Run. A voice in my head kept saying. Run. Run from the flames. Run from Zach's mom. Run from Zach as he was dying.
I wished I had paid closer attention to our path when Zach first brought me in here. The Tombs were an incessant labyrinth if you didn't know the way. I came to a dead end to a tunnel which I thought had led to an opening outside. Turning, I faced Zach's mom, who had caught up with me. I backed up to the wall, startled, in spite of knowing that it would do no good. In the distance, I heard a desperate scream that could be none other than Zach's.
"No where else to run, Cammie dear," She sneered. "And no one to come to your rescue" She grabbed me by the shoulders as against my better judgment I screamed.
I woke up and sat up-right in my bed. Looking around our room, I sighed, glad that it had only been a dream. It was the third time that week I had had that same dream. Only it was different this time. That scream… Even the thought of it chilled me to the bone. I had to see him.
I knew it was only a dream, but seeing Zach would still put me at ease. Maybe he would be awake –though I doubted that- and he would put his comforting arm around me and tell me how the Tombs were in our past and how I was stronger than that dream made me believe.
I got up, and Bex stirred. Apparently she still had the rig that woke her up with an electric shock if I got out of my bed in the middle of the night (a consequence of my running off from time-to-time) set up.
"Cam?" She asked wearily, sitting upright. "What are you doing up?"
"Nightmare," I answered. "Just need to walk for a bit and settle my nerves." Not totally a lie.
She groaned, and sunk face-first back into her pillow, a common habit of my best friend. "Just don't get in any trouble."
"Wouldn't dream of it." I silently opened the door, and walked into the hall, walking slowly to Zach's room, so I wouldn't make any noise and wake anyone up. You don't want to see Tina Walters when she's woken up after less than her eight hours of sleep- trust me! That, and I have sort of a bad history of running away, so faculty wouldn't exactly take it lightly if I was caught. As I walked through the dark, empty halls, I once again felt haunted by the silence. Or maybe it was something else. Something worse.
Once I reached the hall where Zach's room was, I shuddered, because this was the same hall where Dr. Steve, Zach's former professor who once had control over my mind, had lived before I unwillingly let him drive off into the night without a trace. Looking down the hall, I noticed that Zach's door was open. I smiled a bit, knowing that that meant he was still up. I stopped in the doorway and anticipated something along the lines of "Up a bit early, aren't we Gallagher Girl?", but then I looked in.
Zach wasn't there. His room was in shambles. The covers of his usually-militarily-made-bed were nearly clean off the bed, and in the floor. The chair to his desk was over turned, and the papers I recognized to be the previous day's CoveOps homework were scattered everywhere. I felt like my heart had stopped, and I couldn't breathe. When I couldn't stand to look anymore, I let out a cry, ran back to my suite.
I didn't care who I woke up when I exclaimed "Zach is gone!"