Annihilation: Love Conquers All by Saxon Andrew, Derek Chiodo Read Free Book Online

out of the ordinary, but he distinctly heard a small ping. He turned his chair toward the door and started to get up but decided it was nothing and turned back to continue his work. He picked up the next folder, and then heard a louder ping at the door. “Now that’s odd,” he thought. He got up and walked to the door, opened it, stepped into the hall, and looked around. To the left, the hallway was empty, with all the classroom doors closed; the hallway was also empty to the right. He listened intently for a few moments and then thought, “Nothing.” He scratched his head and went back inside to finish his work.
     
    Tag had thrown another pebble at the door as soon as he had the test booklet. As he had hoped, Mr. Graham went to the door and opened it, with Tag following along behind him. When Mr. Graham stepped back into the room, Tag remained in the hall. He spent the next thirty minutes working his way back to the faculty entrance, avoiding all the moving cameras in the hall. He waited in a shadow beside the door, hoping that it wouldn’t be long before someone showed up. He was pretty certain that someone was coming and that the groad was about to hit the reactor. He sat and passed time by looking at the pictures on the wall and wondered just who this Bill Clinton was that his school was named for. He looked at the pictures of the school namesake and thought, “He sure had funny looking hair. He also didn’t look good in the prisoner of war uniform the Chinese made him wear after the third world war. He must have escaped and become famous or something to have this school named after him.” Then he thought that it sure was quiet in there at night. Even the climate system could be heard going on and off. You couldn’t hear it during the day. “Come on, Mr. Graham. Call somebody; I’ve got to get out of here,” he silently plead.
     
    Mr. Graham was looking at Leila Barber’s test folder. All the answer sheets were there but the test booklet was missing. He checked the log of the two assistant administrators who had collected the test materials and saw Leila’s thumbprint inside the booklet and answer sheet boxes, showing that she had turned both in. This was highly irregular and he could not think of any way that the test booklet could be missing. When the test ended, two administrators were present to verify that all materials were collected properly. The materials were then placed in a security lockbox, brought to his office, and dropped through the top into his safe. There was a one-way force field on his safe where things could go in but nothing could be taken out. He turned on his communicator and called the two assistant administrators that had handled the test materials. They insisted that all the materials were collected properly. He requested that they come to his office immediately. From Mr. Graham’s voice they knew something was wrong, and they immediately left for the school. Mr. Graham also called Edward Garcia, who was his contact at the Education Security Division. After explaining what he found, Sergeant Garcia said he would be right over. “Something’s wrong,” Sergeant Garcia thought. “This sort of thing just doesn’t happen.”
     
    Tag waited at the door for the people that he knew Mr. Graham would call. “Shoot, they call people in if students have an argument,” he realized. He was pretty certain this would qualify as much more than an argument. So he waited patiently, watching Bill Clinton’s picture watch him. “Maybe his hair wasn’t so stupid looking. It could grow on you,” he thought. He chuckled at that. “Grow on you,” he snickered.
     
    He didn’t have long to wait. All at once he noticed that all the psychic shadows around the door had disappeared. There were three people at the door and someone was unlocking it, and he knew he would be seen if he didn’t move. He decided to take a chance. He took a large pebble out of his pocket and watched the people as