Page 92 of Abandoned

He wanted to tease Logan and ask if he was just scared to go into the building where AJ and Will had scared him good when they were about seventeen, but it wouldn’t be appropriate, so he kept his mouth shut.

Another squad car came down the drive. Good. They had someone to stay outside, and the five of them could still go in.

Doug ran and told the officer the plan, and then the five of them climbed the wide front steps to the decaying mental institution.

Doug and Logan went down the stairs to the basement, and Will, along with Zara and Wyatt, swept the large open room that must have served as the lobby. They turned down the corridor to the right that cut down the center of the building. It was a narrow structure for how long it was, but that gave windows and natural light to all the rooms.

The ceiling was falling in. The paint peeling. Old equipment littered the ground—old-fashioned wheelchairs, metal desks. Many of the walls had been vandalized with graffiti.

They swept two rooms at a time, playing a game of leapfrog all the way to the end of the hallway. No sign of Brett or Miley.

Will wasn’t ready to let despair creep in. Brett’s truck was still outside, and they had so many rooms and floors still to search. First, they need to finish this floor.

As quickly as they could while staying quiet, they moved back down the hall and cut straight across the lobby. While the other hall had held larger rooms like a cafeteria and rooms that must have once been used for group sessions, the rooms down this corridor appeared to be treatment rooms.

Pkew. Pkew. Pkew.

Three shots. Will ducked into a room.

Neither Zara nor Wyatt returned fire.

On the radio, Will reported, “Shots fired. North wing.”

“Zara!” He shouted her name in a whisper tone.

Nothing.

He risked moving closer to the doorway. He spotted her dragging Wyatt into the room across the hall.

Will sent another shell down the hallway to cover them. He hated shooting at nothing, but he could see the hallway. He couldn’t see where the shooter was, and he couldn’t risk shooting blind and possibly hitting Miley.

Wyatt said with a pain-filled voice, “Go. I’m fine.”

Zara nodded at Will, and they both moved out into the hallway.

At every room, they cut in and swept quickly before coming back out and moving to the next room.

Brett was in here somewhere, and it was just a matter of time before they found the right room and had to engage.

Will came up to another room on his left. The muzzle of the shotgun crossed the opening first, but before Will could turn in, a hand reached out and grabbed the barrel.

Will attempted to turn the muzzle toward Brett, but he was too strong.

A second hand gripped the shotgun.

Brett yanked, pulling Will into the room and spinning him around. Brett kicked the door. It thudded shut, and a cloud of ceiling dust rained down on them.

Coughing and sputtering, they both lost their grip on the shotgun, and it spun across the floor, banging into the corner by another door that led to a different room. Will needed to keep Brett in this room until Zara could get inside.

Where was she?

Better question: where was the gun Brett had used to shoot Wyatt?

By the time Will could reach for his pistol, Brett was bounding toward him with his hands up like a boxer. He didn’t spare a second before engaging.

Brett grabbed for Will’s head.

Ducking to the side, Will went for the man’s center with a jab.