Duality: Vol 2, Euphoria (A New Adult Paranormal Romance) (20 page)

It was like being in quicksand.  I tried to push forward, but the crowd carried me back, erasing any progress I was able to make.  I screamed and pushed against people with everything I had, but they were too strong for me.  I wept with frustration.

I was ready to give up and just fall to the ground when firm arms wrapped around my body and pulled me against the wall, shielding me from the mass of crazy people trying to escape.  I struggled at first until I realized who it was.

“Rae!” he yelled, right in my face.  “Oh my god, you’re okay!”

“Malcolm!” I yelled, my voice sounding like I’d lost my mind, a wildwoman’s shriek.  I threw my arms around him and held onto him for all I was worth.  “You’re alive!” I was crying into his shirt, my words coming out muffled.  I couldn’t believe how close I’d come to losing him forever.  Uncontrolled trembling took over my body, making my cries quiver right along with my limbs.

“Thank God, so are you,” he said.  “Holy shit, I thought that guy … I thought you …
fuck
I don’t know what I thought.  But it wasn’t good.”  He took my face in both hands and kissed me hard.

I don’t know how long we stayed there like that, but it was long enough to ease the ache in my heart and the shaking in my legs.  As the crowd died down, we separated, Malcolm pulling us out into the flow and leading us towards the nearest exit at a slower pace than before.  My legs were on fire, but I pushed on, using every ounce of willpower I had to make them carry me to safety.  My heart was going so fast I was certain I was going to have a heart attack at any second. 
Maybe there are more bombs down here.  We need to get out and run away!

The closer we got to our destination, the big staircase leading to the street, the more shouting we heard, not just from people in the tunnel but from people outside of it.  The sound of sirens came too.

“Come on,” said Malcolm, holding me tight against his side.

I gripped him hard around the waist, taking a fistful of his shirt in my hand and promising myself that no matter what, I wouldn’t let it go.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“To the apartment.  We never should have left.”

We walked up the stairs in tandem, taking each step together at the same time.

I nodded, saving my breath for oxygen delivery.  I was feeling lightheaded and sick.  A headache pounded at my temples.

We made it past the group of people at the stairs, but that was as far as we got.  The police and transit authority had cordoned off the area just beyond the exit and we were trapped inside it.

“What the hell?” asked Malcolm, clearly angry.

A nearby officer said, “Stay right there.  We need to organize this evacuation so no one gets hurt.  You’ll be out in just a few minutes.”

“If you want to make sure no one gets hurt, maybe you should go down in the tunnels instead of standing outside it,” said Malcolm.  “There are people who got trampled down there.”

“We’re aware.  We have emergency personnel on the way.  Now please step over to the side there with the others and wait for further instructions.”  He turned his back on us and signaled for the next people coming up to do the same.  He ignored their complaints too.

“I’m freaking out right now, Malcolm.”

“Yeah, me too,” he said in a low voice near my ear.  “I don’t want any cameras picking us up out here so any of our friends can see us on the news or whatever.  The Butts group will know we left the apartment and then maybe they’ll tell us to go to hell and not help anymore.  Just try to keep your face down and don’t make eye contact with anyone.”

I still had my sunglasses by some miracle, so I pulled them down over my eyes and looked at the ground.  I sure wished I’d bothered to wear that stupid wig.  I felt naked and vulnerable out here in the open like this.

Malcolm and I did our best to blend into the group of people waiting for the police to let them go.

Chapter Twenty-Six: Malcolm

I THOUGHT WE WERE IN the clear when they opened up the barricaded area and started letting people out, but I should have known it wasn’t going to be that easy.

“Wait. You, there.  Stop.”  A man in a suit was pointing at Rae.

She pretended not to notice, pushing forward to get out behind a guy in a t-shirt ahead of us.

“Stop that girl.  The one in the glasses!” he yelled at the officer standing near the barricades, while pushing through a crowd of officers and other people in suits to reach us.

“Oh, crap, Malcolm.  What should I do?” she asked, panicking.

I grabbed her hand and held it tight.  “Just chill.  We didn’t do anything wrong.  They don’t know us.  We stick together.  We have nothing to hide.”

She barked out a laugh or a cry, I’m not sure which.  “Ha!  Yeah right.  Nothing to hide.  Relax.  That’ll happen.”

The officer at the barricade held out a hand in a stop gesture.  “Wait right here.  The detective wants to talk to you.”

“We need to get going,” I said.  “Our parents will be really worried.”

The cop frowned.  “You can contact your parents when he’s done with you.”

Rae opened her mouth to protest, but was cut off by the detective’s arrival.  “That’s the girl we want to talk to.  Bring her over to the car.”

The officer looked at her and then me.  “Please don’t give me any trouble about this.  You just have to talk to him for a couple minutes and it’ll be all over.  You can go home to mom and dad when he’s done asking you what you saw or heard down there, okay?  Now move along.  You have people behind you who want to get home too.”  He waved us away dismissively and turned his attention to the next people in line.

“Hi.  I’m Detective Brinkley,” said the suit.  “I’d like to talk to you for just a couple minutes.  Follow me, please.”

“Are we under arrest?” I asked, using the stuff I’d learned from watching TV to guide me.

He hesitated in the middle of turning around.  “No.  You’re just being asked a few questions.”

“Do we have to go with you or can we refuse?” I asked.

Rae squeezed my hand and looked at me with concern in her eyes.  I squeezed her back to let her know I had things under control.

He stopped trying to leave and completely turned around.  “Listen, don’t gimme any shit, kid, okay?  We just had a bomb go off in the middle of the city, people were hurt, maybe even killed, and we’ve got a fucking bomber running around who knows where planning to do who knows what.  I just want to ask you some questions and be done with it.  Are we cool here or do I have to get ugly about it?”

None of the TV shows I’d seen had prepared me for this.  “Uh … yeah.  Fine.  Whatever.  We can give you five minutes.”

He flashed a grin at us.  “Make it fifteen, and I’ll toss in a donut.”  He pushed through a crowd of uniformed officers and led us over to an SUV parked at the curb.  It had tinted windows that were so dark it was impossible to see if anyone was inside.

“Go ahead and hop in,” he said, opening up the back seat door.  There was another person in the front seat who didn’t even bother looking at us.  The back seat was empty.

I hesitated before following his orders, putting my arm out to block Rae from going into the car ahead of me. “I’d prefer to answer questions outside the car, actually.”

“Sorry, no can do.  Procedure.”  He smiled, gesturing towards the car.  He seemed completely non threatening, but I wasn’t going to take the risk.  In every TV show I’d ever seen, the guy driving the SUV worked for the federal government or the bad guys, not the local police department.

“I want to stay outside too,” said Rae, crossing her arms over her chest.  “Procedure, you know.”  She gave him a wise-ass smile that made me want to hug her.

He frowned, staring at each of us in turn for several seconds.  I looked at Rae and she shrugged her shoulders at me, just as mystified as I was.  It’s like he was trying to laser beam us with his eyes or something.

“Why aren’t you getting in the car?” he finally asked.

“Dude, are you deaf?  We just said we’re not getting in.”  I was losing my patience with this guy.  He either had a screw loose or he wasn’t used to being told no.

He stared at us hard again, screwing up his eyebrows in concentration or constipation or something.

“What’s his problem?” Rae asked, whispering near my shoulder.  The guy had to have heard, but he didn’t respond.  Instead, he started looking around, tapping his foot, like he was waiting for someone to arrive and this mystery person was late.

I got tired of the weirdness real quick.  “Yeah, well, it’s been interesting, man, but we’ve got a lot of things to do before we go home, so … later.”  I grabbed Rae’s hand and took off at a fast walk, yanking her behind me and stiffening my arm so she wouldn’t fall.  Her sunglasses clattered to the street when we started running, but she didn’t stop.  We kept pace with one another, zig zagging around people and in between cars, my goal to reach the sidewalk on the other side of the street.

“What are we doing?” she said through gasping breaths.

“There was something wrong with that guy,” I said, doing a quick side step to fit between two car bumpers.

“Hey!  Come back!  I just want to talk to you!”  The guy didn’t even attempt to come after us.  His voice was far behind, and when I looked back, I saw him still standing next to the car.

Our feet pounded down the sidewalk.  I took turn after turn as the blocks went by, not even sure I was going in the right direction but not caring.  We needed to put enough distance not only between us and that horrible bombing thing but also the weird cop, before I would be able to feel comfortable and safe again.

Ha.  As if we’d ever been safe.
  I slowed down when a drugstore came into view, guiding Rae into the door behind me.

“Why are we going in here?” she asked, panting.  We stood just in the entrance, trying to get our breath back.

“I don’t know.  Just to chill for a minute.  Get a coke.  Whatever.”

She let go of my hand and slapped me on the butt.  “I can’t believe you’re thinking of
whatever
at a time like this.”

I frowned at her, confused.  Then I saw the look on her face and understanding dawned.  My neck started burning red.

“Oh, shit.  No, Rae, it’s not like that.  I swear to God!”  My face turned bright red too, now that I realized she thought I’d come in here after a bombing and being chased by lunatic cops to buy condoms.  What a dick she must think I am.

“Suuuuure, it’s not like that.  I believe you.”  She grinned.

I couldn’t help but smile back a little in response.  As uncomfortable as I was, the closeness that we’d shared earlier made even embarrassing moments not so awful.  It was a revelation to me that I could be that comfortable around another person after only knowing her for such a short time.  “Seriously.  I think about that stuff a lot, but not usually when I’m running from a pack of wolves.”

She raised an eyebrow.  “Did I miss the wolves?”

“No,” I said, taking her hand again and walking down one of the aisles.  “Packs of wild train riders and freaky cops.  They’re all wolves.”

“Are we ever going to be safe?” she asked, sounding forlorn.

I stopped in front of big bags of candy, draping my arm across her shoulders.  “Someday, yes.  Right now, probably not.  We need to get some supplies and get back to the apartment.”

“Where is it?”

“I have no idea.”

“What kind of supplies?”

“I don’t know.  Food?  Bandaids?”

Even though I was more focused on the candy than her face, I could hear the smile there in her voice.  “You’re like the worst commando survivalist ever.”

“Thank you for that vote of confidence.”  I wasn’t offended by her evaluation.  She was totally right.  The way my mind worked, candy and bandaids were all we needed.

“I remember the address of the apartment,” she said.  “We can just ask someone for directions.”

“Or take a cab,” I said, pulling a bag of Smarties off the shelf and then moving down to snag some Hershey kisses from the bottom row.

“Old school,” she said, looking at my selections.  “I like it.”

“You get something too,” I said.  “I might not share.”

She went into another aisle with me following behind and grabbed some breakfast bars and water.  “In case we escape to Witch Mountain and need to survive for a few days without dying of sugar overdoses.”  She eyed my candy with pursed lips.

I gave her breakfast bars an equally disgusted look. “Later when you want to trade my candy for a lump of dried oatmeal mixed with nasty prunes or whatever, you’re going to have to beg.”  I moved toward the cash register, holding our purchases against my chest, confident I had the best emergency rations in the place.  Rae snagged something off the end of an aisle, and it was only when we got to the front of the store that I realized it was a box of Trojans.  My face went red all over again.

Rae stared straight ahead and refused to look at me, even when I jabbed her with my elbow.  I willed my mind not to stray into the danger zone of picturing her naked.  Imagining the feel of her soft skin.  Remembering how her lips felt on mine and what they might feel like if they were ever …

“Shit,” I said, dropping candy bags all over the floor at my feet.  My fingers had apparently forgotten how to hold things. 
What an idiot.

Rae and I bent down at the same time to get them and bonked heads.

She collapsed into a fit of giggles on the floor, landing on the box of breakfast bars and crushing it.  I heard one of the bags inside pop open.

“Oh my god,” she hissed, still laughing, “my big butt just busted the entire box!”

All the pressure that had built up inside me over the bombing and running from that cop came bubbling up and spilled over in the form of laughter.  There may have been a snort or two mixed in.

“Do you wanna get another box?” came a lazy voice from behind the counter.

I looked up at the stoned-out guy standing there with the drug store’s blue apron uniform on, and the laughter kind of faded away.  He was staring at us with a half-vacant look, very non-threatening but still a mood breaker.