CH4: Shit out of Luck

“Lilah! What the fuck was that?! Are you with that psycho?!” I hear Vinora and can’t utter a word. Esme shoots at Vinora and I try to cover her. It’s pure chaos. People run around the atrium and trade shots. I can’t tell who is with who, and who isn’t with me. The atrium is connected to the info desk, the first floor bathrooms and the art classroom. As far as I can tell, I think Faye and Vinora are at the bathrooms, Grace and Esme retreated to the art classroom and Arleth is holding the info desk. I can’t trust Arleth, but I’m also not sure about Grace either. Esme certainly wants to shoot me.

So I try to make my way to the bathrooms. I get shot by Arleth and Esme through the windows of the art classroom. Lasers can of course go through glass after all. I trade fire with my **** rifle at both, but especially Arleth is almost impossible to hit as headshots don’t count and her upper body is covered with a vest. The rest is hidden behind the desk. I do get a couple hits on Esme though and get her off my skin enough to run into the bathrooms where I instantly get grabbed by someone.

“You fucking bitch!” Vinora screams and pulls on my arm and makes me stumble on the floor. This bathroom is the largest of the whole school and is split into two for boys and girls. They have a central aisle for sinks with stalls around it – it’s all very fancy. There’s also a green light that protects the area. “I’ll kick your ass!” Vinora threatens me and kicks my shin and it really hurts. “Aah, please, s-stop!” I whine and look up at her terrified. She loses some of her energy and sighs: “What’s wrong with you? What do you mean ‘break up the teams’? Huh? You dumbass.” She crosses her arms and I see Faye hiding in a stall close by.

“V-Vinora… you see, I…” I am a bad liar. I want us to separate so it’s fair, so the real winners emerge victorious. But I’m not sure. “Do you really not want me, you and Tatiana to win? Huh?” She kneels before me and I look up at her prepared to be hit again. I brace myself and tell her: “D-do you really think… do you really think Tatiana will let both of us win? Don’t you think she wants Korina to make it out? Think about it, please…” I get up and Vinora shakes her head: “No, she told us! She told us that their thing is over! Tatiana is one of us! We are the three who make it out.” She smirks and I look past her and see the blue haired girl listening from the toilet stall.

“What about her then, huh? What is she doing here?” I ask Vinora and point at Faye who hides behind the door and Vinora groans: “I don’t know, ok? Shit. But we gotta do this! Let’s at least end that bitch, Arleth first, right? You are not her friend, are you?” I shake my head and she sighs in relief. “Yeah, we… I think we should try to do that.” I say and stop as I hear faint footsteps and back away.

I see a hand in the doorway put something on the floor. I recognize the device and get behind a sink as suddenly the green disappears and an ominous red fills the room. “Oh shit! It’s one of those damn demolishers. Where did she get that?” I can only guess that she found that in the info booth by sheer luck. I see a shape of a person emerge from the doorway and shoot that way. Vinora and I try to hit her but she keeps dodging and taking hits on her vest while returning pin-point accuracy shots.

I end up having to spend all the advanced med usbs I got from the nurse’s office and throw the last one to Vinora. Arleth is quick and closes the gap between us ruthlessly while we struggle to keep her back. “Oh shit! Stay back!” Vinora shouts and I can hear the desperation in her voice.

“H-hey.”

A voice I almost forgot comes through from the other side of the room and I hear Arleth stumble and see Faye shooting her way with her pistol. She seems to be getting some hits in as she managed to surprise her from the back and Arleth has to shoot both ways. It lets Vinora to advance enough to push Arleth back and make her start running. I try to hit her legs but she ends up getting away. Vinora chases after her while I gasp and drop on my knees.

Vinora holds the door while I see Faye get out from the stall and look at me carefully. “I-I’m sorry for not helping sooner.” She says and I want to hug her and can’t almost contain myself, so I just smile at her and sigh: “Thank you so much. You came at the perfect time.” Faye smiles carefully and Vinora tells us to move over to the boys bathroom and we do. The green light is still on and we all sigh in relief as we make it there.