The Trials of a Misunderstood Teenager | ✅

Chapter 20 - Senior year bleeding

"Oh, my God! There is someone in the school shooting," Casey cries out.

"No shit, genius," Micah says to her, but Casey just scowls.

"No, you jerk. My sister, oh God, she's a freshman. She says there is some guy in the hallway downstairs. He started shooting."

"How do you know this?" Uriah asks her curiously.

"She had a hall pass because she had to use the bathroom, when the guy came in. She is hiding in a closet and texted me to hide," Casey tells us, and starts crying.

By now, everyone started panicking, and Ms. Matthews, our teacher is trying to calm everyone down, while there are still gunshots heard. In the distance, we hear people scream, items fall down to the ground, and more shots fired. Based on the sound the weapon makes, I assume it's an automatic, but those are illegal. Who the hell is this guy?

"What do we do? We need to get out," Jenny shouts. She tries to run towards the door, but I go stand in front of it, blocking her exit. "Move! I need to get out!" she yells at me.

"Get back," I tell her calmly, but firm.

"You can't stop me," she yells again. I slap her hard, and she stumbles backwards.

"Now listen to me. We don't know what is going on. We don't know if it's a single shooter or not. We don't know where he is or what he wants. If we rush outside, we could run directly into him, and get killed. We need to stay put to not risk getting shot."

They look at me in disbelief, but as the gravity of the situation sets in, they nod their heads, and sit back down in their seats. The gun shots haven't seized this whole time, and I realize, that the longer we wait, more kids will get killed. I pull out my own phone, as I return to my seat, and look toward my friends. I signal them to come closer, so that I can ask them something.

"Do you all have the necklaces I gave you?" I ask them. When I gave them the necklaces that contain the same tech as mine, and hide an invisible force field that was designed to protect them, I explained what they were and why my friends should always wear them. Marlene and Uriah nod, but Lynn looks away ashamed.

"I left mine in my locker." Without a second thought, I take mine off, and put it around her own neck. "Tris, no," she protests.

"Yes. I have the nanobots injected in my body. Even if I get injured, they will quickly take care of the wound," I tell them confidently, but secretly hope it won't come to that. No amount of nanobots can fix a bullet wound in my head. They try to protest, but I shake my head.

"Lynn, we need to do something. We are the only ones who received some sort of combat training. We used to get these drills at FDR all the time. Only now, it's the real deal. Whoever this guy is, he means business. By the sheer amount of shots it's easy to tell he doesn't care who gets hurt. We need to act, and we need to act fast," I tell them urgently, and Lynn nods.

"What can we do?" Uriah asks.

"You do nothing. You stay put," I tell him seriously, but he shakes his head.

"Tris, you and Lynn are like my sisters, I won't let you risk your lives while I'm staying hidden in this classroom." I try to convince him to be reasonable, but Lynn signals that it is in vain. He'll come with us regardless of what we say.

"Fine, but you stay behind Lynn and me," I order him. He nods his head solemnly. "Listen up," I say, and everyone is looking at me. "Text everyone you can, and tell them to stay in the classroom or wherever they are. Tell them lock and barricade the door, and stay hidden until I come for them. If they can keep us posted, that would be great. Everyone needs to stay calm to avoid more people getting hurt. Do you understand?" I ask them and even I can hear the urgency in my voice.