Scott Wittenburg - See Tom Run

Tom tried the handle of the nearest guest room door and couldn’t believe it-the door was unlocked! Quickly, he opened it, ran inside and closed the door behind him. He slid the deadbolt as quietly as he could, praying that Bummer wouldn’t hear “Room service,” he heard just outside the door.

Bummer had found him.

Tom glanced around the room then heard a huge crash at the door. He turned around and saw the sharp edge of an ax sticking out where it had sliced through the door.

Feeling like he was in a scene from The Shining, Tom watched in horror as the ax blade withdraw then sliced into the door again about a half-inch to the right of the first hole. He ran over to the bed, grabbed a lamp and stood off to the side. It was at that moment that he spotted another door in the room with a deadbolt on it.

A door that led to the adjoining room!

Tom ran over to the door, slid open the dead bolt and tried the doorknob. It turned. He opened the door, ran into the adjoining room and locked the door behind him. He was safe for the moment.

But how long would it take for Bummer to break into the other room then proceed to this room?

He needed to get away quickly or he would be a dead man.

Tom heard the ax continuously crashing into the wood as he stepped over to the room entrance. Quietly, with his heart beating hard in his chest, he cracked the door an inch and looked out into the corridor. Fortunately, the door swung in the direction that allowed him to see Bummer next door hacking the hell out of the door with his ax. Unfortunately, there would be nothing standing between him and Bummer once he ran out into the hall.

So he would have to wait until Bummer axed his way through the door then take off like a bat out of hell.

“You just wait till I get in there, asshole!” Bummer grunted, short of breath from his labors. “I’m gonna make you look like a pile of raw ground beef!”

Tom watched as Bummer swung his ax one more time then poked his hand through the gaping hole in the door. He heard the deadbolt slide and watched as Bummer swung open the door. The moment he went inside, Tom bolted out of the room.

“Gotcha!” Tom heard the stocky slob shout the moment he hit the hallway. He sped after Tom and was directly behind him in an instant. Tom suddenly turned around and saw Bummer holding the ax high over his head, poised to strike.

That’s when Tom swung the lamp as hard as he could into Bummer’s fat face.

The boy was so shocked that he dropped the ax and simply stood there dumbfounded for a second, a look of hideous stupidity on his face. Tom swung again, this time landing the brass base of the lamp squarely into Bummer’s jaw.

Blood literally squirted out as Bummer howled like an animal. Tom hesitated a moment, then gathered up all his strength and let him have it one more time, this time from overhead into his huge hairless skull.

Bummer slumped and fell like a limp dishcloth onto the floor, out like a light.

Or dead as a doornail-Tom wasn’t really sure.

He dropped the lamp and sprinted down the hall toward the elevator, wondering if any of the other boys were in the hotel. Just in case, he opted for the same stairway Bummer had taken instead of risking the elevator.

Tom made his way quietly down the stairs to the fourth floor, listening carefully for any sounds. All he could hear was his own footsteps echoing off the walls.

He went through the stairway door. He saw more guest rooms in either direction. He started down the hallway and resumed methodically knocking softly on each door. About halfway down the corridor, he thought he heard a sound come from inside one of the rooms. He knocked again. This time he was sure he heard a sound-a sort of weak, muffled whimper.

He turned the doorknob, which was locked.

“Erin, is that you?” he whispered through the door.

Nothing.

“Erin, it’s me-Tom. Can you hear me?”

He heard more muffled sounds, more staccato than before.

It had to be her.

“I’m gonna get you out of there, Erin. I just need to find a way inside. Hang in there!” he whispered excitedly.

Tom frantically pulled the key ring out of his back pocket and tried each key, praying that one of them would unlock the door. He was hoping that the keys were masters for each floor of the hotel, or something like that.

The next to the last key turned smoothly in the keyhole.

He unlocked the door and entered the room.

The room was pitch dark. The muffled whimpers sounded louder now and were coming from halfway across the room. Tom fumbled around for a light switch along the wall, located it and flipped it up. The room remained dark. Frustrated, he swung the door open all the way to let more light in.

Once his eyes adjusted, he could make out two queen-sized beds and what looked like a body lying on the furthest one. He made his way across the room, went in between the two beds, located the lamp on the nightstand, found a switch and clicked it on.

There lying face down on the bed was Erin Myers, her hands tied behind her back with thick rope. Her head was turned so that she was facing him, her mouth bound by duct tape, her eyes swollen red.

“Erin!” Tom cried.

He leaned down and removed the duct tape from her mouth as delicately as he could.

“Jesus, am I ever glad to see you!” Erin cried when the tape was off. “How did you ever find me here?”

“I was confronted by your captors at Macy’s. They brought me here to join their little party but I haven’t been feeling particularly welcome, to say the least. Here, let’s get you onto your feet.”

Tom rolled Erin onto her side and pulled her over toward the edge of the bed. The moment she was on her feet, he encircled her thin waist and hugged her tightly. Tears of relief and joy came to his eyes as he embraced the girl.

“I’m so happy to see you! I wasn’t sure I’d ever see you again after you left my place.”

Erin laid her head on his shoulder and heaved emotionally. “God, Tom, I can’t believe you found me! I’ve been so scared!”

Tom pulled away and faced her. Erin planted a big kiss on his cheek and stared directly into his eyes.

“You’ve been my savior twice now. Thank you so much,” she said softly.

“It’s the least I could do,” Tom replied, wishing he could have done more.

He went over and rummaged through the nightstand drawers in hope of finding something to cut the rope binding Erin’s hands. All he found was a small notepad, a TV remote and a Gideon’s Bible.

Then he remembered the serrated bread knife he’d stuffed into his back pocket. He pulled it out, stood behind Erin and began working on the rope.

“Kyle’s dead, Tom. You wouldn’t believe what they did to him-it was horrifying!”

Tom tried to imagine what it had been like for this young girl to be forced to stand by and watch while these misfits mutilated her ex-boyfriend. No matter what her feelings may have been for Kyle, it had to have been absolutely terrifying.

“I saw him, Erin, down in that room. I’m really sorry. No one deserves to be subjected to that kind of inhumane torture and violence,” was all he could say.

“Those boys are animals! I couldn’t believe how they strung up Kyle like that and did all of those awful things to him. And then they made me-oh shit, Tom! It was so sick and insane!”

Tom wondered what the demented bastards had forced Erin to do but he didn’t ask, not sure he really wanted to know. He continued sawing back and forth on the rope with the knife, becoming more and more nervous and frustrated at how long it was taking. He knew they needed to move, quickly, before the two boys found them.

Tom said, “They are certainly a screwed-up crew, that’s for sure. And we are going to be their next victims if we don’t start moving soon. Jesus, this knife is about as useless as tits on a boar hog-pardon the expression!”