Red Hill Read Online Free PDF

the room stared at me, waiting to hear why I’d decided to intrude. They would keep waiting. None of them could fathom the nightmare that awaited them just a few hours from now—if we had that much time—and I wasn’t going to cause a panic.
    â€œYou need to get these kids home, Mrs. Earl. You need to get them to their parents, and then you need to run.”
    I didn’t wait for her reaction. Instead I bolted down the congested hallway. A traffic jam seemed to be causing a bottleneck at the main exit, so I pushed a side door to the pre-K playground open with my shoulder, and with Zoe in my arms, hopped the fence.
    â€œDaddy! You’re not supposed to climb the fence!”
    â€œI’m sorry, honey. Daddy’s in a hurry. We have to pick up Mommy and . . .”
    My words trailed off as I fastened Zoe into her seatbelt. I had no idea where we would go. Where could we hide from something like this?
    â€œCan we go to the gas station and get a slushie?”
    â€œNot today, baby,” I said, kissing her forehead before slamming the door.
    I tried not to run around the front. I tried, but the panic and adrenaline pushed me forward. The door slammed shut, and I tore out of the parking lot, unable to control the fear that if I slowed down even a little bit, something terrible would happen.
    One hand on the steering wheel, and the other holding my cell phone to my ear, I drove home, ignoring traffic lights and speed limits and trying to be careful not to get nailed by other panicked drivers.
    â€œDaddy!” Zoe yelled when I drove over a bump too fast. “What are you doing?”
    â€œSorry, Zoe. Daddy’s in a hurry.”
    â€œAre we late?”
    I wasn’t sure how to answer that. “I hope not.”
    Zoe’s expression signaled her disapproval. She always made an effort to parent Aubrey and me. Probably because Aubrey wasn’t much of one, and it was clear on most days that I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.
    I pressed on the gas, trying to avoid the main roads home. Every time I tried to call Aubrey from my cell, I got a weird busy signal. I should have known when I got there that something was wrong. I should have immediately put the sedan in reverse and raced away, but the only thing going through my head was how I would convince Aubrey to leave her goddamned computer, what few things we would grab, and how much time I should allow to grab them. An errant thought ran through my head about how much time it would take the Internet to cease, and how ironic it was that a viral outbreak would save our marriage. There were so many should haves in that moment, but I ignored them all.
    â€œAubrey!” I yelled as I opened the door. The most logical place to look was the den. The empty blue office chair was a surprise. So much so that I froze, staring at the space as if my vision would correct itself and she would eventually appear, her back to me, hunched over the desk while she moved just enough to maneuver the mouse.
    â€œWhere’s Mommy?” Zoe asked, her voice sounding even smaller than usual.
    A mixture of alarm and curiosity made me pause. Aubrey’s ass had flowed over and cratered in the deteriorated cushion of that office chair for years. No noise in the kitchen, and the downstairs bathroom door was open, the room dark.
    â€œAubrey!” I yelled from the second step of the stairs, waiting for her to round the corner above me and descend each step more dramatically than the last. At any moment, she would breathe her signature sigh of annoyance and bitch at me for something—anything—but as I waited, it became obvious that she wouldn’t.
    â€œWe’re going to be very late,” Zoe said, looking up at me.
    I squeezed her hand, and then a white envelope in the middle of the dining table caught my eye. I pulled Zoe along with me, afraid to let her out of my sight for a second, and then picked up the envelope.