Pulse

near darkness. He came up short when he saw Wade standing in front of him a few feet away.
    “How’d you do that?” Hawk asked.
    “I’m fast; what can I say,” Wade joked. “Either that or you’re really slow.”
    Hawk ran back in the direction he’d come from; and when he came to the cart, he grabbed it by the top edge and flipped it back down behind him, hoping it might slow Wade as he took chase. There was a door to a classroom to Hawk’s right; and as he passed by, the door opened, and he was sucked inside against his will. It felt like he’d been made as light as a feather, swept up on an unseen wind.
    I’m starting to think someone slipped me a Wire Code, Hawk thought.
    The door he came through slowly closed behind him without a sound, and he crawled across the floor until he came to the teacher’s desk. Before he knew how he’d gotten there, Hawk huddled under the middle of the desk where the teacher’s feet were supposed to go. He leaned back and peeked over the edge of the desk, watching as Wade’s shadow moved past the glass in the center of the door.
    “Maybe you’re quicker than I gave you credit for.” Wade laughed, the sound of his voice leaking in under the door. “But I’ll find you. And when I do, we’re going to have another talk, you and me.”
    There was a long line of windows on the far wall that revealed the darkened courtyard of the school. Hawk thought about opening one of them and crawling out. But it was a long way from the desk to the windows, and he was afraid to get up. He heard a noise behind him, close enough to take his breath away, and he was sure he’d come out from under the desk to find Wade Quinn standing there. How he would have gotten there, Hawk didn’t know. But he was starting to think anything was possible in the unpredictable world of Old Park Hill. He took in a big, silent breath, then turned to look for what had made the noise. He spied a door to what must have been a storage room behind the teacher’s desk. The door was partway open, and through the crack, only darkness lay beyond. He wondered if Wade had somehow entered the room without being seen, then opened the door and hidden inside. He could imagine himself in there, the darkness, the much bigger guy, the door closing behind him.
    “Hiding is just going to make this take longer, Hawk,” Wade said. He sounded less menacing, friendlier, but Hawk knew all too well that this was only one of Wade’s many weapons of persuasion. “Come on, man—I’ll put the wheel back on my cart and take you for a ride. You’re gonna love it.”
    Knowing Wade had not somehow arrived in the darkness behind the door, Hawk made his move, crawling as fast as he could along the cold tile floor. He opened the door a little wider and crept through, then he pulled the door closed and heard it click shut. He held his breath in the dark, hoping he hadn’t been heard.
    “Running out of patience here, Hawk,” Wade said. He was standing out in the hall, Hawk could tell, and he cursed himself for letting the door click shut as he closed it. He was too afraid to shed any light on the storage room with his Tablet for fear that Wade would see the light under the door in the classroom. He could hear Wade coming closer, probably about to look under the desk, and then he’d be at the storage room and it would be over.
    Hawk slid his Tablet into his back pocket and started feeling around with his hands out in front of him. He was careful not to move too quickly, shuffling around in a circle, feeling the shelves. At the back of the room he found another door, and, turning the handle, he opened it slowly. The smell of the room took his breath away, and he began to gag, but then he heard a tapping on the door leading out to the classroom.
    “No way you’re in there, right, Hawk?”
    Hawk sucked in a giant gulp of breath and passed through the second doorway into more darkness. When he closed the door behind him, he risked taking out his Tablet and shining a light on the situation. Wade still hadn’t come through the first of the two doorways, so at least for a second it was safe. He immediately wished he hadn’t seen what the room contained the moment a soft light bathed all the dead bodies. He’d stumbled onto Wade Quinn’s idea of a burial ground. He hadn’t used a shovel to bury the Drifters he’d killed. He’d just piled them up in this room and left them to rot. Hawk turned off the light on his Tablet and placed