"D-Do you know him?" Ella hesitantly asked the woman who hugged the body that fell from the rooftop just a while ago. She had to be kept away from the corpse and calmed down. Since they were also near the front as they couldn't leave Ally who was among those discussing what to do, it was she and Terrence who were tasked to stay with the woman and try to talk to her.
"H-He's my boyfriend. He also studied here but was one year ahead of us. He wasn't supposed to be here, but it was our first opportunity to meet after the quarantine..." The woman cried again and repeatedly wiped her cheek with her own hands. Terrence took the handkerchief from his pocket and silently handed it to her. "I was even angry because I thought he was fooling around or teasing me because he messaged me that he was the first to arrive here at St. Louie. But when I came here, he was nowhere. Then he stopped replying to my chats."
Biting her lower lip because she didn't know what to say, Ella just gently tapped the woman's back to express her sympathy. She sighed and looked up at Terrence, who also obviously looked feeling sorry for the woman. From their class representative, she again moved her gaze toward the front. Her eyes searched for her friend Ally, and she saw her quietly looking up at the top of the IT Building.
"That was really high," Ally commented, almost in a whisper, referring to the rooftop of the IT Building where they think the fallen body came from.
"Arkin's back."
Ally pulled her gaze from the rooftop when she heard Noah's voice beside her. She found the young man also looking at the rooftop so she looked up there again.
"There's no one on the rooftop. All that's left is a makeshift pole with a rope and an axe attached to a timer. The axe moved at exactly 8 AM and cut the rope, that's why the body fell." Noah turned to the young lady when he finished explaining.
Nodding, Ally met his eyes. "Can we go to CVMBS now?"
Noah's eyebrows furrowed again. "Why the hell are you rushing to go to CVMBS?"
"Like what the other guy said, we're being challenged," Ally simply answered. "I am challenged," she added, now showing motivation in her eyes.
"You're getting excited about this?"
Ally just casually nodded, causing Noah to just look at her again in mixed awe and confusion.
"His phone is beeping!" Hailey suddenly said out loud with her eyes fixated on the screen of the cell phone they got from the corpse. She stepped back when his girlfriend suddenly approached and took the cell phone.
The girlfriend knew the passcode and was able to open the cell phone. Her brows furrowed upon seeing the screen. She showed it to Kingsley, then at everyone who caught their breath as they looked at the timer that was only three minutes and two seconds down.
Everyone was still at a loss for words, not knowing what the timer is for and nervous if it counts down for their life, when Ally ran to the corpse. She ignored Noah's calls to her, even Kingsley's and Arkin's.
"The timer might be connected to a bomb and it might be inside him," Vince exclaimed when he realized that while watching Ally search the corpse and put her ear closer, to hear if there was anything inside it.
"What?!" Kingsley, Jerome, Arkin, and Noah asked almost simultaneously. The latter quickly ran to pull Ally away from the dead body.
"Are you out of your mind?!" Noah couldn't help but his voice. "What if something explode—"
"There's none," Ally said, cutting him. She looked at the former president of the student council who was also looking at her and Noah. "There's no bomb."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The silence was gone. Meanwhile, Noah closed his eyes tight and sighed, calming his self. "Alright, I get it that you're excited about this challenge, but stop rushing things and moving without thinking about it twice. There are so many of us here, you don't have to do everything by yourself. And don't get too close to the corpses just like that. What if there really is a bomb?"
"If I didn't get that close, we won't know that there's none."
Noah had lost count of how many times he had been taken aback by the young woman's words and way of talking. He held his forehead as he sighed, and looked into her eyes. "Are you not scared to die?"
Ally only looked at the young man for three seconds. After that, she turned her back on him and looked for Ella and Terrence.
Noah was left standing there as his shoulders slowly lowered. He couldn't believe the strange sparkle he saw in Ally's eyes. He didn't like that, and the feeling it gave him.
"One minute remaining in the timer!" Hailey announced, still standing by the woman holding the cell phone owned by the dead man.
"Hey, you!" Everybody looked at Vince when he spoke out loud. They were surprised to find him looking directly at Ally. "Let's go to CVMBS."
Ally just nodded and fixed the backpack she was wearing, then went on ahead. Vince quickly followed her.
"Wait!" Kingsley shouted as he ran next to the two. He didn't even have to ask, Vince started explaining when he got to their pace.
"There was a timer set for when that body falls from the rooftop. This timer might involve someone's life too, and that someone could be in CVMBS."
"And what if it's a bomb?"
"What if it's not?" Ally asked the former SC President back.
Everyone followed the three towards the college department which was quite a long distance from where they came from. Just as they caught sight of CVMBS, the timer on the cell phone ran out.
A loud explosion made everyone duck down.
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