Author's Note: Read

Hey! Thank you for clicking on this story.

So, just a warning, the little blurb below is just a test to see if people could be interested in this story. I've had writer's block for, well, ages now, but the past few days I have been writing this story none stop. I typed this up very quickly, so there may be errors. Future additions will be edited more carefully, but I happen to be really hungry yet really eager to post this, so I compromised.

I will be posting an actual chapter soon, possibly today or tomorrow, but please let me know what you think. The amount of interest I find in the story will influence how I continue. And by that, I mean a helpful comment or two will really push me to dedicate myself to this. I'm not expecting ten people to review right away, just a couple people to show they are intrigued. I don't require much to get excited. :)

Thanks for clicking and reading! (And no, this is not actually the beginning of the story, this scene would come later, in case you were wondering.)

Glancing around the room, I saw a little boy looking straight at me, standing a few feet away on the other side of a throng of people. He had to be about six, hair dark and just long enough to ruffle, with bright green eyes. Green eyes that were shinier than they should have been. A bright logo on his shirt peaked out from the open zipper of his jacket and I instantly recognized the red and blue striped shield with a star in its center. Looking back up at the boy, I smiled as warmly as I could, careful to keep it in place as he approached.

"Have you seen my mom?" the little boy asked.

"Maybe. What does she look like?" I asked.

"Kind of like you, but her hair is dark and she's wearing red," he said.

"Okay, my name is Joan," I told him, holding out my hand.

"Andy," he said, taking it.

"And your mom's name? What is it?"

"Cathy."

"Okay. Let's see if we can find her or a security officer, alright?" Standing from the bench where I had been waiting for Steve, I led the boy towards the main lobby with his hand, knowing there would be security there, all the while looking for red. If Steve got back and found I was still gone, he would know to call me. If not, I'm sure he could track me down somehow. "Do you know where she might have gone, Andy?"

"No."

"That's okay, I'm sure she's close." Walking out of the oceanic exhibit and into the world of dinosaurs, I spotted a security officer. Trying to make eye contact, I waved towards him only for his attention to turn to his radio. "Excuse me," I called out. "Sir? Excuse me, I-."

I had already jumped and taken a sharp breath, my heart racing, before I realized it was in reaction to a loud sound that hung in the air, rumbling on like thunder. People gave startled screams, the bones in the hall clattering together from the vibrations I still felt in my feet. Everyone looked around in confusion, startled and murmuring to each other in the relative silence following the sound.

"Evacuate!" the security officer bellowed suddenly, waving his arms towards the back of the hall. "Evacuate, now, every-." Another sound engulfed his words, louder this time, closer, booming nearly as loud as my heart.

A bomb.

The hall turned from confusion to panic in the same moment, the crowds screaming and running towards every direction in chaos. I moved towards the back, Andy's hand locked in a death grip within my own. Before we could reach the back of the room, a round of explosions came from the halls leading to the Paleolithic path of life. The disaster was so close I could see the fire and feel the heat on my cheeks. Andy was sobbing beside me, trying to pull away, but we both were pushed to the side by frantic people. I fell onto the stairs leading up to the second level, pulling Andy with me. As I went to stand on the stairs, deserted except for the last few people scrambling down them, I heard a new round of terrified screams. This time, they weren't drowned out by an explosion, rather accompanied by a percussion.

Gunmen.

With three escapes likely already blocked, fleeing crowds were running right into the arms of their attackers. With Andy by me, I knew we needed to run away and quick, before the gunmen reached this hall.

"Come on!" I yelled over the cacophony, pulling Andy up the stairs, dragging him over the steps two at a time.

We needed to hide. Where could we hide? Where were we going? What was I doing? What was happening? Where was Steve? Where was I?

Bursting off the last step, I found the second floor mostly deserted, a few people cowering on the ground. My eyes were everywhere at once, yet focused on nothing. I never stopped moving, pulling Andy behind me. We passed the exhibits' entrances, racing by skeletons, botany, birds, minerals, gemsto-.

Minerals.

The exhibit had an interactive cave for children to climb through.

Backtracking and nearly yanking Andy's arm out of the socket, I ran past the displays of the Earth's layers and explanations of different kinds of soil until we reached the cave. The entrance was partially hidden, the tunnels disappearing behind the exterior rock climbing wall. There were a few places in the wall where clear plastic replaced face rock, allowing the kids inside the tunnels to look out and letting parents watch their children's progress.

"Get in," I told Andy, pushing him into the small entrance.

"Why?" he asked, still crawling as he sobbed.

"Because, we need to hide." A loud series of noises from back the way we came made me climb in after Andy, pushing him through the crawl space that was too small for me. We moved up in the network of tunnels, our every thud echoing off the thick plastic. When we reached the first window, I stopped Andy. Everything was quite, but his sobbing was made louder by the tunnel.

"Andy, honey, I need you to be quiet, ok? Absolutely silent, do you understand?" I whispered. He nodded, sniveling, and covered his mouth with his hand. "Good boy," I said. "Now, slide to the other side of the window. Sit to do it." Andy listened, sitting on his shorts and sliding to the other side. "Good. Stay there." I pulled myself on my stomach towards the clear plastic, its yellow hue making the tunnel glow.

Peering outside while exposing as little of myself as I could, I saw groups of people frantically running through the exhibit, not one daring to look back. The gunmen must have been advancing to make people return upstairs.

A spasm in my chest made me hiss in pain, the tunnel echoing the thuds of my movements as my body tried to jerk back into itself. Just then, I noticed how warm I was, how I was sweating, how my heart was racing. For the moment, the spasm was a single occurrence, but if it returned I wouldn't be able to control myself. I would scream and thrash and would not be able to stop it once it started. Looking up, I saw Andy quivering, his knees pulled to his chest.

"Everything will be okay," I breathed, knowing my voice would be strained. I looked away when the next spasm came, longer this time. Gritting my teeth and fisting my hands, it passed in silence, but left me with a sense of dread. It was coming and so were the gunmen.

Before another wave came, I only had one thought.

Where was Steve?