The Apocalypse Seven by Gene Doucette

Author:Gene Doucette [Doucette, Gene]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780358418948
Google: cQHrDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: 0358418941
Publisher: HMH Books
Published: 2021-05-24T23:00:00+00:00

Carol

Carol had to shout for quite a while before Bethany finally heard her.

In that time, the man on the other side of the door didn’t attempt to pull it open, which was almost worse; it could mean he exited during the three seconds Carol was on the floor prior to her getting the door closed. He could be standing in the hall, laughing at the blind woman.

By the time Bethany made it to the end of the hallway, that was exactly what Carol had convinced herself was going on.

“Is he behind me?” Carol shouted.

“Who?” Bethany asked. “What are you talking about? What’s wrong?”

“There’s nobody else in the hallway?”

“Just you and me. What’s wrong with the door?”

“There is a man in this room. He called me by name. Are you armed with something?”

“Like what, my charm and good looks? Are you serious right now?”

“I am thoroughly serious. Go find a weapon.”

“Okay, okay.”

Bethany ran off.

Carol listened to her stomping down the staircase two steps at a time, jumping to each landing, all the way down. It was comforting, in its way, even if having Bethany fall and break her neck would make this situation that much worse.

It didn’t sound as if Bethany was intercepted on her way down. Because that was the third, and least savory, option: If he wasn’t still in the dorm room, or standing in the hall, he had to be somewhere else in the building. And if he was somewhere else in the building, he had the capacity to attack Bethany while she was making all that noise.

“She’s coming back,” Carol said, through the door. “With a weapon. And Robert’s on his way. You’d better not mess with us or this will end badly.”

It was a ridiculous bit of bravado. The only person less intimidating in this dormitory than the thirteen-year-old girl was the blind woman. Saying Robbie was the most formidable of them was saying almost nothing.

Bethany returned shortly.

“Okay,” she said. “Open the door. Let’s kick this guy’s ass.”

“What do you have?” Carol asked.

“Fireplace poker. Step aside.”

Carol let go of the doorknob and moved to the left of the door. It did not fly open.

“One, two, three,” Bethany said. Then she opened the door and jumped into the room, screaming obscenities.

Carol heard Bethany run around the room, yelling some more and swinging the poker.

It’s option number three, then, she thought.

“There’s nobody in here,” Bethany called.

Carol entered the room.

“Are you sure?” Carol asked.

“I mean, yeah, as sure as I can be. Unless he’s invisible. What’s that smell? Did you . . .”

“Did I what?”

“It just, I mean it’s okay, it smells like piss in here, so I was asking. You know, never mind.”

“That isn’t me,” Carol said. “It’s his smell.”

“Well, he’s not in here, so I don’t know what to tell you.”

“All right. Let’s wait for Robbie in the common room. Until he’s back, we go nowhere alone in this building, do you understand?”

“Geez, sure, Mom.”

“Then you don’t understand. I’ll make it clearer. There was a man in here who knew my name.

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