I walk down the hallway talking to my friend Jason. He has long blond bangs and always wore some sort of band shirt. Today it was Iron Maiden. He was the class clown. He always had something to say. It’s about 11:00 in the morning and we’re walking to 4th period. It’s hot as hell. The AC is broken and the school said they’re going to fix it up tomorrow. I hope so. I walk to my locker and grab my books. Jason waits impatiently.
“Dude, by the time you’re done with this, the day’s going to end.” Jason says jokingly. I give him the side eye. I finish grabbing my stuff, then walk to class. We go into class. Jason sits at the front. I sit in the back right corner, daydreaming.
I look at the time. It’s 11:59. The seconds seemed to tick as slow as they could. One more minute until class ends, and I get to eat my lunch. I packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and I was really craving it. I sit in my chair, tapping my pen against the wooden desk. I look at Jason in the front. He looks back at me and winks. One more minute until class ends.
My history teacher, Mr Adams, continues talking about the Columbian Exchange in a monotone voice. He was around 60 and hated his job. He was a boring teacher. I don’t know why he became a teacher. Sucky pay, disrespected, it’s a job you get if you want to teach, not something for money, especially when you teach a bunch of teenagers like Jason.
Next to me a boy named Oliver starts packing up. He was a quiet kid. He was the type that wore black hoodies and jeans, with AirPods in. He sat in the back not talking to anyone. I liked him. Not only did he never talk but he aced all of his classes. He was a smart kid. He transferred here from another school somewhere in Northern California. In front of me, a blonde girl named Jessica texts her friends on her phone. She was the popular/rich kid. She only wore top notch clothing and only used Gucci bags and always had the new iPhone. I’ve seen her spit on a kid during lunch just because he had an android. She was spoiled and already had a Ferrari at 16.
Right when the clock hit twelve an alarm went off. Beep! Beep! Beep! The alarm was deafening. The room flashed red. The intercom turned on. An old recording of the principal played.
“Lockdown, Lockdown! Lock all doors and cover all windows! This is code cosmic star!” This was a real lockdown. Our teachers taught us that code cosmic star means it’s a real lockdown. Everyone in the class started to freak out. The teacher started to lock the doors and cover up the windows. Jessica started freaking out.
“Oh my god, I can’t die! The new Gucci bag comes out next week. You! Come over here and stand in front of me as cover!” Jessica yells. She points at Oliver. He flips her off.
“Calm down class. Everyone needs to get to the corner of the room and hide.” Mr Adams says, his monotone voice now a bit panicked.
“That freaky quiet kid just flipped me off! Get him in trouble!” Jessica whines.
“He flipped you off? Alright let’s make a police report right away. Are you going to press charges?” Jason says sarcastically. I roll my eyes. Oliver chuckles. Before Jessica can react we hear screams in the hallway. The teacher puts his finger over his lips indicating to be quiet. I hear screams and then, wait. I couldn’t be hearing that right. It sounds like something is tearing kids flesh apart. The overwhelming smell of fresh copper blood makes me gag. BANG! The iron door was now dented and there was blood pouring inside the bottom. I was confused about what just happened. Everybody’s eyes went wide. There was a moment of silence.
“Holy shit! Something just threw a fucking kid against the door!” A kid in the front yelled, breaking the silence. That’s when I realized some poor kid just got thrown against the door. Whatever did that could not have been human. All of a sudden there was more banging against the door. This time it sounded more like someone or something pounding its fist against the door. The banging lasted for about 2 minutes, then stopped. At this point almost everyone was crying. Jessica had mascara pouring down her face with her hand covering her mouth to make sure she was quiet. Although Jason wasn’t crying, he was still scared shitless. Oliver wasn’t fazed. He sat in the corner with AirPods in, thinking about whatever. Kids started screaming again and eventually I got used to the sound.
After about 20 minutes the sound of screaming kids, and torn flesh, and banging stopped. It was completely silent. I couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or not. It either meant it was dead or everyone else was dead. I got up.
“I’m done with this shit! I’m leaving!” I yell. After a moment, Jessica stands up.
“Can I come?” Jessica asks, still sobbing.
“No. None of you are leaving. It’s a death trap going out there.” Mr Adams warns us.
“Oh yeah? It’s a death trap staying in here. It’s not like police are coming. It’s been what, 30 minutes now? I haven’t heard a single gunshot!” Jason yells.
“Yeah” a kid agrees. He’s about 6”2’ with long blond hair. He was big and looked buff. He looked like he could beat the shit out of anything.
“I’ve thought about it. If we stay here we are dead. Police aren’t coming. Look. We can go, and find an exit. Once we do, we can come back and get you guys.” Oliver says. I was surprised. He was usually too shy to talk in front of the class. Most of the class looked scared, but they looked at us with hope. Jason, Jessica, Oliver, and some blond kid were coming with me. We left our backpacks behind, bringing only a flashlight and a phone. I made small talk with the blond kid before we left.
“Yo, what’s your name?” I asked.
“Jake, and yours?” Jake asked.
“Brendan. Hey thanks for stepping up back there.” I thanked him.
“Well, if I didn’t I would probably die.” He smiled. I smiled back.
Before we left we pulled out a map of the school.
“Okay, so we are here,” Jason said, pointing at our classroom.
“If we go left, at the end of the hallway there is a right and left turn. Left goes to the lunch area, where we can get into the kitchen and leave through the kitchen exit, or go right and go to the back gate and leave. The back gate would be safer, but it’s probably locked. If we don’t like those options we can go right and at the end of that hallway, there’s the side gate and front gate, which are also probably locked. So I’m saying kitchen exit. What do you guys think?” The group murmured a bit then we agreed on the kitchen exit. Before we left I grabbed a pencil.
“Woah there John Wick, is that pencil sharp enough?” Jason laughed. Even during the worst situations he can manage to crack a joke. Everyone stared and he got the memo. He looked down at his feet for the rest of the time in the classroom, ashamed of what he said. We gathered around the door.
“Are you guys ready?” I ask. Everyone nods reassuringly.
“Okay, let’s do this!” I say confidently.