Read Online Out of the Dark: An apocalyptic thriller by Ashlei Hawley - Free Book Online

any way except the way she was familiar with and that meant driving on the freeway.
         With this plan in mind, Amy gathered her meager supplies, dressed her warmest and laced up her boots. She hoped to commandeer a vehicle of some kind to make the trip an easier one, but she had no qualms about walking the whole way, and no illusions about the fact that it would very possibly be a necessity.
         Moving her barricade from in front of the door, Amy listened closely, pressing her ear to the wood before she opened it. She heard nothing in the corridor outside her dorm. With a deep breath, she turned the handle and pulled the door open.
         Nothing accosted her. No one jumped at her with a gun or knife or some kind of crazy weapon she’d never seen, intent on committing some kind of violence against her. From the insanity she’d seen the night before to the graveyard stillness that claimed the hall now, Amy was disquieted by the change.
         Perhaps whatever madness had claimed the students and teachers of the college had vacated them, leaving them to return to their normal lives and behaviors. But if so, why were no students rushing through the halls, intent on making their classes on time? Why was the silence such a full and heavy one, anticipatory and somehow threatening?
         Amy didn’t believe for a moment that life had returned to normal around the college. She wasn’t tempted to call out a greeting down the hallway, and her reluctance wasn’t because she’d feel foolish if someone quite calm and normal answered her. She hesitated to make her presence known because she knew in some newly awakened part of herself that if anyone did answer, she wouldn’t like the response she would get.
         With this thought in mind, Amy slipped out of her dorm and quietly closed the door. She was trying not to draw attention, and the slightest sounds seemed to her like they’d be a giveaway, broadcasting her position to any nefarious enemies lurking silently in the shadows for the time being.
         She had her dorm key on the lanyard about her neck, so her door was locked as she closed it. She didn’t feel like she’d be returning there, and for a moment felt pangs of panic ripple through her as she thought of all the things she was abandoning. She rationalized herself away, silently scolding herself that pictures could be retaken, books could be reacquired and keepsakes taken to college weren’t really all that important to her, anyway. She wouldn’t keep any true treasures in a space she shared with three other people.
         Nodding to herself, Amy took her hand from the door knob and turned away from her dorm. That was behind her now, and the road to her family would be ahead of her shortly. In this in-between space, this limbo of doubt and indecision, she was more scared than she wanted to admit, and felt more timid than she knew herself to be.
         “Get yourself moving, Miss Amy,” she whispered. It felt like she did it just to test how her voice would sound in the empty hallway. “Got a lot of ground to cover no matter if you can get a car or not.”
         Stepping away from the closed door, Amy felt the need to tiptoe through the halls, trying her hardest to be inconspicuous and silent. Though equal parts of rational and fanciful mind told her it was a good idea, Amy refused to creep like a criminal down those familiar corridors.
         She saw no one in the halls as she moved, quickly and quietly yet trying hard to present a confidence she certainly didn’t feel. No doors opened to track her passage, no music sounded from the rooms. They all seemed empty, and yet somehow teeming with malevolent life. She was alone and yet observed. Outwardly ignored but clandestinely watched.
         “You’re giving yourself the heebie jeebies,” Amy declared in a scolding whisper. “Just quit thinking and keep moving.”
         ‘Keep moving’ seemed to be the motto