Sebastian sat up straight, clawing at his throat while gasping for breath, and then he stopped doing that when he realised that he was somehow sitting back in his seat, and his classmates were staring at him.
'They are all alive...'
Just trying to recall what happened moments ago sent shivers down his spine. His body seemed to freeze up and a light buzzing sound started assaulting his ears.
'Is this what actually happened four years ago?!'
'Everyone. Everyone in the class got slaughtered by a crazy school shooter.'
'All this time, I thought it was just a bus crash, but to think that they might have gone through this hell on earth before their last breaths...'
After forcibly calming himself down he tried to inspect his surroundings again...
[Attempt 1: Failure]
[Completion Rate: 50%]
[Reason for Failure: Death]
[This is your 2nd attempt]
... and then stared blankly at the new set of bloody words scrawled onto the blackboard.
Even after going through all that shit, the completion rate was only 50%
He turned to look at the wall clock hanging above it.
Sure enough, the time was 1:40 PM once again.
After patting himself down to make sure that there weren't any bullet holes, he couldn't help but sigh with emotion after finding himself perfectly untouched.
"Looks like… I am really not dead."
His body suddenly relaxed, letting go of all the accumulated tension when-
"You aren't dead yet, but you will be by the end of the day…"
"What!"
"Because once I crush you in the game 20 times in a row, you won't be able to tell the difference anyway!"
"What the hell is wrong with you Josh! Who made you this way? Why? Just why?"
"Chill dude!… I was just trying to calm you down. It looked like you suddenly woke up from some sort of nightmare or something."
Seb sighed to himself again.
After making the decision to ignore whatever came out of Josh's mouth, he decided to sort out his thoughts and decide on his subsequent plan of action.
Last time the shooter had arrived within 5 minutes… but why was the shooter here in the first place?
It was impossible to suppress the news of a school shooting and call it a bus crash. Then did this mean he was currently in some sort of 'what if?' scenario.
Perhaps he was just in some sort of simulation and none of this was real?
But… according to what Josh said last time, there couldn't have been a school trip in the first place… going by that logic the story of a bus crash indeed sounds like a cover-up.
In the first place, where did he even receive the information that his classmates had died in a bus crash?
The more Seb tried to figure out what was going on the more confused he got.
Sebastian found his eyes drifting to a specific sentence written on the board.
[Reason for Failure: Death]
He only failed because he had died.
So that means, if he didn't die, he would be able to clear this tutorial phase…
That means…
Seb looked at the faces of all his classmates around him.
Even though they were alive at this moment, in just a few minutes they would all be on the ground riddled with bullets.
Just remembering the hellish scenes from before made him want to puke.
They had all just gone to death and back, yet they were none the wiser about it.
Were they even capable of independent thought?
If this is a simulation none of them was real anyways.
So then, didn't that mean that he could just…
.
.
.
Sebastian stood up and walked towards Mrs Brown.
She pushed up her spectacles and questioned him "What is it Alaister?"
It was getting hard for him to sit in this classroom without going insane.
"I am not really feeling well, can I be excused to the sick room?"
His headache from earlier had relapsed and was growing stronger and stronger by the minute.
"There are just 20 minutes until school is over, can't you bear with it a little longer?"
It felt as if there was some loud construction work happening at the back of his head, that dulled his thoughts and slowly froze his body from the inside out.
"It's really bad Mrs Brown, I am starting to feel light-headed and think that I might just faint…ah... the pain..."
"..."
"..."
"What are you? Some sort of fragile little princess…"
"…"
"…Fine, I guess. You do seem a bit pale. Do you need someone's help to take you to the infirmary?"
Seb paused for a second, unsure if it was wise to bring somebody along.
"ME! PICK ME!" Josh's ever-enthusiastic voice boomed from the last row.
However, Seb had already come to a decision. He would not let any annoying distractions interfere with it.
Seb didn't want a repeat of last time.
He didn't want to sit and watch his classmates get mowed down by a crazy lunatic, while his body refused to cooperate.
Is this what 'It gets harder with each attempt' means?
All the goddamn trauma stacking up over and over again like some leaning tower of despair.
"No… I will be fine on my own, Ma'am"
This was also something he could only do on his own.
He couldn't afford to sit around.
"Ok, you can take your stuff and just stay there till the bell rings. I am just allowing it as this is the first time you have ever requested for something like this."
The shooting would start at 1:45 if these attempts were consistent at all…
"Thank you, I am really sick this time, otherwise I wouldn't have asked."
… and Sebastian didn't want to be in the classroom when that happened.
.
.
.
With that out of the way, Sebastian walked out of the classroom and into the hallway.
Right in front of him was the classroom that was hit before them. The door was left open, and the students were busy messing around with each other. It seems like there were no teachers left to supervise them. Self-discipline? What's that? Can it be eaten?
No wonder the shooter only took 5 minutes to finish them off…
Shaking his head to drive away the grim thoughts, Seb took a glimpse at the clock before returning to deal with the situation at hand.
The time was 1:42. He only had a minute or two left before the shooter made his way up.
Now he just had to figure out which path the shooter took to get to their classroom…
.
.
.
And then go the other way…
That's right. Sebastian had zero intentions to stay and figure out a way to fight the shooter. Only a complete idiot would pick a fight with a lunatic carrying a gun, and Sebastian wasn't going to be one.
No, he was someone extremely smart, perhaps even a genius.
He wouldn't make such a rookie mistake.
Since all he needs to do is stay alive to clear the mission.
That is exactly what he would do.
Yes.
Sebastian Alaister had decided to run away.
The ship was going to sink anyway, might as well abandon it right?
...
Since the stairwell leading up to their floor was on the left. The killer probably came up from that way, and then started shooting up the classrooms closest to him.
Of course, there is no way Sebastian could accurately guess the actions of a psychopath, but people, in general, don't make things harder for themselves on purpose.
After reassuring himself of his decision and giving one last parting look at his classroom door, Seb shot off in the other direction.
He turned right at the T-junction in the hallway and made his way to another stairwell.
He was convinced that this was the right course of action.
He wasn't running away…
This was just a strategic retreat.
He would go seek help and bring back reinforcements.
After all, even in aeroplanes, you wear your own oxygen mask first before assisting others.
Even if the reinforcements were a little late…
… it's just a simulation, right?
None of it will matter in the end.
Just as Sebastian reached the bottom of the stairwell, he saw a new piece of writing scrawl itself into existence on the wall next to him.
After all, how was it possible that purgatory had no failsafes in place to prevent people from just outright abandoning the trial?
[(WARNING!): Leaving the trial zone counts as a detraction from the original scenario!]
[(CAUTION!): The difficulty levels will be increased at exponential rates if the sinner detracts from the scenario!]
Was it Purgatory's way of telling him not to escape?
'Well, there's no way it could be worse than facing a psychotic school shooter.'
Thinking so, Sebastian defiantly smashed open the exit door and stepped out into the warning sun.
.
.
.
Sebastian came to a realization that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't as smart as he thought he was.
Because out there...
It was infinitely worse than facing a school shooter.