The Theory Of Knowledge (And How To Lose All Your Friends)

Chapter 14: Bravo Six, Going Dark

Mike pulled up outside the massive tinted glass doors of the JPC. Unconscious bodies lay slumped in dry bushes, clothes tattered and mutilated. Jayden looked away, not wanting Death to curse his mind again. He knew they were not safe in the exposed campus with all the guerilla warfare going down - he could hear the sounds of savagery reverberating across the Science and Math block, like screeching souls in a war-ridden ghost town.

Jax left bloody imprints on the glass as he pounded on the doors. Thankfully, the automatic opening system was enabled, and the group was able to walk through - becoming baptized in the darkness of the JPC atrium as the 40% tinted windows enclosed them like a cursed Egyptian tomb. The blackness extended up to the seemingly infinitely high ceiling of the room. The inside was eerily silent, and Jayden strode apprehensively through the dark fog like an otherworldly ballet dancer on an unknown stage. Attempting to quieten his own footfalls, he froze as he felt cold metal on his neck.

"Stay where you are." An icy but familiar female voice appeared in his ear.

"We're not here to hurt anyone," Jayden calmly stated. The blade against his throat uncomfortably moved up and down with the rising and falling of his vocal cords.

"That dead boy your friend is holding says otherwise." She projected her voice away from Jayden's ear, presumably at Jax.

"They have a dead guy?" Another foreign voice echoed out, against the sound of shifting and more blades being drawn.

How his captor was able to see in the dark was beyond Jayden - his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone's phone hitting the concrete. Suddenly, the room was illuminated by the phone flashlight. The iPhone case read "Sorry, you're too ugly!" accompanied by a frowny Apple Face ID icon, indicating that the phone belonged to Mike.

Jayden was startled by the familiarity of the faces he saw. They appeared to include Jonathan, Patrick, and Jason, who were standing at the opposite end, brandishing long knives which were most likely looted from the Food Tech kitchen.

"Well?" The voice behind Jayden suddenly rang a bell in his mind.

"Brinny?"

"Yeah - now hurry up and say something that doesn't make me kill you right now." The knife she had against Jayden's neck was a butterfly knife, which he could swear was becoming firmer by the second. She had a pair of night vision goggles over her eyes, explaining her nocturnal abilities in the darkness just before.

"Do you think we killed him?!" Jax broke the silence.

"It was some CAS guy," Mike explained. "We're telling the truth, I swear."

Jayden could see Jax was holding back tears, so he spoke in place of him. "I know things are pretty... uh... wild right now, but-"

"Why is she here?" Mike foolishly interrupted, which made the knife on Jayden's throat tighten like the grip of a boa constrictor. "She doesn't even take IB."

"Look around, dumbass. This dystopian s**tstorm affects all of us." She was right - the whole school had fallen into shambles within one day. "You IB kids brought this hellscape here."

"We can make a deal," Jayden was barely able to speak through choked breaths. "We can make an alliance or something. We just want to get out of here."

"They won't let you leave," Patrick said from the other side.

"Yeah, but they just tried to kill us," Mike replied. "I don't we're gonna be following their rules anytime soon."

There was a short moment of silence within the room, almost like a prayer around a campfire with the feeble but sufficient torch light.