High School Royale

2〛Onslaught

Grace Harper - 9:45AM
——————————

Grace dug through the cabinets as the time began, checking all the medications that they had. She kept her bow beside her, quiver still across her back.

The nurse's office was split into two main compartments. There was the main area, with a counter containing a computer and medicine shelves behind it, alongside a separate room with four beds, a window looking into it. Besides that was a small bathroom.

There was also a long window that looked into the hallway, and they had drawn the curtains, turning on only the light furthest down the room.

Finally, there was a small hallway that led to a walk-in closet and the front offices, which they had also locked.

"No one's doing anything," Maya said, taking a peek out the curtains. Her voice was dead. "They're all just walking around or staying still."

"I don't blame them," Adam said, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "I mean, can any of you guys kill? I can't."

"This probably is just some weird experiment," Nick theorized, shaking a can of gasoline. From what Grace could infer, Adam and Nick were friends. Nick was also a sophomore, and he must've been a culinary arts student, for his gift were butane cans of gasoline, the ones used for portable stoves.

"Still," Grace said after a pause, "we should be weary."

The last person was a quiet, crying girl who hadn't spoken once. She simply remained seated on the bed, keeping the door open.

"We'll be okay, right?" Adam asked. "None of this is real, right?"

"It's real," Maya muttered, sliding down the wall and huddling into a ball. "I saw the dead bodies. First hand. Most of them were my friends."

The room was silent for a moment, before a noise came from the closet.

"I got it," Nick hissed, returning from the closet with a pair of pliers.

"What's that for?" Grace asked.

"To try to get these damn things off!" Adam replied, holding out his arm. Nick put the pliers around the metal and clamped down. The veins in his arms bulged as he tried to snap the bracelet.

"I want to get the hell out of this place!" Nick said. "And this bracelet is the only thing stopping us!"

But after a final push, the handles snapped in half and dropped to the floor.

"Damn it!" Adam cursed.

Nick opened his mouth to say something, but a scream down the hall cut him off, followed by a bang.

"Oh shit," he yelled, leaping over the counter and rushing to the window. Grace and the others–even the quiet girl–crowded behind him, peering out. Crowds of people were running towards the science hall, with gunshots echoing from the English hall.

The girl grabbed the curtains out of Nick's hand, yanking them closed. Another wave of fire sounded, closer this time, and we flinched.

"What do we do?" Maya asked, backing away.

"Stay silent!" Grace whispered.

"Let's all hide in the storage closet!" Adam suggested, his voice urgent.

Sticking close to the floor, they traveled to the back hall, slipping through the door. Inside, Grace suppressed a cough, the shelves filled with dust-capped bottles. Then, something banged against the opposite wall, shaking the room. A thermometer fell down the shelf, and Nick caught it.