“Squall! He’s awake!”
I found it hard to process the voices in my head, but in the least, I could hear them. My eyes opened slightly. It was the best I could do to identify where I was. I willed my vision to come around since everything was very blurry and all I could see was a pandemonium of colors. I tried to focus on one object, but my dizziness prevented me from doing so. My head spun round and round till someone caught my shoulders. I looked up.
“Hey!” She greeted. It was the girl with the blond hair.
“H-Hey,” I murmured a greeting back. I got up and rubbed my hand on my temple.
“You lost a lot of blood,” another voice said. It most positively belonged to Mr. Chubby. “You woke up a little late and now we’ll have to fetch a bunch of people on the way back to the dormitory. However, we can’t risk having a dizzy, motion-sick person around so if you need a little rest, please tell us.”
“N-No… I’m good,” I told him, looking up.
“So Ken,” Mr. Chubby said. “First time running a course, eh?”
“Yeah,” I told him. “Weren’t you holding a giant shuriken earlier?”
“Yes, but it’s not mine. It belongs to someone named Cristine. You’ll meet her later. Anyway, let’s talk about you. You making it through the course was expected from a Takanashi. Your parents were once an icon in this school,” The other guy – The “Asian” – told me. “By the way, I’m Ryan. Ryan Chen. Mr. Huggable Chubby Teddy Bear beside you is Squall Clause.”
I smiled at Squall. Good thing I discovered his name before I got used to calling him Mr. Chubby.
“I’m Rena. Rena Yamasaki,” The blond said. “So your name’s Ken?”
“Yep… You heard em’,” I told her, grinning. “Stupid name huh?”
“No… I think it’s cool,” she said, complimenting me. I can’t help but lighten up a bit. She was so adorable.
“Now, now. No lovey-dovey stuff until later,” Squall warned us. “We need to get to our dormitory, remember? Are you sure you could handle it Ken?”
“Yep,” I confirmed before swinging my legs to the side of the bed. I noticed the large amount of gauze wrapping around my left ankle. Was the wound that bad?
I hefted myself up, forcing all my weight on my own two feet. I lost my balance for a moment but I quickly regained it by resting a hand on the bed. Ryan had his arm draped around me as he supported me. He seemed to like helping others a lot.
It was then that I noticed how large the clinic was. In fact, it was hardly a clinic at all. Several beds – separated by green curtains— were arranged in a neat row. The aisle that divided the place was wide enough to accommodate a stretcher and lots of doctors and nurses, had it been a hospital. Near the exit was a cubicle for the school nurse. A huge air conditioner hung over the end of the aisle, giving the room a comfortable coolness.
Ryan and Squall helped me walk out of the clinic. What greeted us outside was a huge hallway dotted with frescoes on its walls and ceilings. In-between some of the embedded paintings were windows which allowed an unperturbed flow of sunlight There were no air conditioners in sight but the area was very cold and comforting. The floor was made of marble. I grinned in amusement.
“Breath-taking isn’t it?” Ryan asked. He was now bearing my weight since Squall wanted to act like the tour guide.
“Yeah,” I gasped.
“Well… There’s more where that came from. Let’s go to the library first,” Squall told me. “The twins are waiting.”
“Twins?”
“Yeah… Carlo and Annabel Rezef,” Ryan said. “They weren’t in the field earlier, so they didn’t see you win the course.”
“Oh.”
“I can’t wait till they get a load of you,” Squall guffawed. “It’ll be like poking their noses and shouting ‘Told you we’d get first placers this year!’”
“What are they like?” Rena asked, rather enthusiastic about who we’re about to meet.
“Well C’s a good guy. But Belle is different,” Ryan told her.
“She’s friggin’ bipolar!” Squall said.
“Bipolar?” The word rolled itself off my tongue like I was saying it the wrong way.
“She’s not really bipolar,” Ryan joked. “It’s just that Belle is shy and she expresses her shyness in… different… ways. Her personality is very unstable.”
We stopped at the foot of a spiral staircase which was decorated with a red carpet and accentuated with golden railings. Wrapping around it were walls filled with replicas of paintings by the infamous Leonardo Da Vinci.
“Easy now,” Ryan said as he took the first step. I followed shortly, hoping that he could support my weight.
Each step made me feel dizzy but we got to the next floor in a matter of minutes anyway. We took a left and I glanced behind me every now and then to check if Rena was still walking behind me. She smiled at me to confirm her presence. I smiled back.
“Pffft… Love,” Ryan said to me in a harsh whisper.
“W-What?” I stuttered.
“You like her, don’t you?” He asked me.
Ryan whistled. “Don’t bet on it, kid.”
We stopped in front of a gigantic, arch-shaped door with half a heart for its knob. Hearts… how nifty… Judging from my experience earlier, you could lose half a heart and regain it in minutes.
“This is the library,” Squall said as he opened the door and beckoned us inside. “After all of you. And of course, Ladies first.”
Rena was the first to step into the library, Ryan and I followed.
The library itself was huge – gigantic. Comparable to a museum. Three large air conditioners were suspended above me to ventilate the whole place. There were hundreds of tall, well-made, wooden bookshelves. Each aisle was provided with a huge, arch-shaped window and a sofa which could accommodate about eight people at a time. There were no librarians in sight, which I found rather bizarre.
To my right, partially concealed by a wooden, Spanish-style divider, was an open sub-room filled with computers for e-research. Each unit was open and ready-to-use but no one was operating them. Talk about electronic waste.
Ryan finally let go of me and I walked forward to the middle of the library where a huge atlas of the world was sitting. I marveled at a huge map of Oceania before flipping the page. I was about to read about the resources you could find in the said country before my mind processed the sound of a working chainsaw.
Within seconds I was lying on the floor and a girl was on top of me, straddling my torso. The side of her face was concealed by the blade of a chainsaw – its teeth moving perilously around it in a rapid motion. I swallowed hard and tried to act as brave as possible.
“Who are you?” I choked at her.
“Does it matter?” She asked me.
“Belle!” I heard Squall scream. “Don’t attack him! He’s a comrade!”
Annabel was lifted off of me and I propped myself to a sitting position. Another boy – Presumably her brother, Carlo – was holding her by her shoulders. She turned her chainsaw off, but she didn’t drop it.
Annabel was almost pale-skinned. Her left eye was big and circular, while her raven hair partially concealed the eye patch which covered her right. She had a small, button nose to compliment her features. Her lips were small and pinkish. She looked like a doll – a killer doll.
Her brother, on the other hand, was tan with curly brown-black hair. He appeared to be less intimidating but his expression was guarded.
“No. Killing,” Her brother whispered before moving towards me. He took my hand and helped me up. “I’m really sorry about this… Whoever you are… My sister doesn’t like it if someone disturbs the peace of this library.”
“This library is now Section 12’s territory,” Squall said. “The owner of this school is making a new one which everyone could access.”
“By the way. C, Belle… This is Ken and Rena,” Ryan introduced us with a smile. “We’re really sorry for the rough—” Ryan shot a glare at Annabel “—First Impression but at least it’s all settled now.”
“She just tried to kill him!” Rena yelled.
“Listen, newbie,” Annabel pressed firmly, raising her chainsaw and pointing it at Rena. “In this school, everyone is taught to become what they least expect to be – a monster. Killing would be a daily habit.”
“Annabel! Shut up!” Squall yelled at her. “We’ll talk about this in the briefing.”
“The rest of the sections must’ve finished theirs hours ago,” Annabel said. “You’re wasting time. If these nutshells won’t have their brains cracked before sundown, they’re as good as dead.”
“Okay. Fine. Tell them a few things,” Squall told her. “But please don’t be too harsh on them. They’re freshmen for crying out loud.”
“I know, I know,” She said, reassuringly. She turned towards me and Rena. “Now listen, and listen good. This school is not called Doomsday High for no reason. Each and every student need to know a thing or two about weaponry. What weapons are you two good at?”
“I’m good with guns. My father taught me how to use them,” Rena informed her.
“Good. How about you, runt?” She asked me. Squall and Ryan must’ve been joking when they said she was shy. She’s got an attitude. “Well?”
I didn’t know if I had to be sincere or honest with her, but I had to admit a few things in the least. “I’m spectacular in paintball.”
“Judge yourself. Does that mean you’re a good marksman?”
“I guess,” I replied.
“Guessing’ doesn’t always win the game, newbie,” Carlo said. I nodded groggily at his sudden remark.
“Moving on,” Annabel began again. She cleared her throat and continued, “ Training courses for all years are held at noon. I don’t want to explain further. There’s a schedule which came along your registration form.”
“Oh shit! I left mine in my suitcase earlier!” I shouted, my voice echoing through all the far corners of the library.
“Where exactly did you leave it?” She asked me.
“At the gate. I ran too quickly,” I admitted.
“He got first place earlier,” Squall said to no one in particular. His words caused Annabel to look at me peculiarly.
“I-Is that so?” She asked, stammering. She looked at me with a terrified and surprised expression etched on her face.
“Yep,” Squall told her before forming a “T” with his hands. He was looking at Ryan. It must’ve been some sort of signal.
Ryan walked towards me and whispered in my ear. “Belle is more afraid of you than you think. It’s when she knows how dangerous you are that her fear shows.”
“Oh,” I murmured. “I see…”
Her expression changed all of a sudden like a girl falling out of a mood swing. “I-I’m sorry. I-I didn’t know I-I was dealing with someone important. I really am. You’ll be able to retrieve your suitcase in the lost and found tomorrow. It’s near the entrance. Y-you wouldn’t miss it.”
“Uhm… Thanks?”
“W-Welcome…” She stammered back.
Rena walked towards her and without further adieu, she hugged her. “Kitty!”
“A~nyway! Before anything else happens, we should get to the Dormitory so that you’d see what it’s like. Belle, hold your chainsaw. An enemy from another section might attack. C, where’s your scythe?” Squall said looking around.
“I’ll go get it,” Carlo told him before disappearing into the mass of bookshelves.
“Let’s hope you don’t get lost then,” Squall said to the empty space where Carlo once stood.
We waited for the guy to return. He must’ve had a flawed sense of direction since it took him half an hour to find his scythe hidden underneath one of the sofas in the nearest part of the library – the A-B section. I brought my palm to my face at the obviousness of its location. His scythe, however, made me pull the gesture back.
It was double-edged with extremely sharp rims. He must’ve been cleaning the blades a lot judging from how bright and shiny they looked. Standing next to it made him look shorter. He held it close to his chest before spinning it round and round in a clumsy expedition.
“Come on now, C. No showing off,” Ryan said. “These two don’t have a weapon yet and we’ve got to get to the dormitory before sundown.”
“Okay then.”
Ryan picked me up once more and we took the lead since having us tailing behind would mean “sudden death” according to Squall. Carlo and Annabel guarded the back, eyes darting here and there for a hidden attacker.
“What’s with this school?” I asked Ryan.
“Well, for one thing, students have to kill each other,” Ryan explained to me. “We we’ll inform you about everything at the briefing but knowing a little wouldn’t hurt. Rena would be informed about it later anyway. Anything else you’d like to ask?”
“Why do the students have to kill each other?” I asked.
“Well, for the most part, if you don’t kill someone in the school, you’ll be… disqualified,” Ryan paused, as if waiting for another question from me.
“What happens when a student is disqualified?” I inquired, staring intently at him.
“The student is erased. Don’t ask how the ‘erasing’ is done,” He told me. He cleared his throat before continuing, “Aside from disqualification, there’s also the top student’s list. It’s not every student for himself in this school. One section requires awesome camaraderie because only one section gets to make it to the list of top students. Each section has to finish each other off while maintaining the best grades possible…
“If you get the highest score in an exam, you’ll have one object you want so badly. If you make it to the top student’s list, you get one wish granted. There is one thing you couldn’t wish for though – that the killings would cease.”
I stayed silent and lowered my gaze. I waited for more information from him.
“One section has one hundred students, more or less. Section 12 is weak because we only have more or less 15 students, including you and Rena. If all the students in one section get done in, they’ll all be suspended for two months. That means no slaughtering for two months. No lessons for two months.”
“Wait…. But they’re already dead—“
“They don’t technically die. They’re resurrected in 5 minutes or so. If a student gets done in once, he or she’ll be suspended for a week. If he or she gets done in twice, that’s makes two weeks. Is that clear enough for you?” Ryan looked at me with a questioning gaze.
“Clear,” I told him.
“Now. Once you’re in this school, you become an immortal. That’s how you’re resurrected.” Ryan grinned.
Immortal?”
“Didn’t your parents tell you that? What did you expect? That you’d get bitten by a vampire?”
“No. My parents didn’t tell me a thing about—“
“Attacker! From Section 3!” Carlo shouted, interfering with our discussion.
He raised his scythe and swung it to a shadowed figure in the corner. The figure avoided him easily and nearly struck him down with its sword.
“Run!” Annabel yelled as she turned on her chainsaw.
Squall took the lead and we followed him in a desperate attempt to avoid getting done in. A kaleidoscope of sounds encompassed me at that moment – Annabel shouting, Carlo yelling at his sister to move away, heavy footsteps, blades clashing, chainsaws roaring, bodies being decapitated.
I closed my eyes before I heard someone catch up to us. I glance behind to see Annabel chuckling. Her uniform seemed even darker now that it was heavily stained with blood. Her hands and her chainsaw was bathing in the red liquid.
“Brother s-stayed b-behind,” She grinned sadistically. “T-There were two of them. I-I f-finished one off.”
Rena wrapped an arm around her to pull her along... All of us ran as fast as we could.
“We’re taking a left! There’s a narrow staircase over there! It’s a shortcut to the dormitories!” Squall yelled. He maneuvered his stocky body to the said direction and disappeared.
Ryan swerved to the left, taking my weight along with him. He half-ran and half-dragged my body towards the stairs. Squall was right. It was very narrow --only enough to accommodate two people between it-- and it cascaded downwards in a spiral fashion.
As we descended the staircase in furrowed desperation, the pain in my leg increased dramatically. It was practically yelling at me to stop running. I groaned.
“Morphine’s fading, huh?” Ryan told me.
“Morphine?”
“Yeah,” Ryan said. “Your wound was a lot worse than we had expected. Since a lot of things had to happen in one day, we decided to drug you a little to ease the pain. I guess it’s wearing off now.”
“Talk about wrong timing,” I murmured in my raspy voice.
We continued running. Adrenaline helped push me further. The staircase seemed endless. My feet ached so much that I had to depend on Ryan to carry me.
I heard Annabel scream and jam her chainsaw into something – another attacker maybe. We paused and glanced back up. I was right. An unidentifiable person had tried to lay his hands on us. The attacker’s right shoulder was bleeding severely. The rest of his appearance was partially concealed by the darkness of the staircase. He was using his good hand to cease Annabel’s chainsaw.
Squall was covering the front and he couldn’t do anything but watch since I and Ryan was blocking his path. Annabel’s hands were now bleeding – she had to grab the blade of the chainsaw since she had no other choice. Rena was by her side, helping her.
In the spur of the moment, a crescent-shaped blade appeared from above and beheaded the attacker. The now motionless body fell down and the head rolled in an indefinite direction. I managed to grasp a few features before it disappeared into the dark abyss in front of us. The attacker was a male with a bald head.
Carlo filled the empty space where his victim once stood. Rena grabbed Annabel’s wrist whilst Carlo grabbed her chainsaw and we all began hiking down the stairs once again.
“How many steps more?” I asked.
“Only a few… We’re about to reach the underground,” Squall retorted.
Then we jolted to a stop. Before us was sweet, smooth, marble grounds, a dozen gigantic arch-shaped doors – 6 to the left and 6 to the right, each set apart by spaces filled with surreal frescoes.
“Let’s run. Someone from the other section might come out and attack us,” Squall lurched forward and started running. “Section 12’s dorm is the last door to the right.”
“Hey Ryan… Are they allowed to kill us when we’re inside the dorm?” I asked, partially ignoring the pain in my foot.
“No,” Ryan said. “It also means disqualification.”
I wanted to interrogate him a bit more, but I tripped over what appeared to be a rope and I hollered in pain. I looked at my ankle and noticed that the white bandage draped over it was now completely red. I closed my eyes and bit my teeth in agitation.
“Another weakling,” I heard a familiar voice say before Annabel’s chainsaw roared to life.
I opened my eyes just in time to see Annabel stabbing another attacker –the British girl from earlier— straight in the face. The teeth of her chainsaw were moving rapidly once more, causing some of the girl’s facial remains to splatter everywhere. I gasped in horror as Annabel brought her chainsaw down, slicing the girl’s body into a very clean half. Blood sprayed all over the floor and some even landed on my face like rain drops.
“That was… Bad-ass,” I commented, in-between pants.
“Bipolar… and sadistic,” Squall stated, matter-of-factly.
Ryan helped me up once more and we propelled ourselves to Section 12’s dorm. The door opened automatically – as if the people behind it were expecting our arrival. All of us dropped to the floor, one by one, landing on top of each other, forming a human haystack.
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