Dark Fantasy I: Endless Rain Chapter Two

Chapter Two
Seven Years Later...




Saturday, October 18th, 2014.
Michael greeted the people in the Choir room as he entered. There weren't many people in there yet: just two women and one man, his best friend. A young man, eighteen years old like him, by the name of Parker Morrison.
“You realize that you're late, right?” Parker scoffed as Michael entered. Michael simply replied with a shrug and a chuckle.
“That would explain why class still doesn't start for another seven minutes,” he replied with sarcasm. He sat down next to Parker and grabbed his Choir folder. This was a very small and elite Choir called Sounds Unlimited in Grants Pass High School, a large school in Southern Oregon. Only eight members total; three men, counting Michael, and five women.
“Six minutes, now,” Parker chuckled, looking at the digital clock above one of the entrances. “First of all, that would make you a minute later than usual, and second...”
“You know I hate the number six,” Michael sighed, shoving Parker a bit.
“Yeah, yeah; I know the story.”
“You talk a lot more when you're around this weirdo,” a girl with long, black hair said to Michael, pointing to Parker.
“Hey; I'm a weirdo and proud of it,” Parker scoffed with a grin.
“What can I say, Emily?” Michael sighed. “I just don't talk often. you know, usually.”
“Oh, you talk, Michael,” the other girl in the room replied.
“He's so quiet, though!” the black-haired girl, Emily Madden gasped.
“Yeah, Magrid,” Parker snapped with sarcasm to the other girl, Margaret (also known as Maggie) Roberts. “He's so quiet.”
“Don’t call me Magrid!” Maggie laughed. “I swear, when Braden gets here…”
“Whatever,” Michael chuckled. “I happen to like being the quiet one! That way, I can listen in on other conversations without them realizing it. a.k.a., eavesdropping for the hell of it.”
“Wow, okay. So you’re a weirdo and a stalker,” Emily scoffed, sitting with her arms and legs crossed on the chair as they waited for class to begin.
“Oh my,” Parker chuckled in his best George Takei impression. Michael laughed as well and went looking through his Choir folder, which, for those who may not know, is a black binder-like object.
Too many songs already, he thought to himself. Because he was in two Choirs, he used the left half of the folder specifically for Sounds Unlimited music and the right half for Concert Choir music. It was mid-October, and they already had Christmas music for Sounds. Too soon, Michael scoffed. Way too soon. But there was a reason, and he knew it; they had a Christmas gig fifteen days from then. And that was not even a precursor to the horrors that would come.
Another few minutes passed before a few more people came in. Braden Fastidio, another of the only three men in Sounds Unlimited. Truli Wright, another Senior in Grants Pass High School and a Soprano in the group. Michael had known Truli since eighth grade, but that’s irrelevant. Parker's little sister, Brynlee Morrison, the youngest member in Sounds Unlimited at fifteen years of age walked in, followed closely by Kitra Moeny, a close friend of Emily's and one of the three members of Sounds who had been in the group since the year before.
“We're all rather early today, wouldn't you agree?” Kitra sighed, sitting down between Truli and Maggie while Braden sat between Parker and Brynlee.
“The bell for Break to end hasn't even gone off yet,” Braden chuckled, crossing his arms and sitting back in his seat.
“Yeah,” Parker retorted, turning towards Michael. “Of course, Michael is later than usual.”
“In my defense, I'm always at the other side of the school!” Michael countered, turning towards Parker.
“Well excuuuse me, Princess!” Parker rolled his eyes and scoffed. Michael scoffed in return and slapped the back of Parker’s head.
“Guys,” Truli began, looking up at the clock. “I don't think school even started yet.”
Everyone else looked up at the clock and were shocked when they saw what time it was: 5:57am.
“It's still... dark outside?”
After Maggie spoke, everyone turned their attention towards the windows, finding that she was right; the sky was barely blue. Stars were still in the sky, and the sun still hadn’t come over the edge of the horizon.
“I could have sworn we went to the first few class periods today!” Brynlee exclaimed. All eight of them walked outside. It certainly felt like 5:57am. The air was bitter and cold, the stars were still up but slowly fading, and there was still dew on the grass.
“Seriously, guys,” Emily said, a look of shock on her face. “What's going on!?”
“It's gotta be a dream,” Parker scoffed. “Really; this kind of thing doesn't happen.”
“Oh, okay, Parker,” Braden replied with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “Then we must all be having the same dream at the exact same time. Sounds about right.”
“Okay; then what's your explanation?” asked Michael, looking around with shock. Even the gates leading to the Quad, the main center of the school where forking paths connect the various buildings, were closed. “We just happened to wake up at the same time, come to school at the same time, thinking we already went to all our freaking classes?”
“It's weird, I'll admit,” Braden replied, sighing as he put his thumb and index finger to his chin as he thought.
“I think weird is an understatement, Braden,” Kitra scoffed, chuckling not out of amusement, but more out of confusion.
“Could it be possible that the beginning of our day was like a dream?” Truli suggested. “We could have imagined going to our first few classes, but we came here a little earlier than we thought because of the dream.”
“It's a bit farfetched to say that we all had the same dream,” Braden began. “Then again, I can't think of any better reasons. Anyone?”
All of them were silent as they looked around at each other, looking to see if anyone else knew what was going on.
“Well, then,” Braden sighed and crossed his arms again. “Looks like we had the same dream for who knows what reason.”
Michael looked around and really gave some thought to Truli's reason. That’s so weird, though, Michael thought to himself. We all had the same dream and we just showed up at the same time, thinking it was later in the day? There's no way that could happen! “Hey, guys,” Michael began, looking at everyone. “I don't necessarily disagree with Truli's theory, but if such a thing has happened, then don't you think it's a little too odd to be coincidence?”
“No kidding.” Parker crossed his arms and walked over to the back of the Performing Arts Center, the building at Grants Pass High School that not only had Choir, Orchestra, Band and Theatre, but was used by various local performing groups and such. He came back shortly after and said, “There's only two cars in the parking lot back here, and one of them is Truli's.”
“I think the other one might be Lehnhardt's,” said Truli. Then Braden face-palmed himself and sighed with exasperation.
“We have a gig today!” he scoffed. “No wonder we're all here at the same time!”
“The fact that we all dreamed the same dream is a little weird, though,” Maggie replied.
“Oh, man!” Parker whined. “That means I didn't ace my AP English test!?”
“Too bad, Parker.” Braden chuckled and pat Parker's back. “Better luck next time, huh?”
“I should have known... I don’t even have AP English!” Parker exclaimed, coming to the sudden realization.
“Wait a minute,” Emily began. “Something doesn't add up here.”
“You don’t say,” Parker scoffed.
“How could we have dreamed the same dream so well that we even mistook entering the Choir room as going to fifth period without realizing it was a dream in the first place?” Emily stated, entirely ignoring Parker.
“Shut up!” Parker groaned with exasperation and chuckled. “You're gurnur murss mur brain erp!” (Translation for people who aren't familiar with derp: “You're gonna mess my brain up!” Try reading the preceding phrase out loud; it might make more sense that way.)
“She has a good point though,” Michael replied, turning his attention from Parker to everyone else. “This is too weird. In order for this to have been at all logical, we would have woken up in the morning, and shortly after getting ready, we would have had to have fallen asleep at the same time in order to dream the same dream, then we would have woken up as we headed to the Choir room, but even so, my logic is still flawed.”
“I think any logic trying to explain this would be flawed, Michael,” Kitra chuckled. “It's just too weird for an explanation.”
“Agreed,” Brynlee replied. “And why can't I remember that we had a gig today?”
Everyone went quiet and exchanged glances before Braden spoke again.
“None of you remember?” he asked with an expression that seemed to be in between terrified and shocked.
“What day is it?” asked Michael. “All this talk of all eight of us having the same dream has me all disoriented.”
“Oh, I know!” Parker exclaimed. “The government must have used Chloroform on us, brought us here, augmented our memories, and have us here for testing!”
“First of all, how would they augment our memories, and second, test us why?”
“I don’t know.”
“That makes eight of us who don’t know,” Brynlee scoffed. “Or, seven, since Braden is the only one who remembers that we have a gig today.”
“Yeah; the Tenor is Mr. Know-It-All, like always,” Parker chuckled.
“Hey; it's not my fault that none of you know what's going on,” Braden retorted. “Remember; I'm a victim of this strange dream too, guys. I just so happened to remember a little more than you guys did.”
“I guess we’re going back to the dream theory. Leave it up to Mr. Know-It-All to figure things out!” Parker exclaimed jokingly.
“Seems like he's sticking to his side of the story,” Kitra chuckled.
“What can I say? I'm stubborn that way,” Parker chuckled, and after that, everyone went back to serious, what-the-heck-is-going-on mode.
“First thing's first,” said Maggie. “If we really do have a gig today like Braden said, we should start getting ready to go.”
“Somehow, we all remembered to wear all black clothes,” Brynlee said. Everyone looked at each other, and she was right. Everyone wore the black clothes they were to wear as part of their Sounds Unlimited uniforms.
“That means Braden wasn't the only one who was aware of the facts,” Truli chuckled. “But why did the rest of us forget about it when we woke up?”
“Who knows?” Braden sighed. “In any case, Maggie's right; let's head back in and get ready. It's freezing cold out here.”
The eight of them agreed and walked back into the Choir room. What is going on, anyways...? Michael thought to himself as Braden unlocked the uniform cabinet. There were blue dresses to the far left, fancy red and black vests, black dresses, and blue and white robes in the cabinet. Braden grabbed each of the vests and handed them to everyone. I could have sworn that it was brighter outside... We were all...
“Don't exert yourself, Michael.”
Michael turned around and looked at Parker.
“You're over thinking it, man,” Parker said as he got his vest on over his black, long-sleeved, button-up shirt. “You'll wear your brain out before we even show up to the gig.”
“Parker, you know I over think everything,” Michael scoffed, getting his vest on. “You of all people should know this by now.”
“I think we all know that by now, Michael,” Emily replied, turning towards Michael and Parker. “That's just one of the few known reasons as to why you're such a quiet person.”
“Reasons, huh?” Michael scoffed, chuckling. “You think there are actual reasons as to why I'm the way I am?”
“Who's to say that you're showing everything going on in that elusive, vast mind of yours?” asked Parker. “I'll bet you that he's got a little subconscious leprechaun yelling at him in a Celtic accent: 'you'd better be silent, laddy! I'll bash yer head in if ye don't!'”
“Um, that's a Scottish accent, Parker,” Braden chuckled, joining the conversation. “And leprechauns are Irish.”
“Whatever!” Parker sighed with a mix of false exasperation and amusement. “I could’ve made it a British leprechaun if I wanted to; don’t tell me how to live my life! You guys get my point, whether or not it’s nationally correct.”
Michael laughed with his friends and looked in a tall mirror next to the eastern exit door, fixing his hair and adjusting his vest as was necessary for him to do, what with the slightest bit of OCD taking over him. Parker came over to the mirror and pretended to fix his much shorter hair, trying to mimic Michael. In return, Michael shoved him and chuckled. “You know I've got OCD!” Michael scoffed.
“It isn't a very severe case, though,” Emily sighed as she adjusted his vest. Michael sighed and shook his head, chuckling.
“We all have OCD concerning something,” said Truli.
“Hey, guys?” Maggie began, turning towards everyone. “Where is Lehnhardt?”
“Her car is here,” Kitra replied. “She's probably in the PAC somewhere.”
“Yeah,” Braden continued. “Maggie, don't worry about it; our gig isn't until seven, anyways. We have, like, two hours... wait a second... two--”
But right as Braden said that, all the lights in the Choir room shut off and the phone in one of the two offices in the room started ringing. Everyone jolted in surprise and looked around. They could see each other because of the very dim light coming from the morning sky, but the phone was still going. “Okay, what is going on?” Emily asked. “Clearly, something's up!” Parker walked towards the light switches and flicked them up and down; no change.
“I'd say that we just had a power-outage, but...” Parker sighed and pointed to the phone in the office of their Choir Director, Julie Lehnhardt. This freaked everyone out just a little bit more.
“Someone's gotta answer it,” said Brynlee. “What if that's Lehnhardt?”
“Nose goes!” Braden exclaimed. As soon as he shouted that, everyone except for Truli put their index finger to their nose. Truli looked around and sighed.
“Oh, come on,” she said. “Why me?”
“You've gotta think fast, Truli,” Braden chuckled. Truli sighed again and walked into Lehnhardt's office, hesitantly reaching for the phone. She turned around to see everyone else watching with anticipation and fear. They were behind her, going into the office with her as she lifted the phone to her head.
“H-hello?” Truli stammered.
“You weren't supposed to answer,” a male's voice said on the other line. His voice was calm, almost charismatic. Despite this, Truli felt a shiver run down her spine.
“May I ask who's calling?” asked Truli. She was still rather frightened of the call, as was everyone else.
“There is a young man who is here with you,” the male said. “Michael Jaeger Layton. Give the phone to him.”
Truli stiffened when the man said Michael's name. She turned towards the group and held the phone out to Michael. Everyone else looked intently at Michael as he held his hand out. In return, Truli handed Michael the phone slowly. Michael raised it to his head and felt a shiver go down his spine as the man spoke.
“Michael Jaeger Layton,” the man began. “Your middle name means hunter, but you wouldn't harm a fly.”
“Who are you and how do you know my name?” Michael whispered. The man chuckled and sighed.
“We're inside the building,” the man replied as though he hadn’t heard Michael. “Fully armed. Don't even think you can cross us, and don't even think about trying to escape. We have the entire building surrounded from the outside.” Michael’s eyes widened
“Why are you telling me this?” asked Michael.
“There's something that I seek, something important to both you and I,” the man replied.
“What are you talking about!?”
“Don't play stupid with me, Michael. There's only eight of you, and you are all trapped. There are ten of us, each of us with bulletproof vests, night vision goggles, and machine guns, patrolling the halls of the Performing Arts Center, and twenty surrounding the building outside. Would you like to survive to see the sunrise? Surprise me, and you and your friends will survive. If my men have to go into the room and you don't have what I need in five minutes, consider you and your friends dead; you, Truli Wright, Emily Madden, Parker Morrison, Maggie Roberts, Kitra Moeny, Brynlee Morrison, and Braden Fastidio. No one will ever know what happened.”
“Tell me, please; what is it that you want?”
The man was silent for a moment, then he spoke once more. “A challenge.” He hung up. Michael tossed the phone back down.
“What's going on Michael?” asked Braden. Michael turned towards his friends. He had a terrified look on his face as he thought of the fact that he and his friends might be dead before the turn of the hour.
“They're gonna kill us,” said Michael. “He claims he's looking for a challenge.”
“A challenge? Does that mean he intends for us to fight back!?” exclaimed Kitra. “We can’t do anything! We’re just a couple of kids! What are we gonna do!?”
“Excuse me, but I am an adult,” Parker joked. Everyone glared at him. “What!? I’m just trying to lighten the mood.”
Braden looked around and thought quickly before running to a rack with various uniforms on it. “I’d guess we’ve got about five minutes, right?” asked Braden. “He’s most likely to assault us when the clock hits 5:30.”
“What are we gonna do in five minutes, Braden!?” Maggie exclaimed.
“Don't panic,” Braden said calmly as he commenced to take the uniforms off the hangers. Once they were all off he started to bend the hangers so that the sharp points were sticking out. “The man wants a challenge, right? Let's give him one.”
“We're not gonna kill them, are we?” asked Michael with concern in his voice. Braden started kicking the top bar on the metal rack.
“I don’t know! We're gonna do what we have to do!” he grunted as he kicked the bar off. It fell and made a loud noise. “They're trying to kill us, so what choice do we have? We're pressed for time, surrounded, and outnumbered. If it really comes down to it, it’s either them, or us.” Braden started to tie the metal wire hangers to the large, metal pole from the rack. He pointed the tips to form a spear-like shape and lifted the pole with both hands, struggling to keep it up. “We're gonna fight back, just like he wanted us to do. Michael, Parker, help me hold this up. Maggie, Kitra, Truli, use some of the music stands; they might be strong enough to slow down the first bullet or two. Emily, Brynlee, hurry into the Band room and take some of their instruments. Anything we can use to fight back, we will use, even if it results in the destruction of school property.” Brynlee and Emily headed for the northeast door in the Choir room, a direct entrance to the Band room, but Braden stopped them and let go of the pole, running towards the cabinets where the uniforms were. “Chances are that their instruments are locked away,” said Braden. He reached up and grabbed a blue lanyard with multiple keys on it. “There's a gold key among the other silver ones; consider the gold one a universal key for the PAC and everything in it. I never thought it would have to be used like this...” He tossed the lanyard and Emily caught it.
“How much time do we have?” asked Brynlee as she and Emily started to head into the Band room.
“Hopefully enough,” Emily answered. Upon opening the door, Emily gestured for Brynlee to duck as they ran. There were windows along the eastern wall. They entered the large Band room, where there were many locked instrument cases.
“What did Braden plan, exactly?” asked Brynlee. Emily tossed her the lanyard, and without question, Brynlee began unlocking the instrument cases. She threw the lanyard to Emily, who was already across the room. Emily started unlocking the cases and they brought out the only instruments that could potentially be used as weapons; each of them had a tuba and an oboe.
“Alright; come on,” Emily whispered. They ran back into the Choir room, knowing that it was harder to stay hidden from the windows while carrying large tubas without crawling on the floor. Upon entering the room, Emily returned the lanyard to Braden, and immediately, Braden locked the east exit door of the Choir room. Truli, Maggie and Kitra each had two music stands with the stand parts acting as shields and the bottom three legs were to be used as offensive weapons if necessary.
“Good choices,” said Braden. He wrapped the lanyard around his neck and let the keys dangle like pendants on a necklace as he ran to help Michael and Parker hold the metal pole again. “Okay, then; all of you go to the East door and wait for them in case they come in from there while the three of us stay here and wait.”
“You're gonna need at least one of us there,” said Truli. “You guys are just out in the open, waiting for gunshots; the stands the rest of us have will hopefully be enough to withstand at least a few shots.”
“Good thinking,” said Braden. Truli walked over to them and held her music stand up like a shield in front of the men and Braden turned his head to the women at the east door. “Maggie, Kitra, use Truli's idea; have the music stands up in front of Emily and Brynlee. That way, we're all well-protected.”
Kitra looked at the clock above the door Braden, Parker, Michael and Truli were at. “We have one minute!” she exclaimed.
“Prepare yourselves!” Braden replied. All of them were shaking, their pulses racing. This was really a matter of life and death. Why did it happen so suddenly? Right as the clock changed, the phone rang again. Michael looked at everyone and ran towards the phone.
“How can you answer the phone if you're expecting death to walk right through those doors?” asked the man. “Michael, I expected more from you. I gave you—”
“Look; we did what we could,” Michael said firmly. “Did you really expect anything better? What could you possibly throw at us?”
“Oh. It sounds as though you’re pretty confident. You think that you're ready, but you're still talking to me.”
“Answer my question!”
“Calm down, jeez! You wanna know what's gonna happen? Fine; because I just know that you didn't prepare anything good enough to actually fight back sufficiently, I'll go easy on you. One man at a time. If you can manage to subdue him, I'll know. Then expect things to get harder from there.”
“What is the point of this, anyways?”
“Oh, Michael; stop questioning everything. Are you just gonna sit here talking to me while your friends do all the fighting for you?”
“What if we manage to subdue one of your men? Do you expect us to corner ourselves, defending ourselves against all thirty of your men?”
“I’ll only have ten gunmen coming after you. If you can manage to kill all ten of them, you and your friends can go on your merry way.”
“Kill!? What kind of sicko sends men out to die for no purpose!?”
The man chuckled calmly, gradually getting a little louder before he spoke again. “The name's Gareth. And to answer your question, I'm the kind of sicko you're thinking of. So, what'll you do? Will you fight to kill? Or will you simply corner yourself, as you said, and die without a fight? Your choice.” Gareth, hung up, leaving Michael in silence. He ran back to Braden, Parker and Truli, helping to keep the metal pole up. Everyone knew it as well as he did; they had no choice but to kill.
“What's the plan?” asked Parker. But before Michael could speak, Braden shouted.
“Get down!!”
Everyone ducked, and right as they did so, bullets went flying through the window at the door Michael, Braden, Parker and Truli stood by. The glass shattered, and the four of them stood up. Truli held the music stand as a shield while Michael, Braden and Parker stabbed forward, impaling the man's chest. They pulled the makeshift spear out of his torso, and the man fell shortly after, leaving everyone in silence. They all exchanged terrified glances. Did they really just kill a man? Just like that? He just—fell.
“Hold on,” whispered Braden. He lowered the metal pole and slowly opened the door.
“What are you doing!?” Emily hissed. “You're gonna get us all killed!”
Braden pulled the fallen gunman into the Choir room. Everyone tried looking away, terrified at what they did. Braden grabbed the man's machine gun and he found a few smaller handguns on him, and a single grenade attached to his belt. “We have no choice,” said Braden, trying to keep a calm demeanor despite his desire to be as frightened as everyone else. “There are nine more guys out there. We can't just depend on a makeshift spear.” Everyone walked towards Braden; Emily and Kitra got the handguns and Parker took the machine gun, as he was the one who used guns the most frequently. Mainly campouts.
“The grenade shouldn't be used in the building,” said Maggie. “That explosion would destroy the entire PAC.”
“No it wouldn’t,” Parker said nonchalantly. “You’ve been watching too many action movies.”
“In any case, I don't think we're too worried about keeping the building in tip-top shape at the moment, Maggie,” Kitra replied.
“What I mean is that if the ceiling comes crashing down, we go down with it too,” Maggie countered. “The grenade should definitely not be used, okay?”
Everyone looked around at each other and nodded in agreement.
“Okay,” Braden sighed as he helped Michael keep the pole up. “One of you needs to wear the vest. How about you, Parker? You go out in front as we—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Emily scoffed. “We're not gonna go out there, are we!?”
“We can't just sit back and wait for them to come to us, Emily,” said Braden. “We can try to catch them by surprise. If we were to wait, on the other hand, they'd surround us, and worst comes to worst, we all die; that would be it. The only logical choice would be to fight offensively.”
“The only morally right choice would be to only kill when necessary!” Brynlee retorted. “We can't just go running out there, guns-a-blazing!”
“Bryn, what choice do we have?” asked Parker. “Mr. Know-It-All Tenor is right about one fact, at least. We can't sit back and let them come to us.”
“That man on the phone,” Michael began. “His name is Gareth. He's only sending ten gunmen after us, and he intends for us to kill them for God-knows what reason.”
“Wait, what the hell!?” Emily exclaimed. “He wants us to kill them!?”
“It’s crazy, I know, but he won't let us survive otherwise.”
“So, ten men will die today,” Brynlee said, “in order to save the lives of eight? I'm sorry, but I just can't understand what—”
“Hold it,” said Braden. Everyone went silent as Braden rose back up, looking out the window to the western exit door. Parker lifted the machine gun he held, keeping it still as he aimed through the window. Emily and Kitra held their handguns up, and everyone got ready to attack. Two more gunmen came to the window, and immediately, Parker shot both of them right in the head, killing them instantly.
“Three down, seven to go,” Parker sighed, shaking with the realization of what he had done.
“Go grab the other weapons,” said Braden. Everyone quietly ran to the end of the hall and Parker put on the bulletproof vest from the first man they had to kill. Kitra and Emily put on the other bulletproof vests from the two men Parker just got, and they took the machine guns, giving their handguns to Brynlee and Maggie, who were both hesitant to use them. None of them wanted to do this. Braden looked at everyone; just about everyone except for he and Michael were armed, but their current position was somewhat okay; they had a fighting chance.
“We've got to go out there,” said Braden. “Parker, Emily, Kitra, the three of you will lead. You've got the bulletproof vests on and the machine guns, but try to stay out of sight at all costs. It’s better if we don’t have to use those vests. Maggie, Brynlee, stand behind them with the handguns. Try to stay out of the line of fire at all costs. Michael...” Braden knelt down and grabbed the handguns that the fallen men carried. There were four in all from the both of them. “We both get two handguns, okay? We'll stand on the outside behind Parker, Emily and Kitra. Aim carefully. Dodge carefully.”
“Got it,” Michael said, his arm shaking as he got the two handguns from Braden. They all started heading out of the Choir room in the formation Braden discussed, almost shaped like an outward “V”. Parker held his hand up. “You guys wait here. Emily, you and I are going to make a break for the double doors down there. Think you can handle it?”
Emily was stunned. she didn’t know what to think. “Wh-- Why me?” she asked.
“You and I both have vests, machine guns, and quite honestly nerves of steel,” Parker replied. Emily scoffed.
“Yeah right, Parker. You, nerves of steel.” Parker snickered.
“Not the time, Emily. We can argue about this after I take out more guys than you.” Emily’s smile vanished.
“Yeah, alright. Challenge accepted.”
“Whoa, whoa!” Michael exclaimed. “Suddenly, this is a contest!? These are people we’re talking about here! Like, human beings with families and friends and--”
“Guns.” Parker said, cutting him off. “This isn’t really a small deal here, Michael, but it’s seven experienced gunmen against eight inexperienced children. Well, seven and one adult...”
“But still; we’re about to kill human beings. Don’t go turning it into a game, for God’s sake!”
“Hey, anything to rally the troops, Michael. If you don’t want it to be a game, than don’t play, but I’d rather make it a contest than a blood bath with our bodies on top of the pile because we decided not to fight.” Michael looked away. “So, any other objections?” No one spoke up. “Okay. Emily, let’s get going.” Emily nodded.
Without further hesitation, Emily and Parker began to tear down the hallway to the doorway in question, which was a good 35 feet away. Three more armed gunmen were standing in the hallway. The assailants turned their guns on the two, and began to fire. Braden began to give coverfire as the two sprinted towards safety.
With just a few feet left Parker felt a painful blow hit him in the chest. He dived over to safety, smashing his head against the wall.
“Parker!!!” Emily yelled as she reached cover. Parker sat up and gritted his teeth.
“Augh! That hurt like crap!” Parker said painfully.
“You idiot!” Emily exclaimed, punching him in the arm. “I thought they killed you!” Parker chuckled.
“Please, even without these vests they couldn’t get through me that easily. Steel, remember?” Emily rolled her eyes and took a glance around the corner.
“One of them is down, but the other two are advancing,” Emily shouted over the sounds of gunfire.
“Fine; first one to down one wins!” Parker said, crawling up to the opening where the doors would close. The two began rapid firing on the two men, both falling just a few moments later. “Ha! I win!” Parker exclaimed as he got up.
“Are you crazy? I got both of them!” Emily laughed. They stepped out of the doorway as four others appeared around the corner.
“Crap!” Parker yelled as he dove behind the doorway again, once again smashing his head on the wall.
“Dammit, Parker!” Emily sighed.
“It’s not my fault!” Parker sighed in response. Just then Braden ran past the two of them, Kitra following. The gunmen backed off a bit, surprised by the audacity of the two teenagers. Kitra began shooting her machine gun, but was unused to the kick, and started aiming too high. Braden aimed his handgun at the far left taking out two before either of them had time to react. The two remaining men snapped out of it and trained their guns on Kitra and Braden. The two jumped out of the way, and Brynlee, who was still back by the Choir door, got a lucky shot in and hit one of the men in the chest. Braden, who had landed by the wall, took a pot shot at the last soldier, hitting him in the chest and killing him. They looked around, and for the first time, noticed the blood and missing facial features and appendages. The smiles worn by everyone who had participated vanished.
“Oh my God,” Michael said, trying to hold in his tears. “We just—we—”
Suddenly, more men entered the PAC from the Choir room, but they didn't have their guns in hand. They just ran past everyone, grabbing the fallen men and lifting them up and carrying them out to a pickup truck outside the PAC. Michael looked around at his friends; they were all still panicked and confused.
“Wow,” a familiar voice said from behind everyone. They all turned around and saw a brown-haired man walking towards them, clapping. He was completely unarmed. “I'm impressed, really. I didn't think you had it in you to take weapons from their cold-dead hands!”
“Are you the monster behind this!?” Emily asked, lifting her machine gun up at the man. The man chuckled and rose his hands.
“Whoa!” he said, stifling his laughter. “Calm down, Emily! Why don't you—lower the gun a bit and we can talk a bit.”
“Gareth,” said Michael, aiming his handgun at the man. The man grinned and chuckled quietly but calmly.
“Correct-a-mundo,” Gareth said. “Now, let's all take a deep breath and I'll talk.” Everyone exchanged glances, and they nodded, holding their weapons up at Gareth. “Hey, whoa; you wouldn't kill an unarmed man, would you? Look at me. Don’t I look like an innocent little puppy?”
“Let's talk outside, Gareth,” Kitra said, trying to keep a firm tone of voice. Gareth shrugged and nodded, keeping his hands raised.
“Fine, sure,” he replied. “It's a bit chilly, though. Can't we just—”
“Out—side!” Emily replied, aiming her gun at him. “You heard her!”
“Alright, alright!” Gareth scoffed. “God; have some patience, guys.” Gareth turned around and walked to the south exit door; leaving it open so everyone got out as well. No one dropped their guard. “Look; my men will be cleaning the mess you guys made, alright? All security footage will be removed, windows replaced, instruments returned, etc. We'll even clean the blood from the floor, and all evidence of this happening will be removed. Keep the weapons, though. Just as some nice little souvenirs. That’s nice of us don’t you think?”
“Why did you do this?” asked Michael, firmly.
“Meh, I don’t want to tell you,” Gareth simply shrugged and looked at all of them. “Your Choir director is almost here, so you should start cleaning yourselves up.”
Before anyone could say anything, Gareth headed back into the PAC, helping with the cleanup job, just like he said he would.