Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 94140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
A million thoughts fly through my mind, but I don’t give myself a chance to process them. All I know is that I need to get to them. I need to make sure they’re alright.
I reach the elevator and hit the button three times, only it doesn’t light up, and realizing this is due to the lockdown, I slam my fists against the door for the stairwell and race up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
I burst through the door on the third floor, letting it rebound off the wall behind. It slams with a bang, and I push myself forward before coming to a screeching stop at the doors of the Pediatric ward. I try to push through, but the big double doors don’t budge.
BANG!
I freeze, my heart pounding.
Terrified screams echo through the hallway on the other side of the door, and the panic reaches an all-time high. It’s one thing having someone tell you there’s a fucking shooter, but hearing the sickening sound of the gunshot and knowing your sweet baby is stuck on the other side of those doors is the single most terrifying thing I have ever experienced.
Looking through the windows of the locked doors, I see right up the hallway, but nothing explains what the hell is going on. People are running around in terror, but I can’t see who the fuck they’re running from.
Mel stands in the nurses’ station, desperately hiding behind a wall looking into Georgie’s room, and I pray Gigi is still with her. She says something before ducking down and disappearing under the table, and not a second later, the hallway is dead silent, not a damn person to be seen.
My stare remains locked on Georgie’s room when a man steps out of a room further up the hall. He takes two steps forward and positions himself in front of the next child’s room. A sinking feeling settles in the pit of my stomach, and I watch in horror as his foot comes up and kicks in the door. He yells into the room, but when he raises his hand and I see a gun, my whole fucking world crumbles.
I shake my head, not believing this is really happening. “NO,” I scream. “NO—”
BANG!
FUCK!
No. No, no, no, no.
My fists slam against the double doors, desperately trying to break them down, but they must be reinforced metal, purposely built for this very fucking reason, only I bet they never imagined the threat would be on the other side of the fucking doors.
I need to get in there.
“Fuck,” I roar, frantically looking around.
I see a fire extinguisher on the wall halfway up the hall, and I sprint to get to it, before tearing it off the wall and doubling back. I run full speed ahead and hold up the extinguisher, using the momentum to try and break the window, but it’s no fucking use.
BANG!
My head whips up, and I find myself pausing, desperate to find out where the hell he is, and not a moment later, the asshole appears in the hall once again. He yells something that’s muffled by the doors before taking two long strides and placing himself right in front of Georgie’s room.
“NO,” I scream as he brings his booted foot up and kicks it in. “NO, you fucking bastard.”
He strides into my baby’s room, and I bring the fire extinguisher up and slam it against the window over and over again, the crippling fear blasting right through my chest. A crack appears in the window, and I give it everything I’ve got, my arms aching with the force.
BANG!
No. No. This isn’t fucking happening. My sweet baby.
The gunman appears and rage pulses through my body as I vow with everything I am that I will fucking kill him.
The thought of my little girl bleeding out has me slamming into the window, way past the point of exhaustion, sweat dripping down my face as my muscles ache and burn. The desperation is like nothing I’ve ever known and it pushes me harder.
BANG!
Each gunshot is another life on my shoulders, and it has me ready to crumble, to fucking give up and accept that I’m not strong enough. I’m not the hero my little girl needs me to be, but fuck. I’ll never give up on her. I’ll never stop trying.
Slamming the extinguisher into the hard glass one more time, the window finally gives out under the pressure, and I don’t hesitate to hoist myself up and through the narrow space, cutting my arms in the process. But nothing fucking matters to me right now, nothing apart from killing this motherfucker and hoping like fuck my sweet baby girl is alright.
Please, Gigi. Please be with her. Please make sure my little girl is okay.
My feet hit the ground, and as the bastard appears in the hallway, I take my fucking chance. Breaking out in a sprint, I soar up the long hallway, only just missing Mel as she darts out in front of me, racing into Georgie’s room, and while I’d fucking kill to race in there with her, I have to take out the threat, I have to save these kids and the nurses, no matter the cost to my own fucking life.