James Grippando - Leapholes

"Hey, how you doing?" he said.

Cool. So cool. Just act like you know what you're doing, and people assume that you own the place.

He kept walking, following the directional signs that pointed to "HOSPITAL MAIN ENTRANCE." The corridors were long, cold, and brightly lit, and of course that sterile hospital smell was everywhere. Ryan reeled in the urge to sprint for the exit. Absolutely no running, he told himself. So long as he walked at a normal pace, no one would ask questions. He couldn't help but smile, however, as he turned the final corner and spotted the hospital's main lobby, dead ahead. It was just beyond the final set of sliding glass doors. He was a mere twenty feet away, fewer than ten steps to freedom. This was going to be fun. He could be Ryan L'new as long as he wanted.

And then an alarm sounded.

It was a shrill, pulsating alarm, so loud that it drowned out every other sound in the hospital. Ryan stopped dead in his tracks. The security guard sprang from his chair. He was an imposing figure with rock-hard biceps that bulged from his tight shirt sleeves. He was standing between Ryan and the hospital's main entrance, and he looked at Ryan suspiciously. Ryan wasn't sure who had sounded the alarm. His plan had been working perfectly, but obviously someone had figured out what he was up to. Or maybe someone had discovered that he was a Coolidge. Yes, that had to be it. They were afraid he had stolen something and was trying to sneak out of the hospital.

Ryan took a long look at the security guard, and the big man returned the glare. Whatever was going on, Ryan didn't want to have to explain himself to the Incredible Hulk. He turned and ran in the opposite direction.

The guard may have yelled at him, but Ryan heard only the blaring alarm as he raced down the hallway. Doctors and nurses suddenly emerged from behind closed doors. In a matter of moments, the corridors were flooded with people. They were standing around, looking at one another in confusion, trying to make themselves heard over the screaming alarm. Ryan never broke stride. He wove through the crowded hallway, arms and legs pumping. With so many people in his way, it was like running through an obstacle course. He didn't know where he was headed. It only seemed logical, however, that the hospital would have another exit, probably at the other end of the hall. He had no intention of stopping until he found it, but he nearly screeched to a halt as he rounded one last corner.

Thick, black smoke was pouring from the cafeteria.

"Fire!" a nurse screamed.

Suddenly, it all came clear. The hospital was on fire! The alarm hadn't been for him after all-unless they thought Ryan had started it.

Oh, great, thought Ryan. They think I snuck out of the ER and started the building on fire! They do know Vm a Coolidge!

A human stampede emerged from the cafeteria. Scores of people flew past Ryan, their clothing covered with soot. Many were coughing and trying to catch their breath. Others screamed and ran as fast as they could. Ryan had no time to get out of the way, and they trampled him in their hysteria. A man stepped on his leg. A woman stepped on his hand. Ryan tried to get up, but he was immediately knocked back to the floor. His head smacked against the tile, and it hurt almost as much as when that car had hit him and he'd flown into the windshield. He was dizzy, and the smoke was making it even harder for him to get his bearings. Ryan was on his knees, his body pressed against the wall, as the crowd whisked past him. Finally, every last one of them was gone, and he was able to climb to his feet and focus. As he rose, he could see the flames poking through the open door to the cafeteria. Smoke was creeping down the hallway like a ghostly gray snake. Ryan cleared his lungs with a deep cough, then turned and ran. The crowd was well ahead of him. He knew where the exit was, but if he didn't outrun the smoke, he might never find it. Suddenly, the alarm blared even louder, and water was squirting from the ceiling.

Sprinklers! Ryan was sprinting around a corner at full speed just as the water hit him. He slipped on the wet tile, his feet went out from under him, and he slammed into the wall like a NASCAR crash. Water from the sprinklers continued to rain down on him, but it wasn't nearly enough to extinguish the raging fire. Smoke was pouring from the cafeteria. He picked himself up, but before he could take a step, someone raced past him and knocked him to the floor again.

"Sorry, Ryan!"

He recognized the voice. It was Kaylee's.

"Come on, Ryan! There's a fire!" She was running toward the cafeteria, leading four other ER patients straight toward disaster.

"Stop, you're running the wrong way!" He was shouting, but she didn't hear him.

Ryan knew the way to safety, and he was only minutes away from saving himself. But if someone didn't catch up with Kaylee, she and the others could be trapped by the flames. Ryan couldn't let that happen. On impulse, he turned and ran after them, but it was like running through a rainstorm- blindfolded. The sprinklers continued to soak him. The smoke was thick and black. He could barely breathe, and with the alarm blaring, he could scarcely think. In a matter of seconds, he completely lost sight of his new friend.

"Kaylee, where are you?" he called into the darkness.

A hand emerged through heavy smoke, snatched Ryan by the collar, and yanked him into a side hallway. Ryan found himself running alongside a complete stranger. Oddly, a cool breeze was flowing toward them, as if the air conditioning were running full blast. It was blowing the cloud of smoke away from them, back toward the main corridor. No smoke meant no sprinklers. The floors were dry, the air was breathable, and the fire alarm was audible only in the distance.

"I'm over here," said Kay lee.

She was standing in an alcove where the hallway jogged to the right. Ryan didn't recognize the four other people in her group. Two of them were wearing hospital gowns. One was an old man with his arm in a sling. The other, a woman, had a bandage wrapped partially around her head. The rest of it trailed behind her like a fifteen-foot-long streamer. A second woman was wearing a business suit, and she looked nauseous, probably with the flu. She was carrying a plastic bucket.

Ryan said, "You don't expect to put out this fire by throwing a bucket of water on it, do you?

Her skin turned a pale shade of green, then she made a retching sound and deposited the rest of her lunch into the bucket. "It's not that kind of bucket," she said weakly.

"Sorry, my bad," said Ryan.

The fourth patient-the one who had grabbed Ryan-was a younger man. He wore jeans, a T-shirt, and a red football jacket from Central-City High School. A white name tag with green lettering was sewn onto the front of his jacket. It read, "Coach Jenkins." He had a patch over one eye, as if someone had forgotten to say Hey, Coach, catch! before tossing him the football.

Ryan dried his face with the sleeve of his sweatshirt. The emergency sprinklers had yet to activate in this stretch of hallway, but everyone was already soaked from the run through the main corridor.

Kaylee said, "Why were you calling my name, Ryan?"

"You were going the wrong way," he said. "I had to stop you."

"You mean you came back to get me?"

"Well, yeah. All of you."

"You were trying to save me?" she said. " That's so sweet."

Coach Jenkins groaned. "Okay, okay, Romeo and Juliet. Balcony scene's over. If we don't get moving pretty quick, we'll all be toast."

"I know the way out," said Ryan. "We have to go back past the ER, toward the hospital's main entrance."

The woman with the flu stood up straight, though it seemed to take all her strength just to talk. "That might have been a great plan about five minutes ago. But not now."