𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫

𝟎𝟑𝟎

"Oh." Estela says, her eyes floating to Tyler. All of them still breathing hard, scared because of what was happening plus their own personal reasons. Tyler nods, trying to control his breathing. "It-it's just a drill." Estela says through a sniffle, trying to comfort the boy.

"That's what Maddie said. That you guys do these sometimes." The girl says, looking to Maddie. And the blonde only hopes that the boy doesn't tell her the truth. That their drills were nothing like this.

"Yeah." He says and tries to breathe in. "But this is the last place on Earth that I want to be at." Tyler says and Maddie's eyes widen, a whole new realization settling in on her. "Oh." Estela says, a small sniffle making it's way through. "I'm so sorry." Maddie says, a tear slipping down her cheek.

Charlie and Alex stay sitting on the floor while Tony sits up on his knees and puts the folded pictures of guns into his jacket. "He's our friend, Tony." Alex says in urgency, he felt both responsibility but also friendship for Tyler, and he was prepared to defend him as much as he possibly could. "I know that." Tony bites back through gritted teeth while he tries to think, none of it made sense either option could be the best or worst thing to do in that moment and he always hated being the one left to make those decisions.

Charlie speaks up as Tony stands up completely, the only body that could be seen above the tables. "We all want to believe that he's better and he's our friend, but what if we're wrong?" He asks, he normally speaks up for Tyler but he also felt sick to his stomach about this decision, what if they said nothing and someone lost their life because of their silence? "Exactly!" Tony says, wringing his hands out as he goes to walk into the other room but they hear a loud sound come from the hall making him stop and everyone else in the room jolt. "What was that?" Tony asks nobody in particular as he looks around, but before anyone can process what they've heard or even think of answering him there are multiple gunshots sounded throughout the building.

Curses can be heard throughout the room, everyone ducks closer together, Charlie scoots himself and Alex under the long computer desk and Tony swings himself low so he's also sitting with the other boys underneath the desktops. All that could be heard for a few moments was panicked breathing and crying but then Tong spoke. "Fuck this." He says, his chest rising faster than ever before. "I'm taking this stuff to Foundry right now." He says and starts to crawl out of the room and into the main section of the library where the staff member was sitting.

"What?" Alex says as he attempts to push himself out of his spot, only moving an inch before his whole body went ridged. "No!" He shouts in a hushed whisper. Charlie got out of his spot as well, unsure if he was going to help Alex stop Tony or help Tony but stopping Alex, however he doesn't have to make his decision because he notices that Alex hasn't moved from his spot. "Alex, are you okay?" He questions as his eyes leave Tony's moving figure and go to the still boy.

"I did this!" Alex says in a panicked breath as he looks around his surroundings. "Everyone's gonna die, and it's all my fault!" He says his shaking hands attempting to hold his mouth and this his chest but he fails at both and simply drops them to the cold tiled floor. "What? No." Charlie says, trying to keep his voice calm and he goes back into his spot next to Alex. "No! Tony was right!" Alex forces out as his voice cracks and squeaks more than ever before. "Maybe we could have stopped him! I fu-" He gasps. "I fucked this up like I fuck up everything!" He shouts, hitting the table above their heads before he starts wheezing uncontrollably, his whole body betraying him as it shakes.

"Alex?" Charlie asks, his voice sounding unnaturally calm. "I can't breathe." Alex says. "Uh..." Charlie says his eyes searching for something, anything, but he doesn't know what to say so he says the first thing his eyes land on. "Your hands! What do they feel like?" He asks, and Alex looks at him like he's lost his mind. "I don't fucking know! I think I'm dying!" He says, his voice growing louder and panicking the other students even more than they already are.