Free Dream Killing by Magus Tor, Carrie Lynn Weniger Page A

that
startled Drew. “It looks like the ambulance is at Martha’s house.”
    “Who’s Martha?”
    “She’s another kindergarten teacher
where I work. Hurry.”
    The two jogged up to the ambulance just
as the gurney was being wheeled inside. Max could see that it was indeed
Martha. She asked the paramedic what happened but was told to talk to the
people outside Martha’s house. They walked over and were told by a neighbor
that Martha was outside walking her dog and just fell to the ground.
Apparently, Martha had suffered a headache immediately before the incident.
    “Will she be okay?” Max’s question was
softly asked, as if it came from a child.
    “She wasn’t breathing and her heart had
stopped. They were doing CPR and tried shocking her heart, but it wasn’t
working. They decided to get her in the ambulance and keep trying on the way to
the hospital. It doesn’t look good.”
    Max fell into Drew’s arms. Drew sensed
just how upset she was and insisted that they go back to her house.
    “There’s nothing we can do for her here.
When we get back to the house, we can call the hospital and find out if she
made it.” Drew tried to sound caring, but deep inside he was really worried.
    “I barely knew her. She had just started
at the school last week to take over for the teacher who left to have a baby.
It’s just getting to be too much. People are dying all over the place. When will
it stop?” There was a desperation in Max’s voice that made Drew’s heart sink.
    He got Max back home and they called the
hospital. Martha was another in a growing number of mysterious deaths. Drew
suggested that they turn the lights down and call it a night.
    “No. I won’t be able to sleep. Let’s
just go ahead and watch our show. It will do us some good to take our minds off
of this craziness for a little while.” Max went from being distraught to being
strong.
    “Okay. Maybe you’re right. Tomorrow I am
going to take time off of work. Are you able to get some time off?”
    “I never take time off, so I don’t think
it will be a problem. Why?”
    “Well, until we know what is going on
with all of these deaths, I think we should stick close together.” The truth
was, Drew was terrified that something bad would happen to Max, so he wanted to
make sure he was with her at all times.
    They grabbed the muffins and a couple of
glasses of milk and sat in front of the TV. Somehow, they were able to shut out
everything and enjoy their show. When it was over, they went in the bedroom.
Max set her alarm and to make sure they didn’t sleep too late, Drew plugged his
alarm clock in and set his alarm for thirty minutes later. They both chuckled
about the matching alarm clocks. They climbed into bed and both pretended to
sleep. Really, they both lay awake, trying to make sense of things.
     
    *****

CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
     
    Eventually,
both Drew and Max drifted off to a fitful sleep. Drew was the first to enter
the game. As he looked around, he struggled to get up. Something huge was over
him and he had no idea where he was. He was able to roll onto his stomach and
lift his head slightly. It was then that he realized he was in a drainage pipe.
He slowly made his way to the opening and looked around.
    At first he thought he was in the zoo
again, but saw a playground in the distance. There were kids on the swings. What
the hell are children doing here? I have to save them! Drew was frantic. He
knew he had to do something to keep them safe, but he was also cautious about
getting to them undetected.
    Drew slithered out of the pipe, careful
not to make splashing noises in the small stream below. Crawling up the slight
bank, he found a small group of bushes and crouched low behind them. As he
readied his firearm, he heard a noise and looked toward the swings. In front of
the children he saw a man running. Once of the boys lifted his arm and that’s
when Drew realized that he had a gun. The child fired the gun and perhaps it
was because