There was a loud crash as the book slammed against the unusally
fragile base of the statue, causing it to crumble. Salene poked her
head out from behind a bookshelf. "What in the world was that?" She
looked at Colt. "Please don't tell me you-" her eye caught a glint
of metal, and she rushed over, digging through the metal. "I think
I found the bomb!"
Whirling, his eyes widened. "You've... got to be kidding me."
Hurrying to take a look, he touched his fingers to his temple in
shock. "How... on EARTH...." he gaped in disbelief. After a
moment's pause, he suddenly glanced around, a thought overtaking
him. "We need to get out of here and get rid of this thing. Now. If
she figures out that we found it..."
Salene opened her mouth to respond, but there was a loud noise
outside. She ran to the door, her face pailing. "I guess being the
Killer gives you special treatment, huh?" The noise was that of a
boat pulling out from the caves near the island, with Mrs. Luswire
driving it. "The pricipal let her escape, which means our main
priority is now getting this bomb out of here." She picked it up
gingerly. "If we can get to the water, I think when thrown far
enough it won't be fatal to us, though it might cause some damage.
The question is, how do we get in there in time?"
"Guess that's the only option," she glanced at the clock on the
wall. "Thankfully, it's a 20 minute jog from here to the water,
which leaves us with 10 minutes, if I'm guessing right." She
wrapped her arms around the bomb. "If you're ready, I suggest we
get moving, and fast."
With a nod, he turned and ran towards the doors, opening and
holding them for Salene. The more he thought about what they were
trying to do, what was at stake, the harder and faster his heart
beat. Colt couldn't help but wonder if she could hear it, as he was
able to hear her footsteps behind him. He couldn't help but think
about Cam once again; if they failed, his brother and parents would
be left thinking he'd died in some freak gas explosion.
Salene ran through the open doors, heading torwads the water. In a
less dire situation, the weather might have seemed almost pleasent,
with sunshine, foam-scented breeze, and a cloudless sky. But Salene
ignored all of that, her short legs pumping hard as she followed
the path. A few times, her heart skipped a beat as she almost
stumbled over small rocks, but the bomb stayed in her arms.
Eventually, they got to a fence. It took a minute, but Salene
managed to jump the fence, running through the sand torwads the
beach. She stopped at the waters edge, looking back at Colt.
"Hurry!" she said, heavily breathing from the run. "I can't throw
that far, you're going to have to do it."
Without a word, he rushed to take it from her. Hefting the metal
danger box into both hands, he lobbed it over the cliff, hoping,
praying, that it would sail into the water and not land on the
rocks.
It apeared at first that the bomb would bounce into the rocks, but
the momentum pushed it off the rocks, through the air, and into the
water. A few minutes later, there was a loud boom as the bomb
exploded, the force throwing Salene off of her feet. But when the
shaking stopped and the air cleared, Salene was quiet in shock for
a minute. "We did it.." she looked at Colt, a little laugh escaping
her. "We actually..did that."
Colt had braced himself against the blast but still been pushed
backwards by it. Bringing his hand to his face, knuckle resting on
the bridge of his nose, thumb pressed to the outer corner of his
right eye, he slid to the ground, closing his eyes. He couldn't
believe that had worked. But he knew he couldn't relax. Dan was
still MIA, and it wasn't like Mrs. Luswire planned to stop being an
issue. They had to break down the firewall and get everyone off
this Godforsaken island. Or perhaps, if they made a large bonfire,
a plane or boat of some sort would see them? Allowing himself a
moment of rest, the boy then stood. Regardless of what action they
next took, he wanted to get back to Nadia.
The smile on her face faded, and Salene became serious once more.
"Right," she said, standing up and brushing herself off. "Now that
we've taken care of the bomb, I can get some of the more tech-saavy
kids to start working on the firewall. It seems like the principal
has dissapeared, since we haven't gotten any messages from him."
She gave him a look. "If you want, go back to Nadia. I can handle
it on my own."
Colt nodded slowly. "I- thank you. I wouldn't be much help, anyway.
Computers don't make any sense to me." He reached out to shake her
hand, managing a smile of gratitude.
Turning around somewhat haltingly, he then hurried off towards the
main collection of students. Everything was chaos. Weaving his way
through the panicked children whom, he realized, had no idea what
the large explosion was from, Colt was nearly knocked down several
times. However, he didn't stop to explain, didn't try to calm the
mess. He simply made his was as quickly as possible in the
direction he'd seen Nurse Raven take Nadia.
At the end of a hallway was a large white door, clearly marked as
Nurse Raven's office. Salene's twin brothers sat on either side of
the door, watching Colt aproach in their quiet way. A sort of
strange sadness filled their faces, but that was normal for them.
Nurse Raven opened the door carefully, looking as if she was going
to talk to the twins, and noticed Colt. "Ah, Colt, are you here to
see Nadia?"
"Well," she said hesitatently, "she's in stable condition. The
bleeding stopped, and she isn't heavily injured, but she's still
unconcious and needs proper medical assistance that I can't give."
Letting out a shaky breath, he knew that that was good news, that
it should comfort him, but the panicked feeling in his chest didn't
go away. "Salene and I got rid of the bomb, and she's trying to get
the firewall down now and get someone to come for us," he informed
her.
"That's good," Nurse Raven said camly. "Once we get off the island,
we should be able to get the poor girl off the island. If you don't
have anything else to do, you could see her. She's in the back room
now." She stepped away from the door, watching him carefully.
"Where's the boy that hurt my sister?" One of the twins spoke,
surprising Nurse Raven. They hadn't said a word since they entered
the school.
Colt turned to him with a bit of a sad shrug. "I have no idea. He
was working with the teacher who did this to Nadia, but she's left
the island and I didn't see him with her."