CH4: New War

Even though I’m not entirely sure about Arleth yet, somehow I feel powerful by her side. I have seen what she has been capable of, and knowing it’s the fourth day and that the Recreationists aren’t powerful anymore, gives me a lot of reassurance. The hallways feel smaller and so does the entire school.

We come to the atrium. It’s the first place I saw when I entered over three days ago now. It was dark then, but now there’s all those neon lights, giving an artificial lighting to the great hall. Before this, I’ve not given it too much thought, but it really does seem weirdly uncanny – a school lit by neon lights?

I see Arleth stop and aim her weapon towards the middle of the room. I follow her and prepare myself. I see four figures at the center of the atrium who seem to be talking, but even this far away, I can tell it’s tense. So I whisper for Arleth to lower her weapon, and she reluctantly does.

“Stay back!” The red haired girl shouts and points at us. It’s Esmeralda. Last time I saw her she was crying over Calliope. Out of all the ex-recreationists, Esme seemed the closest to Calliope on a personal level. “Yes, yes. We want to know what’s going on here.” Arleth explains and my eyes lock with another girl. She wears a camo colored suit and a hat. I don’t know if I know her anymore, but once I would’ve said it’s Grace. She stares at me without saying a word and I keep patient – I still hold hope that she’s somehow going to turn it around. I trust her even now, even though she has shown me nothing to support that.

“What’s going on? We’re setting up some ground rules here.” It’s Vinora and next to her is Faye, the blue haired girl who looks stressed. “Like, for example that these bitches will quit their bullshit!” Vinora shouts and makes Faye jump a little while Esme frowns: “You got it all wrong! Do you still have no idea what we were trying to do? Did you not hear Calli when she told us?”

Vinora smirks at me and I’m not sure she really understood. I am sure there’s a place for a deal though. “Could we… break up the teams?” I suggest and Esme and Vinora both look at me surprised. “Lilah, what are you talking about? We are winning this! They have two, we have three plus Faye, let’s get them!” Vinora says excitedly and I can see Esme struggling to hold her composure.

“N-no, please. We don’t have to…” I try, thinking back to what Arleth told me. It’s true. I can’t help everyone out of this. It’s tearing me up inside. I can’t keep siding with people I have to betray in the end. And I don’t think it’s fair for us to gang up on Esme anymore. It’s all wrong, we should’ve never gotten to this point. Grace clears her throat and looks at each of us sharply: “I… I agree with her.” She looks at me and somehow I still don’t know if she’s on my side or not.

“NO! Fuck you, you recreatonist shit! You deserve to lose at this point! Come on guys, let’s end this!” Vinora shouts which makes Esme’s eyes go wide and her head to start turning rapidly. “Wait! This is getting out of hand! Vinora, don’t do that, you will…” I get interrupted as Esme yells: “We are not recreationists anymore! That ended yesterday! Why do you gotta blame ex-creationists for everything? H-huh?” It’s obvious from her voice that she’s starting to panic, probably from knowing at what a disadvantage she is.

“Yeah! Fuck you and your… excrement-whatever-the-fucks!” Vinora laughs confidently and I see Arleth thinking. “Sorry, Esme. This is the end.” I hear Grace mutter and I see Esme’s face go red and see her legs tremble. I know this is not going to work out. Suddenly there’s a rifle sound and I see Arleth shoot at Vinora who takes the hit on her arm and quickly falls behind cover. Arleth turns to Faye and starts firing at the poor girl who runs away and screams. I can’t believe my eyes.

“S-s-stop…” I stammer and see her look back at me which scares the shit out of me. I stumble back and see her take aim at Esme and shoot her way as she too gets behind cover. I can’t believe her, Arleth turned against us. No… I don’t know what to believe anymore. All I feel is betrayal and anger. I raise my gun and shoot her twice in the chest. It hits the vest and she groans and runs behind cover and I get ready. My head is hurting, I feel angry for even thinking for a second that it would get easier now. Of course it wouldn’t.