I chose a nice crossbow like the one I used to use, but this one came equipped with real bolts. A sickness entered my stomach when I realized the intended use. Even though the wooden bolts curved at a dull angle, they all could do some damage. Rowdy curled his hands around a big club, and Nashita picked out a beautiful sword that looked similar to her shirt.
"Leighton, what about you?" I looked up at the boy that I considered my friend, and he simply shivered before the pile of leftover weapons. Finally, he scooped up a small dagger, and handed me the other twin to it.
"You might need it, if someone knocks that crossbow out of your hand." He murmured and scrunched up his nose in distaste of the sharp objects. Some other harrowing feeling caressed his eyes, too.
"You okay? I mean, other than Melissa..." I whispered, having to force myself not to glance at the blanketed body in the room.
"No, I'm not, Fey." He whispered, rubbing his eyes in frustration. "I'm really not."
"Want to talk about it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. I knew that now wasn't really the time for chit-chat, but he looked like he really needed it. Besides, Rowdy was talking to Nashita about what he was going to do.
"Taylor wasn't lying, Fey." Leighton said, and he pulled his medallion out of his shirt. His eyes crossed the foreign symbols, reminding him of his guilt. "They weren't lying at all. I could tell by their face. I took classes to recognize stuff like that for my character, but the way that they acted just now-" He sucked in a desperate breath, tapping his foot on the floor in an anxious way to keep himself from crying. "I don't know. I can't think straight. Everything seems so convoluted and wrong." He whispered.
I gently hugged him, hugging tighter when I found that he wasn't uncomfortable with it. If he would have been, I wouldn't have continued. For now, the tall boy hugged me back, arms shaking and scared. Terror ran through all of our veins.
"Alright, we made a game plan." Rowdy turned from Nashita, breaking up our comforting hugs. We turned to him as soon as we broke away, now both a bit surer of ourselves. Still, what Leighton talked about troubled me. If Taylor wasn't really lying, did that mean that they had now given up on being good and winning the favor of friends? I shook the thought away. Why couldn't I just have listened to my dad and stayed home? "We're going straight to the Principal's Office. There should be a direct phone line there, and we should be able to call for help. Unfortunately, that's most likely where Abigail is camped out to run everything." Rowdy said nervously, though something in his voice told me he was ready to end this. He wanted to save his friends.
"We have to make it up to the top floor, the fourth floor. That's the Badgers' floor anyway, since they had a point advantage." Nashita told us, sweeping up her sword and heading for the door. Everything felt so much realer now, and far more dangerous. I think that might've been Abigail's thought; she wanted to increase our immersion, even if it was a horrible way to do so. It didn't help, however. Now I didn't see anyone as their character. I couldn't imagine us as supernatural beings when we the actual danger of dying loomed around every corner. Then again, I'm sure the morbid tone helped others.
"I'll lead the way." I offered immediately, stepping forward. "I've got a ranged weapon, and I think I've got decent aim. I can keep anyone off of you guys." I smiled, but Rowdy shook his head in defiance of my offer.
"Nope, I'm leading. If I get chopped in the leg by someone hiding around the corner, I want you ready to stick that crossbow in their face." Rowdy commanded softly, and reluctantly, I agreed. He had a point. It would be harder to hold someone at a point where they couldn't move with melee weapon rather than one that's ranged.
"I'll stay here. We need someone to guard the room." Leighton answered, shivering as he approached the boxes of supplies. He didn't look like he was too comfortable with the idea, but he did seem like he'd do it just because it would help the team out.
"You sure? Leighton, we don't have to play their stupid game." I murmured, looking over to him with a look of sympathy. "Our goal is just to get out of this building, get back to our families and get out alive."
"I know, but..." Leighton gripped the ends of his sleeves, shivering. He took in a breath, and then answered to defend his stance. "I want to stay because if we play their game, we might have a better chance of surviving. They designed the rules, so going against them is reason to be attacked." The boy answered, and the words sat and simmered with us. I guess in a way, he was right. I nodded, accepting this answer. Nashita and Rowdy approved it after a little bit of deliberation.
"Stay safe, okay? Don't be afraid to bar-up the door if you need to." I called back, and Leighton nodded at me. All of his emotions flooded his face, and I realized now that he spent so much time studying the facial expressions of others that he didn't control his own.
Nashita, Rowdy, and I wandered out into the hallway for the second time that day, shutting the door as we left. A surge of guilt stabbed into my heart at leaving Leighton there, but then again, that is what he wanted.
We just had to make it to the Principal's Office now. Unfortunately, that meant a pretty high and hazardous climb stood in front of us. With all of these teenagers running around with real weapons, and some of them more than willing to use them, anyone could be lurking behind any corner. I liked to imagine that no one would really want to cause anyone else any harm, but I knew that to be wrong. Rachel's health right now proved that to be true.
Rowdy led the way as he said he would, keeping his club firmly in his hands as we stalked forward in the dim light, but his boots made a lot of sound on the tile floor. Nashita and I listened to the click of his boots up onto the first floor belonging to Crimson Gauntlet, and then onto the second floor. The walls this time were lit up with a dark, muted orange. Bronzed Syndicate controlled this floor, and I assumed it was their starting floor.
"You should really take those stupid clodhoppers off!" Nashita violently hissed, though her voice barely topped the sound of his footsteps so he could hear her. He turned, and his eyebrows scrunched together in the middle of his face to show his annoyance. Though, he did look kind of guilty that they were making all that noise.
"I can't!" Rowdy grumbled back, but then his angered expression dropped. "Nashita, you know I don't have any other shoes at home and if I did I sure as hell wouldn't have brought them with me if I had!" Nashita flushed, ducking her head a little. She wasn't hurt by his words, but rather embarrassed that she forgot.
In the midst of their argument, I heard something around the corner. Before I could say anything, Nashita nodded and walked forward. I dove after her, shoving Rowdy out of the way and tackling her to the floor. She let out a scream, but it was a good thing that I did because a large sickle came out at her from around the corner. I let out a scream, too, terrified of who decided we were their next kill.
The boy leaped over the pile of women on the floor and instantly took another swing at Rowdy, pinning his neck to the wall with ease. Nashita and I scrambled to our feet, telling the assailant to stop, but he didn't seem to want to kill Rowdy. His stance suggested that he just intended to hold him there. Rowdy's shaking hands latched onto the blade that curved around his throat, sweating and silent. I could see his terror, even though his eyes locked with an old friend.
Arthur kept him pinned to the wall, and he looked around at us. The first thing his eyes laid on was my crossbow- aimed and steadied right on him. "What do you want with Rowdy? Let him go!" I barked, trying to seem as intimidating as Arthur always seemed to be when he simply glanced in my direction.
"I want to know what the hell is going on." Arthur grumbled, unfazed by my taunts. His hands didn't move from holding the sickle in place over Rowdy's throat. "You're the first people I've seen since this started other than my team." He went silent for a few seconds, and then pulled the sickle away from Rowdy's throat, effectively freeing him. I wanted to lower the crossbow, but kept it up, just in case. "We knew she was planning something. We just didn't know it was this bad."
"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.
"Abigail. She's been prepping for this since the beginning of the year. We've found some of her plans in raids, things for rewiring systems. She's been planning and scheming all year to get us to do this. It's why I didn't give up my phone at the door."
"Wait, you have your phone?" I lowered the crossbow immediately, approaching him and the nearby Rowdy, who rubbed his neck gingerly. Arthur did no damage, but he could still feel the pressure of where it had been.
"Yeah, but there's no signal. And the Wi-Fi's down, so can't get the message out that way, either." He answered, gritting his teeth. I could tell he felt annoyed that chance thwarted his plan. "And sorry about that, Rowdy. There are some people roaming in these halls that would've killed me if I hadn't restrained them like that." Rowdy mumbled some grumpy acceptance in response to Arthur's words.
"Have you tried going up? Regarding the floors, I mean?" Nashita asked, slowly calming down at my side. We were all okay, and she was still breathing, taking in that fact and processing it.
"Yeah, but the next floor up is Vanguard's Elite, and it looks like they're taking this pretty seriously, too." The Administrator of Bronzed Syndicate said, glancing in the direction of the stairs. "Nothing lethal like the Badgers do, but they've got tons of traps set up that might prove deadly if you got caught in one and a Badger found you first. I'd rather not risk it alone." The description continued as Arthur drew a gloved finger across the blade of his weapon, eyeing Nashita. "Your idiot brother holed himself up in this safe room like a fortress. Lark and Damian guard the outside, which spells disaster for us. A bard and a muse working together can do some major damage."
"But we aren't playing anymore! I understand being cautious about the traps, but come on. Lark and Damian are just people. They can't really do anything to you magically." I hissed in annoyance.
"Sorry, you're right." For once, Arthur remained submissive. He slowly nodded to agree with me, and suddenly, I found myself in a situation much less believable than the locked down school. "But they're still a force to be reckoned with." Then, after a long pause, he continued his information. "We ran into some Badgers."
"Which ones?" Nashita prodded, eyes hopeful that one would be Abigail. If so, that meant we had a chance of finding her.
"Zeke, Dexter, and Jacy." Arthur shattered our dreams, and then, created some new nightmares for us. "I swear that I saw Zeke stick a firearm into his jeans, and they're roaming the school somewhere. I assume to hunt for players to kill." He said quietly. For once, his strong voice cracked.
Everyone remained silent for a moment, taking this in. Zeke was out to kill people. That's what he wanted more than anything. Something about that made me sick. How could someone willingly enjoy the suffering of another human being like he did? My hands shook, Nashita let her eyes fall to the ground, and Rowdy let out some expletives under his breath. I knew there weren't any firearms in our box of weapons. Someone definitely played favorites.
"We need to get out of here as soon as possible." Nashita swallowed, her hands shaking."We're going to have to go off in groups. That's probably the only way to make more progress."