CH3: The Great Courtyard War

We start moving out and decide to go through the backdoor on the first floor behind the cafeteria. That way we may also come across one of the recreationists and tip them off so they meet us outside. The way down is a lot more comfortable this time. With all these high power weapons, it feels like any poor girl who runs into us will feel sorry very quickly. Also, our team spirit is strong and we are all ready to shoot at anyone who gets in our way.

We reach the first floor and instantly see some people around the cafeteria. It’s Esmeralda and Grace. I gulp and we move silently towards the door. I peek over the side and see the two are leaving and I aim at Esme with my rifle. We should be able to take one out, but I’m not too sure. I tell Vinora to shoot with me. We both have rifles and two shots to the back should be more than enough. We aim and I tell her to fire.

I hit Esme on the back and… Vinora hits Grace on the back. I panic and push the girl over and she looks at me surprised: “What? I shot the one with the red suit.” I see the two recreationists returning fire already and it seems we got neither. “Dammit… I’m color blind. She had a green suit, didn’t she? Fuck…” Vinora mutters as we run out of the door. “That’s stupid! Where was that established?!” Sofie groans as we run. It is what it is, and we should’ve communicated better – I’m just glad Grace is ok.

Outside it is cold, but the suits are surprisingly good at insulating our bodies. We run and little rocks on the floor hurt my feet. The outside is wide and compared to the inside it’s dramatically different. The rifles we have, have great advantage here. And the big LMG Tatiana has must be useful too. We hurry to behind some benches and trees and see as Grace and Esmeralda run out shooting at us. Outside it’s also foggy so we see the lasers flying too.

I try to aim at Esmeralda but she ducks just as I try to shoot her. The two have a hard time with the range as their weapons are small and the lasers that hit us hardly do any damage. It was hard to notice inside, but it seems the distance of shots also matters for most weapons. For the rifle it doesn’t seem to matter though.

We take shots at them and wear them out until I hear Sofie shout: “They are coming from the left!” I notice other recreationists shooting at us from the direction of the main door. It’s Korina and Calliope herself. I look at Tatiana who is stunned and I shake her: “Snap out of it, Tatiana! You have to cover us!” Tatiana nods and covers us with her gun as we run towards the side of the school wall and hug it as we try to go around Calliope towards the gate. The LMG is scary. It makes a very loud sound and shoots lasers everywhere so fast that all the recreationists take cover instantly.

We flank Calliope and Korina and I almost instantly get hit by an **** rifle shot to the stomach. I take cover and Vinora too gets hit on the shoulder. Calliope shouts something at us, but it’s hard to hear. “Goddammit… I hate that bitch…” Vinora groans and I shoot their way and we try to cover as Tatiana runs for it. I see Grace in the distance with her pistols. She looks frustrated and I get distracted for just enough time for Calliope to get a chance to shoot at Tatiana and hit her leg. “No! Keep running!” Sofie tells her and shows the way. Tatiana gets shocked and turns to Calliope and Korina and aims at them with the big gun and shoots. The leader of the recreationists is still wearing the protective vest she took from Erika yesterday, so even with Tatiana’s gun, it’s hard to hit her where it counts.

“Come on! Get over here!” Sofie shouts and Tatiana runs again. This time I manage to keep Calliope behind cover but see Korina lift her head. There’s a patch over her eye and she is now holding the rifle.

I freeze. I hear as Vinora take the shot and makes the girl duck. I couldn’t take the shot. Not at her again. Tatiana makes it over to us and starts healing. “She’s using Korina as cover now! What do we do?” Vinora shouts as I and Sofie try to cover Tatiana. “Don’t shoot her!” Tatiana screams and I relate with her.

We make our way back to a good spot by some trees near the gate and there we can easily keep the recreationists down. Each time they try to move or peek, we get a shot in. **** rifles have quite a few shots and each can be deadly. So we can save our shots well while they are wasting theirs with their inferior guns. We get many good hits in and it seems to be going our way. “Fuck you!” Vinora shouts and shoots where Calliope is and we hear her shout back: “Where the hell did you get those weapons?!”

We hold the position and see Esme running already. She must be out of meds, so I take aim and shoot. I hit her back but she doesn’t go down. She was smart to run with HP to spare. She gets away but it’s good to get one of them out of it. We are going to win this at this pace. The recreationists are obviously getting frustrated and their threat isn’t nearly as prevalent anymore. I was fearing the old retreaters would be joining them. Faye and Lucy. But they are not here. Not even Tina. Now just to get a good shot at Calliope and it’s all over.

I think about Grace, how it will go after Calliope goes down. I hope she will give up and acknowledge that we are the winners and join us. She has to do that. She just doesn’t want to lose. That’s why she joined Calliope in the first place. Of course she’ll join us. As I think about her, I try to find her but can’t see her. Did she leave too? Maybe to go get a better gun?

Then I see Sofie getting distracted and running off to the side. “What are you doing?” Vinora shouts and returns fire towards Calliope and Korina. I watch as Sofie opens fire in the darkness. Then I see it, it’s Grace. The two exchange fire and it’s obvious that Sofie’s advanced submachine guns are superior to Grace’s pistols but the exchange is still pretty even. I suddenly feel afraid. Either of them losing would be devastating. Korina and Calliope have split and are taking the attention of both Tatiana and Vinora so I hope I can go help Sofie. I hurry to them: “Sofie! Grace, stop! Stop fighting!”

Then there is a red flash and I hear a beep. I stumble and fall over and see my bracelet blinking. My side is red all over. What hit it? The area is so big. I think it hit me in a bad spot. I check my bracelet and see my health is at zero. My bracelet is flashing red and I feel like passing out. Is that it then?