The Breaking

Chapter 7: Blue Jay

They looked up, but Alena was nowhere to be seen.

Kalera immediately started running to the stairs, breathing heavily as her black shoes hit against the stairs, the others followed. They found Alena at the bottom, running as well, her sloppy bun bouncing behind her.

"Alena! Wait!" Kalera called out.

Alena whipped her head around. At the same time, she whipped out a gun.

"Get away from me," she gasped. "Or I'll kill you." Her hands shook as she held the pistol, aiming it at no one in general.

"We don't want to hurt you, Alena," Alessi stated slowly.

"Yeah? You didn't seem too intent on that before. And when I dare try to defend myself, I get called crazy."

"Well, right now, you're really acting crazy. Put down the gun. Let's talk."

"Why talk when no one wants to listen? And you're calling me crazy?! You shoved me against walls and punched me repeatedly while not showing any empathy at all. Kalera didn't even do a damn thing except say 'Stop.' Caroline lost it and started screaming and slapping people. Then people end up with nosebleeds and scratches, and I get the blame. Apparently I'm the bad one, because I didn't know what Alessi went through. Well, she didn't even tell me! Over the past few years, I've repeatedly tried to tell people my problems. But no one ever listened. Yeah, I'm totally the one that needs to feel more empathy. Everyone was too mesmerized in their own shi-"

"Alena, calm down. Why don't we talk about it in a less out in the open location?"

That's when the door creaked open.

Alena immediately re-pointed her gun at it, and everyone took out their weapons. It was The Destroyers.

"What do you want from us?" Caroline growled.

"Hey, put down your weapons. We're trying to negotiate here," Brutus stated.

"Negotiate what? Not to kill you? Sorry, but we've already made our decision," Kalera mocked.

"Oh, hey, Kalera. We're not here to fight. I'll even empty out my pockets right now to prove I don't have weapons."

"Great idea," Kalera agreed sarcastically. "And don't ever say my name."

"We made a deal with the people on the loudspeaker. We're having a battle of the bands tomorrow," Brittany bursted out.

Caroline put her face in her hands, muttering about cliche.

"What?"

"Let me take it from here," Nevaeh demanded, pushing everyone aside. "Basically, we made a deal with the people that go on the intercom. We will have a little battle of the bands tomorrow at sundown."

"How the hell are we supposed to know when sundown is?" Alessi blurted. "We can't look out the windows, they're blocked by something, and the clocks don't work."

"Whatever. It sounds cool. Anyways, some guy will come and judge us. We have to come up with an original song and perform, and he'll judge the winner. Whoever wins gets to kill all of the other groups in however way they want."

"Check," Kalera stated, trying not to show how nervous and unsure she was. Caroline whispered something in her ear about Brittany's singing, and her mood lightened up.

"The rule is we can't kill, injure, or even touch each other until after the winner is decided. That's all. You're totally gonna lose. We have the best song ever and the best people ever. Toodles!" She began to saunter away and push her way through the double doors.