The Joining: The Cycle of the Shards Book One

37: Fire Drill

The shrill ringing of the fire alarm sounded out through the hallways almost as if there was an air raid imminent. Accompanying the loud constant alert was a voice announcement to calmly exit the building, and a slow flashing strobe light that seemed like it could cause a seizure to an afflicted student, which would be problematic if it had happened during an actual fire. Used to these type of things being drills, and sometimes announced ahead of time, the students obeyed the calm message, following their teachers instructions, save for one. The teacher that had exited his classroom at the wrong time and witnessed Pt'ron's rampage simply and quietly walked to his door and turned the door lock, thinking correctly that if this was a legitimate emergency, it was certainly not a fire.

In all other cases, students were led by their teachers to the doors of their respective classrooms in straight and orderly lines. Most of the controlled exodus went without incident at the beginning as they entered the hallways and proceeded towards their exits. The first issues began when the other classrooms in the upper west hallway opened, releasing the students into the hallway to witness the unmoved bodies of Brian and Travis, obviously killed quite recently and horribly. Nobody paid any attention to the students and the teacher in the middle of the carnage, especially when every sprinkler in the school came to life, erupting from the ceilings to literally rain upon the scattered groups.

It was just one student that started the rush, a small girl that nobody paid a whole lot of attention to. When she saw the bodies of the boys she didn't know, she screamed, and the screams spread throughout the hall. Now fearing for her life in addition to her annoyance at being drug out of class for another fire drill, she started to back away from the bodies, and backed right into a large football player, who was near throwing up at the blood splattered on the floor. It was then when the sprinklers opened, and that was the needle that broke the camel's back. As the screams echoed throughout the hallways, she began to run, and seeing her run just inspired others to flee as well. Two students were already dead, what else was going to happen! From there, the chaos spread. Students running into friends from other classrooms spread the word of the deaths, and the screams and panic soon encompassed the entire school, both students and teachers alike.

While the normal order in the school was breaking apart, Pt'ron exited the office area, satisfied that he had made his point to the monkeys that had encountered him before. Running away was the only future they had left, after all, best for them to learn early. He had no intention of taking part in the mad rush outside. Now that he knew who his adversaries were, he wanted no part of leaving them behind. He wanted them to see his ascension. After all, they had come from the other side of the universe to find him and see the Shards for themselves, why should he deny them this opportunity? So instead of following the panicking crowds that were rushing the doors to freedom, he began to climb the stairs, pushing his way past the teenagers that were moving down them.

In the hallway that started everything, Critock was only momentarily in a standstill. Here, in the middle of chaos, he was in his element. He made his way through the flowing mass of students to where Claire was still hanging onto Phelps desperately. "HEY!" He shouted to be heard over the shouts and screams.

Phelps turned to him, as Tom flew down and Shanna followed in his wake. "WE NEED TO COVER THE EXITS. FIND ME IN THE MAIN LOBBY IF YOU SEE HIM. TAKE WEST." As the teacher attempted to extricate himself from Claire's desperate arms, Critock turned to Shanna. "GO EAST." She nodded and began to head off, still wearing Kyle's backpack. Critock didn't notice, and glanced at Tom, and then yelled at Jim, who was separated from his sister by the crowds but was not brave enough to move forward to her. "JIM."

"WHAT?" There was a slight whine to Jim's voice, betraying the fear he felt that he hoped had been covered up.

"I NEED YOU AT THE MAIN ENTRANCE LOOKING FOR DANIEL." Critock wished the seemingly never-ending rush of students would quiet down, but there were at least two thousand people in this school, and while the early screamers had been able to run out, eventually the crowds became too dense, especially with people falling down and a few disabled teenagers in the mix.