"Can I go to CVMBS now?"
"W-Wait! Why would you go there?" Noah asked Ally. He was confused with how things suddenly turned out and with how the young lady seemed to be in a hurry.
"Because this is clearly a game and the first round rewarded us with the clue to where the next round is." It was Vince who answered, still smiling.
"Just calm down first and wait," Kingsley finally spoke again. He didn't even have to shout for everyone to listen to him. "Considering that CVMBS is really our destination, let's not forget that we weren't given a deadline. The time is on our hands. Let's not rush. We still have no idea about what is really happening but lives might be involved. We need to think this through and plan our every move."
"We're being challenged and nothing is on our hands," Vince argued, now in a serious tone and expression. "The voice called us engineers. He said he has high expectations for all of us. Don't you find it odd that out of ten colleges in St. Louie University, it's only us scheduled to come today? We're not even a whole college. Just the total of all engineering-related courses."
"I-I thought, they just couldn't accommodate us all last week?" Hailey's eyebrows furrowed. "Are you saying that this could be planned? That only us engineering graduates would be here today? T-Then this?"
Vince nodded, and his smile returned. He shifted his gaze to one of the young men with him near the whiteboard. "That brings up the question: why is an Information Technology student here with us today?"
Noah's forehead only creased when everyone looked at him. It was Arkin who spoke. "Are you suggesting that Noah has something to do with this shit?"
"Your words, Arkin. Not mine." Vince's smile turned into a grin. "Now that I think about it, you could be in on it too. You two are cousins, right?"
"You mutherfu—"
"Arkin!" Noah quickly pulled the young man who was about to attack Vince. The latter didn't even move though. Even his grin remained.
Kingsley had to take another deep breath. He closed his eyes for a second before speaking again. "Can we not point fingers? I was the one who asked Noah to help organize things today. I didn't bother asking younger officers as they are preparing for the new elections. Noah is a fresh graduate, like us, and he's available—that's why he's here with us today."
Vince's grin faded but he didn't say a word. He just shrugged his shoulders which made the former SC President sigh again.
"Help! Help!"
Almost at the same time, everyone turned to the four young men running towards them. Some were shocked, most were confused. They were puzzled as to why some of the young men who left to ask for help, are now running toward them.
A commotion erupted again when the four young men finally got close. It was only then that everyone saw that their clothes were stained, almost full of blood.
"What happened?!" Kingsley ran up to Jerome, one of the young men who had returned. Noah and Hailey also followed him immediately.
"The guards are dead!" was the first thing that the former MVP of basketball told them. He was catching his breath from both running and distress "There are no cars passing on the road outside. I don't know if the road is closed, but there is no one there."
"Does anybody have water?!" Hailey shouted while looking around.
"We tried to get out. It's like there's an invisible laser at the gate. I don't know! Fuck, I don't know!" Jerome held his own head, almost squishing it. "The others were pushing each other, wanting to get out to safety first. All of them who passed through the gate, their bodies were cut in half! They—They suddenly… Fuck!!"
Silence—that was what prevailed once again among the nearly two hundred graduates of St. Louie University's engineering programs. They have just been hit by the fact that their lives are in danger.
"No one can get out," Arkin said in annoyance. He looked back at Ally. "You, are you sure of the answer you got?"
The young lady just casually nodded. "Can I now go to CVMBS?"
"Just…just wait!" Noah said in an authoritative tone. He stepped closer to Ally and looked directly at her. "Let's not rush things and make haste decisions, okay? We don't even know what's waiting for us at CVMBS."
"Then let's find out."
Noah's lips parted as he could only stare at the pair of emotionless eyes in front of him. Just like that, he ran out of words to say.
Right from that moment, those orbs were carved inside Noah's mind. Even in the midst of a horrifying day that no one ever thought they would experience, he couldn't stop thinking of the first pair of eyes where he couldn't read anything. He wanted to know whatever reason there is for those eyes to have no emotions at all. And how even though there's nothing to be seen in there, looking at them makes him feel thousands of feelings.
"We've just learned about the gates. CVMBS might also be a trap," Kingsley said. "We're not going until we're not sure of what's in there."
Ally looked at the former president of the Student Council. "I'll find out."
"Wait!" Noah was about to stop the young lady who started to walk away when they heard a crash from behind them. Something seemed to have fallen from a very high place.
Everyone froze again. When they looked at the source of the crashing sound, they all screamed in horror.
"Fuck!" Noah and Arkin gasped almost at the same time and ran towards the body of an unknown man, just their age, that has just fallen from the rooftop.
"Prince!"
Everyone's attention turned to one of the female graduates, rushing towards the body. Many are crying because of fear but it seems that her cries are drawn from something else. They watched as she quickly knelt by the side of the corpse and then hugged it.
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