High School Royale

1〛Genesis

Alyssa Tang - 9:30AM
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"I can't do this, I can't do this!" Alyssa shouted to Maddie, hyperventilating.

"Olivia?" Maddie asked.

She shook her head. "It's... No, I'm okay, I'm okay."

Alyssa took a slow, deep breath, getting her water bottle with a shaking hand. "Here, Olivia."

Olivia took it, nodding a thanks, her hands–also quivering–bringing it to her lips.

"This can't be real, right? This can't be real!" Alyssa shouted again, the brief equanimity her deep breath had brought her rapidly evaporating. Her eyes were red, her entire body unable to hold still.

"Alyssa," Maddie said, her voice firmer, "breathe."

She ran her hands through Alyssa's hair, who continued taking large breaths. But both of them shook violently, tears staining their faces.

Then, a commotion rang out from the back; someone had opened the door to the outdoor seating.

Alyssa gasped. "Wait, can we leave?" The noise in the room rose, as people began squeezing through the two sets of doors.

They followed the crowd, weaving through the people. "What's going on?" Alyssa asked, her hand holding onto Maddie's.

"I don't know."

People pushed past them, shoving them against each other. Alyssa yelped as a boy threw her aside, fighting to escape the scene indoors. Many were trampling over others to make it outside, and once outside made a mad dash.

"Look! They're leaving the school!" Olivia shouted, jumping above the endless mass of heads. "Maybe... Maybe it's okay! It's okay! We can just leave! It'll be fine!"

"Yeah, you're right!" Alyssa said. "This was just some weird social experiment! We can just... We can just leave!"

The students sprinted across the courtyard, past the student parking, desperate for escape. Alyssa and Olivia squeezed to the side, avoiding one of the lunch tables, but Maddie climbed onto it, offering her hand to pull them up.

"What are we waiting for?" Olivia asked. Alyssa was about to keep walking too, but she paused, taking Maddie's hand.

"Wait," she said, stepping onto the seat, then the table, her view now extending beyond the students and to the edge of the parking lot, lined with bushes.

"They locked us in," Maddie said. "Why would they suddenly let us leave?"

Several students had begun hopping over the bushes at once, yet some at the forefront of the crowd hesitated. After several seconds passed, and nothing occurred, more students hopped past.

"We can... Just leave?" Olivia asked, joining them on top of the table. Without asking, however, another girl leaped on top of their table, craning her neck.

And then, a ring of blood erupted from the wrists of the first escapees. The crowd screamed, the escapees screaming the loudest, one girl's shriek so loud it sliced through Alyssa's eardrums.

The first boy was electrocuted, his body dropping to the floor, as the dozens of students ran back past the bush and into the parking lot again, with more and more bracelets sinking into their wrists and unleashing the electricity. The three girls screamed, the noise blending into the crowd. A wave of nausea rolled through her chest and into her head, almost collapsing in that instant.

Many collapsed on the streets, or in the parking lot, their fates long sealed. The crowd surged, and against the motion, Alyssa stumbled. Olivia grabbed onto her, as the girl who had got onto their table leaped off. All around, students fell onto the ground, vomiting, crying, or even fainting. They pushed past each other, now desperate to get back inside.