“I’m looking for X!” I shouted over the music.
Leather halter guy frowned. “Who?”
“X!” I yelled in his ear.
The bartender shrugged. “I have no idea who that is. I’m new, though, so I don’t know many of the regulars. Do you want anything or not?”
“No, thank you,” I responded. I faced the dance floor and scoured the crowd, looking for Maxx. I had a sinking feeling I’d never be able to find him.
“You came!” April suddenly appeared beside me, her now brown hair plastered with sweat to the sides of her face. Her eyes were wide and sparkling.
“Yeah, I was just looking for someone,” I answered dismissively.
“Oh yeah? Are you looking for Maxx?” It annoyed me that I was that obvious.
“Yeah, I am. Have you seen him?”
April shook her head, bouncing on her feet. “I haven’t, no. But I could help you look.”
“No, that’s okay—” There was a loud commotion from the front of the building, and then a tidal wave of people started moving toward the exit.
“It’s the cops!” I heard someone scream. And the club erupted into absolute and total chaos.
“Fuck! We need to get out of herenow!” April shouted in my ear, grabbing hold of my hand and wrenching me forward.
I was shoved and pushed from all directions; everyone was in a state of panic as we all attempted to get outside.
“We need to hurry! They’ll start using tear gas! I’ve seen it happen before,” April yelled, throwing elbows as we tried to make our way across the room.
“Tear gas?” I gasped.Oh my God!Where was Maxx?
I tried to look around, scanning the faces, but it was absolute pandemonium. People were shouting, girls were screaming. I saw spotlights trained on the heaving, waving crowd.
“This way!” April yelled, pulling my arm toward the wall. We felt our way along the outer perimeter of the room. It was slow going, and in the darkness I could see police officers arresting people and pulling them outside.
Eventually, through pure luck, we located the fire exit.
“Come on, Aubrey! Hurry up!” April was starting to freak out.
“But Maxx might be in there!” I protested.
“Then he’s fucked. Now comeon!” she yelled, giving my arm a vicious pull, and then we were outside.
The insanity breaking loose inside could still be heard once we were out of the building.
“Oh my God!” I gasped, bracing my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath.
“We can’t stop! We’ve got to go!” April was pulling on me again. We ran along the outside of the building, steering clear of the police barricade that had been set up.
“What’s going on?” I asked when we were finally able to stop. We had made our way back to the parking lot. In the craziness, we had gone unnoticed and were able to escape.
April was red in the face and breathing hard.
“It looks like a drug bust. Check it out,” she said, pointing to the front of the club.
There were flashing lights everywhere. Police officers had swarmed the old factory, pulling partyers out of the club and handcuffing them. Others were being thrown to the ground. The din of the crowd was deafening.
A group of people joined us, others who had made their successful escape from inside. April’s friends were among those who had gotten out in time.
