Highschool is a Dungeon Ch.1 (Original Story)

Timberline Academy, a most wonderful place I think. Well maybe not most wonderful but still pretty great. We are a Western school near state borders, as the name implies our school is paced in a rural woodland area. But despite that we manage to have a decently sized modern academy filled with many different kinds of unique students. While we are far from an award winning institution or anything, I think the teachers and facilities here are great. It has a real “Highschool feel” to it you know? A real school spirit. Three floors high, long corridors, clean classrooms and an indoor stage. What’s not to like? My enjoyment of this school is probably why the school council managed to rope me into an after school Sports Festival preparation committee that I did not want to be a part of, hey just because I like it here doesn’t mean I’m not lazy. But alas here we are.....

“Bennie, how are the poster designs coming along?”

Crystal glanced up from her clipboard at the boy from across the room. She was known as the frigid ice queen, as cold as she was pretty. She was one of the smartest kids in her year. And a member of the student council who joined the Sports Festival preparation committee in order to watch over us.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m almost finished.” Bennie called out.

“Well you better hurry, those designs have to be mass produced. The sports festival is next week.” Crystal reminds him.

Crystal then walked around the room inspecting the committee members‘ work and checking whatever was on her clipboard, noting down the committee’s progress so far.

Seeing this Bennie once again stops working, instead he decides to turn to me , grabbing my attention.

“Hey!” Bennie whispers loudly, “Psst. Hey! Lance” He calls out, drawing my attention.

“What is it?” I ask, mildly annoyed.

“Look over there.” He gestures towards a seat in front of the class using the tip of his wet paintbrush. The girl in the seat, still dressed in her school uniform, seemed busy sketching something up, she had an intense look about her, with her trademark glowing red eyes fixated on her notebook and her tongue sticking out as she drew. “Isn’t that the girl you like? What was her name again? Apple Kane?” Bennie teased.

“Ashely Akane!” I instinctively corrected him, which only made him smirk.

“She’s why we’re here, go talk to her.” Bennie gestured towards the girl so entranced by her own work.

I must admit, I really did like Ashely. She was in the 11th grade, same grade as I am, but in a different class. Because fate is cruel like that. I don’t really know what it is about her, to be honest, maybe it was her smaller stature? Or her glossy red eyes? Or maybe it was her delicate complexion? Or how whenever she entered a room it started to smell like fresh roses? she Or how she acted so reserved and responsible? Or how maybe it was how she always looks so pristine, oozing with prestige, always neatly tying her hair in red ribbons to match her ruby eyes. She was always so studious, when they announced year rankings she always ranked near the top......or maybe it was everything about her, because I could go on and on but that would probably be creepy, if it wasn’t already......

“I can’t Bennie, she’s obviously busy.” I protested.

He rolled his eyes teasingly, “Come on scaredy cat. You’ve been crushing on her all year, just go for it!”

“No, well not today.”

“You say that every day!” Bennie says, getting louder.

“Will you shush?” I demanded, exasperated.

“Lance and Ashely sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” He sang out loud, before shoving me towards her direction.

I felt so red in that moment, if he wasn’t my best friend I swear I would’ve......

“Hey boys?“ Melissa called out, cutting off my thoughts. “You do know I’m filming this for accountability reasons right?” She continued calling out to us, pointing her video camera right at our faces.

“Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course I knew that.” Bennie answered, flustered, and quickly gathering his art supplies, trying to act like he had been working on his poster designs the whole time.

“I mean do you have to be filming the whole time.” I commented mainly to myself.

“What was that Lance?” Melissa smiled, closing up on me. “So tell me Lance, what exactly is your role in this whole operation?” She asked, zooming in and out of my face area for emphasis.

“Well I uh...”

“Isn’t he in charge of writing slogans and cheers?” Bethany asked from the leftmost corner if the classroom.

Both Bethany and Melissa were my classmates, in class B, the room next to this one. Bethany is a pretty good singer, and she's not very proud about it like some people may be. She presents herself modestly, from the way she dresses to the way she styles her golden blonde hair, although she kind of looks older slightly than us even though she isn't. Melissa on the other hand is a much more indecisive, most of the time she is a normal shy girl only interacting with her books and gadgets, but other times she gets super excitable and has seemingly random bursts of emotion, this is seen in her everyday appearances too, since she normally looks conservative, only wearing the school uniform and fitted glasses, she's also short for her age, but recently she died her hair light which I guess means she's more confident maybe.

There are 6 of us from class B on here, and 11 of us are from the 11th grade. Asides from my classmates I don’t really know anyone, even from my own grade, except for Bennie whose in class C, I’m not really friends with anyone outside of class. And when it comes to kids outside of my grade I’m pretty clueless outside of general reputation, so that’s like 10 people here that I don’t know.

“Whatever.” Melissa jokes. She then places down her camera saying “I guess I could pause for a bit, I only really need to film the important stuff anyway.”

Her glasses then starts slipping out of her nose, struggling to remain in her face without the camera lens pressed against them.
“Stupid glasses.” She grumbled as she adjusted them.

“I think they look cute on you Meli!” Heather compliments her with a cheerful smile, looking up from the banner she had just finished painting.

Melissa sheepishly looked down, self-consciously readjusting her glasses again. “Thanks Heather.” She mumbled.

“Ow, don’t do that.” Heather teased. “We’ve already got the shy type in Lucy.”

“Who‘s Lucy?” I asked, genuinely forgetting who that was.

“She’s the 10th grader sitting right next to you, silly.” Heather laughed.

I looked to my left and there was indeed a younger girl sitting in the desk next to me, but you couldn't blame me for not noticing, she sat a good 10 feet away and never made a sound. Only moving in a reserved squirmish motion as she read her book book.

“Oh sorry, Lucy.” I said her name slowly, making sure I got it right. The girl merely nodded, before turning her attention back into the book she was reading.

“So what are you reading anyway?” I asked her, partly because I was curious, partly because I was embarrassed and sorry that I forgot about her while sitting next to her.

“Lance, if you are done helping you might as well shut your mouth instead of disturb those actually helping.” A familiar voice commanded, it was the ice queen again no doubt.

“Y-yes ma’am.” I gulped, I could hear Bennie snicker from beside me.

“Now, now. Don’t be so hard on him, he was only being friendly.” One of the older kids, dressed in a tracksuit responded.

Crystal turned to the guy who attempted to defend me. “You too Xanders, if you’ve used up all your athletic worth rearranging the desks then you should keep quiet as well.” She stared at him coldly.

The older kid kept his smile as he rubbed the back of his military cut hair “Uh please call me James, and also I’m older than you so...”

“That has no bearing.” She cut him off. Crystal cold as always.

“Now Crystal, that’s not how you talk to...well anyone really.” Hank chimed in. He was her classmate in class A, and was also the most popular guy in our grade. Known for his charm, boyish good looks and Jack-of-all-trades status, he was not the strongest guy or the fastest but he was pretty much good at everything.

Crystal sighed “Just do your jobs people.” She said to no one in particular.

Hank winked at us “Don’t worry, she may seem cold but she has the school’s best interests in heart.”

“Or maybe she’s just a stuck up little know it all who should know her place.” A stuck up female voice calls out very loudly. It’s another older kid, I recognize her. She’s usually surrounded with her posse as one if the popular girls, but I guess only she signed up for this committee. Still, even without her usual crowd she was surrounded by guys of all grades, 4 of them to be exact, even one of my classmates sat near her, but she didn’t let anyone get too close.

“Chelsea? Speak another word and I’m kicking you out.” Crystal hissed. Chelsea simply whimpered in reply, causing all the guys in her area to empathize with her ‘cause’.

“There there Chelsea!” One of her new lackeys cried. “Oh don’t mind that brat.” Another said. “Here lean into my shoulder.” Another joked. But the most prominent voice was that of a guy her own age, he slithered in close “Now, now, we mustn’t let some bad poodle‘s words affect you.” He remarked with a snarky grin, loud enough for all to hear.

Crystal glared at their direction which caused the guys to sheepishly quiet down, well three of them did, but Crystal’s reaction only gave Chelsea the resolve to annoy her more by engaging. “Oh Jake, you’re the only one here who understands me.” She says with way too much drama in her voice.

“Come now, let’s ditch these idiots and get you something to eat in the cafeteria. My treat.” He grins.

“My, my. Are you flirting with me while my Wessy isn’t here?” She teased.

“Maybe...” he grinned. She smiled in response, she got ready to open her mouth to speak but she was cut off.

“Geez you guys are insufferable.” Roy angrily proclaimed from the back. “And I mean all of you.” He added.

Yeah Roy is the class hot head, well for me at least, since he is also in my grade, though not in my class. Even still he built up a bit of a reputation, he should be thankful Paul Beartrap also goes to this school, otherwise he might have been seen as the school bully.

Crystal glared at Chelsea, then at Jake, and finally her eyes landed on Roy. She thought about speaking for a moment, but decided it was useless, so she set her eyes back down to her clipboard.

Seeing this Hank took it upon himself to calm everyone down “Come on guys that’s enough chit chat, we should really be spending more time working.”

“And who the hell gave you the authority to say that? Huh, hotshot?” Roy called out, way too aggressively.

“Just shut up Roy.” Hank commented, clearly exasperated by him. Roy’s been acting like this ever since he was forced to join this committee, as community service.

“Yeah Roy!” A boy from my class shouted in agreement.

“Oh? And who’s gonna make me?” Roy barked, while putting his feet down from his desk.

“If I have to.” The athletic guy, James, answered.

“Man, and who asked you? Huh?” Roy glared at him.

“It’s 3 versus 1.” Bennie sang from beside me, making sure not to look up from his poster.

“Ugh, you are such a fool Roy.” An older posh kid laughed, the kid was dressed in classic upper class Victorian England style clothes, for no other reason than that he could. It was what he was known for, that and his all white Rolls-Royce his driver uses to take him to and from school. Yep, he’s that kind of guy.

“The hell you say to me?” Roy glared at him.

“I concur, you’ve made yourself a public menace here. Even above the ice queen.” Jake agreed with a satisfied nod.

Roy balled up his fist and crumpled up his face, thinking of something to say when suddenly the classroom door flew open as Mister Oro waltzed in.

“Ah, so my little kittens are still hard at work it seems.” He smiles. “Very good.” He nods in appreciation.

Mister Oro then walks around and sees the older guys staring at each other instead of the projects on their desks, “Er, well it seems most of my kittens are hard at work.” He amends his speech. He then looks around the class and gestures towards two quiet children working in their own little corners “You guys should really be more like Gian or Lucy, see how they’re hard at work? And their both 10th graders too, shame. You older folk should be setting the example not the other way around.”

Mister Oro was a very well respected social studies teacher, a rising star here if you will, so most everyone went back to work. Most everyone....

“And I asked for your input? You shitfaced old man!?” Roy exclaimed.

Mister Oro’s face fell, approaching Roy he gave a stern speech “Set the example. We have an 8th grader here, do not use such foul language, this is the last time I will say this.” Mister Oro gestured toward Isabella Ford before putting his hands back on his pockets, as he gave Roy a very serious look.

Isabella was the only 8th grader here, the only one below the 10th grade actually. She was here since her parents worked out of state so they only came home on the weekends, which meant the school encouraged her to join any activity no matter the time since her parents appreciated the supervision. Mister Oro told us this stuff on the first day.

Isabella slowly looked up at the mention of ‘8th grade’ and in her small high-pitched voice said “Oh I’m so sorry everyone, please don’t let me bother you.”

“Ah, it’s okay Isabella, you’re a helper not a bother.” Mister Oro said, slapping his forehead for even bringing it up.

*Ding dooooooong* *Ding dooooooong*

Suddenly the school alarm bell started to ring, usually it meant the school day had ended but at this point it was past 5, and classes were dismissed early today in preparation for the Sports Festival. I know that because I heard the bell ring at 1 PM. So this was unexpected.

“Huh? Is Dean playing with the alarm bell or something?” Mister Oro said, thinking out loud as he checked his watch. “What time were you guys free to leave again?”

“7:30 PM.” Crystal answered, almost instantly.

“So what….” Mister Oro pondering was cut off by an overly boisterous and off putting tonal voice which came to life through the school’s PA system, it was a voice I had never heard before, from school or anything else, and it certainly was not a faculty member.

“Good evening young students of Timberline High...er Academy. My name is Senoma and I will be your examiner for today.”

“Exam? What? No one was here but us. No one mentioned an exam.” I thought, looking over to Bennie I could tell I was not the only one bewildered by all this.

“Yes exam. You see I am here to conduct a social experiment of sorts, and what better place to do it than here, at your very own Timberline Academy!” The PA system then blared happy trumpet noises.

“You see children and staff members I have chosen this place for a quick surprise test that tests what participants would do in odd emergency situations. Now you may be wondering why I’m doing this, but that is none of your business. So don’t ask, this is just a scripted livestream anyway since I can’t hear you. Anyway…….” The weird voice composes itself.

“The experiment is simple enough, all you have to do is leave the school. That’s right just walk out the front door and leave, that’s it. Buuuuut there are some tiny rules to this game, first of all I cast my nanobots around the school’s perimeters so anyone who tries to exit the school through the windows, side exists or through any other way except for the front and back exists will be disqualified. In addition once one person uses an exit, that exit will be shut off, no one will be able to use it anymore. So naturally that means only two of you will actually be allowed to leave this place, via the front and back exists. So is it a race then? You might be asking, but alas no it is not, for there is a twist. If any participant is caught trying to leave this school through either exit, they will be disqualified, if anyone is heard trying to leave, seen trying to leave or even felt trying to leave, they are out. Even if the one who catches the culprit did it unintentionally. So it’s a stealth game, isn’t that fun? Now I do have three rules:

1. As I said, only exit through the front or back exit, only one person at a time, and you must do so completely undetected.

2. No calling for outside help, cell service is blocked, any attempt to contact anyone from the outside world will be blocked.

3. No stealing other people’s speciality gear as long as they live.

Breaking any of the rules is a disqualification, and don’t even try to sneak anything behind my back, for I see everything here. Not just through these outdated cameras.” As the voice said that the cameras all started moving in unison.

“Some additional info for you:

1. I have unlocked and disabled every door and gate in this school, you may go wherever you wish.

2. I have disabled the use of the CCTVs in the surveillance room.

3. Even the teachers have to participate.

4. You can do whatever you want within these rules to succeed, you can plant cameras, relock the doors I opened, form alliances or even kill each other if you want.

5. Once both exits have been used the remaining participants trapped inside will be punished.

Oh and since I want this to be fun I’ve gifted each of you with the specialty gear I mentioned earlier.” The voice takes a sinister spin, then suddenly every desk flies open, even the teacher’s desk flies open. Each desk holding some weird item. The desk in front of me contained a weird short sword thing but when I tried to pick it up, it suddenly burnt me, it was then that I realized that each item was meant for a specific person. One desk in particular began mentally calling to me, and within it was a small radio receiver with a single button. I felt like it belonged to me as I picked it up, it didn’t burn me like the sword did. I can hear people all around me shuffling around, approaching the items that called to them in their heads.

“How on Earth are you doing this?” Jake called out clearly inundated while clutching something in his fist.

“While most of those items may seem like everyday items they each have special high tech abilities which will prove useful in this battle of wits. Use them wisely. And remember don’t steal another person’s specialty gear as long as they live.” The voice then shut off, leaving us alone once more.

The entire class looked at each other with one common question between us, “Was that all real?” and more importantly “What!?”

I shook my head, choosing to think about it later as I held my radio receiver in my palm. When suddenly I heard something, a voice, my own voice, explaining what the receiver could do. It was weird, it was as if someone was speaking to me in my own head, except they were using my own voice. It said “Codename: PriCon, this micro receiver is a stealth based item. It has the ability to completely shut off all sound in a 3 meter radius with the push of a button, any sound made in this bubble will be nullified, if a space shuttle launched in this bubble you would still hear nothing. The user may also allow his voice to be heard to anyone within the bubble as long as they concentrate, however using this function the other way around is not possible.”

I blink “What?” I find myself asking the same question again. I look around me, first at Bennie who has a new hoodie in his arms, then at the students around me who each have various items of varying visibility. I blink again, “What?” I ask myself, before finally deciding to just try the item out, and as soon as I do everything around me falls dead silent, I remember watching a video about the quietest room in the world, so silent that you could hear the rush of your own blood, but I could not hear even that, I heard nothing, absolutely nothing. I could tell everyone around me was shocked at the sudden lack of sound, so I pressed the receiver again to undo my actions, which brought things back to normal. Hopefully no one could tell that I caused that.

“Hello again boys and girls!” The voice then comes back on. “I detected an energy spike, it seems like someone just used their new gadget” I gulped as the PA voice continued “Which means you all know that everything I am saying is all very very real.” The voice takes a brief serious tone before switching back to being chipper. “And by the way, the punishment for being disqualified? Spontaneous combustion!!!!!” He celebrated. “If you don’t believe me, come to the main entrance, your custodian is trying to escape as we speak.”

Instantly we all found ourselves running to the school entrance, blinded by curiosity, not even thinking about what it meant. As soon as we got there we saw the old man scream as his clothes and flesh burst into flame, the flame consumed him instantly, and in less than 3 seconds all that was left was a charred skeleton. Someone must have caught him running before I got to see him.

The PA voice then sparked back to life one more time “Oh well, you all know the rules now. Good luck kids!” The air went cold silent, as everyone was left utterly speechless and scared the feeling of dread was everywhere. The silence was only cut off by our teacher “My lord! We killed him!” He exclaimed frantically.

“What?” Hank questioned.

“Didn’t you hear? Anyone caught trying to escape would be killed and we just caught him.” Crystal answered.

“But we….we didn’t mean to, right?” Lucy stuttered.

Isabella, whose eyes were fixed on the charred corpse suddenly blinked a couple times, as if snapping back to reality for the first time. She then looked back at us and started shaking rapidly, and mumbling in terror.

James ran up to her, and hugged her, he started to comfort her. It’s something that I would only think of doing.

“Alright, alright…..everyone just breath.” Mister Oro says as he follows his own instructions. “We need to get through this together, brainstorm a way out of here.”

“Yeah, I agree. We should first split up and watch both exits till someone thinks of something.” Chelsea says as she turns towards the other exit, taking three of the guys with her. “Toodles.” she waves us off with no enthusiasm behind her words, you could tell even she was shaken.

Mister Oro just watched her go, frankly no one was really awake, no one was in the right state of mind.

“Alright, how about this. Everyone reveals what their special gear does, I will go first…” Mister Oro proposes.

“Nope, I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Jake responds, sternly looking at the teacher, with an uneasy casual posture, hands in his pockets.

“But-”

“I would tend to agree, there is no way we should reveal secrets. It only makes sense if we all do it, but we won’t, thus the best thing to do it split up. Everyone for themselves.” Crystal states coldly. Crystal then walks off, to the stairway upstairs. The quiet 10th grader, Gian, followed suit, taking the stairway downstairs to the basement.

Hank looks around, seeing 15 blank stares look back at him, even Mister Oro is dumbfounded. While James is still trying to get Isabella to calm down.

“So, what now?” Melissa asks no one in particular, and in all honesty no one knew the answer, especially not me.

Then, as if fate decided that we didn’t already have enough stress for one day, we all heard a chilling sound that woke us all up, *BOOM* *BOOM* it sounded like concrete getting smashed into bits by a wrecking ball. The sound was coming from upstairs in a room at the end opposite us. If I remember correctly it should be coming from the grade 10 classroom, the one teachers frequently used as detention. The sounds kept coming and soon everyone knew that something, or someone was coming, and we all secretly prayed it wasn’t what we thought it was.

The thundering sound of concrete shattering was heard once again, but unlike before it was much louder. Everyone was stunned, unable to react to everything. When suddenly the sounds stopped, and in its place was footsteps. The sound of a person or people rushing down stairs.

We all stared at the stairway intently, everything felt tense as the sound was growing closer and closer. And then our worst fears were realised.

“What the hell are you jackasses doing here!” He screamed at us as he walked out. Paul Beartrap’s angered face popped out from the stairway. Paul was a degenerate in every sense of the word, he was in the 10th grade yet he was 3 years older. With him being here, it just confirmed that this situation would not be settled civilly.

”Well? You heard the man, what are you jackasses standing around here for?” Roger parrots his friend.

Roger was a wannabe, a wannabe thug and a wannabe rich kid. Usually Paul would have Roger and Bryant with him but I guess Bryant wasn’t in detention today, so at least he have that going for us.

”Get out of our way!” Paul demanded, screaming at us.

James was the first to respond, he took Isabella by the shoulders and passed her to Heather who hugged the little girl tightly. James then stepped in between our two groups, on one side was the committee and on the other the two school thugs.

Roy also stepped forward. “Are you gonna make me, dumbass?” He glared at the two thugs.

”Should I also make a stand?” I thought to myself, my guy felt that I should but my feet remained where they were.

Paul raised his two fists in response to Roy, showing two spiked knuckle dusters with fresh concrete dust still on them. “You jackasses have no chance against me.”

James took a fighting stance, but Roy was unimpressed. Then suddenly all hell broke lose, Roger took a step back as Paul took a swing at Roy, it connected.

*CRACK*

Instantly Roy was on the ground spitting up blood, he took a punch to the ribs and from the sound of things those ribs shattered.

Paul then gave James a side glare, James tried remain calm in turn but you can tell he was unnerved.

“Anyone else have something to say?” Paul challenged.

No one did.

Paul then made his way through the crowd, pushing past me and the rest, even James begrudgingly let Paul pass as he headed towards the exit, with Roger tailing closely behind.

“D-dumbass.” Roy called out to him, as he dragged himself back up to his feet.

Paul tensed up and shook his head before running at Roy and kneeing him on the gut. Roy fell once more, Paul then followed up with a soccer kick right on Roy’s chin.

We back off, giving the two more room.

Roy looks up at us then at Paul who looks down on him with nothing but malice.

Rising his fists he says “You see this? I don’t want to have to fucking kill you, but if you get in the way again I will make you wish you were dead.”

Paul then put his hands into his pockets as he turned to us. “Get out of my way.” He demanded.

“That’s enough Paul.” Mister Oro said, shaking his head. Finally taking a stand.

“I agree.” Hank nodded as he stepped forward. For some reason he had a birthday cap on his head, which seemed really out of place.

“Tsk.” Paul raised his fists once again but before he could strike, a flash of blinding light disoriented him.

“Wh-what? Where am I”? Paul asked while rubbing his eyes with his forearms.

“You’re in school, we were just about to head back upstairs.” Hank asserted.

“What? No! You were about to kick the pretty boy’s ass!” Roger called out.

“Wha-what? Paul asked again, looking very confused.

Jake looked at Hank with pure amazement, “His memory, what an amazing power!” He said to himself.

Roger pushes through the crowd once more, so he could stand behind his friend. “He’s lying Paul, kick his ass!” The pale wannabe started nudging his friend forward.

Hank looked at the two of them unwavering. “We were heading back upstairs.” He said sternly.

Paul blinked and thought about it. “No, I don’t think we were.”

Roger smiled, “Let’s kick their asses!”

“Let’s!” Paul smirked as he assumed his fighting stance.

The bully then began his charge, with his friend following behind. But then they suddenly froze in place, paralyzed.

“No, that’s enough of that.” Someone called from behind.

We all wondered who it could be, peaking our heads through the frozen bullies we saw who it was. Miss Kobayshi, the youngest new teacher in Timberline Academy. She was known as a strict teacher which is why they always put her in charge of detention. She was holding a pointer stick in on hand, pointing it towards the pair of bullies. On her other hand she was holding her forehead, as a streak of blood was pouring out of it.

“You boys have caused me more trouble than your worth.” She grumbled.

Mister Oro then flipped his coin, which somehow conjured up a roll steel chain on his hand. “I’ve got things from here.” He sheepishly announced as he stepped forward to chain up the two thugs.

The whole school watched, as did I until suddenly I found myself being tugged. Someone had grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the stairs. I couldn’t see who it was, but I was more than happy to be leaving the crowd so I followed willingly. The invisible force led me all the way back up the stairs and back into the classroom, before finally revealing himself.

It pulled off its hood revealing my best friend’s face. He took a second to catch his breath before starting

“We need to stay away from them.”

“What? Why?” I questioned.

“We’re never going to leave if everyone is watching and since two people can leave, it’s best to work in pairs.”

“I guess I understand. But shouldn’t we be trying to find a way out together? I mean I don’t want to leave them behind.”

“Yeah well we can do that better from the outside, with the police. But I think we should focus on ourselves first. “

I hesitated before nodding at him.

“So first things first what can you do? You’ve already seen what I have, this hoodie turns me invisible.”

“I figured.” I said as I pull out the piece of gear I recieved “I have this. It’s a radio receiver, if I press on it I can cancel out all sound within a 3 meter radius.”

Bennie’s eyes light up as he hears what it can do.

“Dude, dude you can get me out of here!” He exclaims excitedly. “I can turn invisible, and you can cancel out sound, I can slip out of here without anyone noticing as long as we work together. We just have to pick a time when no one is at the exits so you won’t look suspicious for being there.

“Well hold on, once you get out how will I escape? Only one person can leave per exit so how…”

“We can figure out all the details later. Besides are you saying you won’t help me when we’ve basically got a free ticket out of here? Would you rather Roy get out or Paul? Come on, if the situation was switched I would do the same for you, but I can’t give you my invisibility whil you can council out sound in a radius, we can partner up we have a chance here.”

“Well I…..I guess I’m game.” I hesitated, it would be a bigger pain if I said no and besides he was right, if I can at least slip him out of here then I will be content with that.

——————————————————————

Meanwhile:

“We need to stick together, I won’t have any more rebelion from any of my students.” Mister Oro announced. Roger and Paul were chained up and locked in the storage facility next door, while Mister Oro gathered the remaining students in the first floor teacher’s lounge.

“Agreed. The PA voice guy said that two of us may leave if we sneak out, the only consequence happens if we break the rules. So as long as we stay put no one gets hurt.” Miss Kobayashi stated.

She then turns to Mister Oro, “ls this everyone?”

He shakes his head.

“Chelsea left with Lawton, Ibbs and Smith. Gian went on his own, as did Crystal.” He tells her.

“Well we need to gather up everyone soon before someone does something rash.”

James then raised his hand “Miss?” He called out. “Jake, Melissa, Bennie and Lance are also missing. So we’ve only got half….

“What?! Where are they? When did they go missing?” Mister Oro demanded.

——————————————————————

“So we’re in a real tough spot huh?” Chelsea asked. She was sitting on the window still, looking outside at the calm night sky before glancing back at the exit. “Man I just wanna go home, but I can’t let anyone go out until the others find a solution. No one leaves until then......not even myself….”

She then turns to her companions. “But I guess you guys can’t hear me huh?”

The three of them stare back with blank dumbfounded expressions. Chelsea just sighs as she looks at them, “Man turning you guys into mindless zombies really made things boring.” She then shrugs as she reapplies her lip gloss.

——————————————————————

“So you’re a bunch of dumbasses, huh?” A sly voice calls out from the shadows.

“Shut up!” Paul shouts angrily.

“Shhh, shush now you oaf. You are speaking to your saviour afterall.” The voice responds.

“Oh? And you’re gonna let us out?” Paul scoffs.

“Maybe, if you agree to be my pawn.” The voice responds gleefully.

“Why in the hell would we be your pawns!?” Paul screamed.

“Yeah, I’m only a pawn to Paul!” Roger agreed.

“Oh? And who else will help you escape? Not just those chains but this school…..”

“I’m listening.” Paul calms down.

“Melissa if you would.” The voice calls out. Then out from the shadows Melissa steps out and points her crossbow at them, firing at the chains.

The two guys shake off the chains, brushing themselves off, regaining their composure.

The man from the shadows steps out behind Melissa. “So gentlemen, lady, now’s the time to listen to what I have to say.” Jake nods at them with a sinister grin etched across his face.

——————————————————————-

Later.

“Are you serious?” Melissa asks Jake, as the two walk out of the storage room.

Jake gently holds her by the shoulders, saying to her “Of course not. Those two idiots will serve as our distractions, it will be us who will be escaping this place. As long as we follow the plan.”

Melissa smiles to herself “Yes sir.”

“Now fire at every corner, yeah?”

“Yes sir!” She answers once more, as she aims her crossbow where Jake tells her to and starts firing it at every corner of the school.

——————————————————————

“So uh, what’s the plan?” I ask my friend.

“Well, I’m not sure…...aren’t you supposed to be smarter than me.” Bennie laughs.

“Well, I guess we should do recon and wait for an opening.”

“Sounds good. Let’s go back down then.” Bennie nods.

“Yeah.” I agreed. “If we ever get seperated we should use this room as like our base too.” I suggest.

Bennie nods before heading back down, I follow suit soon after, not wanting to make the whole partnership too obvious. Well that was the plan anyway...

“So….you two want to tell me what you were up to in there?” Mister Oro asks, arms crossed, as he met us at the end of the stairway. With him was an older looking hippie looking guy with an afro, he was a part of our committee, always seemed laid back and a bit odd.

“How did you know where we were?” Bennie asks innocently.

“The crystal ball my dude, it knows all, it sees all.” The hippie looking guy answers, as he holds out his crystal ball for all to see.

“So that’s your gear?” I ask him.

“Uh uh uh. You’re not asking the questions here, I am.” Mister Oro says, tapping his foot.

Bennie looks at me “Well we were just scared so we ran. I can turn myself invisible so that’s probably why you didn’t see me leave.”

“Is that all I need to know?” The teacher asks.

“Yup.” Bennie gives him a reassuring smile. “So where are the others anyway?” He asks, successfully changing the topic.

“The others stayed with Miss Kobayashi in the lounge.” Mister Oro loosens up a bit before adding “Which is where we’re headed now. Come on.”

The four of us then start marching towards the teacher’s lounge, an air of unease still surrounding us, but given the situation it’s understandable.

“So why don’t you just use your ball thingy to find everyone?” Bennie turns to the hippie, trying to make conversation.

“I can only scry one location at a time little dude. The Oro told me to ask the ball where you two were first, when we get back I’ll find the others too, don’t fret.” He then gives Bennie a reassuring pat on the back.

As we march across the hall I start to notice something suspicious, there are high tech looking arrows lodged in walls and ceilings, and not at random.

“Hey, what are those?” I point to one of the arrows in the ceiling.

Mister Oro looks up, “Well they’re….”

“Mister Oro!” A classroom door suddenly flies open as Jake calls out to our teacher. “Thank goodness you’re here! I thought I was alone forever.” Jake exclaims in his fake overemphasized voice.

“Ah, there you are Jake. We’ve been looking for you.” The teacher replies. “Come let’s head back to the lounge with the others.” Mister Oro gestures forward, beginning to walk onward once more.

Jake then suddenly runs in front of the teacher, waving his hands in the air, “No, you mustn’t. Er, I mean why don’t we stay here for a while?”

Mister Oro rolls his eyes “You’re much too old to be acting like a child. What’s the matter anyway?”

“Oh uh, nothing, nothing I just-“

*BOOOM* *BOOOM*

The sound of steel laced fists meeting concrete, at this point we all know what it is.

“I had a premonition.” Jake says, his face contorted in a sick manner, as if he tried to convey fear but instead showed nervous laughter.

“What the hell!?” The teacher then pushed Jake aside and started sprinting towards the teacher’s lounge. We followed close behind, something I instantly regretted upon seeing the horror that awaited.

“Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!” Bethany was shaking in fear, as Lucy and Isabella clung to her sides sobbing deeply.

The grizzly sight that greeted us was nothing short of nightmaric. The door to the lounge was buster open, the room itself was a mess. The coffee tables and couch were on the ground, tossed to the side. While Lucy and Isabella clung to Bethany, who was frozen in place frantically stuttering. The rest of the students were taking cover behind the toppled furniture. All staring at the middle of this scene, at Miss Kobayashi who on the ground, dead, her head split open like a watermelon. Paul stared at us with a crazed look in his eye as Roger cowered behind his friend.

“What in the hell did you do!” Mister Oro demanded.

“You’re next blonde!” Paul screamed in reply, as he pounced on the teacher, who flipped his golden coin, conjuring a giant riot shield to block the bully’s blow.

I turned to my side, as it turned out Jake didn’t follow us, and Bennie was gone. Some of the other students started running out the door.

“Get them out of here Chance!” Mister Oro screamed as he warded off Paul’s attacks.

The hippie then leapt into action, grabbing the three girls and dragging them out of there. “Come on Lance, let’s go!”

“But Mister Oro” I protested.

“I can handle myself, kid. Get out.” The teacher said in response, “That goes for all of you!” The teacher shouted. James, Hank and Roy, who was miraculously back on his feet, looked at each other before sprinting away with the others.

I was more hesitant, since things were not looking good. Mister Oro kept conjuring up police equipment but no matter what he conjured up Paul managed to shatter.

“Let’s go dude!” Chance called to me again, this time he was already in the hall outside. Hearing this broke my out of my trace, only me and Ashely were still inside, she was still staring at Miss Kobayashi’s body, unmoving.

I took a deep breath, and before I could think twice, I grabbed her hand and ran to Chance, it was out of instinct more than anything. Chance led us to a nearby classroom, locking the door behind him, he guided the three girls into desks for them to sit. He then took out his crystal ball and said “Oh mighty crystal ball show me what I seek.” The crystal ball then started to glow with power before showing the battle between Mister Oro and Paul Beartrap. We were close enough to hear the action while the crystal ball provided the visuals.

Mister Oro threw up shields and throwing knives, smoke bombs and flash bangs, but Paul was incensed, he was like a raging animal lashing out. He took everything Mister Oro threw at him and applied more and more pressure on the teacher. Until finally Mister Oro flipped the coin and conjured up a revolver and fired it at the bully, who staggered back. But it wasn’t enough, one bullet, two bullets, three bullets, four, Mister Oro kept firing at the bully but he wouldn’t fall. And then it happened *click* *click* Mister Oro was empty. Paul looked at the teacher with a maddened craze but he was too hurt to pounce before Mister Oro could flip his golden coin. He conjured up more bullets, but that was his flaw. He conjured 6 bullets in his hand, but those were useless as there was no way he could load his gun. Paul then shuffled forward and cocked his fist. The teacher then dropped the ammunition, while starting to sweat he gave the coin a final flip attempting to create another loaded gun instead. But when the coin landed nothing happened. His luck had run out. Which meant nothing stopped Paul’s next blow which landed right on Mister Oro’s chin, sending him flying out of the teacher’s lounge and into the hall. His chin was absolutely destroyed and the impact took him out.

Paul then looked back at Roger, clutching his wounds, “Help me out here, we need to get those beans.”

Roger then came to his master’s aid, helping Paul limp forward. Roger gave a wicked smile, “I can’t believe it, two teachers down haha.”

Paul smiled back at his friend “Impressive huh? I still can’t believe all of those losers revealed what their powers were to that teacher. Now we know exactly who to hunt down.”

The crystal ball then turned to black as Chance waved it off. With a grim look in his eye he looked at me, eye to eye. “What are we gonna do?”

The answer? Nothing. I didn’t know what I could do, what we could do.

——————————————————————