Donna unconsciously stood. She knocked over her typing machine as she watched the struggling men.
Judge Henderson tried to restrain Steve, thinking he was only injured. Steve turned on him, biting and ripping at the Judges clothes.
Rodgers continued to push away and turned to Donna.
“Help me,” he pleaded at her. He reached out to Donna with a bloody hand. Donna backed away from the wet crimson, until she bumped into the wall behind her.
Rodgers efforts to move slowed. He slumped to the floor, his body twitched.
The judge managed to slip away from Steve. He escaped behind the door to the Judge’s Chambers and locked it behind him.
Steve turned on the deputies who were trying to restrain the prisoner. He rushed into the huddle of blue deputies and sent bodies to the ground. A renewed melee ensued.
Rodgers’ eyes flicked open to the world of the undead. His head turned, and he fixed his sights on Donna. She continued to back away along the wall as Rodgers crawled to his feet. He knocked several chairs out of his way to get to her. She continued to back away.
A badly injured deputy had enough with the prisoner and removed his service pistol. A gunshot roared out in the courtroom.
Rodgers turned his head at the noise from the gunman. He charged the deputy and fell on him from behind. The collision made the deputy accidently discharged another round from the gun. The round caught one of the other officers in the shoulder; the man went down.
Donna fled the courtroom pushing chairs out of her way as she went. Her nose was filled with the faint scent of gunpowder. From outside the room, the muffled gunshot had summoned curious county office workers to the scene.
Donna screamed at them to get more help. A number of men ran inside the courtroom to see what they could do to assist the deputies. Other people pulled out cell-phones, but Donna fled past them. She ran up the grand marble staircase of the courthouse to the upper floor. She ran away from shouts behind her. Fear and instinct drove her.
A number of years before, the County had built an Annex to the Court House across the street. They connected both buildings on the second floor via a bridge. After shootings in other courthouses around the nation, they sealed off the main courthouse and made the Annex the only way in and out.
Donna was afraid of getting caught in the violence behind her. Her only desire was to get to the safety of the Annex. As she ran up the steps, she felt her shoulders and hands shaking from the adrenaline pumping through her body.
Behind her, the melee spilled into the hallway. She heard more shouting and some kind of furniture screeching against the marble floor.
She made it across the bridge to the Annex. Donna stood there catching her breath beside an open steel security door. The door was meant to separate the buildings in an emergency. Law enforcement officers passed her running in the direction of the courthouse. A number of injured filed across the bridge assisted by fellow county workers.
The sound of gunshots reached out from the courthouse; their booms echoed across the bridge like the beating of a drum. A loud click sounded from the open security door. It swung closed, locking away whatever nightmare was occurring on the other side of the bridge.
The building’s Public Announcement system kicked in, a man’s voice issued directions. Attention: the Butler County Court House has been locked down due to an emergency. As part of standard emergency procedure, the Annex will now be evacuated. Please proceed to the nearest exit. All county employees are to report to their respective department heads in Diamond Park at the front of the Court House. Please evacuate safely, and assist those around you who may need help.
County workers emerged from their offices and filled the hallway. Donna continued to stand against the wall staring at the closed security door. No one noticed her. After a few minutes, the hallway stood empty except for Donna.
A “thud,” sounded from the other side of the security door. Donna pushed off the wall and took a half step toward the door.
“Hello,” Donna said, “is someone there?”
“Thud, thud, thud,” someone beat at the metal.
Near the top of the door was a small view-port. Donna did not have the angle to see who was making the noise. She moved closer to the window, but the pounding stopped. She edged closer and stood up on her toes to see through the window, a hand grabbed her arm from behind. Donna screamed.
“Miss,” a deputy said, “you need to clear out. The building is being evacuated.”
“Someone’s there,” Donna said. The deputy wasn’t listening, and he was already pulling her to the stairwell that led to an exit.
Halfway to the stairwell, the pounding started again. The deputy stopped and turned back at the sound. He grabbed his radio from his belt.
“We’ve got movement on the bridge,” the deputy spoke into the radio.
Roger that. Hold position until we get the building evacuated. We will get you some back up.
The deputy turned to Donna, “Get the hell out of here.”
The pounding on the door increased, and Donna felt her heart begin its own pounding in response. She fled down the stairs and out of the building.
On the street, she followed other people toward Diamond Park. She looked up at the Annex Bridge and tried to see who was inside the enclosure. Sunlight glared off the windows, blocking any view to the inside of the bridge.
Donna heard muffled pops of gunfire from the building. She ran the rest of the way to the safety of the park.
A number of Butler City and Butler Township police were arriving on the scene. They created a perimeter around the government center and the park. The wounded, about a dozen, had been brought out of the courthouse and separated for triage. Some had major injuries.
The Butler County Airport housed a number of Life Flight helicopters. Donna watched one of these helicopters land a few blocks away to transport some of the seriously injured to Pittsburgh. The other injured were sent a mile away to the Butler hospital.
Donna heard a police sergeant talking on his radio; apparently, no one knew what exactly was going on in the courthouse.
“I need info,” the officer said on his radio. “I’m not sending anyone else in, until we have some intel. And get someone to start clearing these people out. If those are gunshots, we need a bigger perimeter.”
A half an hour had passed, before the emergency responders looked like they were finally ready to go in.
At that moment, shapes appeared at the front glass doors of courthouse. People were banging on the glass to get out. Donna could see Deputies, County Employees, and even Judge Henderson. They all looked wounded and desperate to get out. Time seemed to slow down. Donna watched as the glass rippled like water under the pounding. There were no dramatic cracks; the glass just shattered, and bodies came spilling out of the building.
Several Police Officers rushed over to help the injured, and the rescuers disappeared into the crowd flowing out of the building. Donna felt like a child again at the beach. She had once tried to build a sand castle too close to the ocean. A strong wave would crash in and the castle would vanish in its wake.
The crowd of some 200 first responders and county workers watched transfixed at the sight of the bloodied mob. They ripped into several officers. The mob pushed through them and fanned out heading at the staring crowd. A dozen more people went down before the gunfire started. The mob, perhaps forty strong, kept advancing across the street and into park.
Someone yelled, “Run.”
Donna ran out of the park, and headed North on Main Street. Traffic was stopped. She ran between the rows of parked vehicles.