Burn it Down

TEMPORARY FLASH FORWARD.

~Megan's POV~

No. No. No. No no no no no no. God dammit, NO!

This smoke was thick and something smelled so bad it made my stomach flip.

I was trying very hard to keep my breathing steady right now. The fire alarms to the school were going off and if I didn't pay even the closest attention, I'd miss where they were. I'd already wrestled a rifle off of Tyler which pissed him off to no end. He had been cussing wildly, angry at being down a weapon. Luke had interceded enough that I could flee and help whoever I could.

The window at the end of the hallway let sun spill in like a floodlight and the smoke danced through it. I wished right now I could admire that amidst all of this chaos, but I couldn't.

My eyes scanned the entrance to another hallway, and I tried to check for any menacing figures in the shadows of this smoke.

My leg throbbed, and I really tried to keep my blood pressure and heart beat low so I'd not bleed out before I could put an end to this.

I gritted my teeth as I readied the weapon, sweat beading on my forehead and rolling down my eyebrows. My tank top was already black with the soot of burned debris from the boys' pipe bombs. I exhaled deeply, trying to relax as I crouched and moved forward.

I could hear...well, rather I could feel the pipebombs going off. I wasn't super close anymore, and I needed to find them before they took anymore life today.

On top of the pipebombs which I was sure were injuring people I could be saving, the smell that made me nauseated was back. It was coming up on a class room and I was really scared to look in it, but as I passed the open door, I went in, just to check if anyone was alive.

"Is anyone in here?!" I called. "I'm here to help you!" I kept crouching and I slowly prodded forward, resisting the urge to gag. On top of this horrid smell, the smoke in here was ungodly think and billowed around the room, filling every crevice.

I tumbled over something and crashed to the floor, intense pain shooting up my leg causing me to cry out in pain. Once I could stand it, I got up and tried to see what I had tripped over.

I really wished I didn't look, because scattered around were several shards of broken glass. I tried to see where it had all came from, where the source of impact was and then I found him...or her...whoever it had been.

Whoever it had been before it was a charred, burnt corpse. They must have thrown a Molotov cocktail at this person's feet and once they caught fire, I could only hope that Luke wasn't as heartless as Tyler right now, and at least put him out of his misery quickly.

The longer I stared at the scarred and seared flesh, the sicker I felt. I stared until I was forced to fall down to my knees and vomit profusely.

I vomited until I was dry heaving and once that started, I picked up the rifle which I had dropped in my intense need to vomit and scrambled on my wobbly legs, out of there. My eyes were watering and it didn't help as I tried to tense my legs back up as I re-entered the hallway.

My head shot up at the sound of rapid fire. Luke's gun. The one I had left Tyler with was only a semi-automatic and therefore not capable of the fluidity that I was hearing. I could have broken down. I hoped Luke had just given Tyler his weapon. But I needed to continue forward, and look for survivors on my way to the boys I loved with my whole heart. I was going to shoot them. I had to. I had to end their rampage. My logic hadn't worked. It did nothing to even slow them down.

When I heard multiple footsteps, my body tensed up and I crouched low to the ground with my gun ready. These footsteps, while multiple, were highly irregular.

It was three kids. 2 were very injured, one looked dead. The two injured carried nobly, their dead comrade and I bolted to them.

They screamed at the top of their lungs and I shushed them quickly and urgently.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I want to get you guys out of here. Do you understand?" I tried to reassure them. I was coated in blood, only some of it my own.

They seemed scared still and I used the strap to remove the weapon from my hands for the time being, slinging the rifle over my shoulder.

"Do you know who I am?" I asked one of them. He was a young blonde boy. Mousy beyond belief.

He nodded quickly. His friends urged him to run, and their dead friend was pooling blood everywhere.

"I will not hurt you, okay? I want you to be safe. The gun is here just in case the bad guys come. Let me get you out of the door." I wondered where Luke and Tyler were, actually since their destruction had become far quieter and I could no longer tell where they were.

Finally the two broke down and nodded. I helped them cart their dead friend out of the hallway, and down the flight of stairs to one of the back doors.

Once I had them out of the building, the police were running up on us and with my gun present, I knew they considered me a threat.

"Listen to me. You tell them I'm a good guy, okay? Tell them that Luke Miller and Tyler Bennett are the bad guys. Can you do that for me?" I said to the mousy blonde.

He nodded. "Luke Miller. Tyler Bennett."

I tried to smile before I looked up to see the police rapidly closing in on us. I whipped it around as fast as I could and bolted back into the building. I was lucky that the bullet one of them had fired missed me, but it shattered the glass window behind me, scratching up the back of my right arm and getting some pieces lost in my hair.

"Fuck!" I shouted, bolting up the stairs as fast as I could, my leg now bleeding furiously.

I was beginning to feel rather weak, but my resolve kept me from giving up, so I trekked onwards, going up the stairs. I crept very carefully past the second floor. I was positive that wherever those two were, it wasn't on the second floor.

Continuing upwards, I proceeded with my ascent. I flinched at the sound of a shotgun blast. Tyler.

They were definitely on the third floor, and while they weren't close, they weren't far away. I'd confront them soon. My friend and my only love would be dead by my own hand just so I could prevent the deaths of others.

For a moment I questioned myself. Would I be able to do it? Would I be able to kill Luke, the man I had loved for 2 years solid? He had seen me at the very worst I could ever possibly be. He was so patient with me as I tried to recover from my assault nearly 3 months ago. I wasn't 100% yet, but I was so much closer with his help, than I would have been without it.

My guess right now was that they were in A building, and I was in C building. I'd have to cross B building to get to Luke and Tyler.

I went forward, still looking for anyone who might be alive, and at every body I crossed, and there were so many up here, I stopped to check for pulses. Although out of the 7 I'd checked so far, no one held on. I was too late for them.

Sudden anger pushed me forward and I ran forward with a resolve and checked every room I came across. So far it looked like everyone who stayed up here had died, but luckily most had got away.

I came across the body of Valerie. The girl who had ripped my dress at my sophomore homecoming. I stopped for a minute and contemplated whether or not I wanted to check her at all. And then I remembered that no matter what, she was from high school and she'd learn soon that real life isn't like this place, and hopefully change her attitude. So when I checked her pulse, my gun still in hand, I found one, however weak. I had to get her out.

I wrapped my arms around her midsection and did my best to drag her, ignoring the pulsing, stabbing pain in my leg. Sweat was dripping into my eyes and stinging fiercely as I began to haul Valerie Saunders down three flights of stairs.

"Stay alive, dammit. You're such a bitch, but you don't deserve to die as a punishment." I knew she couldn't hear me, but it made me feel better. Once I got her to the first floor, to that door, I opened it carefully and hauled her limp, body outside.

The mousy boy raised his hands and told the cops to stand down. I could see him. He knew I was good guy, and he was making sure I didn't get myself killed trying to help others. I saw paramedics rushing towards us, and right now I couldn't afford to have anyone try to stop me so I laid Valerie down and again bolted into the building, my gun slapping my back. This thing was getting heavy, and it didn't help that I was now developing a severe limp.

Again I ascended the stairs, less careful than the previous time. Once I got to the top I couldn't even stop to look for survivors this time. I bolted across the building and pushed open the double doors to B building.

Another bomb shook the floor. I was definitely getting closer, and with that information, I again readied myself to shoot in case I had overshot the estimation of how far they were from me.

All of a sudden a closet door burst open and someone lunged forward trying to take the gun from me.

"Stop!" I said firmly, but not loudly. "I'm trying to help you! I'm not one of them!" I pulled the weapon from side to side so he couldn't get it and I used my legs to kick furiously as I could. I was expending too much energy doing this.

They continued to wrestle me. It was some black kid. He was big, but looked like such a teddy bear that I couldn't even be mad at him.

"Wait, please! Help me! Will you help me?!" I asked, using my legs to keep him at bay. I may not be very muscular, but I can leg press more than most people weigh.

The kid stopped and finally saw that I was injured and bleeding and that I was just as scared as him.

"What are you doing out here?!" He hissed at me.

"I'm trying to save everyone I can. I got this gun from one of the kids doing this. I use it to make sure people get out of here safely." I said. I took a deep breath while we stared at each other. I began panting. His eyes were so glassy and dark, I could see my reflection in them, despite the smoke, and I knew I was pallid, and suffering blood loss that I really needed attention for. "Will you help me?"

After a moment he nodded and stood up, offering his hand to help me up. I took it but I was getting so weak I could barely stand up alone.

God bless this kid, but he picked me up and set me back down on my feet.

"My name is Megan." I told him, swallowing hard.

"Cory." He told me. "You don't look so good."

"There was...the cafeteria." I said. My thoughts weren't coming to me easily.

He nodded though and tried to understand. "Do you know where they are now?"

I shook my head, opening class doors and peering in looking for anyone. The majority of these rooms were completely empty, save for kids who were very obviously dead, their brains becoming a permanent part of the paint.

"A building. This floor." I said. I wished I could explain to Cory that I was so weak right now that it took more energy than I had to speak, but again, God bless him, I think he understood, because he was right beside me, crouched slightly, tight onto my arm in case I fell, which was becoming a real possibility.

After some time of scanning through B building, we'd amassed quite a number of survivors. Some of them so injured they couldn't walk themselves out. But I did my best to organize these scared kids. I didn't want them to know I was scared too, but Cory was an athlete, a football player. Everyone knew him apparently, and when he told them I was a good guy trying to help, people believed him.

"The ones who can walk, please help those who can't." I told them. I had a feeling I was turning green.

They did what I asked. In this moment I was so proud of the sense of togetherness. I'd never seen that from this school, and all it took was a massacre, the worst I'm sure there would be for a long time. Tyler and Luke by this point had to have killed over 50 people.

50 people that I had seen, that is.