Chapter 37: Do you love me, Kai? Part 1

And so, while Naomi was desperately clinging on me, I started to look around to room to see a possible escape.

The pain in my stomach due to the kick was still there, but I was trying my best for don't suffer.

I looked into Naomi's eyes and all I could see was a desperation mixed with fear.

"K-K-K-K-Kai… I… please let's get… away from h-here…!" She said while crying into my chest, with a shaky and trembling voice.

"Wait a second, Naomi." I said, while gently standing up and leaving her.

The pain in my stomach made hard for me to get up from the floor.

Naomi's eyes widened in fear and she kept clinging to me, desperately not wanting to be left alone.

"NO!! KAI!!! DON'T LEAVE ME!" She said , while grabbing my leg desperately.

A wave of sadness enveloped my heart, seeing Naomi like that.

She was always the silent girl of the group, the one who kept staying silent and was studying and taking care of professional tasks like the students council.

So, seeing her in that state actually made my heart weak.

"Naomi… I promise that we'll get out of here , but please , let me move." I said with a reassuring tone of voice.

Then, she snapped to reality after hearing my words and her lips curved into a strange smile.

Her eyes were still open wide.

"Y-Yes…, Kai will… save me…" she said, while leaving my leg and crawling to the corner of the room.

She then curled up and started to mumble some strange words while her eyes were still open wide.

"idontwannadie-idontwannadie-idontwanmadie…"

She kept repeating while her hands were holding her head.

I wanted to help her, but she needed medical assistance.

She was under the effects of some kind of drugs.

Then, I recovered my knife gun from the floor and took a better look around the room.

The only window that led outside was actually barricaded with wooden beams, and even if I managed to remove them, falling from third floor would've been really hard.

Then, I had to consider the fact that Naomi would've taken the first chance to escape, and she could die from that.

The only thing I could do was sneaking trough the bad guys while Hina was fighting them.

But… a question lingered in my mind.

"How would Hina react if she sees me here?"

The only thought of her possible reaction sent me shivers trough my spine.

I walked next to the door and put an ear on it to hear what what was happening outside.

I heard the boss saying some words.

"We must run away, or we'll be dead meat." He said.

"Boss? What about the guys inside ? Weren't they supposed to be our hostages? I think that commander will be angry."

"I don't fucking care, I want to live. We are facing a fucking monster right now. And they would be dead anyway."

"But boss-" the man tried to speak , but he was soon stopped.

"Do you really think that you have all this time to talk?" This time, it was Hina talking.

"FUCK OFF, MONSTER!" The boss screamed.

Then, I heard the sound of a gunshot.

My eyes widened while listening and I felt my body trembling.

The grip on my knife tightened.

After the sound of gunshots, I felt a very loud silence.

No one spoke, not even a single glimpse of any kind of sound.

I remained still on my place, with my ear on the door, carefully listening.

I stayed like that for some minutes after silence enveloped everything.

I couldn't even hear the voices of the bad guys anymore.

Naomi remained silent too and stopped mumbling.

She curled up on herself even more, burying her face into her legs.

I waited for other minutes and then, I slowly and slightly opened the door.

The lights were flickering and almost disturbing to see.

I looked at the floor and I saw my feet standing on a pool of blood.

I felt the urge to vomit…

Then, I slowly took out my knife and walked outside.

I took another look around me, while the disturbing sound of silence was keeping me company.

I closed the door behind me to protect Naomi.

On the floor , I saw the bodies of the men who held me and Naomi.

They both died from a big cut on their throat.

"Killers seem to have an obsession with throats… I'll never know why…" I said to my self.

The sight of the dead bodies still had an ugly effect on me, but I pretended not to care.

I took some other steps foward and took another look around me.

The area was terrifying , just like in a horror movie.

Shivers were flowing into my body like a river directly into my heart.

The adrenaline was being my only companion.

I knew that Hina wouldn't have touched me not even with a single finger , but there was a strange feeling of unease and danger still lingering deep into my soul.

Hina was unpredictable.

While looking around, I noticed that the body of the boss was missing, hinting that he ran away.

That was my chance to run away, so I opened the door again and looked at Naomi.

She was still curled up.

"PSS- Naomi!" I whispered.

She immediately raised her head up to me.

"K-Kai? What is it..?" She asked, with a shaky voice.

"We should go now, they're gone."I Said to myself while walking closer to her.

Naomi's eyes widened in surprise when she heard my reply.

When I was close enough, I lowered myself next to her.

She looked at me with sparkles in her eyes.

"Can you walk? Or do you need a help?" I gently.

The pain in my stomach seemed gone, but any wrong movement could still hurt me.

Naomi shook her head.

"I… my legs don't work so much… I need some help… I feel like they're sleeping… I can't feel them." She said, with a shaky voice.

Then, I had no choice but to lift her up.

I gently put her right arm around my neck and helped her to stand up.

Naomi's grip on me was really tight, like she didn't want to lose me even for a second.

Then, Naomi whispered something in my ear.

"Haru…to" she whispered our friend's name.

"Haruto…? Why are you saying his name?" I asked in confusion.

"He… he's the… culprit…" Naomi said, with a broken whisper.

I felt another shiver trough my spine.

"Haruto…? What did he do?" I asked, while a feeling of nervousness started to form in my heart.

"I'll tell you… later…" Naomi said.

I decided to put my feelings apart and think about her safety for first.

We slowly started to walk towards the exit of the school.

"Naomi, don't look down, okay? You're with me, you're safe." I said, reassuring her.

She nodded in agreement and smiled warmly.

Once we walked out the classroom, the disgusting smell of blood and pee invaded our noses, but it lasted for a few moments.

Then, we kept walking , slowly looking around the area to see any sign of danger.

Luckily , there was nothing.

We arrived at the stairs and then walked down.

The strangest thing was that there was blood almost everywhere.

All the men died near the forbidden classroom, so I wondered how that was possible.

Naomi kept staying close to me.

She was disgusted by the sight of blood and she could vomit in any moment.

So , she usually closed her eyes while walking.

Everything around us had become much more unsettling than before.

The air was thick with the metallic scent of blood, mingled with the musty odor of decay.

The flickering lights of the barely functioning hallways cast eerie shadows that danced on the walls, and a silence that seemed truly deafening enveloped us.

All the walls and the floor were adorned with various stains and splashes of red, as if the very building had bled.

It was all so… terrifying.

Finally, after a long walk, we reached the first floor.

Our footsteps echoed hollowly, each step a reminder of the distance yet to cover.

We were almost near the exit, and the race towards freedom seemed endless.

But it was there on the first floor that I saw frightening things…

There on the ground were at least a dozen bodies, their faces frozen in expressions of terror, soaked in a pool of blood.

All of them had their throats slit open.

The strange thing was that I hadn't seen anyone when I entered this building.

Where did they come from? What had happened to them?

Naomi covered her eyes and hid her head on my shoulder, her fingers digging into my arm.

She couldn't bear to look at that gruesome scene.

Her body trembled with fear and disgust, and she kept repeating: "I want to live… I want to live… Save me, Kai," with a voice broken by sobs.

We walked through that horrible scene, pretending nothing existed.

I could feel my own heart pounding in my chest, but I forced myself to stay focused.

After another endless few minutes of walking, we reached the exit.

Finally, we saw a ray of light and Naomi's frightened gaze transformed into one of 'Joy.'

We had made it out alive… and so we kept walking, in that deafening silence filled with fear and terror.

And at the moment we were about to approach the light, the exit door in front of us swung open.

From afar, I managed to glimpse a very familiar female figure.

I squinted slightly to see better and was positively shocked. It was Sakura-san who had come to save us, albeit a bit late.

I had many questions in my head, starting with the fact that I didn't know how Hina had found herself in this building, or even what Naomi was doing here… I was also wondering what Haruto had to do with all this.

Too many questions but no answers…

"Kai!! Run towards me, NOW! BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!" Sakura shouted, her voice both scared and worried.

It was hard for me to run.

I didn't quite understand what she meant, but I took her advice.

My body still hurt a lot from the kick I had taken to the stomach.

Plus, Naomi's legs weren't working; walking up to that point with her felt like dragging a sack full of stones.

So, with adrenaline coursing through my veins, I picked Naomi up and did my best to run towards the exit.

I felt a great sense of danger coming from behind me, but I decided not to turn around.

I just kept running with Naomi in my arms.

Naomi held on tightly to me, her face buried in my shoulder.

Every moment of running felt like an eternity, and every step seemed tiny compared to the distance between us and our salvation.

As I ran, I turned for a second.

My eyes widened in shock and fear.

I saw the boss who was about to kill us running towards us with a knife in hand.

He had a terrified and desperate look on his face.

"LET ME OUT!" he shouted, continuing to run.

In that instant, my body became very light, and I increased my speed.

In no time, the light in front of me grew larger until I managed to get out.

As soon as we got out, Sakura closed the door behind us and blocked it with a wooden beam.

After a few seconds, we heard the horrible sound of the boss's fists pounding against the door.

"LET ME OUT!" he shouted, continuing to bang against the door.

But Sakura didn't listen and invited us to get into the car.

Then, I heard the sound of a sinister laugh.

"Are you ready for punishment….~?" I heard.

The boss stopped throwing punches at the door.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT? STAY AWAY FROM ME!! THEY WILL KILL YOU IF I DIE!!! THEY WILL HUNT YOU FOREVER!" He shouted, with a shaky voice.

But in response, I heard another malicious laugh.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!" I heard , before a silence.

"You must be punished…"

"NO! GET AWAY FROM ME OR I'LL-AAAAAAAARGHHHH!"

After that , I heard the scary sound of his screams of pain.

"Now be a good boy… this is far from over… Fufufufu~!"

Then, I didn't hear any other words, just the sound of someone dragging something on the ground.

I then slowly put Naomi down, and still assisted her to stand on her feet.

Sakura then looked at me with a worried look.

"Thank god i made it in time…" she said with a sigh of relief , after walking towards me for a hug.

She hugged me very tightly and held me with all of her might.

Naomi was still close to me and hugged Sakura too, even if she didn't know her.

Sakura-San let out some little tears of relief and then looked at us with a motherly after breaking the hug.

"Let's go home, I'll help you." She said.

But… I felt like there was something I needed to do.

"I can't , Sakura-San. There's something I must do. But please , take Naomi to a safe place." I said with a gentle smile.

Yes… I had to help Hina.

I had to stop her homicidal rampage.

Sakura's eyes widened.

"What…? Don't tell me that you plan on going inside again…" she said, with a shaky voice.

"Don't go, Kai… please…" Naomi said, with tears flowing from her eyes.

I shook my head.

"I'm sorry. I promise to make it alive." I said, with a firm tone of voice.

For some strange reason, Sakura smiled at me.

"Just like him…" She whispered.

"I'll wait for you at home." She added.

Then, she took Naomi with her and then ran away.

I heard my friend screaming my name, not wanting me to go inside again, but my instincts were telling me that this was what I needed to do.

So I removed the wooden beam and walked back inside… towards my death, or my savior.

Determination was filling my spirit…