Morning assemblies are always a drag. You stand under the sun for some time and then you head to the class. I look around at the other classes. Students were chatting all over, some you could see even engaged with their phones even though the school rules specify that bringing mobile phones on-premises is prohibited.
"Remember not to break out of line. Let's take part in the assembly enthusiastically" Ichika's voice came from the front of the line. Speaking in the friendliest of tones she had an aura around her that made people quietly obey her.
Despite the burden she faces, she can always act like a model high school student. And that bubbly personality of hers just adds more to her charm. All of the students quickly fell in line again at her request.
Things were going as usual but out of nowhere, I got a strange feeling. A cold mark on the back of my neck. I turned around slowly in an inconspicuous manner but nothing was out of order. Taylor and Kelan who were right behind me were chatting and it didn't look like they noticed something.
"Was that feeling just an illusion or...?"
"You feel that too?" Alex said from my front
"Hmm?"
"The gaze upon us – do you feel that?"
"I do albeit faintly," I told him what I felt a second ago.
He didn't reply. A couple of seconds after this a message appeared on my phone (How hypocritical of me). It was from Ichika
[Ichika]: We have a situation
[Kelan]: What happened?
[Katie]: It is the person keeping an eye on us isn't it?
[Ichika]: Yeah
[Colin]: It has been fixed on us for a good couple of minutes. Ain't no one in the school, I am sure of that…sneaky little shit.
[Taylor]: Is someone keeping an eye on us!?
[Tim]: Who is it?
[Colin]: We wouldn't be talking here if we knew, moron.
As I saw that text, I quietly noticed Tim close his phone and keep it in. his attempts at talking to people have been squashed repeatedly. But in my opinion, it was typical of Colin.
[Trystan]: Could these be the authorities?
[Christine]: No way!!
[Kelan]: Oh god!
[Taylor]: You've got to be kidding me.
No way that is the case right? I mean how the hell could that happen?
I wanted to say that but the list of suspects isn't long. Why would anyone we do not know want to keep an eye on us?
Just in the last couple of seconds, the mood here had shifted completely by 180.
[Jason]: Okay wait. Do not jump to any conclusions
[Joseph]: Yeah. At this point, we don't know who is visiting us. And wouldn't it be too early for them to just narrow everything down to us
[Alex]: If it is what you say, then who else do you think is keeping an eye on us?
[Ichika]: I checked that just now...this guy is Mason. He works at the DoD.
[Colin]: We're screwed, aren't we?
Mason... the guy who was there when I fought those demons. What is he doing here? Shit! Did he follow me here!?
[Alex]: Unbelievable.
[Trystan]: How did they even find us this fast?
[Colin]: Is it because of what happened in that red chick's team?
[Ichika]: Did they follow Christine here?
From here I could hear Christine take a sharp breath. She was not in a good mental state now. This isn't good.
[Katie]: No way they could have seen her, and just come here all of a sudden today.
[Kelan]: Are we going to get caught!?
[Phil]: No way dude! I don't want to die like this.
[Pranav]: Kelan, you shut the hell up!!
Are we going to die like this? They're here, right? No matter how hard I tried this thought wouldn't leave my mind. Fear won't leave me.
Either they are here for me or they're here for Christine. Both ways we die. All of us.
The Instructor is not going to show any mercy.
The survivors were going through a turmoil of emotions. A single visit from the authorities was enough to rile them up like this.
Eric isn't capable of handling these situations in general but this one is where he thought that he was at fault for his encounter with Mason while fighting demons.
The majority of these teenagers were acting in the strangest of ways, understandable because for them getting caught in a place like this was no different from death.
Those were the rules of this assignment. The information regarding it must not be leaked to any outsider. This just kept popping up in the mind of every person who was there preventing them from thinking straight.
Every person except one.
"Quiet down everyone!" Ichika shouted to her class.
Everyone looked at her, the people she addressed, and even others who were irrelevant.
For those who were not in this class, this was a perplexing situation, after all, class 1A wasn't talking.
"What happened, Ichika?" Gary asked her. As a normal person, he would have no idea of anything happening to his students.
Even the teachers of other classes were taken a bit aback by this.
"Nothing. I saw someone talking and I told them to be quiet. Sorry for speaking out loud," she bowed a bit to apologize. Gary turned away.
Ichika took it upon herself to bail everyone out of panic. The point of this was to distract everyone from the chat and have them snap out of their anxiety for a moment.
She immediately typed up a message for everyone
[Ichika]: At this point, all we know is that people from the DoD are here to visit us. Whether this means that they have caught us in our activities is an entirely different thing.
[Pranav]: How's that even true? If not for that, why would they be here?
[Ichika]: If they know for sure it is us then why are they just watching? Why aren't they moving in to catch us? Aren't we outlaws?
She aimed to have them snap out of their anxiety and force them to find a method to tackle this situation.
[Katie]: That would indeed be true
[Alex]: Then why is he here?
[Ichika]: The worst case would be if he actually suspects us and is here to inspect us.
[Kelan]: Why and how are we under examination?
[Ichika]: The only time we may have left a trail behind is when Christine's disguise was seen through during the mission.
[Katie]: Apart from the possibility of them following us in one of our missions also exists
[Jason]: I don't think the second one is likely.
[Courtney]: Didn't we spend an awful lot of time trying to figure out movement routes where we can slip through easily?
[Taylor]: We did. And whenever a team is on a mission, they check the routes properly to make sure the required conditions have been met.
A discussion had begun addressing the reason why would they be inspected in the first place. Before going on a mission, a team thoroughly spends time determining a way through to the mission where the chances of them getting caught in the surveillance cameras would be minimum.
[Colin]: None of the teams had any reports of diverting from the pre-defined routes. I think we can take this out.
[Joseph]: So the only possible way they can narrow down the investigation to us is because of what happened with Christine?
Christine's small mistake was seen as an emerging reason for the investigation being narrowed down to the survivors. One person however was still in an internal battle.
'If I tell them…I'll be taking responsibility but if not there's probably an innocent person who might get killed today.
He was surrounded by his guilt. Would he let someone else take the responsibility for the crime he's committed?
His memory flashed, he'd been through this before. When the monster had taken over.
He just stood there, looking down as all voices drowned for him.
While people were mostly focussing on their phones and keeping up with the chat, Ichika did not miss this behavior being put on display by Eric.
"What's wrong, Eric?"
She did not wait to ask him up-front.
"I..."
Not being able to keep it in, Eric finally decided to tell everyone about his encounter with Mason and everything else that had happened.
Everyone was baffled at this new information being released in the wake of an incoming crisis and clearly, it showed.
[Joseph]: You've got to be kidding me right!?
[Pranav]: He hid that from us all this time?
[Courtney]: What the hell do you think you were doing!? Fighting like that in front of authorities, they're going to nab us for that
The animosity here was understandable. 47 made a mistake by not telling others what he had been through.
Kelan and Taylor did try and defend his actions by arguing that it was for self-defense but they were quickly shot down. The fact still stands that 47 did not inform others.
Ichika was speechless.
"Hey what do we do now?" Unable to keep it in, Annie asked that question, wringing her hands.
She couldn't help but seek. No one muttered a word for the next minute.
It was as if they were at a funeral. Their own funeral.
[Colin]: Put two and two together you know why they're here
[Kelan]: I don't get it. Just because someone was spotted in a fight doesn't mean they are the masked people, right?
[Katie]: It is because we cannot deny that they don't know anything about Christine.
[Trystan]: Are these two most likely the subjects of investigation?
[Alex]: If Christine wasn't seen, it won't be much of an issue. But if she was...we're all at death's doorstep.
[Courtney]: Assuming that they are here for the two of them, under what conditions will the rest of us will be targeted
[Jason]: Two suspects from the same school puts us all under suspicion. I believe these are enough grounds for interrogating all of us
[Taylor]: If it is just interrogation, we'll be fine right? We can lie to get through it and all.
[Phil]: Yeah. We just need to have our stories straight.
[Colin]: You dumbasses! They aren't here for interrogation in the first place.
The real reason behind the investigation is not for their missions, but for something else.
"The flux guns are here...in the school" These words of worry escaped Katie's mouth almost immediately.
"Oh no!" Taylor muttered under his breath.
The guns were kept here by these students for one reason. In case of emergency, they might need them at a moment's notice. Moreover keeping them apart might lead to a situation where they could be discovered by someone else.
If Christine was not seen, then it wouldn't be a problem. But if she was, it was enough grounds for suspicion for them to spy on these students. If that happened, the flux guns will be found. That would be a fight to the death for all of them.
"No matter what happens, we cannot be caught," said Katie. What she said was obvious, but she was immersed in panic enough to say that out loud for everyone to think the same.
"I don't know about you, I certainly won't get caught," Colin said as he chuckled. The fight hadn't begun, but it was imminent.
It is at this moment that the reality of the situation dawned upon all of them.
If anyone is caught and confesses something, that would be the end for them, not for others.
Kelan bit his nails and scratched his head, putting his blatant anxiety on display.
Everyone is tensed at the worst-case scenario of all the progress being lost just like that. A state of panic covers all the survivors.
"Can't we just like...get away… from all… of this?" Christine said. She was almost in tears, her voice breaking in the middle.
"We wouldn't be doing this in the first place if we could," said Joseph, speaking for everyone.
These kids have been through this before, a feeling of impending doom as they watched many others fall to the ground by their side.
But no matter how many times this feeling came, they never got used to it. Always fearing the case when it will be their time to fall.
In these moments, you find it hard to pass the responsibility to anyone else but there are still some willingly accepting it, to make sure they move forward at all costs.
"If it has come here, then so be it," said Ichika, "we are getting through this, no matter what."
She planned on resolving this, no matter what methods she had to use.
"Wake up people," said Colin.
"On your guard people, the situation is severe. Try not to look suspicious and look around for any people you think might be watching us from the back," said Katie.
They talked in a low voice, not addressing through the text but through their firm, determined voice. A sign that these guys still stand strong.
"So, what's the plan?" Alex asked.
"Phil and Annie, you two make an excuse to go to the restroom and check the place where we hide the Flux guns. The morning ceremony will be over in a minute, be back by then. Make sure you are not seen by anyone that we suspect might be there. Go now. If you're back in time we assume everything's fine. If you suspect something is up then stay there hidden from them," Ichika said.
The two people who were instructed followed orders without a hitch, trusting their leader. They left immediately.
The countdown had begun.
"If they do not return by the time ceremony is complete, we walk. Slowly to the entrance of the building and as soon as we reach it, accelerate to your limits. We take the Flux guns, and then we find a way out of this. My team takes the first route," said Ichika.
TEN…
"My team will take the second route," said Katie.
"Mine will take third," said Alex.
The three team leaders chose to fight their way out of it together.
NINE…
Colin, however, did not speak to confirm his intentions. In fact, his next words brought further chaos.
"If we break into a fight, we use 47 and 246 as bait," he said, referring to Eric and Christine respectively.
47's hands dropped to his side. Christine was too shocked to shout or cry. She just stood there, mouth slackened and eyes widened.
The hammer had been dropped.
EIGHT…
Everyone openly stared at the orator of this judgment, who stood there maintaining his strong posture.
"Are…you…shitting…me?" Katie grunted angrily.
SEVEN…
Christine whimpered, 47 stood there, his gaze fell on sand, and eyes unable to blink anymore.
Ichika's posture slacked and her hand became loose. She was out of words.
"You heard me," Colin said.
SIX…
"What makes you think you can make decisions for my team member?" Katie asked.
"That's the rule, isn't it? 47 and Christine have to take responsibility," Colin said.
Their unauthorized actions led to this situation, in a normal situation…passing them the responsibility should be the go-to reaction but everyone is occupied with the idea of their potential death.
FIVE…
"He's right," said Trystan.
"Your murder boner must be kicking in right about now, eh?" Colin smiled in amusement, looking at Trystan.
"Shut it! If you intend to make a sacrifice out of them, I'll stop you!" Katie declared.
FOUR…
"Your argument has no basis, what Colin said is the rule, isn't it?" Alex asked, surprise apparent in his voice.
"It is a team leader's responsibility that they protect their members," Katie said as a matter of fact.
"What do you say, Ichika?" Asked Colin, drawing the only team leader who had not weighed into this argument.
Ichika stood there, her gaze on the front where she sent Phil and Annie, making sure she doesn't miss them if they come back. Without even looking back,
"Morals and personal feelings come after the rules," Ichika said what she thought.
THREE…
With the judgment here, everything was set in stone. It was quite possibly the end of the road for two more survivors.
"What?" Katie stood bewildered.
"The rules come first," Ichika said, firmly this time.
TWO…
The wind blew past everyone, bringing a strange eerie feeling. They were able to recognize it.
Fate can change drastically in a matter of moments. Anything and everything you see in front is a mere illusion, as fate holds no certainty in it.
Just like the screening, they stood astounded before the inevitable calamity. Only this time there was no incredulity…just acceptance.
ONE…
The bell rang and the students of Iven high rejoiced at the end of the morning assembly. This, unfortunately, did not extend to the survivors as their worst fears had apparently been realized.
Phil and Annie were not there.
"Walk."