High School Royale

16〛Needle in the Haystack

Raymond Kross- 11:55AM
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Raymond nudged Soren.

He awoke with a gasp, frantically turning his head. "What? Raymond, is–"

"He's alive."

"What?" At once, Soren was awake, brushing himself off as he rolled out of the sleeping bag, blankets still caught on his shoe as he leaped up. "What? Where?"

"He's trapped. He's being held hostage with the Centrals. Turns out, they were taken over yesterday. Rowan and the girl he was with–her name's Skylar–were heading towards them. The invaders mistook them for a threat and knocked them out by accident. They planned to just let them go, until they discovered Rowan doesn't have a bracelet. Now, they want to use him to get food."

"Shit, shit! Okay, at least he's not in active danger, but I don't like the sound of this."

"Exactly," Emily said, "which is why we're gonna get him out. It's almost lunch."

Soren took a look at the time. "You're right. We're still not going, right? We still got enough food?"

"More than enough," Charlie said. "Me and Luke did a count this morning."

"Good shit," he said, turning to Raymond. "I assume you've got a plan?"

Drake clicked a marker open, pointing to the whiteboard. The scribbles from the first day of deranged theories and conjecture. The other half was now filled.

"Easy," Raymond said. "We make the group collapse."

"What?" Soren asked.

"We just make the group collapse," he said with a shrug.

"Are... Are you sure? I mean, yeah, it's messed up that they took Rowan, but... I mean, what if we get innocent people involved and killed?"

"According to our plan, the only people who will die will be the ones who were involved in inciting the violence that overtook the original Centrals," Raymond said.

"They kind of deserve it," Emily said. "I mean, if you play with fire you get burned. I wouldn't really feel bad."

"Not only are we freeing Rowan, we're freeing all the old Centrals from the people who took them over," someone pointed out.

"But two rights don't make a wrong."

"I don't want to start becoming like them," Charlie said. "I don't want to start becoming comfortable with the idea of killing."

Soren scratched his head. "I mean... Is it bad I think Charlie has a point?"

"Fine then, don't save Rowan," Raymond said, shrugging again.

"Surely it can't be this black-and-white," Drake said. "I'm all for the plan, but maybe there's some middle ground?"

"Okay, first, just tell me the plan," Soren said. Raymond and Drake explained it in detail.

Soren nodded. "Okay. It's... Very bold, but that's very like you guys. Are you guys sure Alyssa is on board? I don't know her super well but she doesn't seem like someone who'd be on board to let something that violent just happen."

"You're underestimating her," Raymond said. "She cares about justice too. She was separated from all her friends in the attack."

He sighed. "Okay. I'm onboard–for Rowan's sake."

"And for our odds of escaping," a sophomore said. "Shanti's very good. Maybe he'll know something about Rowan's phone."

"Which means we'll need Skylar to give it back," Emily said.