Free The Darkness Inside Us (A Detective King Suspense Thriller) (A Detective King Novel Book 3) by Jeremy Laszlo Page B

more classroom doors are opening, curious, morbidly interested heads are popping out. Any second now, they’re going to lose complete control. I see bodies stepping out of the doorways now, in front of me down the hall, to my right and left, out of my peripherals. This whole thing is about to blow. If another body drops, then this school is going to erupt and the demon is going to get away completely. It’s going to slip through my hands just as I was closing my fingers in around it. I want to scream, pull out my gun, squeeze as many rounds off into the rent-a-cops before running down that hallway to execute every one of the possible hosts for that demonic entity. So far, if the principal doesn’t move, that’s my only option. It’s the only plan that I can think of that will keep my daughter safe.
    Or I could just run. I look at the security guards who are completely preoccupied by the screams, and the students that are beginning to trickle out of the classrooms, peeking around corners, and craning their necks to get a glimpse at the fresh abattoir. Not a single one of them still has eyes on me and if they’re worth anything they’re being paid, then this might just be my chance. I decide that it’s worth the try.
    I go for it. I plant my feet on the white linoleum, leaving dead Alice behind me in a pool of her own fluids, and shoot down the hallway as quickly as I can. I dodge the principal, who doesn’t even register my flight with the bubbling chaos that is rising up all around him. All I care about is getting to the hallway where five kids are now stumbling out, their hands over their mouths. A girl plants her hands on the lockers nearest to the classroom before she bends over and relieves herself of her lunch. There’s more screams, more shouts, and soon, there are others vomiting all around me. All I know is that this place is going to need to be emptied immediately.
    “Stand aside,” I shout to the five kids. I can hear the principal coming hard down the hallway after me, shouting to his hired help to stop me. Thankfully, there are too many children around for them to pull out their tasers and put me down.
    I feel the principal’s hand clamp down on my shoulder and I resist the urge to just lay him out, but instead, I think I’m going to need him. He looks at me with horrified eyes, seeing into the classroom at whatever the demon has waiting for me before I get a chance to enter the room. His eyes are transfixed, glued to the scene within. Thankful for the momentary lapse in his focus, I use it to my advantage.
    “Hey,” I slap him across the cheek, bringing him back to reality. He flinches and shudders before shooting a hand up to his cheek, rubbing where I smacked him as hard as I can. His eyes are watery, terrified, and as clear as a mountain creek. “I need you to focus,” I tell him. “I need you to keep anyone coming out of this classroom nearby. I don’t want you to touch them, I don’t want you to speak with them, and I don’t want them getting out of your sight. Everyone in this classroom needs to be against the wall and everyone else in this school, I need them to get out. Whatever you have to do, get them out of here.”
    He nods to me, barely cognizant, from what I can tell. His already shaken mind is now a whirlwind of questions, memories of what’s lurking in that room, and scenarios of what could possibly be happening to his school. I look at him, hoping that he’s done with his little power struggle with me and I can expect him to actually help me now. He stares at me, blinking, while I give him a shove. Several of his security are standing in their uniforms like golems, staring into the classroom where dozens of teens are up against the walls, trying to sort through what they’ve witnessed before they escape whatever horror has happened inside. Reaching down to my side, I grip my badge and yank it free. It’s time to do this. I don’t want any of them to touch me, but if