Devoid of life

As they opened the door, someone else opened the door from the other side. It was Lue. She was startled as they suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Woah!" Lorek backed in surprise, "Great, you guys are here. Those creatures are coming up. We need to hurry."

Lue didn't say anything and started climbing the stairs. Eve followed her as she looked at everyone and gave a sigh of relief after seeing Elisue and Hilary.

Lorek stood at the door and handed Elisue to Ben. He shut the door and tried to lock it but failed to do so. The voices were getting louder and louder. He left it open and ran towards the terrace.

"Hurry! Faster, Faster!" Ayaan shouted from the terrace gate. Almost all of them reached the terrace and waited for Lorek, Elisue, and Ben.

As they reached, Ayaan shut the terrace door and locked it. Kayan from behind puts his rod across the handle as he looks at him, "Just in case"

All of them were sweating and injured. Lorek quickly gave them a count as each of them found a place to sit.

"Someone is missing," he glanced around at everyone, trying to figure out whose face was absent. "Where's Iris?" he asked in confusion. "Don't tell me we locked her outside"

"No!" Theo exclaimed, "Everyone who can breathe is here." He looked away trying his level best to be calm and composed. He took a deep breath as he pushed himself up and started walking towards the terrace wall. "It's true, we can't bring people back from the dead."

"What's that supposed to mean now?" Ayaan blurted out as he rubbed his hands on his face in frustration. "Just how?"

Lorek took a seat and looked at them. "What happened after we got separated?"

None of them said a thing.

"Would anyone just tell us what freaking happened back there?" Ayaan stood up in frustration. "Didn't Lorek say she was okay?"

"She wasn't," Theo said solemnly, " As soon as we separated from both of you, the cougar started chasing us," he sat near the railing, holding on to his knees and keeping his chin on them. "We ran as fast as we could, but Iris fell and vomited blood, and not soon after her nose started bleeding too. To help her get back on her feet we needed time. So, Beric, Lue, Eve and Kayan went to stop the cougar while Aelia and Alisa helped me in making Iris stand up. Even though she stood up, she was too weak to walk. It was because her body didn't have any strength left. By the time I looked back to check on others they had already killed that cougar and they intimated to us to hurry as more of them are coming. Iris vomited again and she fell on the corridor. She couldn't keep her eyes open and wasn't responding to any of our questions, and not long enough she stopped breathing. Lue and everyone else was telling me to come to the fire exit because if I stayed there any longer holding on to her, I would die too and Iris would never want that, but I wasn't thinking straight she was the only one who I knew here among all of you. That's when Lue said and that thing struck me hard, "We can't bring back the dead." He finally looked up and stared at them, "Well that's when I realised what needs to be done here. I can't let them be in danger because of me."

Lorek and Ayaan let out deep sighs. There was a moment of silence. They looked at each other and regretted all of their life choices. For the first time, the twin brother's eyes were not showing any unholy gleam. They were normal teens, just like everyone else. Even for them, it was heavy. Too heavy.

They were here in a situation none of them wanted to be in. This place was meant to torture them, both physically and mentally. By this time they could guess it. They were losing people one by one, no matter how much they try. Nothing was going their way. A Cadet Test, they believed, was some sort of game that they would play, and the winners would receive a wonderful opportunity. But they missed one fact or more like the fact that slipped out of their mind is that some students never came back after playing those certain games. It came to their realization just now, how and what kind of game their seniors played.

The door got hit like a thunderclap, and all of them jumped out of their sitting position. They couldn't even imagine how many deadly monsters were waiting behind that door. They didn't even want to look down. The field was filled with them.

"Holy" Beric shouted, "We only got thirteen minutes to complete this test"

Eve asked disdainfully, "How do you know?"

"Remember the watch they gave us at the start?" Beric held his hands up and pointed towards the wristwatch. "At the top, there's a timer. When we started it had 60 minutes and now it's only around thirteen minutes."

"What would happen if none of us passed the test?" Hilary asked looking at her watch.

"We can't say for sure," Lue looked at them, "Who knows if they will leave us here?"

None of them could object to that point.

"I saw a bus," Theo claimed. "It's right across the school field and if I remember correctly the map suggested we go to the bus and sound the horn, then that simply means the bus is in the safe zone."

Eve put her hand on her chin and said, "But the question is how are we going to get down from here? The stairs?" She looked at the door, and the banging didn't slow at all. "Nope! Not a chance."

Lue perks up. She runs towards Lorek and asks for the map, "Now, look here, the Chemistry lab is right below us. I want Ayaan to go down there as you went down to rescue Hilary and Elisue."

"Why?"

"I saw curtains. I believe we can tie them together and make a rope," she answers as she leads Ayaan to the corner of the terrace closest to the lab's window.

"But do you think they would be enough?" Lorek asks as he follows them

"You got any better ideas?"

"Well..."

"We don't have time to think about it," Beric interrupted him. "Lue, you better have a plan for this."

"Actually, I have one," she smirks, "Ayaan, are you ready?"

He nods and turns towards her, "But I have a doubt"

"What is it?"

"How am I going to bring them up?"

"Just tie them up on yourself"

"But if I will do that then it will be hard for me to climb back up"

Lue thought for a few seconds and then glanced back at everyone else.

"Drums" she ran towards the students who were sitting on the drums, "Get down, get down and search for something in these drums"

Everyone joined in her small search mission, they were dispersing everything inside the two big drums they found. They separated the waste things from somewhat useful things in a matter of seconds, and to their luck, they found a small rope which was pretty thick so they were sure of something that won't break easily.

Lue holds the rope at one end and throws the rest out of the terrace. The rope was pretty small it was only reaching the lab window. Ayaan observed the length of the rope and gave a reassuring nod.

"Alright then," she gives the rope to Kayan, "Beric and Lorek you guys start preparing for a big blast. I believe the chemicals you brought are for that purpose only and they are sufficient."

"I am going down then," Ayaan gives the final call

Lue turns around, "Everyone hold the rope for Ayaan as your life depends on him"

"It actually depends on him" Eve chuckles.

Ayaan fixes his rod on the waist of his pants and sits on the terrace.

"Beware of mice" Kayan reminded him.