Bulletproof [Sneak Peek]

6

OV TOOK A DEEP breath and fixed her eyes on the door in front of her. It had been two days since the REALM incident, but she was already scheduled to take another exam. She slowly lifted her hand and, letting out the breath, rapped on the door.

It swung open a few inches, revealing the thin, stress-creased face of her professor. Her wiry grey-blonde hair stuck out from all angles of her updo.

She sighed and closed her eyes. "Yes?" Her voice was taught.

"Uh..." OV was a bit taken aback by her professor's appearance, but quickly regained composure. "I'm here for my second exam. It was supposed to start..." She glanced down at her watch.

14:30:30 hrs.

Shit.

"...thirty seconds ago..."

Her professor skimmed through a stack of papers clamped to a clipboard, stopping at a page near the top.

"13ov4-9?"

OV nodded. "Yes Ma'am."

The professor cursed under her breath, turned around, and slammed the door shut. A commotion ensued from inside the room.

OV stood, blinking. "Uh..."

She was about to knock on the door again when it flew open, framing the now even more flustered-looking professor. "Proceed to the arena. A PA announcement will tell you when to start. Last exam took... longer than anticipated..." She paused and glanced back into the room. "Expect to start in about ten minutes."

OV blinked. "Oh."

Her professor's eyes darted into the room again and back to OV. She hastily nodded and slipped back through the door, leaving OV standing alone in the hallway once again.

"Okay..."

OV stood, staring at the door.

...What was that about...?

"Weird..." She turned and headed to the nearest stairwell, trying to focus on the exam ahead of her.

***

"Seriously? Come on already!"

OV sat at the bottom of the stairwell leading to the arena.

"It's been like, a half hour!"

The PA system crackled to life, as if it had heard her.

Speak of the devil...

"13ov4-9, due to some recent technical difficulties, your exam will have to be reschedu— ank yo— eturn to— orm— urth— s— —" The sound system choked, and the line went dead.

OV glanced up at the speakers bolted to the ceiling.

This is ridiculous.

She groaned and lifted herself off the bottom step as a soft popping sound caught her ear. Turning toward the source of the noise, she saw that a light at the end of the hall had blown. She glanced at the bulb and made a mental note to inform maintenance about it.

OV turned to climb the stairwell when a chorus of popping stopped her in her tracks. Whirling around, her eyes widened as lights steadily went out, one after another; the darkness drawing steadily nearer.

What the hell?

She sprinted up the stairs, frantically tugging at the door handle.

Locked.