Chapter 23

Day 8 in August 17, 2017
Time: Irrelevant

"Stay away!" Fei swung her knife in the air and it was able to cut the cheeks of one of the students but they didn't stop running and went straight behind her where Laine was standing.

"No!" she screamed as she turned but she was a little too late, the monsters were already swarming behind her and Laine let out a shriek--

A knife swing came out of nowhere  and swiped the monsters away from Laine and Fei's eyes met James'. "What are you doing?!" he asked, voice loud and furious.

"They won't pay attention to you because you're wearing glasses and you passed the test, we're practically invisible, Laine is not! So, don't go around looking for a fight!" he screamed at her face.

"James! Come on!" Sammy yelled from the door and James nodded, he stared back at the two of them.

"Follow me," he said and he pulled out another knife from the holster by his his side. He took on the lead, stabbing the swarm that's forming in front of them but before they could step out of the door, Fei looked back, seeing Mark was standing there. He was not following them, he was on a standby, preparing himself to go on another route. There was darkness in his eyes as he stared at the floor, both hands gripping his knives.

"Mark!" Fei yelled as they were lead away. Mark's eyes blinked away the darkness, brightening momentarily when he saw her. Suddenly, she didn't know what to say. She already said "don't die" last night and she didn't want to repeat it again. So, she pushed back all the grim on her face and settled with, "Do your best!"  instead with all the smile she could muster. He smiled at that but before he could even say anything, they were already turning the corner and he was gone.

They ran and ran, the sound of their breaths were chased by moans and groans that was coming out of the other students' fanged mouth.

They made it to the door but James grabbed Laine's arms out of nowhere, making her stop outside.

"Hold on, " he said, his eyes looking towards the ever growing shadow by the curve of the hallway. "Let's wait until they get near. When they're close enough you run, okay?" he said, his voice almost a whisper as he catched his breath while talking to Laine. He was staring at her, then to the shadows, to her again, then back to the shadows. Only now, they were not just shadows anymore, but bodies too-- moving and bustling around.

They took another worrying step closer to Laine and James finally let go of her.

"Now!" he yelled.

They started runnning.

He was left outside the door where he would close it up and Sammy was to be the one who would close the door upstairs. The three of them climbed, their knees almost buckling at the speed they forced into their movements. They could hear the students rising fast and there was clanging on the metal bars in the railing of the stairs. When Fei looked back, she saw that the clanging was coming from the students' bodies being left behind tangled there. Some hit the bars with their limbs; not being able to move forward. Some that were completely trampled over were hitting the metal with their heads. Fei's eyes widened in horror at how desperate they'd become but she moved her eyes back up, catching up with the others' step.

They finally made it to the little flat surface at the end of the stairs and they waited for the place to get full.

"James, how is it?!" Sammy asked.

"Not yet!" James yelled back, his voice struggling as his body was about to get dragged in by the constant flow of students. He was barely holding onto the door as he spoke, but he didn't let himself get swept away, not risking getting mixed up with the crowd. "They're still coming!"

A student made its way to the last step and Sammy kicked it down.

"Now?!" Sammy asked again, growing impatient.

"Not yet!"

The students were already starting to pile up in their place and Fei swung her knife at them.

"Ho-How about now?!" she yelled

"Not yet!"

A circle was already on them and the students were pushing them back and Laine that was behind them, was getting squished. Both Sammy and Fei kept on stabbing, lifeless bodies falling on their trails.

"Now--"

"NOW!"

They were cut off but they didn't need to be told again. The stepped back and they closed the door before they could even hear the door below shut.

They gritted their teeth as they pushed. It wasn't easy closing it up. The door was metal but it was a double door with two metal bar handle and their fighting teeth and nails just to keep it together. The two doors were uneven, and they pushed and pushed. Fei made a risky move and left her spot to grab an old chair that's a few feet away from them.

She ran back with it and rammed it against the door, evening it out momentarily. Sammy was quick to pull out the pipe that she had with her and slid it between the handles. The door rattled and she added cable wires, tying it into a knot and using the plugs in the end as a lock to keep the tie together.

They all stood back from the door, it was bouncing back and forth dangerously and they knew they had to act quickly.

"Laine, Fei. Go on!" Sammy ordered and they both ran towards the edge where the blanket-rope was waiting.

Fei came down first, securing the perimeter once she was on the ground. She looked around for a bit and then called Laine down after she was sure nothing waiting for them.

Laine stared at Sammy who didn't budged from where she stood, her eyes focused on the door. When Sammy felt her eyes on her, she looked at Laine and smiled at her, telling her that she should go now.

Laine nodded at the unspoken word she had received and began her descend but when she was halfway down she heard a scream. It was scared and surprised and she looked up, her body swinging as the wind swept.

"Samantha?" she called and she almost let go of the rope when Sammy popped her head out of the edge all of a sudden. She stared down at her with her eyes wide. "Go on! Leave--" Her eyes turned sideways and she moved faster. "Go, now!" she full on yelled at Laine and it was enough to get her to start moving again. She could hear her groan up there. There was a sound of a blade slashing through wind, squelching of flesh being stabbed and high pitched clanging of metal against something solid. She was fighting up there! What could she be--

Laine had to duck when a purple bloodied body fell down the edge. Then, it was not only one but two, then three, until the ones that was jumping down weren't dead but alive and they scratched and shrieked at her when they failed to grab a hold of her in midair.

"Laine!" Fei yelled from below and she slashed a student back to the ground. "Come on, we have to go!"

"I'm coming!" Laine climbed down faster and when she finally touched the ground, one tried to grab her at the get go, and everything happened so fast. Suddenly, she noticed that she wasn't their only target now. They a
were coming for Fei, too. Now, finally provoked, they hanged their nails up in the air, ready to plummet down Fei's head but she didn't notice it, she was too busy looking over Laine and Fei was about to get ripped to pieces with them doubling on her, a wave of fangs and nails on the way.

"No!" Laine screamed and she ran and pushed Fei behind her, her eyes meeting their empty ones. Her hand went to her tighs, finding the holster of her weapons there and she grabbed on something cylindrical and something small and thin. She knew Sammy told her to use this if it was absolutely necessary. And this moment for sure, was calling for the absolute necessity to fight back and be brawl about it.

"Use this to protect yourself," she said but herself wasn't the only one here. She had a certain someone with her and that someone was Fei and Laine was willing to protect her just like how Fei was willing to protect her this whole time.

"Die!" She sprayed the hairspray towards them, her left hand lit the lighter in her grasp and everything goes ablaze. Her hair was swept back behind her as the fire sucked the light out from their surroundings, making it a tad darker like dawn had set upon them. It engulfed everything in its way, leaving nothing but charred bodies on it's wake.

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This is bad, Sammy thought as monsters swarmed the edges of the rooftop. They're making their jump without second thoughts just to follow after Laine and she had done her best to keep them at bay but now, she just couldn't anymore. She couldn't climb down the stairs because it was crowded with monsters and they kept on coming out of that place like there was no end and she had to catch up down there to help protect Laine or atleast--

She perked up when she thought of something.

She couldn't use the blanket anymore, it was already pestered with monsters trying to use it as a rope. So, she had to improvise at the very last minute. She took off her coat, tied it at the railings that surrounded the rooftop and prayed that it would hold her.

She had to find someone to help protect Laine and James was just one floor below them. She held the fabric tight and climbed done slowly. She only needed to go down one floor and enter the first window she could find. Her grip trembled and her footing was sloppy. She lulled herself into thinking that it was an easy feat. It seemed to have work for a second until she heard a fabric tearing. And that fabric was none other than the one that's keeping her alive. It made her move faster and when she saw the first window, she was ready to grab onto it, but when she did, her hand slipped on something solid and even. It was glass, that could only mean it was locked. Her face finally leveled itself by the window and it was really locked and she pounded on it and yelled at it. She could see James just outside the door of the stairs. He was in the hallway, looking left and right but it was to her surprise when something big jumped at James out of nowhere.

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James waited and waited. He had been there for some time now and he knew he had to wait just until the girls had finally come down.

His feet was tapping on the floor rapidly, his arms were crossed and he was gritting his teeth in anticipation. He needed to leave now, and check on the others. He was growing impatient and he chose to follow after them now even if it's still early on the plan. He made one last left and right look on the hallway and he was about to step away from the door when his peripheripal vision on the right caught something when his eyes landed on the left.

He heard it first before he could see it. It's movements were heavy and it was snarling like a dog and it sounded like it was leaping on all fours like a dog, too. And it was really on all fours, James was finally sure of it when it jumped on him with all of it's limbs pinning him down on the floor.

"What the--" He couldn't finish his sentences when he looked up and saw that it was a teacher. It was not the elongated teacher back in their classroom, but it almost looked the same. This version was buffed with muscles even though it was a woman. Its skirt was torn by the sides so that it could move faster and its hair bun was a mess from all of its rabid movements.

This was not part of the plan. Nothing was going according to plan.

James felt angry all of a suddedn. It was boiling inside him, overpowering fear and he screamed at the top of his lungs as he slid two of his knives out of its holster that was by his sides and stabbed it right in its eyes.

The monster screamed, its voice was multiple, sounding like a man, a woman and a child at the same time. It was possesed in some way and James wouldn't stick around to see what more it could do.

Its arms raised to its face and James was quick to pull his knives out of its empty sockets. He slid out from underneath it and he stood in a defensive stance, his back behind an open window.

"Come get me, freak!" he yelled loud, a growl mixing in his voice. The monster screamed again, frustrated that he got away from its grasp. It stood with its arms stretched in front of it and tackled him where he was standing. James smirked for a moment and dove to the sides. He was about to be safe but then, when he was in midair, about to land to the sides, the monster's hands swung to the left and it was able to hook him up to it's sharp nails. He yelled in shock when it pulled him with it towards the window. Its body weight and momentum dragged him out, its nails digging behind his collar and he was on air before he could even blink. The monster was in the air too, ready to fall but he was coming with it and there was a split second of pause up there before gravity resumed and finally pulled them down.

He screamed as he fell, feeling the inevitable meeting him as he lose altitude.

He closed his eyes, felt the wind on his cheecks and braced himself for impac--

"I got you!" someone yelled from somewhere and he stopped falling, the person was grabbing the shoulder of his shirt. The hold was firm but he could feel that it was of a small fist.

He blinked his eyes open and he saw Sammy hanging there outside the window, an almost tattered coat was swinging in the air behind her. Her other arm was coiled around the pipe that lined the wall and her hand that was holding him up was trembling with struggles.

She gritted her teeth with force and commanded him. "Come up!" she said and she swung her arm towards the wall and he was swayed along with it. His chest crashed into the wall. It was painful and it almost knocked the air out of his lungs but he didn't have time to complain and grabbed onto the ledge he found. Sammy finally let go of him when he found his footing and they both stood by each side of the open window, the wind blowing their hair towards their faces.

"The hell are you doing here, Prez?!" he asked as he made his way towards the window.

"Something went wrong" she started and James almost paused midway and Sammy tapped him from behind to continue moving.

"What went wrong?!" he yelled, still winded.

"The monsters made it through the rooftop door and they jumped after Laine and Fei. They were on the ground now and I need your help. We must come down there and help protect Laine," she said and James stepped inside.

Sammy struggled to raise herself up the window and James hooked his arms under her armpits and lifted her up with no questions, making her entrance to the building faster and easier.

When he put her down on the floor, she just dusted her skirt and she pinched his shirt to drag him along, her legs were already breaking on a sprint before he could even react.

They ran along the hallway, their sight of Fei and Laine appearing and reappering with each windows they had passed. Where was the fire when they needed it most? Shouldn't it have started by now?

James frowned. "Why hadn't the fire started yet?!" he asked as he ran, his voice almost out of breath.

"I don't know!" Sammy answered, struggling to breath, too. "Something must have gone wrong." Sammy's eyes grew little by little as she pondered the thought and she halted.

"What what what?!" James drifted into a stop with her, both his arms up by his sides.

"I'm going to the cafeteria to check on Mark!" she said and started sprinting towards the opposite direction. Her head turned to look at him as she grew farther and farther away, her eyes showed how exhausted she was but it was nothing compared to the silent begging it was telling him. "Please go down there and keep them safe and if nothing goes according to plan, let us all meet at the Principal's Office!" she said lastly before her voice trailed off into the distance.

James took off running too, his knife tightly held between his palm and fingers. Something in him was twisting. He wasn't used to the feeling but he knew it was worry. He was worried now because even their leader couldn't deny the fact that their plan was starting to crumble. He just hoped that some part of it held itself up.

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Back inside the cafeteria, at the very deep part of the kitchen, a hose that was connecting a gas tank to a stove was cut open. The putrid smell of chemicals were spreading the air. Blood was dripping down Mark's face and the only thing that was keeping him standing was the wall behind him. All he could see was red with all his blood seeping into his glasses. Everything was red, so was the gigantic figure that's looming over him. He was trapped in a corner and a fire hadn't been lit.

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