Fighting Fate (Granton University #1)(90)

A cold arrow of dread sliced up the back of Paige’s neck.

An armed gunman? That didn’t even seem possible.

“What the hell,” Bailey breathed. She raced to the window and yanked up the shade. Students were running—sprinting actually—for any building closest to them. It was bizarre to watch, like a tiny stream of ants seeking cover from an invisible giant shoe stomping down on them.

“This isn’t happening.” Tess grabbed Paige’s hand and held on tight.

“Just…calm down,” Bailey said, her rational voice grounding Paige. “We’re a good distance away from the west end of campus. We’re safe here.” Then she pointed at Tess. “Go lock the door. To our room too.”

Tess let go of Paige’s hand and raced off, immediately obeying.

Bailey found the remote control for Mariah’s TV and clicked it on. Paige just stood there, dazed. Her mind racing, she tried to orient herself, remembering what was on the west end of campus. She couldn’t think, couldn’t map out the buildings in her head. She grabbed her skull in both hands as the TV popped on. Instantly, an aerial view of Granton from a helicopter’s perspective appeared on the screen.

“It’s still unclear who the gunman is,” a news reporter’s voice told them. “Authorities are vague on details, but we can see from this vantage point, there have been injuries if not loss of life.”

Bailey approached the fifty-inch screen as if in a daze. She pointed to a shadowed blob lying on the ground in the middle of a deserted street. “Is that…is that a person?”

Tess returned to Paige’s room and neared the television with Paige to gather around Bailey. Before they could decide if it was a human being lying in the middle of the road or not, a blast of light appeared from an alleyway, preceding a dark figure, holding what could only be a massively huge gun.

“Oh my God!” All three girls screamed and clapped their hands over their mouths.

“He’s shooting,” Tess gasped.

“It looks like we have a visual of the shooter.” Even the reporter’s voice took on an anxious edge as the camera zoomed in, but it couldn’t focus enough to give any details of the person with the gun except for a dark outline. “It impossible to tell from this distance if we’re dealing with a male for female. But the gunman is still very much on the loose and firing his or her weapon.”

“This isn’t happening, this isn’t happening,” Tess chanted.

“Where are they?” Bailey asked, squinting as she eased closer. “Is that…is that the food court?”

The food court?

Paige forgot to breathe as she studied the buildings instead of the dead person lying on the ground. It was the food court, less than a block away from The Squeeze.

“Logan!”

She didn’t think, she just moved, lunging for the doorway. Bailey caught her just as she unbolted the top lock. Hooking her around Paige’s waist, she hauled Paige backward, Tess joining in to the assist her when Paige resisted.

“Paige! What are you doing? Are you insane?”

“He’s out there.” She struggled harder against both girls. “Let me go! Oh my God, let me go.” When a sob hiccupped from her throat, she wiggled and twisted with more fervor.

Bailey cursed and Tess ducked when Paige’s elbow inadvertently swung her way. Finally, her suitemates propelled her backward enough to tackle her onto Mariah’s bed.

“You…are…not…leaving…this room.” Bailey panted, out of breath.

Tess stroked her hair in a soothing manner. “Just relax, sweetie. Logan is fine. He’s just fine.”

Paige only tensed harder, trying to buck her friends off her. “How do you know that? He said he was going to—”

“Well, you’re not going out there to check on him without thinking. God, Paige, think!” Bailey sat up and off her, brushing her multi-colored hair out of her face. “You didn’t even try his cell phone first.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.” Tess sat up too. “Let’s just call him and have him tell you he’s okay.”

“Okay.” Paige wheezed out a breath, forcing herself to calm down and think logically. But her body just wouldn’t unwind; alarm warnings were going off all over inside her. Logan was in trouble; she just knew it.

She couldn’t lose him. She’d already lost too many people in her life. Not Logan too. She still itched to dash for the door and physically find him.

But she did the rational thing first. She called his cell phone with fingers that could barely dial through all the shaking.

“He’s not answering.” She squeezed her eyes closed. “Why isn’t he answering?”

Tess bit her lip and glanced at Bailey before saying, “Maybe he hadn’t gone to the juice bar yet to pick up his phone.”

Or maybe he was that shadowed figure lying in his own blood they wouldn’t take off the screen of her television.

Her whole body began to shake.

The gunman had disappeared down another dark alley and was out of the view of the camera, but the motionless figure in the middle of the street hadn’t moved, would probably never move again.

Tears flooded her lashes. “Logan, where are you?”