Save Our Sorry Selves

Chapter 7

Monday

I don't wanna die here I don't wanna die here I don't wanna die here. I kept repeating those same words over and over again as I smelt Jowen's freezing cold hand. The smell of Travis's blood was very prominent. My head rose and fell along with the dirty blond boy's anxious chest. My eye's burned from being wide open, scared that if I blinked for a second my world would come crashing down. 

The door handle of the large closest was twisting more and more, each twist being a step closer to our deaths, my death. That's when the person on the other side finally opened it. A crack of light shone through, hitting my right eye. I squinted, terrified of who I might see in front of me.

"Atlas?" No. It couldn't be him. It was too much of a coincidence. Surely I had to be dreaming. Jowen immediately removed his hand from my mouth and spoke for me. "Hey what do you know? It's Luke fucking Cruz." 

As soon as he opened the door wider, that's when I realized my ears weren't playing tricks on me. The mere spitting image of the boy I was daydreaming about was right in front of me. "Don't just stand there Luke! They're gonna find us!" I leaned forward from laying on Jowen's chest and grabbed Luke's arm pulling him as fast as I could. He shut the door right behind him. "Hey Hey there! Calm your horses!" "Seriously Luke? You're telling me to calm down? How could I when there's fucking teens out there that have a hit list that we are on?" I whisper shouted. I was furious at him. He could've given our spot away. 

"Just so you know, I heard you guys down the hall while I was hiding. At first, I didn't know it was you and assumed you were dead meat. But no one seemed to have heard you guys. So I came to tell you to shut the fuck up, then join." "Well congrats, you found us." I said as harshly as possible. I couldn't look at him anymore. His soft lips reminded me that they didn't belong to me. His sea-green eyes reminded me that they gazed at someone else. 

"Have either of you seen Sofie?" "No, and I don't care to see her." Shit, I did not mean to say that out loud. "What, you have a problem with my girlfriend?" He says defensively. I was right, he doesn't remember, or he doesn't care to remember. "Nothing, nothing she doesn't have a problem with her alright?" Was Jowen... defending me? 

That's when the familiar crackle of the school's speakers came to life. My heart stopped beating. Was the principal going to speak up? Is he alive? Are we going to be saved from this hellish nightmare? "Gooooood morning students!" It was Principal Newman. "What the hell is he doing?" Jowen whispered practically in my ear. "I have, news for you!" Something sounded off in his voice, he sounded a bit shakey. "Please do what these gentlemen are asking of!" "And ladies!" I heard a girl say aggressively. Principal Newman whimpered. "If you obey everything they ask of, some of you will be spared. They just need each of you to keep a lookout for these students! In no particular order, these 13 students are most wanted! So if you do see them, return them to the principal's office and you will be spared!" There were grunts in the background and Principal Newman hastily cleared his throat. "Alright we got... Sofie Coble.." I immediately looked at Luke who's eyes widened with fear. "Tim Smith, Riley Anderson, Alex Spencer, Andrew Chang, Luke Cruz..." I looked at Luke again, this time, his eyes were cast downward. "Atlas Bender, Jowen Hendrix, hey come on these are some good kids they don't deserve this!" "Read the fucking list!" An unrecognizable male voice said. "You guys are crazy! You guys need some serious help!" I heard a sound I never would want to hear over an intercom. The metallic click of a gun being loaded. "NO! PLEASE!" Those were Principal Newman's last words. The sound of a bullet ripping through the air made me jump and close my eyes shut. 

"Fuck man fuck!" Jowen whisper shouted. There was the sound of murmuring and then someone sitting in the seat. "Sorry for the interruption." It was a deep voice,  someone was clearly using a voice changer. "That's what happens when you don't cooperate with us. Allow me to introduce myself. I am the leader of the Fortifying Forty, a terrorist group that plans to take revenge for everything wrong that each of the people on this list has done." I wanted to scream. I couldn't take this anymore. Guilt was ripping at  me. I had done so many wrong things in my life, which one was he talking about? Or was he referring to all of them? "As you know, our dead principal here listed some of the most important people on our list. All other not listed... you know what to do." He crackled out of the intercom. I took a deep breath in, and another out. Everyone would be coming after us. I didn't just have to worry about those with guns and masks, but even those who wanted to be saved, which I mean I couldn't blame them. 

Just when I thought the whole evil speech thing was done, a song started to play. A song that didn't go too well with the situation, but did at the same time. "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" started echoing through the halls. That's when the fire of bullets started happening again. They were down the hall, but seemed to be coming our way. "We gotta get out of here!" Jowen said immeditaley. "Are you shitting me? we have to stay in here!" Luke yelled back. "Why the hell would we stay here? It's a dead end if they find us, there's no way we would survive." "If we run out there, they will see us and shoot us down easily!" The two of them arguing was too much to handle. Their voices became distant, muffled by my own mind. I blocked them out and began to think. Either way would be dangerous, but each one could mean a small victory. If we stayed, we could hide in the very back of the closet, hoping by some luck the shooter wouldn't see us. If we ran, we had to hope the shooter wasn't paying attention to us, or they would have such a horrible aim and miss. I opened my eyes and stared at both of them. "Altas fucking choose!" Luke insisted. "We gotta make a run for it."

And that's what we did. Jowen peeked through the door and said the shooter was focusing on students down the hall. He stepped out first, as I did right after him. I followed Jowen as he made a left turn and then another. We both stopped at the wall and peeked around the corner to see if Luke was following. His green eyes met mine, but stopped as soon as he heard a familiar voice calling out to him. "Luke! Luke!" It was Sofie. She blew our cover. The Fortifying Forty member turned toward Luke and aimed. I had to think fast, so I did the most impulsive thing. "Hey!" I shouted . "You want me right? I'm in the top five, or so I've been told." I slowly came from around the corner with my hands raised in surrender. The shooter began to laugh. "Damn today is my lucky day! 3 top fivers in one spot!" Alright I guess the rest of you are useless now." He aimed towards the rest of the boys and girls there. "Hey! Spare Sofie! She's in the top 13!" Luke screamed. The masked shooter lowered his gun. Sofie was hyperventilating, which I mean made sense. I just wasn't because I didn't care about anyone or anything anymore. "You're right, you're right man, I'll let you all go so this game can continue yeah?" "Yeah, yeah thanks I guess." Luke said confusedly. "Come on Sof. We gotta get out of here." Sofie nodded but she wasn't completely there. Her mind was... gone.

Sofie walked towards him slowly, scared of her every move. "That's it Sof." Luke encouraged her. Right as she was about to take two more steps towards him, the gun fired. I flinched again. I saw the bullet had ripped through Sofie's skull in the back and sprayed a thick dark red liquid all over Luke's handsome face. The hole was almost perfectly in the middle of her forehead. Her body stayed perfectly standing up, like she still had life second's before. Then, as if on cue, she fell forward, Luke catching her. "S...S... Sof? Get up! Get up!" I had to get Luke out of there, before he shot one of us. "Luke we gotta go now!" I ran up to him, my adreniline higher than ever before, than any sprint or mile race I had done. I grabbed his arm pulling him up. "No! Leave me to die here!" "Are you insane? I would never leave you behind!" I pulled him up with all my strength. But he wouldn't buge. "Luke! Luke look at me!" His eyes slowly turned toward mine, tears were pouring from his green seas. "She would want you to get up, and fight for your life." I  then pulled him and this time, he let go of what used to be Sofie, and began to run. I knew he wasn't fully there, he was back where Sofie was, but at least he was trying. 

This time, I wasn't the one being pulled by anyone, like Jowen or Riley, I was pulling. I was pulling someone from their despair, their pain, because they couldn't do it for themselves. They lost themselves with the person that had meant everything to them.