control.
“My purse!” a woman shouted. “That kid took my purse!”
A couple of young guys with black armbands turned in response to her cries. One of them clotheslined a kid who was sprinting away. The collision sent all three of them tumbling to the ground, and a sick crunch made Theo think broken bones were involved, maybe worse.
“Not him!” the woman shouted. “That one over there.”
“What a shitshow,” Auggie said. “People are going crazy.”
“Come on,” Theo said, dragging Auggie away from a fight that had broken out between a white man in camo gear and a younger black man wearing one of the armbands.
“Theo, I saw the shooter. I’m not going to leave—”
“I know, God damn it. I know you won’t. But I have an idea of what he’s doing.”
Auggie’s mouth hung open for an instant. He let Theo pull him into a run. Maybe that was the secret, Theo thought. Just overload him with surprises so that he’ll shut up and do what he’s told for five minutes at a time.
Five minutes was optimistic. They were only halfway along the length of Eveleigh before Auggie twisted to look back and said, “Theo, the doors are back there. If he comes out—”
“Eveleigh used to be the Field House.”
“What?”
“When they built the campus, it was the Eveleigh Field House.” They were still running, and Theo’s knee was starting to burn. The cold air crackled in his lungs, and pressure built behind his ears.
“The gym—”
“The gym is new.” The ground sloped down, exposing more of Eveleigh’s foundation. They followed the hill toward the east side of the building. Small windows looked into the basement—in some, yellow light painted the glass, while others were dark. A pair of fire doors were the only exit here. “Five years, maybe six. Until then, the athletics department—”
One of the fire doors opened. A wedge of yellow light cut the darkness. Someone burst out of Eveleigh, and Theo had just enough time to think: man, well built, still moves like he’s young, camo, possibly one of the Ozark Volunteers. Then the door slammed shut, and Theo was blind, his night vision ruined.
Auggie swore, ripped free from Theo’s hand, and raced down the steepest portion of the hill.