paranoia / gyuricky

08: it's all over (with a sacrifice)

As soon as he heard footsteps approaching, Ricky knew it was time to move. He carefully climbed the toilet, clumsily crawling through the vent directly above. He looks down, his eyes widening and breath hitching as he realizes he narrowly averted death, since the Camp Planet murderer had entered the stall only moments after Ricky escaped. He jumps down into the hallway after kicking the grate off the other side of the vent.

Gunwook and Gyuvin close the bathroom door, tying it quickly with a rope to prevent the murderers from escaping. While everyone else took cover just around the corner, Matthew, being the oldest, took it upon himself to start the fire. He pulled a lighter from his pocket and leaned down to the pool of gasoline intentionally prepared by the others. Matthew carefully flicks the lighter into the gasoline, practically racing away from the bathroom to join everyone else.

Anguished screams and howls of despair are heard immediately, which Gyuvin finds disconcerting but ultimately worthwhile. He clutched Ricky's unharmed hand, his heart rate rising as he panted in anxiety.

Soon enough, a loud explosion can be heard, a sudden blast of hot air rushing over the group. It puts an end to the screaming, and hopefully, to the murderers targeting Ricky as well.

With fire extinguishers, the group finds themselves in the bathroom once more, putting out the fire with heaps of powder being produced at a time. Gyuvin coughs as he inhales the chemicals, his eyes brimming with tears while he rubbed them.

Gunwook let out a chuckle once he realized that the murderers were nowhere to be seen; the plan seemed to work and everything was going to be okay. "Come back from that, motherfuckers!"

"Oh my God," Taerae lets out. "It worked. It actually fucking worked."

From the corner of his eye, Yujin spotted something moving on the floor; he couldn't quite see what it was, but he could tell it was unnatural, to say the least. He crouches down, his eyes widening as he finally gets a decent look at the murderers' remnants, which are gradually putting themselves together into a glob. Yujin makes a disgusted look, grimacing at the sight of the flesh. "Guys? Is that supposed to happen...?" He stares in terror as the remains form an arm and reach out to grab him. "Holy shit."

"Run, run!" Gyuvin calls out in a panic, taking hold of Yujin by the back of his collar to get him to stand up, pulling him through the door while he runs.

Shelter is quickly taken in a nearby classroom, with Ricky locking the door behind him. He moved out of the way of Matthew, who was pushing a desk towards the door, creating a barricade.

"We're so fucked!" Gunwook stressfully exclaims, bringing a hand up to his forehead as he paced around the room, panting. "They're coming, and they'll just keep coming!"

"We're not fucked, though," Matthew points out, gesturing to Ricky, wiping the sweat dripping from his forehead with the back of his hand. "He's fucked. They're coming for him, not us."

Gyuvin gasps in disbelief, frowning as he crossed his arms. "What are you saying?"

Gunwook, stopping next to Matthew, nods in agreement with the older. "If they're coming for Ricky, let's put him in the hall and end this now."

"You can't just fucking say that!" Gyuvin argues. "He's your friend!"

"I'm being reasonable!" Gunwook responds, holding his hands up and sitting on a desk. "We can't run anymore! Okay, a bullet doesn't stop them, but we just tried to fucking blow them up, and that didn't work!" He snatches Taerae's backpack from his grasp, ripping out the articles they read earlier and slamming them onto the desk. "Look at this! They're all fucking dead! This is the only way to stop them."

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Gyuvin asked, sparing a glance at Ricky, who had his gaze fixed on the floor.

"Gunwook's right," the blonde finally said, kicking at a pebble with the toe of his shoe. "I don't want you guys to die for me." He inhales sharply. "I'll go. I'm ending this right now."

Gyuvin rushes towards Ricky, placing his hands on either of his shoulders. "No, dumbass, you're not. Listen to yourself, please. You can't do this."

Ricky presses their foreheads together while cupping Gyuvin's cheeks. "I have to," he replies as he turns away and approaches the classroom door.

"Ricky, no!" Gyuvin cries out, reaching out to grab the blonde, only to be met by Gunwook pulling him into a hug to prevent him from following Ricky.

Looking back again, Ricky spares a small smile, unlocking the door with a trembling hand. He takes a long breath before surrendering to the darkness of the corridor, flinching at the sound of the door being locked once more.

"No, he can't do this!" he sobs, tears streaming down his face as he struggles to free himself from Gunwook's grasp. "Let me go! Let me go!" Through blurry vision, Gyuvin makes eye contact with Yujin. "Help me, Yujin! Fucking help me! We're literally letting him die! We're killing him!"

Something catches Yujin's eye as he looks down at the newspaper clippings on the desk, prompting him to pull Taerae by the sleeve. "Look," he whispers, pointing to an article about the Camp Planet massacre.

Taerae's eyes widened, choking out a gasp. He snatches the paper off the desk, bringing it to Matthew, who was busy guarding the door.

After skimming through the article, Matthew realized that he made a terrible mistake. He quickly unlocks the door, grabs Ricky, who yelps in surprise, by the sleeve and pulls him back into the classroom. "You're not doing this alone," he reassures when noticing the rather horrified countenance on Ricky's face.

"What the fuck is going on?" asks Ricky, suddenly flinching due to a loud bang on the door.

"There's another way," Taerae said, holding up the newspaper clipping. "Zhang Hao. He's the key. He survived the Camp Planet massacre."

"'The traumatized boy swears that through the carnage, he saw the witch,'" Ricky reads from the article, his voice weak, coming out as a squeak.

"Just like you," Taerae added, "so if he survived, there has to be a way for you to live, too."