Cycle of Life

Everyone starts to run, stumbling over the seats and stepping over each other.

As the bullets fly through many of the people, going through their skulls and lungs.

Charles aims towards the stage and notices that Makayla isn't there anymore.

He turns his head towards someone as he continues to fire his weapon at those attempting to run out of the auditorium. 

He runs out of the auditorium to chase them around the hallway..

*

Charles and Amanda prepared for officers to eventually appear, they also accounted that maybe some of the parents would be concealing weapons as well, and probably a few students, but what they didn't account for was that there would be more than 7 students concealing weapons.

As Charles slightly turns the corner, several rounds fire into his vest, with two more bullets grazing across his forehead.

He almost slips while trying to quickly turn back. He can hear their footsteps already getting closer.

He runs to a nearby classroom to try opening the door but it's locked.

He fires the gun towards the corner as he runs.

The students chase after him, but as they turn the corner, they see Amanda opening the outside door wearing full body armor and carrying a riot shield. The students panic and begin to shoot their guns as Amanda unloads several rounds into their heads, dropping them one by one.

Amanda: "The bags are by the door."

As she watches the corners.

Many of the people try escaping through the other school doors, but they realize that all of the doors have been locked from the outside,

Trey: "Fuck."

They hear people from outside trying to help them open the door.

Many of the students begin to cry.

*

Others are trying to escape through windows,

Makayla wipes the tears from around her eyes.

Makayla: "This window is reinforced."

Makayla: "..They put this here."

As the 5 of them step on broken glass from the school's initial window.

Makayla: "We could probably try burning it with one of the chemicals." as she searches through the cabinets in the lab room.

Jake (Chemistry Teacher): "Wouldn't work." As he breathes heavily.

The students begin to whimper while some of them are on the phone with the police,

"Please hurry!" 

They start to hear gunshots nearby. 

They hear a student fall in the hallway in front of the door.

The female student knocks on the door as she repeatedly shouts,

 "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry" each shout getting louder.

 "Help! Help!"

Another shot is heard, as the student's body drops to the floor.

Charles grabs on to the door handle and tries to open the door.

Jake rushes to the cabinet to grab concentrated sulfuric acid, pouring it into a bucket, and pouring water in a cup.

Jake says: "Help me out Mike."

Charles fires rounds into the door - shredding it as the bullets go through it.

He starts to kick the door.

Makayla runs and crawls into a cabinet, as do some of the other students.

Makayla slightly pees on herself due to the fear as she trembles, the sound of each kick causes her to shake.

The door forcefully opens from Charles kick as Jake immediately throws the acid towards his face, some of the acid got into his eyes but unfortunately majority of it was blocked by his full body armor.

It burns his eyes as he fires his gun towards Jake, screaming in agony. The bullets fly into Jake as he simultaneously throws the water on Charles.

Mike runs towards him and lifts up his gun while it's firing, Charles sweeps his leg and flips him to the ground - however fortunately for Mike, the magazine was now empty.

"Help me!" Mike says.

Makayla faces her fears and runs out of the cabinet to grab Charles hands as he tries to unholster his pistol.

The other students got out the cabinets, but not to help them.. they ran out of the door instead.

The heat intensifies on Charles eyes, he can barely focus.

Mike helps Makayla, and they grab the pistol, pulling away from Charles.

Mike shoots the pistol as the bullets dent and shatter parts of Charles armor. Charles raises his arm up as he rushes towards Mike and smacks the gun out of his hand.

Mike: "Run!"

Makayla doesn't hesitate, she quickly runs out of the classroom.

Charles kicks Mike with his metal-reinforced shoes, he starts to detach his armor for mobility as he gets in a fighting stance. Mike too gets in a fighting stance as they stare each other down.

*

*

*

While all of that is happening several classrooms away..

John: "Why are you all balled up in the corner like that?"

As the students whimper.

John: "You know being in that position doesn't really help, if anything, you're just making yourself an easier target. Where's the effort to save yourself?"

[Gunshots in background]

Linda: "You're in here with us as well." she says softly, her eyes looking away from him.

John: "I'm actually choosing to be here just to be here. Well, I am a little scared as well.. but unlike the rest of you, I'm always ready to survive, while you people call your pathetic parents and rely on the police to save you." 

Trevor: "Hey! Shut your mouth." one of the parents say as he walks up to John.

John: "What are you going to d-"

Trevor quickly reaches his hand out and around John's neck. Squeezing it.

John starts to smile, but his smile slowly disappears as the grip gets tighter. He starts to slowly get angry as he pulls out a pistol, pointing it at Trevor's waist.

He struggles to talk with Trevor's hand around his neck, but he manages to make his speech coherent enough.

John: "Get your hands off me."

Trevor quickly lets go of his neck.

The room goes silent as John stares at Trevor. He's thinking about killing Trevor right there and Trevor knows it.

Trevor backs away and sits back down as he notices John's smile slowly starting to come back. 

Multiple sirens are heard nearby.

************************************************

4:20 PM

Dane's (Alpha-2) mother walks in his hospital room as she sees his face bandaged.

She sighs.

Mary: "This is why I told you to resign."

He looks away from her.

Mary: "I told you that they don't care about you, why can't you just listen to me?"

Both of them remained silent before Dane responded.

Dane: "The suspect we were chasing.. when he ran back to me, he had apologized. I don't know why, but he apologized anyway." As he coughs.

Dane: "I don't think it's something he wanted to do. He probably just wanted to survive like the rest of us. He probably just wanted to live in peace like the rest of us."

Dane: "As an officer, it should be our duty to protect all civilians and not pick and choose who to save. Sometimes we may have to resort to killing a criminal when there's no other choice, but other times not all criminals should be killed, but other officers still find a way to kill them."

He coughs.

Mary grabs the TV remote and turns the TV on.

Dane: "The officer I was with.. I listened to her because she has more experience, I should have just trusted my own judgment.. she doesn't even care to come and see me even though I'm in here because of her!"

Mary: "Dane.."

Dane says "No" loudly as he pauses.

His mother switches to the news channel.

News Anchorman: "There's an active shooting at Newton's High School live right now."

Dane turns his head to listen to the TV.

News Anchorman: "Mr. Smith will take it from here."

4:39 PM

The police units take cover by their vehicles, surrounding the building.

*

*

The students begin to hear multiple shots and screaming.

Amanda walks inside a bathroom.

She notices the floor has water on it.

Someone opens the classroom door behind her, she turns her back.

As someone comes behind her and pulls her into the bathroom.

Multiple people run to her as everyone starts to slip on the floor and she begins to randomly shoot the gun across the bathroom, dropping two more people.

She is tackled by someone, she struggles to unload the gun but eventually she succeeds, she tosses it.

The students begin to rip off her armor as they try to stomp on her face. One of them tries to grab her holstered pistol, but it's protected by a security mechanism. She uses her hand to push their other leg, which takes them off balance. One of them slips and is unable to stop their fall.

She starts rolling to the exit, taking off her shoes as she runs in the classroom across the hall and slams the door behind her - locking it.

Mike and Charles are still going at it, as multiple chairs are thrown, Charles tries to pick Mike up but Mike kneels down wrapping his arm around Charles neck.

Charles reaches down his shoes and grabs a small knife, he starts to rapidly stab Mike's side, with each stab, raising it closer and closer to Mike's neck, he blocks it with his arm.

Mike grabs his hair and swings him towards the desks.

Charles cuts his hair and swings the knife, Mike dodges it and swings a pencil down into his eyes.

Charles grunts as he flips him over and swings the knife down inside of his mouth, brushing the blade across his tongue as it splits open and sliding it through his cheeks.

Mike presses down on the pencil, and pulls it out as he rolls under the desks.

Makayla is heard yelling, calling for help throughout the hallways, John and the others hear her shouts.

Linda looks at the door.

John says "Don't open it."

Linda ignores him as she runs to the door and opens it.

She says: "We are in here!" 

Makayla runs to the door while exhausted: "We have to." she catches her breath, "We have to help someone, they are fighting Charles, we have to go back for them."

Majority of the students hesitate asking "but what about the guns?" Makayla responds "The guns are away from them, just hurry please" she says urgently.

They all follow Makayla, grabbing pencils and scissors.

Someone turns around and notices John walking towards the opposite direction.

They shout "Where are you going?"

John doesn't respond. 

Charles kicks the desk towards Mike as he stands up and pushes it towards him.

Mike swings the pencil again but Charles lifts up the desk, blocking the attack.

Mike jumps on a counter and onto the desk that Charles is holding, putting his weight on it. Charles drops it, Mike then

runs and dives for the pistol.

Charles picks up the desk and slams it down on Mike's head.

Mike points the gun outward and fires it too early, completely missing Charles.

Charles drops his weight down on Mike as he stabs him in the neck while grabbing the pistol.

He stabs him in the eyes, snatches the pistol from Mike's hand as he fires the rounds into his head.

Charles breathes heavily, being physically exhausted and feeling weak. He tries standing but can barely do that.

He hears footsteps getting closer to the room as blood leaks heavily out of his eye socket.

He slowly raises his arm, pointing the pistol towards the door but then all he hears is silence.

He slowly falls to the ground.

The SWAT team of 10 members arrives on scene, several men get out of the vehicle, including Alpha-1.

They run quickly to the school's door

D-1: "Bag." 

Alpha-1 passes him the bag containing the plasma torch, D-1 turns it on, they slide it across the lock as the temperature starts to accelerate quickly, it begins to cut through the lock.

The team rushed in the school, checking the corners and nearby rooms while shouting "Police!" D-1 signals with his hand that 5 of them should stay outside.

They continue to walk, turning towards the auditorium.

Gunshots are heard nearby, the team walk slowly towards it.

D-1 moves his hand, motioning to Alpha-1 to take the lead.

She gets in front of him while covering behind the walls, they reach a corner.

She peaks around the corner - noticing a bathroom and 3 people and signals to D-1 that there are 3 people.

D-1 signals her to go ahead.

They all get from cover as Alpha-1 shoots the person with the gun, D-1 shouts "Get on the ground!"

The students shout: "We are not the killers! We are not the killers!" as the team places handcuffs on them.

D-1 moves his hand while showing 2 fingers pointing at the hallways, signaling that two each go down separate hallways.

D-1 says to Alpha-1: "Check the rooms while we go search for the others."

The students shout "The shooter is in that room." as they motion their head towards the direction of the door.

The team looks at the door as each of them get up close to the wall beside the door.

D-1 signaling to Alpha-1.

Alpha-1 kicks the door open, pointing her gun, she sees Amanda lying on the floor with her hands up.

The team rushes in, placing the handcuffs on her.

************************************************

{Power 2.0}

"Students had finally gained some sort of bravery against school shootings, but was that because people were beginning to ignore the law, or were they finally realizing that their lives are more important than anything else? or was it because they found that there was actually a solution to getting rid of school shooters by themselves? I don't really know, but one thing I can say for sure is that everything has now changed, and it may be for the best or the worst, but only the smartest can win." 

Makayla from the future as she sits on a dead body in complete darkness, with her prosthetic arms, staring at John's body floating inside a tank.

*************************************

The students were rescued, the student that was shot by Alpha-1 died due to a wound to the head. Amanda and Charles were both placed in handcuffs, the only difference being that Charles was unconscious.

Amanda is crying as she faces the floor, unable to look at his burned and bloody eyes. She knows he's not dead, but just by seeing him unconscious and bloody, to her, it would still feel like he's dead.

The officers wrap a bandage around his eyes, as they bring a stretcher to rest him on it.

The 17 students and adults left alive out of 100 are collected and about to be walked out of the building. As 3 of the SWAT members walk out in front of D-1 and Alpha-1 as they push the stretcher.

10 of the students and adults walk out side by side with the SWAT, but as they step their foot on the ground outside, 100 drones appear in the sky. Not everyone was able to react in time, as the drones immediately struck down on those outside, exploding on impact. Chunks of their bodies are seen flying across the field.

Alpha-1 and D-1 immediately pull the stretcher back inside. As D-1 reaches out his hand to stop the rest of the students, he quickly close the doors.

The lights in the building start to flicker and everyone starts to breathe heavily, D-1 pulls out his radio and begins requesting for immediate backup.

He repeats it as his voice becomes more stressed.

The school's intercom starts to generate static as a voice is heard from it. It's John, as he says:

"I actually wanted to try a university, but I guess a high school will do."

The drones, which have firearms attached to them and are mostly mechanically autonomous with computer vision and artificial intelligence software installed.

They roam around the streets until they detect anything similar to an alive human.

A drone comes across a human that is walking and fires a shotgun point blank with high accuracy. The recoil of the gun causes the drone to lose coordination as it flies downward and backwards because of the force of the gun. It spins in the air while using its propellers to try balancing out to center gravity, but only for a short moment does it experience such an effect. It quickly stabilizes itself as it now flies away to search for a different target within a 1 mile radius of the school.

A police vehicle is on the way to the school, driving through the traffic in a hurry. The officer inside grabs the radio to tell those inside the school that additional units are coming. 

A drone with a sniper rifle attached quickly comes from an alleyway and appears in front of the vehicle. The officer recognizes the gun as he instinctively starts to lower his head, but the drone's calculations were unfortunately faster. The sniper rifle goes off and penetrates through the window and into the officer's head. The vehicle smashes into the drone as it rolls over a curb, crashing into a wall.

D-1 and Alpha-1 rushed toward the school's front office, they notice a phone sitting by the microphone, D-1 grabs his weapon as he walks around the office looking for the suspect.

John walks outside and stares at the news helicopter. The news reporter inside the helicopter is stating in the broadcast that they are about to pull away from the school.

The helicopter pilot shifts the stick to pull back. John opens up an app on his phone and points it upward as he snaps a picture of the helicopter. He draws a red color over the tail rotor and main rotor of the helicopter from within the app and clicks a button that says "send." He then types in "10".

As the helicopter is flying away, a strike from 10 drones appear as they all detonate 4 pounds worth of C4 onto the rotors of the helicopter. The helicopter is set on fire as it begins to fall down.

The news reporter begins to beg for help at the camera while the pilot is letting the department know that they may die. During this moment, the reporter is unable to cry due to the adrenaline and shock that he is experiencing, all he can do right now is think about his family. He passes out, and the pilot stares ahead, ready to accept his fate.

The helicopter crashes into the ground, turning those inside into several chunks as they smash against the interior.

John holds his phone up to his mouth and speaks into it, saying that everyone will be restarting the cycle of life with him.

He smiles.

He opens an end to end encrypted app on his phone and send a message within a group, he says:

"It's time."

************************************************

Several relatives of those who died in the school are ready for war and they will show John no mercy.

A family of average people,

A family of criminal entrepreneurs,

And a family of killers.