The corridors were packed with students shoving their way through the masses to find their friends. People were tumbling to the ground from the impact. Tears clouded the vision of many students as they ran in a panicked scurry. The rush of adrenaline had the kids in a state of absence; they physically could not feel a thing as they collided with one another.
As they rammed into the crowd, the students' minds were befogged with alarming uncertainties. Everybody wanted to convince themselves that what was happening wasn't reality and that this was all either a dream or one big setup. Although that's what they hoped, their fight or flight responses were in overdrive. While many were adamant that the happenings were fake, they still sought comfort in numbers as they searched for their friends at a much slower pace than those around them.
In the furthest classroom on the third floor of the eastern wing, Juno sat at a table waiting for her friends to arrive. Although Ceres was the one to suggest it, her and the others were on the other side of the school. They all knew why Ceres suggested that room. The eastern wing on the third floor hadn't been used since they started attending high school, making it a quiet and safe place to temporarily seek refuge. Unfortunately for the three on the second floor of the western wing, that meant they had to fight their way through the rush of bodies that were finding their own way through the school.
"The others aren't here yet?"
Juno looked up from her phone to meet the brown eyes of Ceres. Smiling softly at the new arrival, she shook her head and lightheartedly joked, "You arrived before them. That's gotta be a first."
Huffing at Juno's statement, Ceres indignantly took a seat at a different desk. Although her close friend began talking about something or rather, Ceres tuned her out and waited for her other two friends to arrive. Despite ignoring what Juno was saying, Ceres's attention was caught by a particular statement that left her friend's lips.
"I hope Venus is okay."
Cocking her head to the side in confusion, Ceres asked, "What makes you say that?"
"She's just... kinda delicate," Juno carefully began. "She's been through a lot and I don't know how she'd be coping at a time like this."
"I think she'll be fine," Ceres curtly stated. "Like you said, she's been through a lot. She's built up some resilience over time."
"I guess you're right."
The silence that followed their conversation was soon interrupted by Icarus walking into the room, rambling about how he was elbowed in the ribs when he was fighting his way through the crowd. He sat by Ceres and took a moment to catch his breath. "So what do you guys think is going on?" he asked the two girls.
Ceres sighed before answering, "I honestly have no clue. Were those gunshots from the staff meeting room even real?"
"Who knows. This all just seems sketchy to me," Juno followed up, a dubious tone lacing her voice.
Before Ceres or Icarus could ask her why, Venus entered the room. The three watches as she closed the door behind her and sat on the floor, leaning back against the door. She closed her eyes as she struggled to catch her breath, clearly exhausted from the trip.
After greeting the tired girl, Icarus went back to their conversation, "What makes you think that?"
"I don't know," Juno shrugged. "It seems a little too elaborate. If it's real, there would be a lot of work that would need to go into something like this."
"What do you mean 'if this is real'?"
Ceres, Icarus, and Juno turned their attention to Venus. The brunette was staring intently at Juno, clearly disturbed by something she had said. Ceres and Icarus silently looked between the two girls, uncertain as to where this conversation would lead. Venus's bloodshot eyes beckoned for Juno to answer.
"Exactly what I said. We don't know if this is real or not."
"It is real!" Venus screamed, causing the three to jump a little.
Icarus chimed in softly, "How do you know, though?"
"He's dead," Venus whispered to herself. "The police officer is dead. They killed him."
"What happened?" Ceres asked worriedly.
Venus's teary gaze met her best friend's eyes as she spoke, "We saw one of those guys shoot the police officer and then carry him away. He's dead."
"You saw a police officer get shot?" Juno asked, a little unsure. "Are you sure he's even dead?"
"I know what I saw!" the distraught girl screamed. "This is real!"
"Hey, Juno," Icarus said. "Why don't you trust what she's saying?"
"Wait, Venus?" Ceres cut in. "Do you know anything else that's going on?"
"No. All I know is that a police officer got killed by one of those guys dressed in black," the girl in question answered.
As Ceres was about to respond, the masculine voice sounded through the classroom speakers, "Five minutes have passed. We will now display the guidelines on the projectors. They will also be sent to your phones so they're always with you. Feel free to familiarise yourself with these rules. Enjoy the next five minutes. Remember, we will ring the bell when time's up."
All at once, the students' phones received a new message:
"1. You are only able to send messages to and receive messages from people within this school. You can try contacting someone on the outside, but it will not go through.
2. You may encounter locked rooms. Attempt to unlock them as much as you want, but you never know what's inside.
3. The windows have been covered by an impenetrable metal sheet. Your school installed this as a security measure, so don't think that metal will be breaking any time soon.
4. Once you kill someone, you have to reach the school's exit by the main hall. If you get caught by one of your peers, then it may be over for you. However, if you are successful, you will be escorted to the main hall where you will wait until there are 50 people who are left alive.
5. You are free to utilise the school in anyway you wish. The administration section of the school is out of bounds.
6. If there has been no activity in the span of 3 hours, we will provide you with some motivation.
7. If we catch you tampering with any of the cameras we have set up, we may be liable to kill you on sight.
8. We are at will to add or remove any of the rules as we see fit."
"Honestly, guys," Juno sighed in exasperation after a few minutes of silence. "Doesn't this all seem a little weird to you?"
"What does it matter?" Venus said after finally calming down.
"Huh?"
"It doesn't matter if this is real or not. If we treat it like it's nothing and it turns out to be real, we'll be completely screwed," she advised. "It's better to be safe than sorry."
"Why are you so adamant that this is real?"
"Just leave her alone, Juno," Icarus said sternly before getting up from his chair and making his way to sit by Venus to comfort her. "Besides, she has a point. We can't just sit around and wait for something to happen to prove whether or not it's real."
Rolling her eyes at the male, Juno looked over at Ceres. She raised an eyebrow as she asked the quiet blonde, "What do you think?"
"I honestly don't know," Ceres started. "But there's one thing I'm certain of."
Suddenly, the bell rang. For the first time, the sound had an eerily disturbing feeling to it and sent chills up the students' spines. While the four in the upper east wing were unable to come to an agreement, they couldn't deny that the vibe within the school had shifted completely and, now that their ten minutes were up, the school felt even more dreadful.
"We're going to survive."