Hero Academies

Chapter 13: Trials and New Beginnings

Louis and Harry were dead. He couldn’t save them. He was too late. The enemy had acted too quickly. He shot them while they laid defenseless on the floor. Liam was too slow to save them. He had wanted to run, to tackle the man to the ground before he could kill them, but his body wouldn’t move. His feet were glued to the ground.

He had tried yelling, to call out the two boy’s names, in a vain attempt to wake them up, as if the words would bring them back to life. But as his mouth opened, no sound came out. He tried again. Still nothing. Although his voice felt raw and sore from trying to scream, no words were audible.

The two fallen members did not rise. Blood from their wounds was spilling onto the floor, their eyes vacant and lifeless. They would never wake up again. The brunette started sobbing uncontrollably. This was not how it was supposed to end. He was supposed to save them, and they would all escape together, as a team. In between his heaving breaths, Liam tried to call for help, to get out of there, to escape from this horrible place.

“Liam!” Finally, his pleas were answered. Zayn and Niall were running toward him, to save him from the awful ordeal. A little hope rose inside the brunette then.

Yet it was crushed when a gunshot rang throughout the room. Suddenly, Niall fell down to the floor, dead. He was shot right in his throat. The horrific sight of the bloody mess that was once his best friend made him sick and want to cry at the same time. The older teen still continued running toward him though, determined to save him. Liam tried telling him to stop, to get away before the man killed him too, but still no noise came from his mouth.

As Zayn came closer and closer, he couldn’t help but hope that the raven haired teen would make it to him, that even though everyone else was dead, they would make it and at least have each other. He was close, so close. There were only a few feet separating them. Liam held out his hand, waiting for the older boy to grab it. Just a few more steps and he would make it. Just-

BANG!

Time seemed to go in slow motion. The brunette looked at Zayn, a gunshot wound apparent right through his heart. The raven haired teen seemed shocked, as if not quite believing what was happening. Liam watched in horror as the life in Zayn’s eyes seemed to vanish before him.

He decided then that the worst thing in the world wasn’t seeing you’re best friends get shot, but rather watching them as they died.

The older boy fell to the ground, right into the brunette’s arms. It was his blood that was getting onto Liam’s clothes, his dead eyes looking back at him as the younger boy desperately clung onto Zayn’s body. The brunette couldn’t control the tears streaming down his face, a few falling onto the raven haired teen’s as well.

Liam started crying, telling Zayn to wake up, that it wasn’t over. That they had to run away and then everything would be fine. That he couldn’t leave him like the others had. He told him how much he needed him, how he wouldn’t be able to go on without him. He asked why Zayn tried to save him, because now it was because of him that he was dead.

He screamed for Louis, Harry and Niall too, but mostly for the boy lying dead in his arms, as scarlet stained his clothes rapidly. It didn’t occur to him that his voice had finally returned, but it wasn’t like it would matter now anyways. It was too late. They were all dead, and it was all his fault.

In the midst of his yelling, the brunette heard footsteps. They got louder and louder until Liam could see a pair of shoes right in front of him. He looked up to see who they belonged too, only to have the faceless man point a gun right between his eyes. Wide-eyed, he found himself unable to move as the hand slowly pulled the trigger back.