The Samhain Chronicles Chapter 8

The kneehole of the desk was quite cramped, barely able to accomodate Danny's 187 cm frame, but he didn't dare move a muscle. He covered his mouth with both hands, silently begging for the large intruder sitting just above his head to leave. To tell the truth, as terrified as he was for himself he worried more about the students; by his watch, it was after five a.m., which meant very soon the Academy would be waking up and starting the day with no knowledge that a madman with a gun had made his way onto campus. That part alone had Danny flummoxed. Brighton Academy had one of the most top-notch security systems in the country, not to mention a fleet of highly trained guards patrolling the grounds at all hours. How in the world then had a man as large as a bear waltzed past the guardhouse armed with a hunting rifle and not been noticed? Danny knew he had to take action to protect his students and colleagues, and he had to act sooner rather than later.

Stupidly though, he hadn't thought to bring his mobile with him to his classroom. The closest phone he could feasibly get to was in the Teacher's Lounge upstairs, but there wasn't any way to get to it without being seen...or was there? Just when his neck and legs felt too stiff to move, a low, droning grumble came from above him. Danny held his breath at the sudden noise, not sure what it was for a moment, then when he heard it again he realized it was snoring. The huge, beastly man had fallen asleep at his post, which meant the time to move was now. Stifling a groan, Danny un-pretzelified his legs and crawled out from his hiding place ever so stealthily. His feet were partially numb and several of his joints creaked and cracked from being in such a tight spot for so long, but he still tried to move as quickly and as quietly as possible. He crawled on his hands and knees as silent as a church mouse toward the door, pausing for just a moment to look back at the intruder. It was possible the police may ask him to describe the mountain-sized man, and this may be his only chance to take a good look at him.

As he had seen from his initial gander the man was enormous, taller than him by a head and shoulders and twice as broad. His squashed, bulldog-esque face was mostly hidden by his greasy tangle of red hair and a large matted beard, which was chock full of braids twisted together with feathers and beads, along with several crumbs. Most bizarrely of all, paired with his filthy coat and immense hunting boots the large man wore a maroon and navy blue tartan kilt that hung just over his knees. The longer Danny stared at the snoozing intruder, his head started to pound as if there was some invisible person using it as a drum. He felt as if he knew this man very well, but his frustratingly sparse memory prevented him from placing the beastly ogre. He rose slowly to his feet, desperate to stretch his legs, and rubbed his pounding head trying to remember. The other intruder - the woman - she used his name. What was it again? Kyle? No... Carl? That didn't seem right either....

It struck Danny then in a bolt of lightning, a fragmented puzzle piece long forgotten suddenly and soundly clicking into place in the depths of his memory. "Kane," he breathed fearfully, then covered his mouth when he realized he'd uttered the man's name aloud. Kane snorted loudlly and began mumbling in his sleep, but to Danny's relief Kane's chin dropped back down onto his massive chest a few moments later and he resumed snoring. Danny exhaled silently, then as quickly as he dared crept from the room on tiptoe. He held on tightly to his fragment of memory of Kane as he flattened himself to the wall just outside his classroom door; the memory was vague and he honestly wasn't sure if it was even real, but he had to trust it if he had any hope of getting away from the gunman unscathed. He closed his eyes tightly, searching the glimmer of memory to the best of his ability. Kane... Kane was very large and strong, and had a hideous temper...but he was also very slow for his size, and rather slow-witted too. He'd outsmarted the hunter before, he knew...but how?

"Daniel?! What on earth are you doing here so early?" Danny jumped a full meter off the ground at the friendly yet chiding feminine voice and his eyes snapped open wide. He whirled around in a panic when he saw Penelope standing behind him, her eyes warm but her expression deeply concerned.

"Penelope," he gasped, "Y-Ye have to get out of here, now! Please, I donnae have time to explain-"

"Daniel, why are you whispering?" she asked, stepping forward to press a hand to his brow, "You're sweating...slightly feverish, too. Daniel, you really shouldn't be out of bed yet. Go on back to your flat, now; it's alright, I'll call in a substitute for you, and-"

Another loud snort and a grumbling yawn from Kane sent Danny's heart pounding into triple time. Penelope startled at the noise as well and looked toward the door, "What in the world was that?! It sounded like a bear!" When she took a step toward the door to investigate, Danny panicked and instinctually grabbed her around the waist, holding her tightly to his body.

Penelope yelped in shock and surprise when the tall Scot held her so roughly and began twisting in his grip to free herself, "Daniel?! What the bloody hell's come over you?! Release me this-mmph!!" He clapped a hand over her mouth tightly with an apologetic look, tightening his grip when she started struggling harder.

"Penelope, please, be quiet," he whispered hoarsely, "There's a madman in the school, and he's armed!" Penelope stopped struggling immediately and stared at Danny with disbelief, then her brown eyes widened to the size of saucers at the sound of Kane's boots tromping closer to the door. Danny pressed his back to the wall again and held his breath, praying that Kane hadn't heard them in the hall. A deep, sinister chuckle however let Danny know that the he most certainly had.

"I know ye're there, Laddie," the big man sneered, "Come oot now...or don't; I havenae been hunting in so long, and I admit I've missed it quite a lot." Penelope screamed into Danny's palm when the deafening crack of a rifle discharge rang out through the halls, followed by the sound of plaster chunks raining down from the ceiling in Danny's classroom. "What do ye say, Laddie?!" Kane roared, priming the rifle again, "Care to play a wee game of 'Stag Hunt', just for old time's sake?!" Danny didn't dare to utter a response verbally, and what he did next was purely done on instinct: he tossed Penelope over his shoulder like a sack of flour - ignoring her cries of protest - and bolted down the corridor at full speed away from the hunter. He ran with all the speed and agility of a gazelle on the Serengeti with a ravenous lion nipping at his heels as he sprinted for the stairs, ducking as another rifle shot rang out over his head. He ran up the stairs three at a time, apologizing every time at Penelope's grunts as his long strides jostled her very roughly against his shoulder. Eventually he made it to the Teacher's Lounge, diving headfirst through the door before slamming it behind him. After dropping Penelope a bit less gently than he intended into an overstuffed armchair, he pushed a small loveseat in front of the door to act as a barricade.

Once the door was securely blocked, Danny slumped down onto the floor to try and catch his breath. "Th-That was close," he panted, dabbing his brow and neck with his handkerchief, "I'm so terribly sorry, Penelope! Are ye alright?"

Penelope was on her feet already, smoothing the wrinkles out of her dress and trying to fix her mussed hair, "Am I alright?! Daniel, that man was shooting at us!! What's more concerning is that you seem to know each other! Who is he, and what the devil does he want with you?!"

Danny shook his head and rubbed his temple, which was still throbbing a little, "I... I'm not entirely sure. His name is Kane, I-I think. When I was a boy, he worked with some group that...hurt me. I don't...-" He reached back and scratched his brand when it prickled again, then took off his spectacles and rubbed his face, "Who he is isnae important, Penelope. We must call the authorities and report him immediately, before anyone is injured or worse!"

Penelope stared at Danny with confusion, concern and deep pity, "When you were-? Daniel, is he the one who gave you your scars? What... What kind of monster would do something like that to a child?!"

"As I said, it doesn't matter," Danny barked, hopping to his feet to jog over to the phone on the other side of the room. When he raised it off the cradle and put it to his ear however, there was no dial tone. He tapped the cradle a few times frantically, trying to get a dial tone, but to no avail. "Damn," he growled, "The line's dead! Have ye got your mobile, Penelope?"

She shook her head in chagrin, "I left it in my bag at my desk. I'm so sorry, Daniel."

Danny sighed and fluffed his white locks agitatedly, trying to remain calm, "It's alright; I don't think he knows where we are just yet. There's another phone upstairs in Prof. Morgan's office. We'll just try and sneak out, and hope it's unlocked."

Penelope shook her head, "No, Daniel, I meant... I'm sorry, for what happened to you. It's no wonder now why you don't wish to talk about your scars." She hugged him from behind very tenderly, and for a moment, Danny had forgotten all about Dr. Horace's warning to stay away from her. Her sorrow over him seemed very genuine, and he made a mental note to return her affections in kind at a later time when they weren't actively being hunted by a psychotic giant.

"Thank ye," he muttered, then gently shrugged her off, "Your kindness is always appreciated. We have more pressing matters to deal with now however...like how we're going to get past Kane to the fourth floor."

Penelope chewed her thumb and paced as she thought hard, "Yes, that is a sticky wicket; as far as we know, he's still between us and the stairs, which is the only way to Prof. Morgan's office." Her eyes widened as she was suddenly struck with a thought, "I've got it! Daniel, why don't you just use your abilities to incapacitate him? If you can shatter windows, then taking out an armed assailant should be no trouble for you!"

"I donnae have any abilities, Penelope," he said curtly, trying to hide a fearful tremor in his voice with a thin veil of stoicism, "I am an ordinary man with the capabilities of an ordinary man. Now that we've ruled out the fanciful, can we think up a more pragmatic solution?!"

Penelope folded her arms crossly, "Daniel, I may not understand what you can do, but I trust what I've seen with my own two eyes. Your abilities are real, Daniel, as real as your wings! I thought we were past this?"

Danny snarled with frustration, "Penelope, why do ye insist on fueling my delusions?! I do not have special magical powers and I certainly do not have wings!!"

Penelope stared at Danny with steely determination as she stood before him, fists clenched at her sides and trembling, blinking away tears. "You do, Daniel," she insisted, her voice barely an angry whisper, "I know you do! It wasn't any kind of delusion, it's the truth! I saw-"

Overcome with anger and frustration, Danny whirled on Penelope and pinned her to the wall, "Enough!! If ye want to discuss the truth, let's discuss it! Do ye have anything to do with why Kane's here, as Dr. Horace theorized, or are ye simply as insane as I?! Tell me!!!"

Penelope didn't struggle or even flinch, her brown eyes still burning at his with a fiery defiance that was both admirable and beautiful, "I am perfectly sane, just the same as you are, Daniel... and I don't give a damn what your therapist has told you, about me or anything else for that matter!" Danny, disarmed by her tenacity and boldness, slowly let her go, then flinched himself when she reached up to cup his face. "I have no idea who that man, Kane, is," she whispered, barely holding back her tears, "or what atrocities he did to you, Daniel....but I do know this: you are one of the kindest, sweetest, smartest, strongest and most selfless people I have ever met. That is the truth, Daniel."

Danny began trembling and tearing up a little himself as she pressed a quick kiss onto his lips, but the moment was utterly spoiled when a large, heavy fist began banging on the door. "Let me in, Laddie," Kane roared, "I know ye and that wee pretty sprite of a lass are in there!!"

Kane began slamming his shoulder against the door with all his weight, causing the loveseat to slide forward enough so that he could open the door a crack. Before he could figure out how to wedge the barrel of his rifle through the crack however, Danny vaulted over the small couch and braced his back and shoulders against the door. "Penelope, run," he shouted, embarrassed that his voice came out as a shrill squeak instead of the brave, confident tone he'd hoped for.

Penelope scanned the room for a moment, looking for a way out, then nodded when her eyes locked on the small window next to the vending machines, leading to the fire escape, "Alright! What about you, Daniel?! I'm not leaving you behind!" Danny grit his teeth as every bone in his body was rattled from Kane slamming into the door again, which nearly threw him to the floor, but held his ground as best he could. His eyes fell on the fire alarm on the wall to his left, just barely out of reach, then back on Penelope.

"I'll be right behind ye," he declared, this time actually sounding somewhat believeably confident, "Just go! I cannae hold him for much longer!!"

Penelope sprinted to the window and heaved open the partially painted shut sash, which took a few tries to even budge at first. Eventually she pried it open wide enough to accomodate her own small frame and hopefully Danny's before clambering through it onto the fire escape beyond. There was a squeal of twisting metal that Danny found mildly concerning, followed by a scream and a deafening crash, but a moment or two later he heard Penelope's voice call back, "Daniel!! Get out here now! Hurry!!" Spurred on by her panicked cry and fueled by adrenaline, Danny lunged for the fire alarm a second later and yanked the lever smartly just as Kane rammed the door again.

Without Danny there to brace the door, it splintered under Kane's attack. The big man stumbled to try and stop his juggernaut-like momentum, but was unable to. He tripped and tumbled headfirst over the loveseat in front of him, making the entire floor shake as he landed sprawled out like a felled redwood. Danny took advantage of the hunter's momentarily stupefied state and dashed toward the window, wincing and covering his ears at the piercingly loud shriek of the fire alarm. The window was a snug fit for him, but luckily his frame was just lean enough that with a few careful wriggles he managed to fit through with a modecum of difficulty. He found great solace in the fact that the window was much too small for Kane to even attempt to squeeze through, even though the large, dim-witted man tried. After getting stuck twice, Kane growled with frustration and fired blindly through the window before his boots were heard retreating deeper into the school again.

Penelope stood with her back flat to the brick facade of the building, her eyes wide and staring straight ahead. "Penelope," Danny panted, "Are ye hurt? We cannae stop now, please!"

Penelope swallowed hard and unglued one arm from the wall behind her long enough to point downward briefly before grabbing the bricks again, "The... Th-The ladder... b-broke..." Danny glanced down, cringing at the twisted heap of rusted metal on the ground below that once was the lower half of the fire escape, which he deduced had broken off as soon as Penelope attempted to put weight on it. The drop to the ground wasn't really all that far, possibly five meters or so, but it was far enough that the odds of them landing safely on the grass without injuring themselves were not exactly favorable. Danny's calculating eyes moved upward to the ladder above him, which produced a few squeaks and groans of protest when he pulled it down.

"Alright," he panted, "We cannae go down...so we must go up. We'll head to the roof, and climb back down through the building from the inside. That's the safest option."

Penelope glanced up briefly, then looked back down when she seemed to get a little dizzy, "C-Climb higher...? Daniel, no! I-I can't! Let's just...g-go back inside! Through the window! Please!!"

He studied her face a moment, which was almost white except for a pale tinge of green, and then seemed to understand. "Penelope... do high places make ye nervous?"

She chuckled dryly, "I'm not overly fond of them, no! Come on...h-help me b-back to the window, please!" Both he and Penelope uttered a shriek when another bullet sailed past them from a window below them.

"We donnae have time!" Danny barked, pulling her away from the wall and holding her close to his chest, "Penelope, I understand ye're frightened, but I know ye can do this! It's our only option now. I promise I'll be right behind ye, and I won't allow ye to fall!" She swallowed dryly and nodded, then about-faced to stare up the ladder. She looked as if she might be getting dizzy again, so before she lost her nerve, Danny lifted her onto the bottommost rung and gave her backside a gentle prod. Eventually she began climbing and muttering to herself, although the one-way conversation was mostly obscured by the noisy fire alarm. Honestly though, Danny was just as frightened as she was. He never intended for her to get mixed up in anything like this, and now that her life was in danger, he felt completely and rightfully responsible.

Eventually the potshots coming from below them ceased, and a minute or two afterward both of them collapsed onto the flat, gravel roof of the four-story building. Danny let Penelope just lay there like a rag doll to catch her breath and ran ahead to open the roof access door. He knew for a fact it was kept unlocked on purpose, as several teachers and even a few older students liked to sneak up there from time to time for a smoke now and again (even though tobacco was supposed to be banned from campus). Still, the heavy steel door was known to be stubborn and hard to open at times, so he surmised he would have it open by the time Penelope recovered from their harrowing climb. As predicted it finally opened after a few sharp tugs with a loud, bass groan, just as Penelope was getting to her feet again. Danny propped the door open with a few loose bricks stacked up near the air conditioning units, then ran back to help her. "See?" He said, doing his best to smile, "I knew ye could do it. Are ye ready to run, or do ye need me to carry ye?"

Penelope was still catching her breath as she readied to answer, but before she could speak, her eyes locked on the open doorway and she froze. Daniel turned to see what she was looking at and became a statue himself: Kane was in the doorway, grinning at them with a crooked, triumphant grin. "The Game is up, Laddie," he rumbled, taking a few steps toward the pair with his rifle leveled at them, "Come quietly now, and I promise to spare the Lass."

Danny held up both hands and gulped, "Alright... Alright, I'll go... Just please... d-don't hurt her. She has nothing to do with this!"

Penelope looked up at Danny in alarm and disbelief, "No! Daniel, you can't! I won't let you!"

Kane primed his rifle with a snarl and turned the barrel toward Penelope, "Ye try my patience, Lassie! Shut yer trap, or else I'll shut it for ye!"

She glared at the hunter defiantly, but was shaking where she stood, "Your threats don't frighten me! Daniel is a human being; he isn't anyone's property, least of all yours, you... you vile, overgrown, unscrupulous beast!"

Kane blinked stupidly for a moment, then growled at Penelope, "Big words make me angry, Lassie! Choose your last ones carefully now, and I'll try to put ye down easy!"

Penelope's scanned the roof quickly again as she continued talking to stall the big man, "Is that so, you pompous, overfed ignoramous?! I didn't realize what an uneducated simpleton you were! I'll bet you don't even know what half those words mean... nor do you know that the authorities are currently on their way here?!"

Kane gnashed his teeth at Penelope and raised his rifle to his shoulder, "The Iron Boar is stronger than all others! We fear no man nor beast, nor smart wee girls with big mouths!"

Danny looked over at Penelope pleadingly as he saw her staring at the pile of bricks, "Penelope, stop! I beg of ye, just keep silent and don't do anything stupid!"

Penelope glanced at him for a brief second, her eyes steely with determination, and a moment later she made a mad dash for the brick pile. Before Danny could stop her, she grabbed the topmost brick and readied to hurl it at the hunter with a scream. "DANIEL, RUN!!" Danny stood absolutely frozen as he watched the scene unfold in slow motion: Penelope standing there with her arm cocked back to launch the brick at Kane's face, while Kane's rifle continued to be trained on her...and a second after the brick left her hand, the hunter squeezed the trigger.