[6] No way out

The gears in my head were spinning faster than I could keep up. If this really was the beginning of some kind of zombie apocalypse—or whatever the fk it was—we couldn't just sit around waiting to die. Every instinct in me was screaming the same thing: Move. Now.

I stood up abruptly, causing Kenji to look up from his phone with raised eyebrows. "What's up, man?"

"We need to get the hell out of here," I said, pacing the floor, my mind racing. "If this thing is as bad as it looks, we're all sitting ducks here."

Malcolm leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. "And go where, exactly? In case you haven't noticed, there's a whole-ass army outside."

"That's the point, dude," I snapped, feeling my anxiety build. "They're locking us in here for a reason. Whatever's going on out there, we need to move before it spreads in here. We can't just wait for them to tell us what to do."

Raul looked at me skeptically. "You really think we can just stroll out of here? With soldiers guarding every exit?"

"I'm gonna check the front door," I said, already moving toward the hallway. "If they're locking us in, they have to have some weak points. Maybe we can slip through before things get worse."

"Jake, this is crazy," Ethan muttered, shaking his head, but I ignored him.

I headed down the dorm's stairs, my heart pounding in my chest as I approached the front entrance. My mind was racing with possibilities—maybe I could talk my way past the guards, convince them I needed to get out for some bullshit reason. Maybe they'd be distracted, or maybe they'd have orders to let people go. But as I rounded the corner and saw the door, my hope died fast. There was a soldier standing right in front of it, fully geared up, rifle slung across his chest. He looked young, maybe early twenties, but his expression was hard as stone. No chance of reasoning with him. Still, I had to try.

"Hey, uh..." I approached slowly, trying to sound casual even though my heart was hammering. "I need to get out of here. I left something in my car off-campus, and I need it for an assignment due tomorrow."

The soldier's eyes didn't even flicker. He just stood there like a goddamn statue.

"No one leaves," he said, his voice cold and firm.

I tried to play it cool. "Look, I get that you've got orders, but this is kinda important. I'll be quick. In and out, five minutes—" Before I could even finish my sentence, he stepped forward and shoved me hard. I wasn't a big guy, so it didn't take much to send me stumbling back, my balance faltering. I nearly tripped over my own feet, barely catching myself on the wall.

"Stay inside," the soldier growled, his voice full of authority. "No exceptions."

My heart was racing, a mix of fear and frustration boiling up inside me. I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins, but there was no point in pushing it further. This guy wasn't going to budge.

"Fine, whatever," I muttered, backing away.

I turned and made my way back upstairs, my mind still reeling from the encounter. The reality of the situation was starting to sink in. We really were trapped. When I got back to the dorm, the guys were all waiting for me, their eyes full of questions.

"Well?" Kenji asked, raising an eyebrow. "What'd they say?" I shook my head, still pissed off. "No luck. There's a guard at the door, and he's not letting anyone out. I tried giving him some excuse, and the fker shoved me back like I was nothing."

"Shoved you?" Malcolm asked, frowning. "What the hell?""Yeah, straight up," I said, rubbing my shoulder where I'd hit the wall. "He's not fking around. They're not letting anyone leave." Kenji let out a low whistle. "Damn, man. This is serious."

"I told you it was serious," I snapped, pacing again. "We're locked in here like cattle. And if this thing spreads inside the campus, we're screwed. The last place we want to be is crammed into a building with a bunch of potential infected."

"So what the fk are we supposed to do?" Ethan asked, his voice shaking a little. "We can't stay here, but we can't leave either. We're trapped."Raul was still sitting at his desk, tapping his fingers against the surface, deep in thought.

"There's gotta be another way out. If the front entrance is guarded, maybe we can find another exit. Fire escapes, side doors, something."

"Yeah, but they probably thought of that," Kenji said. "If they're serious about keeping us in, they'll have guards at all the major exits.""Then we find one they haven't thought of," I said, feeling a flicker of hope again. "There's always a weak point. We just have to find it."

"You're really pushing this escape thing, huh?" Malcolm said, eyeing me."Yeah, because staying here is a death sentence," I snapped. "Think about it. What happens when this virus gets inside the campus? You think the military's gonna give a shit about a bunch of college kids? We'll be collateral damage. We have to get out while we still can."

Ethan rubbed his temples, looking stressed as hell. "What if we're wrong, though? What if this isn't as bad as we think it is?"

"And what if it is?" I shot back, locking eyes with him. "You wanna stick around and find out?"

Raul stood up, pacing now too. "Jake's right. We have to at least look for another way out. If we stay here, we're just waiting for something bad to happen."

Kenji nodded, finally getting up from his chair. "All right. Let's do it. Let's find a way out before this place turns into a fking deathtrap."

Malcolm sighed but stood up too, grabbing his phone. "Fine. But if we get caught, I'm blaming you, Jake." I smirked, feeling a strange surge of adrenaline.

"I'll take that."We had no plan, no real sense of what we were up against, but at least we had one thing: a reason to move. And in that moment, that was enough.

Q: How would you try to escape the building in this situation?