Chapter 8 - A Desperate Call
The heavy metal door slammed shut, echoing down the empty concrete stairwell.
Maria grabbed a rusty metal pipe leaning against the wall and jammed it through the door’s handles.
A second later, Thomas slammed his full body weight against the door from the other side.
The metal rattled violently, but the makeshift lock held firm.
“You cannot run forever!” Thomas screamed through the thick steel.
“We have to go up!” Maria told Leo, grabbing his small hand.
“The bottom floor is locked from the outside!”
They climbed the concrete stairs as fast as their legs could carry them.
Maria’s lungs burned, and her legs felt like they were made of heavy lead.
They finally reached the top floor and burst out onto the open-air roof of the garage.
The cold city rain immediately began to soak their clothes.
Sirens wailed faintly in the distance, a reminder of the civilized world they were cut off from.
“We are trapped,” Maria gasped, looking over the edge of the six-story drop.
Leo did not panic.
He unzipped his small backpack and pulled out a sleek, black satellite phone.
Maria stared at the device in absolute disbelief.
“Where in the world did you get that?” she demanded, wiping rain from her eyes.
“My dad hid it inside my favorite teddy bear a week before he died,” Leo explained calmly.
“He told me to call this exact number if I was ever in danger.”
Leo dialed a ten-digit number from memory.
He put the phone on speaker and held it up between them in the pouring rain.
It rang twice before a deep, authoritative voice answered.
“This is Vance,” the voice said smoothly.
“Mr. Vance, it’s Leo Sterling,” the boy said, his voice surprisingly steady.
There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line.
“Leo? Thank God. Where are you right now?” Vance demanded.
“I’m on the roof of the old parking garage on 5th and Main,” Leo replied.
“Thomas is trying to kill us.”
“He is the third person.”
The sound of metal groaning came from the stairwell door behind them.
Thomas was breaking through the barricade.
“Listen to me very carefully, Leo,” Vance said rapidly.
“I am sending a tactical extraction team to your exact GPS coordinates right now.”
“You need to survive for exactly three more minutes.”
“Can you do that for me, son?”
Leo looked at the heavy metal door as the hinges began to violently bend.
“We will try,” Leo answered.
May you like
He hung up the phone and slipped it back into his pocket.
The heavy door burst wide open, and Thomas stepped out into the pouring rain.
