Lockdown Read Online Free PDF Page A

you’re crazy too. If you go out there, you’re an idiot and a loser, just like him.”
    I blink. It feels like the floor has shifted under my feet. Like the earth has tilted a different direction. I search Zoe’s eyes for a sign of what we had, but all I see is fear and anger. Eyes that just an hour ago held warmth now chill me. Her words yank my guts like she’s turning me inside out. When I can speak, I say to her, “So you have nothing to lose.”
    Baker clears his throat. When he speaks, his voice is quiet. “If I wanted to shoot up the school, I’d hit the caf. That’s where I’d find the most people.”
    Baker and I exchange a look. He’s right.
    Zoe says, “The cafeteria is locked down. He won’t get in.”
    I think about Cook Training class last term, how Josh and I used to goof off in the supply hall behind the kitchen. It connects to the theater concession and, from there, the theater. During school performances, the concession sells coffee and snacks. Between performances, like now, the concession is just an unlocked storage area for stage props. One time last term, Josh and I used the supply hall to find our way into the darkened theater, and we sat there for the entire cooking class. Being there was as good as vanishing from the school.
    I say, “Josh could get into the caf.” I tell them about the little-used corridor from the theater to the kitchen. “He doesn’t even have to use the locked stairwells. He can enter the theater up here through the second-floor doors. If anyone was in the theater when the alarm sounded, they’ll be locked-down backstage.”
    Baker nods. “So even if the cops are in the main halls, Josh can get into the caf.”
    â€œBut the last shots we heard were in the other direction,” Zoe says. “They sounded like he was heading away from the theater.”
    Baker shrugs. “The school will be crawling with cops. If this Josh guy is going to move anywhere without getting spotted, he’ll have to use that back hallway. He’ll double back.”
    Natalie offers me her phone. “Tell the cops. They’ll find him.”
    I wave away the phone. “You call them. But they’ll be too late.” I head to the door.
    Zoe looks like she’s going to cry again. “You could be too late, Adam.”
    I struggle to find enough spit to speak. “Then I have nothing to lose either.”

Chapter Nine
    As soon as I’m outside the washroom, I regret my decision. Every instinct is to hide from Josh, to run as fast as possible in the other direction. It’s exactly the feeling I get when I watch scary movies, like my bones have gone to mush. But this feeling is more. Way more. I’m so scared that I have to tell my feet to move.
    The hallway is empty. People’s lunches are scattered around from before the lock-down. Locker doors swing open. Being inthis hallway is like being in a dead place. I stay as close as I can to the wall—not that the wall gives me any cover. It’s just that, close to the wall, I know there’s one side he can’t get me from.
    The second-floor theater door is down a smaller hallway off the main corridor. At the corner, I pause. I can’t see around the corner, of course, and I don’t want to walk straight into Josh. I feel ridiculous doing it, but I extend my arm around the corner and wave my hand. If Josh is taking aim, maybe he’ll shoot my hand before he shoots me in the head. I peer around the corner. No Josh. The hall is empty. With a jagged breath of relief, I make the turn.
    At the theater door, I listen. I can’t hear anything from behind the door. If the door is locked, I’ll have no choice but to go back to Zoe and the others.
    Please don’t open. Please don’t open.
    I try the handle. It opens.
    I step inside the theater and let the door close behind me. The theater is dark, lit only by