Day 7 in August 17, 2017
Time: Unknown

The bait, the runner, the hidden trump card; Sammy had yet to decide who will play each roles. They were nothing but pawns and Sammy was no different. She's not going to be the hand that would move the pieces, no. All of the plan in her mind were all too convoluted, they didn't need a perfectionist strategist this time around, they needed a commander--someone who's fast one their feet, someone who acts at the spur of the moment. What they're going to do was risky and it wouldn't hurt if she decided to finally bring him in.

The wind blew and the thin curtains fluttered in a whisper, disturbing the dawning light that's bleeding through the window. She let her balled hands drop on the table, it's thump loud against the silence.

"I need you to get reckless," she said, running out of options.

James stopped his deliberate yawning and opened one of his eyes to take a peek. "Is burning the school to the fucking ground reckless enough?"

Sammy reeled back for a bit.

Now, that's something.

---------

Burning the school to the fucking ground, just like how James had worded it-- wouldn't be easy to pull off but it was not impossible. It involved a lot of planning and preparing and she's up for it. She only needed him to spark an idea inside her. She needed an outsider to create the idea for her because her brain wasn't capable of thinking of crazy or even the slightest dangerous things, it's like it's her safety mode was on a premium level that it wouldn't stoop down any lower. But now that that's out of the way, she could finally apply her expertise.

The first thing they had to ask themselves was the "how" question. How would they do that? Gasoline could work. She's pretty sure they had some at the cafeteria but it still needed spreading and recounting how fast the monsters run, that gasoline idea goes down to only forty five percent chance of burning them. Because burning the school wasn't just burning the school, they had to burn the students with it too, and the reason why James had said it that way earlier--pertaining to setting only the buiding on fire-- was probably just because he got carried away in the heat of the moment. They already knew that the students die permanently when killed, so keeping them in a closed quarters like a burning building would surely do the trick. The school will repair itself no problem after the damage had been done and that damage had to be the students corpses burned into the ground. If they were going to attack, they had to do it full force so that nothing will rise back up and end them in their sleep.

So, gasoline.

Probable but not effective enough. She stopped pacing their little meeting room and snapped her head at James who's busy thinking as well.

"How aboout handmade liquor grenades? I know we only get to see those things in movies, but I think we could make it as long as the alcohol content is about eighty percent. " Sammy said, snapping her fingers as the idea came.

James paused and seemed to think about it for a minute, then nodded. He dropped his crossed arms by his sides and let his feet off the table. "I'll see what I can do," he said before going to the door, he opened it just just enough for a crack to appear then yelled: "Hey shitheds, I know you're listening! I want all of you to turn this school inside out and get me every alcoholic drink you could find!" at the top of his lungs and that made several footsteps outside the door scampered on a panic.

Sammy's brows shot up. Someone or everyone, was really listening and she could've laughed at their startled reaction if they were not planning for a dangerous mission right now.

"Alright..." James took his seat back. "That takes care of it," he said but then, he looked straight into Sammy's eyes. "But I think those kind of bombs wouldn't spread fast enough. Like you said, they move fast and I think they could still be able to outrun it."

"Yes, you're right." Sammy nodded, perplexed. It was unnervering seeing James this serious. His voice was not loud for once and his brows were on a constant crease as he kept on thinking and thinking, his hand finding his chin from time to time.

Oh. He did it again.

"But we can use those bombs to attack them though, it's a good throwing weapon. It gives us long range attacks."

"Yes." Another nod but something clicked in her and she shifted in her seat. "The stove."

"What?"

"The stove in the cafeteria. It was connected to tanks. What if we damage those and let the gas spread the air. Just one spark could start an explosion, fast and swift," she said, starting to get sure.

"That's a great idea, but..." He looked away. "That'll be the hardest, most dangerous task anyone would have to do. The person who will take this on will be taking most, if not all the risk."

Sammy let out a shaky breath. This was what she was afraid of. It turned out, she was capable of thinking of dangerous things afterall. "Th-That's right."

"I'd be happy to--"

"No!" she cut him off. "Not you." She shook her head slowly, dread spreading inside her. She's being selfish again. Just because James was her prostege she wouldn't let him do the most dangerous task. In doing so, she would be putting someone unwilling to do it in much more danger. But she needed him here more. She needed him to take on the lead of anything happened to her. And judging the high risks they're taking, she knew she woudn't come out unscathed or worse, she wouldn't come out at all and end up dead.

She didn't realize that she stood up from her seat until she was sliding back down onto it.

"Then who do you think should do it, then?!" James bit back, irritated.

"I've got someone..." There it is, the selfish side of her, talking... again.

Moments passed and they continued on making plans but unlike earlier, where the conversation was light and comfortable, the two of them were now tense and there was a stillness in the air, the earlier argument was still raw, putting a wall between them. But Sammy chose not to dwell on it or else they wouldn't be able to move forward. Now, they had to plan how and where to escape to once the building was on fire.

After much pondering, they had thought of an idea. They're going to lure all the students up the rooftop and once they're on their way there, inside the small space where the stairs loop around, they're going to lock them in from the back and front.

They went into the said place, checking if the doors that's leading up the stairs were sturdy enough and if it was possible to lock. They sighed in relief when it had a lock on it and was study enough to hold. They did the same to the door that's way up to the rooftop. It was the strongest door by far, made by metal, but it didn't have a lock. They're going have to put a chain or a pipe on it's handle to keep it closed.

Now came the trickiest part and that was the actual rooftop. Two people would be up there and the others will find another way to escape the building. One of the two people that would be put up there was Laine, of course. They needed her to run all the way up to the rooftop so that the monsters would chase her up to the trap. The question was: who would be up there with her?

It had to be someone who's good at climbing or scaling any wall in general. They would tie up blankets end to end to create a rope so that they could go straight down. That one climber's purpose was to be with Laine and guide her safely down. Before they could even ask who that person would be, Fei had already presented herself. She stepped up, telling them that she's good at climbing trees and she's pretty good at gripping ropes and use it as a leverage. She said she had done it hundreds of times and Mark, although having second thoughts, was there to vouch for her and painstakingly told them that Fei was in fact, used to be a girl scout and had a forest ranger cousin who thought those things to her as a hobby.

Sammy was not sure if she would allow it but then, when they had finally put the blankets together as a rope, she showed them what she could do and they watched in mixture of horror and amazement. Her grip on the would-be rope looked tight and all the veins in her arm seemed to pop, she handled it with strength but she was graceful in the air. She did it swiftly, no stopping in the middle, no unecessary wiggling, just steady descend and glide down. It was as if they were watching an actual rescue mission with how expert she was and how her eyes gleamed in determination. She touched the ground at record breaking time and Sammy had no other choice but to let her do it.

Fei carried on, training Laine how to properly find her step down as darkness slowly crept the whole place while Sammy and the rest had busied themselves with other work.

Their rendezvous point will be the old school building that's separated from the main building. It was far enough and they could wait until it all died down.

They regrouped back inside the clinic when the plan was finally perfected. Laine's hands and thighs were red in friction burns with how much she trained down the rope but they didn't hear any complains from her and Fei was there by her side, coaching her things as they made their usual circle. James had this sharp gaze on his face as he stepped out of his corner and Mark was silent through it all, watching them like a hawk the same way he did when they all first met.

Once on a cirlce, they've brought their bags in. They all poured it's contents in the middle and they handpicked what they could use.

It's better to have a permanent object than rely on weapons that could disappear on them at the unlikely of times.

Fei picked up the scissor that came out of her bag first. Sammy took the hairspray that came from Laine's and kept it with the lighter she had confiscated from a smoking student back at the real world. Sammy picked another item and it was a box cutter. She handed it to James who took it with a nod. She still didn't have a weapon for herself. She ran out, but it was okay. Sammy was trying to find some things for Mark, but Fei had told her that she'd take care of it and she left it at that.

They were all ready to go all, that's left now, was for the plan to work.