THE END?

After Damon had driven some miles from home, he stopped the car for some fresh air. Getting out, tears began falling from his eyes. He still couldn't believe that his father had just died. Damon wondered what had happened in the house after he left. The explosion didn't seem ordinary.

He had to find the book. It was the only thing that could save him and everyone else right now.

"Run!" A voice echoed loudly inside his head.

"Vanessa!" Damon scanned his surroundings but couldn't find the source of the voice, which sounded a lot like Vanessa. Why would she tell him to run?

All of a sudden, the ground began to vibrate. Fear gripped Damon's heart tightly. He had no idea what was going on, but he knew he could not wait to find out. Whatever was happening wasn't good.

Damon hopped back into his car and sped off. He didn't stop driving until he reached his school, Rollins College. The gates were left wide open, with bloodstains on the iron bars. Quietly and carefully, Damon walked into the school, looking back from time to time.

There was a lot of blood on the school grounds, making him wonder what had happened here. The news had not mentioned anything about Rollins College, but something had definitely happened.

Damon suddenly heard rapid footsteps coming from the corner of a school building. He moved swiftly, jumping into the window of the closest building he could find and hiding himself.

From his hiding spot, he glanced outside to see who the footsteps belonged to, and when he did, he withdrew his gaze immediately. It was a tiger, but not a normal tiger. Tigers' fur was usually orange with black stripes on their bodies, but this tiger's fur was black with white stripes, and Damon was sure its eyes were bloodred.

What's happening here? he asked himself, glancing around the room to see several senior students and teachers with him. He checked whether the tiger was still outside, and it was. It was even staring at the building they were hiding in as if it knew people were inside.

He wondered why these students were still in the school. The government would have certainly ordered the closure of all schools if there was an outbreak, so why were they all still here?

He turned to face one of the male teachers who seemed to be in charge. "What's going on here? Shouldn't the school be empty by now?"

"Most of the students here are orphans—they practically live here. Others… their homes are really far away," the teacher said.

"Are there any more students inside?" Damon asked.

"Probably a few... but I doubt they'll be alive. As soon as those tigers saw us, they attacked brutally. It was as if they wanted us dead!" a female teacher answered, sobbing as she spoke. "We were originally 57, but we've been reduced to 14."

A female student with dark circles under her eyes approached Damon. "Please, find my sister."

She had been crying a lot, judging from her tone and appearance.

Damon nodded. "I will."

"Promise me?" she demanded.

"Alora, your sister is dead! We were all there when the tigers attacked! They killed everyone!" a male student scowled at the girl.

"You guys should keep your voices down..." Damon warned.

But the girl ignored his warning. "I saw her run away and hide! She's not dead!"

"There's no way she could've hidden from those tigers! They would have certainly found her and ripped her to shreds!" the boy argued.

"Shut up!" Alora shouted. Her voice was so loud that the whole school would certainly have heard it.

Suddenly, there was a growl from the door. Fear gripped everyone's heart. They were cooked. If there was some way to walk out of this predicament alive, that way would be a miracle.

Damon sighed. "I saw a school bus parked outside. Does anyone here know how to drive a school bus?"

"I can try," another male student answered. He was really young and looked about 16.

"How old are you?" Damon raised a brow.

"He can do it," a girl vouched for him. She seemed like his girlfriend.

"In that case, I'll distract the tigers outside, and you guys get out of here as soon as you can," said Damon.

"You'll die," the male teacher said.

"Well, I might die, but it doesn't really matter. If I don't do something, we all die," Damon replied.

The tiger started bashing on the door. Damon glanced at everyone in the room and saw the look of paranoia on their faces. He rose to his feet and exited the building through the back door, oblivious to the fact that Alora had followed him.

The others in the room were too afraid to speak up or try to stop her because their lives mattered more to them at this point. As soon as Damon exited the back door, he charged towards the boys' dormitory, closely followed by Alora—who he still didn't know was behind him.

The tiger spotted them and started chasing after them. Noticing that the tiger was gone, the male teacher quickly led the other students and teachers outside the gate and into the bus. They all heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that they were now safe.

The young student headed over to the driver's seat but didn't start the bus yet, making the other students fret.

"What's going on? Let's go!"

"What are you waiting for?" the male teacher asked.

"I'm waiting for that guy… and Alora too. We can't just leave them behind," the boy reasoned.

"They won't survive, and we all know that! Let's just go!" said the boy's girlfriend.

"She's right! They'll definitely die in there!" said another student.

"We can't be sure yet," the boy replied.

"What's wrong with you, Leo?" the male teacher frowned, revealing a knife from his pocket. "Start the bus now, or else..."

"Mr. Whitmore, what are you doing?" the female teacher was shocked by his actions.

"He wants to kill us all, and I won't allow that," Mr. Whitmore replied with a very scary gaze. It made him look like he had lost his mind.

"Leo! C'mon, start the bus!" his girlfriend clamored. "Once we leave here, we can do whatever you want."

"Start the bus, you fucking orphan!" Mr. Whitmore was losing his patience.

"Or else what? I'm the only one who knows how to run this stuff! There's nothing you can do to me!" Leo replied.

Without a moment's thought, Mr. Whitmore drilled his knife into Leo's abdomen, then threw him away from the driver's seat. The scene left the female teacher stunned, but the other students on the bus seemed fine with it.

"How… how could you?" Leo said, his hand covering the place where he had been stabbed.

"Throw him out of the bus!" Mr. Whitmore ordered, and the other orphans—including Leo's girlfriend—threw him off.

Mr. Whitmore started the bus and zoomed off. He couldn't really drive a bus and was relying on his knowledge of driving a car. He also couldn't care less about the boy he had just stabbed because he felt he was doing it for the greater good.

. . .

Damon didn't even stop to catch his breath, nor did Alora. The tiger was just a few meters away, and stopping now would mean their deaths. The duo bolted up the stairs until they reached Room R202.

The room had been locked, so Damon had to break down the door. After getting in, he turned to face Alora. "Hide under the bunks now!"

"Sure!" she said and hid under the bunk on the left.

Damon actually hadn't realized she had been following him until they reached the dormitory building. He wanted to scold her so badly, but doing that would be a waste of his time and precious energy.

He broke the wall behind his bunk and pulled out a shotgun. After loading it with bullets, he aimed at the door. The moment the tiger showed up, he would shoot, and the moment it did, he shot.

But the tiger didn't die. It charged toward him ferociously. Damon panicked, fear set in, and as good memories flashed through his mind, he wondered whether this was his end.