She drove the shortest route to the cafeteria, circled around to the back and parked away from the two semi-trucks. One of the drivers sat on the loading dock, smoking. The other one was nowhere to be seen.
Grace led the cadets toward the man she could see. “Sorry, to keep you waiting. I was just told the delivery was being made tonight.”
He dropped his cigarette to the ground and stepped on it while he exhaled a cloud of smoke. “You Miss Walker?”
“Yes, but call me Grace.”
“I’m Rex. Is this all the help you have?”
“Yes.” She looked around. “Where’s the other driver?”
“Jack’s sick. He’s resting in his truck.” He scowled at her and the cadets. “Shit. There’s no way we’re getting out of here tonight.”
“These young men are some of the brightest, most ambitious people in the country.” She sent him a glare then climbed the stairs to the dock. “If you’ll get one of the trucks backed up, we’ll get you out of here as fast as we can.”
Rex stomped toward the cab of Jack’s truck and banged on the door. A few seconds later it rolled forward then began to back toward the dock. Grace keyed in the code to unlock the steel overhead door of the freight elevator, pushed it up then keyed in the code to open the elevator doors. They slid aside and she and the cadets stepped inside. She pressed the down button then turned around and pointed at the doors behind them. “We enter the storage area through those doors.”
They turned as the elevator stopped and the doors opened, revealing another steel overhead door. Grace keyed in the entry code and then pulled the door up. “This is the storage room. The forklift is parked over there.” She pointed to a corner. “It’s electric and should be charged.”
“I’ve operated one like this before,” Luke said. He started it, then drove it onto the elevator.
Grace rode up with him. When the doors opened, Jack’s truck was already backed up to the dock. Its door was up, revealing a full load of plastic wrapped pallets.
“Is all this for us?” Grace asked.
“Yup,” Rex answered. “The produce is in the back. The frozen goods up front. Let me know when you’re done.” He walked to his truck, leaned against it and lit another cigarette.
Luke maneuvered the forklift into place and picked up the first pallet of plastic wrapped cases. Turning, he drove onto the elevator and they took it to the lower level where she had him leave it in front of the walk-in refrigerated unit.
“I’m going to put a cobbler in the oven in the shelter galley, and then help Neal and Mark unwrap boxes and organize them,” Grace said to Luke. “If you run into any problems up there let me know.”
Luke smiled. “I’ve got this.” Smiling, he drove away and disappeared into the elevator.
Two hours later the cobbler was cooling and the last of the produce and frozen goods were in their respective storage areas. Grace rode up with Luke so she could thank Jack. When she arrived on the dock he was already driving away and Rex was backing his truck into place. He climbed out and stayed by the cab, watching her and Luke while he smoked.
Luke shrugged and opened the back of the truck. He climbed back onto the forklift and got back to moving pallets.
Grace rode down with him and he reassured her that he could handle Rex. He dropped the first load, and she used a box knife to cut the plastic wrapper around the cases. Neal and Mark shooed her away, insisting that they would do the heavy work and put the cases of canned and boxed foods where she wanted them.
Luke made trip after trip. Finally, an hour and a half later he dropped the last pallet. “Ms. Walker, Rex is waiting for you to sign the invoice.”
“Thanks, Luke. I’ll be right back but you guys can help yourselves to cobbler and ice cream. I set it out on the buffet in the dining hall.” She pointed to another open door as she headed toward the elevator. As soon as she stepped out, Rex held up the electronic invoice. She took it and barely had time to scribble her name before he snatched it out of her hands, hurried to his cab and drove away.
“Nice doing business with you too,” she said, as the snow began coming down faster. She looked at her car and decided to park it in the faculty only parking garage. With any luck Mr. Edgar would never know she’d used it. She grabbed her suitcase, placed it on the elevator before closing the sliding doors and getting back into her car. At the garage she left her headlights on as she jumped out, pushed the door up and pulled inside.
Parking, she reached for her purse then remembered it was on the floor. Holding her keys in one hand she slid out of the car and walked around it, intending to open the passenger door and gather her belongings. As she reached the back of the car, the sound of clicking and rotten fruit reached her. Debating whether to get back in the car or run, she turned on the small flashlight attached to her keys and swept it across the darkness at the far end of the building.
The bright LED beam lit up a figure in the corner. It covered its eyes and let out a shrill screech. Goosebumps covered her arms. It moved toward her and she ran. The first step out of the garage her foot slipped on the snow and dropped the keys. Terrified, and doubting she could outrun this thing, she grabbed the overhead door and jerked it down. It hit the ground just as the creature landed against it on the other side. The entire door shook and bent outward. She ran, taking a shortcut across the grass with her instincts urging her to get to the safety of the shelter beneath the cafeteria.
The snow thickened, blinding her. She ran into something. Hands grabbed her and held on. She fought to be free while other bodies pressed up against her, surrounding and trapping her. She’d been taught not to scream when startled but opened her mouth to do just that when a hand covered it, muffling the sound.
“Ms. Walker, stop, stop.”
The sound of John Martinez’s voice broke through her terror although his Spanish accent was heavier than usual. Shaking, she nodded. His eyes were solemn, his face tight with nerves. She squinted her eyes against the blowing snow. “Damn it, you scared the hell out of me. What are you doing out here? It’s not safe.” She kept her voice low as she reprimanded him.
John glanced around then leaned down the few inches that separated them. “Is Luke still at the cafeteria with Neal and Mark?”
“Yes, and we need to get there. Something attacked me in the faculty parking garage.”
“Something attacked the dorm, too. We need to be quiet and keep moving.”
The dim light of a nearby lamp post lit up the area around them. Grace recognized Luke’s younger sister, petite, blonde haired Megan Matthews, and her best friend, Sherry Jones, as well as another taller freshman, Susan Johnston. Two senior cadets, Stephan Greco and Damien Moretti stood at the back of the group, guarding them. They towered over the shorter members of the group, and could have been twins with their Mediterranean good looks—dark hair, Grecian blue eyes, and finely sculpted features.
The other cadets crowded close. Their faces pale and scared in the dim light. They carried baseball bats or hockey sticks, but none wore coats telling her how quickly they’d left the dorm.
Afraid to speak and draw attention to them she beckoned to them and led the way.
They bunched together and moved silently, leaving plenty of room between them and the deep shadows beneath the trees. The cadets, usually a loud and talkative bunch when the instructors weren’t around, didn’t speak as they moved. Their silence more than anything told Grace how truly scared they were and that with every second that passed time was running out for them.
They’d reached the library when eerily shrill howls echoed around them. The group froze and several of the younger cadets began to cry. They were hushed while John, Stephan and Damien urged everyone to keep moving. The cadets at the back ignored them and ran. Most of them scattered into the trees but four ran into the library.