Evac

Bite one

I feel my eyelids begin to droop as the monotonous voice of the guest lecturer drones on. By the hooded eyes of the other students in the lecture hall, I'm not the only one. The lack of passion and enthusiasm for his choice of profession is so obvious it could almost be funny. Almost.

I'm usually pretty good at paying attention during lectures because, most of the time, Anatomy and physiology is pretty interesting. Sometimes, on a good day,  I even participate and put my hand up to answer a question. However it's almost impossible to not fall asleep, let alone interact, when your lecturer is this dull. I wish Mr Bradley would put an end to this torture already!

My eyelids are just about to succumb under the pressure when a series of loud bangs erupt from somewhere in the distance. The classroom all startles to attention at once and then suddenly falls into complete silence, listening for the noise again. As the silence stretches on, I can't help but let my imagination run wild and think that the bangs sounded a lot like gun shots..

Slowly murmurs begin to fill the hall as students whisper between themselves their theories. Having no close friends in the classroom I just listen. Catching bits and pieces of conversation from around the room I realise I'm not the only one who let their imagination loose.

"They sounded just like gun shots, didn't they?" One girl asks her friend.
A boy a few seats down from me begins to talk animatedly to his friends in front of him. "Dude I'm telling you! My dad's a cop and I've been on the shooting range with him. That sounded just like his glock!"

A shiver runs down my spine as whispers of, 'gun gun gun' travel throughout the class full of university students.

Suddenly Mr Bradley's commanding tone silences the classroom and shocks me from my reverie. "All right, settle down. Let's continue with the lecture." He motions to the boring, old guest speaker. "Mr Furlow, if you would conti.." *BANG!*

One more echoing bang resounds through the classroom once again silencing everyone. Still from some distance but definitely a lot closer. The silence only worsens the tension I feel coiling in my chest. Like a snake, the unease twists and slithers, wrapping itself around my heart. What if there's one of those crazy gunman on the loose who targets schools... No way. There couldn't be. It's ridiculous.

My muscles begin to relax as I convince myself of my obvious procrastination. Everything's fine. It's probably just some jackasses playing with some fireworks.

Suddenly, just as the first murmurs were about to take place, alarms blare and echo off the walls of the classroom. The alarm starts at a loud, high pitch, then slowly fades and repeats. I immediately recognise it as the university's evac alarm. Evac standing for evacuation...

The reaction from the class is instantaneous. Everybody stands at once and begins pushing and shoving each other in order to get out of the bleacher seats and towards the nearest exit. No amount of Mr Bradley yelling at people to stay calm sways the crowd. They're reacting on frenzied instinct as what they had feared only moments earlier, rises to the forefronts of their minds. I am not much different to be honest. My mind immediately travels to my imaginings of an insane gunman roaming the halls of the school.

I know better, however, than to panic and lose my head like the rest of the class seems to be doing. Me being my petite, 5'2 height would get trampled amongst that mob.

I slowly make my way in the opposite direction everybody is running and am soon all alone at the front of the classroom watching everybody fight for doorway access.

The relentless wail of the evac alarm rings in my ears, a constant reminder of the unknown danger. It's just my luck that I have class on the day a maniac decides to shoot up the school!

As the last person of the mob, a shy, blonde girl who always sits in the back corner of the room,  rushes out the door, I glance around and notice that even Mr Bradley had left through all of the chaos. So much for the 'students safe before self' policy.

I quickly ascend the stairs, clutching my green book bag to my chest. I see a shadow pass over the little square of glass on the door and decide to wait for them to pass just in case. After a minute of praying I'm not found I push open the wooden door as slowly as possible.

Carefully I peek around the edge and scan the hallway. They're dark like usual because of the lack of windows. Only two dim lights glow on the roof. One light at each end of the hall. It's empty and the only noise is the insistent blaring of the alarm. I step out of the door way and into the darkness and immediately notice something slippery under my foot. I gasp as I step back off a small puddle of blood in the shape of a footprint. The red ichor no doubt staining the sole of my tennis shoes. I follow with my eyes to the right side of the hall, where the footprints disappear around a corner. Deciding instantly to get as far away as possible from whoever made those footprints and go to alert the authorities of a possible injured person, I decide to head for the left hall light. Luckily this way leads to the main car park, where my little coop happens to be parked. This fact, at least, provides me with some semblance of comfort.

I take quick steps glancing back and forward for anyone that might be straying behind like me or for the person with the bloody feet. A shiver races down my spine and I do my best to avert my thoughts.

I quicken my pace as the lack of human life anywhere begins to unsettle me. Suddenly, as I round a corner, I trip and tumble over something. My knees hit the hard, linoleum floor and I let out a yelp of pain at the contact. Even through my worn, blue jeans I can tell that there's going to be bruises.

I turn to get up when I catch sight of what tripped me. I sit completely still as I struggle to come to terms with what's going on.

The girl from earlier. The pretty, blonde girl who was pushed to the back of the classroom mob. It's her. And I think she's dead...

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Hey guys! I hope you like the first chapter! If you didn't don't judge cause I wrote it in the spur of the moment! Sorry for any mistakes :\ Thanks for the support! <3