Undead School

16 THE EXCHANGE

The rest of the morning we spent working on fortifying the school. Everyone was limping around and my arm was aching really bad but I worked through and decided not to bother Rae, who had been feeding people painkillers and changing bandages all day. The encounter with the Black Cobra really had left us rough.

Drake and Will had come up with a good way to cover the front of the school using desks and plywood, and we all set to work. By noon, Lydia and Carmen had started lunch, and a makeshift wall had been put in place in front of the school, everyone was in pain, but satisfied.

Lunch was finished and we sat together and ate in silence, the empty seats more daunting than ever. We needed to get them back soon, but without any idea how to find these Black Cobra and without any decent weaponry, we were completely stuck.

Even working on expanding to the whole school seemed pointless when we didn't have enough people to need all the space, so we were basically stuck for action, still licking our wounds from our last confrontation.

That was, until the walkie talkie started going off. At first there was only static, but we all kept close watch on it.

"Do you think they still are trying to contact Kiera?" Lydia asked, half terrified of the name. I wouldn't be too happy myself if I had been tortured by someone I trusted dearly. The thought made me shiver, but I remembered that the remaining people were my true friends.

"That would Kiera hasn't made it back to her group yet." Carmen said, but Will just shook his head.

"She probably won't make it back to her group. Evelyn shot her arm pretty bad and Lydia did a rolling stab move right into her back. She's in no shape to be traveling the way she had to." Will shot another glance down at the walkie talkie.

"I would say that she might be camping the school still, but we went through every nook and cranny to make sure it was cleared." Rae commented. "If anything she's camped out in the woods nearby, bleeding out."

"With any luck that bitch is dead." Drake snarled and there was a solemn nod of agreement. It was difficult to wish death on someone we had trusted, no matter the pain she caused.

Everyone continued to sit around the transmitter silently, waiting for it to go off. Finally, we heard Erik's dark voice again, "Kiera, sweetie, are you there?" He asked through the static. "Try and answer me soon."

I shot forward and pressed to talk, everyone was surprised. "Kiera, is unavailable at the moment, Erik." I shot as much poison into my words is I could, "We kind of jammed a knife into her back and blew holes in a few spots, but she is still alive for now."

"Touch another hair on her head and so help me god... I will kill both your little brother and your boyfriend." Erik shot back through the transmitter and I slammed my hand down on the table, making everyone edge backwards a little.

"Why would you kill the only leverage you have against us?" I said calmly, pushing even more venom into my tone, "The only thing stopping us from killing you right now are those hostages, so you might want to leave them be."

Erik gave a hearty chuckle, "You, children, pose absolutely no threat to the Cobra, so don't kid yourselves. The way I see it is simple. You have something I want, and I have something you want, so let's make a deal."

I wish I had this guy in front of me so I could slap him and spit in his face. I took a deep breath and tried to keep myself together, while everyone watched me in silence and bewilderment. "Let me guess- we give you back Kiera and you will release your hostages?" I said in a bored manner, like he was the most predictable guy I had ever heard.