Save Me from Everyone

Chapter 1: No Love Lost

Present Day.

A lot of screaming and wailing erupted from different corners. There was nowhere to turn – no safe place to hide. At least not now. And as far as she could guess, there was no escaping the onslaught that was coming for her, for all of them.

And slowly, the environment was morphing, no thanks to the horrendous attack that would alter the lives of many a human. The environment was taking on a new guise that would leave an indelible mark on the lives of many.

Amaya closed her eyes. She was dead frightened, to her mass of muscles and hidden bones. She tried to no avail, to shut out the sporadic sounds of roaring bullets as they ricocheted from one end of the wall to the other, like resonant chords. The slugs pelted the walls remorselessly, cannoning off the gritty surfaces with a clangorous sound. They rattled as they hit the floor, making the whole building quake beneath her. Artificial holes were being drilled into the walls by the potent impact of metal against concrete, leaving a deliberate pattern of horror and death in its wake.

The classroom would have been quiet, save the spates of heavy breaths that fell from scared lungs; there was also the ceaseless soft whimpers. Frenetic gasps escaped mouths from time to time. Hearts raced against life unwillingly, against the dread of an imminent demise, knocking with a heavy ram in their ears. Acute fear pumped fresh adrenaline into numb bodies, bidding their time to take flight at the slightest chance of a likely escape from the veiny clutches of the Grim Reaper who held a gun and donned the clothes of a human.

When was it going to stop?

She wished it would all come to an end. She wished everything could go back to the way it once was with a snap of her fingers, just like Tony Stark's character, Iron Man did in Marvel Studios' blockbuster movie, Avengers' Endgame. Alas, this was reality – stark, unblemished, staring her in the face, nibbling at her thoughts. It wasn't one that she could blink out of reality.

The pleading cries of injured people echoed through the halls even as ricocheting bullets silenced most of them. Gurgling sounds of the dying filled the halls even as the dead began to pile up, for the assailant spared no one but left death in his wake as he moved from one classroom to the other with fearful stride.

But no one in Amaya's classroom budged, despite the throbbing cries that seeped into their ears from the hall. After all, there was nothing that they could possibly do to stop the death that came for those ones. There was nothing that they could even do to stop the one coming for them too, either.

They were all scared of the scenario unfolding outside, a frightening stone's throw from where they lay, huddled up together, fearing they might just be the next victim to be hit by a stray bullet. Not one desired to be next on an unknown kill list, if they could avoid it. The terrifying sounds caused warm tears to flow down Amaya's cheeks uncontrollably. She summoned whatever was left of her fleeting resolve to open her eyes. She glanced in the direction of her best friend, Samira, whose eyes were clenched closed. She had never seen her so pale and ghostlike. The horrifying scene would surely make one do the unthinkable at that unpremeditated moment. She muttered something quite undiscernible under her breath. Perhaps, it was a bead of prayer. A prayer for help. A prayer for salvation at that hour of greatest need.

Then out of the blue, she heard the door get kicked in. It caved under the impact with a screech that grated on Amaya's ears. Her heart leaped into her mouth as raw dread teased the pores on her skin. Amaya's instincts for safety and survival kicked in, into overdrive. She wanted to flee, run for dear life, but she couldn't. All she could do was clasp her eyes shut until her eye balls ached while she prayed silently. Unable to move a muscle to help herself, she lay crouched up in a fetal position. She began to sob softly as she lay there, expectant of a quick death, a death with a sharp kiss from a round bullet. She shook like a leaf cast out onto the open sea, billowed from one end to the other by a callous tide. She clutched the leg of the desk above her with vehement desire. At that moment when her breaths began to even and her body began to experience a sniff of calm.