Chapter 18: Down to Eleven

"Where do you think you're going?!" Felicity hissed after she pulled the young policeman who was about to enter the single gate at Gate 2 of St. Louie University. "Don't you see those corpses?"

"I-I see them..." Cholo said absentmindedly. "But what if there are still other people inside?! Maybe some are in danger! Maybe someone needs help—ah!"

Eyes widening in great shock, the young policeman touched his left cheek. Apart from being taken aback because the policeman he looked up to just slapped him, it was really strong and he could feel the pain. He wanted to complain but when he looked up again, he saw her eyes glaring at him. He had no choice but to just look down again and gently rub his red cheek.

"Have anything more to say?" Felicity asked arrogantly.

"Ouch?" Cholo almost whispered.

"The bodies of the corpses are cut in half. It's impossible that one of them was getting chopped and the others didn't even run. It's also more impossible that a magical wind passed through and split their bodies," Felicity simply explained. "The lower parts are inside while the upper parts are outside. Those kids must have pushed each other to get out of the gate."

"T-Then, how did their bodies get cut?"

Instead of answering, Felicity went back to the car. She opened the backseat door and took one of the two pillows there.

"That's Chief Leo's favorite," Cholo reminded his senior. "H-He doesn't want it to get dirty. I might get scolded."

The policewoman ignored what she was hearing. Without hesitation, she threw the pillow at the gate.

Just as it passed the two posts on each side of the gate, the pillow was cut in half. Cholo and Felicity looked at each other.

"T-There's…there's…" The young policeman couldn't finish what he was going to say as he pointed his shaking hand at the gate.

"Step aside," Felicity simply said then moved to the driver's side of the car. She revved the car's engine and jumped away as it started to move.

The car hit the post connecting the single and double gates. It collapsed.

Cholo's jaws almost dropped because of what he witnessed. He pulled himself together when he saw the damage on the bumper of the car. "Oh, I'm screwed! I'm really screwed!"

Felicity just shook her head and picked up the remaining pillow in the backseat. She threw it again at the gate and when she saw that it did not split, she smiled. "Let's go."

"Yes?"

"Plan how you're going to explain to Chief later, we have to go," Felicity said with a smirk.

"Why me? You're the one who crashed…" Cholo's tone suddenly dropped with just one look given by the policewoman. "...the car. Right?"

Felicity just turned around, smiling. "Let's go."

*****

"So, I ended up saving this son of a bitch?!' Arkin said in disgust as he looked at Ella's partner who was still lying on the floor.

"Let him get up and put on his clothes," Noah ordered. "We have ladies with us."

"Even if we're all gents here, I'd also want to cover up this assface." Arkin stood up and kicked the man. "Hey, get up there and get dressed. No one wants to see your belly."

Noah just shook his head and sighed. He just moved his gaze to the other end of the hall and saw Hailey and Kingsley there.

"More napkin?" Hailey hurriedly pulled out more make-up tissues from her bag. In a panic, she did not even hand them to Kingsley and just wiped his face herself.

"Hailey, calm down," the former student council president said in a calm tone. "It's not my blood."

"But it's from the people you care about."

"Hailey, I'm no longer the SC President. We're no longer students of this university." Kingsley sighed. He unbuttoned the ends of the sleeves of his polo shirt to raise them up to his elbows.

"But you're still leading us."

Kingsley smiled sparingly. "Out of habit?"

Hailey sighed as well. She was about to speak again when they heard Arkin's loud voice.

"This is some tech shit!" the young man screamed wildly after snatching from Jerome's hand a small but long gun that he and Paul took out from the sleeves of the jacket that Terrence was wearing.

Hailey rolled her eyes. "I'm going there before that stupid guy starts shooting at us."

"He's not untamable," Kingsley commented while shrugging, also giving Hailey a teasing look. He laughed a little when she winced at what he said. He followed her with his eyes until she reached the stage where everyone was. And that's when the smile disappeared from his lips.

From one hundred and thirty-two just a few minutes ago, there were only eleven of them left inside Louie's Hall. Kingsley sighed again.

"I still have water in my tumbler," Lia said as she approached Ally and Ella who were both sitting on the stairs at the side of the stage. She handed the mentioned tumbler to the latter. "You can have it."

"Thank you, Lia," Ella said weakly.

Ally slightly frowned which slightly made Lia laugh. "You really don't recognize me, do you?"

"What?" Ally asked. She felt Ella look at her too.

"She's Lia. She was our classmate."

Ally's lips parted, not knowing what to say to the young lady who had been her classmate for five years, but she didn't even recognize. "I-I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Lia said smiling. "We almost never had the chance to talk when we were students anyway."

"I'm really sorry," Ally repeated.

"Come on, it's really okay," Lia said laughing. "Though I'll consider myself as one of your friends when we get out of here."

Ally only raised her eyebrows. She only realized the true purpose of Lia's gestures when she sat on Ella's other side.

"Where do you want to go after this?" Lia asked. "Shopping? Movie? Out of town?"

Ally sighed and smiled. She gave Lia a grateful look because she was trying to give Ella a reason not to give up on whatever situation they were in, despite the abuse she had been through. She smiled even more when she heard Ella answer until she ended up talking to Lia. She stood up to let the two talk, and approached the others again.

"Hey, put that down!" Hailey's voice echoed across Louie's Hall again as she furiously looked at the young man who seemed to be examining the gun.

"The trigger was connected to his ring," Arkin said softly. He tried to put the ring on but it didn't fit. "Now, I'm convinced that everything was carefully planned. They even came up with this shit."

"Arkin!" Hailey shouted in annoyance. "Put that down—"

From their respective places, everyone turned to the screen when they heard what sounded like a doorbell again. The second question came out, making them take a step closer to each other.

O E R T O

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