Unsung

Chapter Thirty-One

"Please take a minute and calm yourselves," Cain said, his voice even, despite the fact that he'd just been wrestling with one of his toughest students.

McKayla's mouth opened and then closed without producing any sound. I knew how she felt. I, myself, didn't know what to say.

Hell, I wasn't completely sure what had just happened.

"I'm sorry for the way this exercise had to be carried out," Cain said, looking into each of our faces apologetically. "But I needed you to learn first-hand why most people don't act heroically when the situation arises."

"That's bullshit and you know it, man," Ris spat. "I can think of about a million other ways you could've proven your little point."

He was angry. More angry than I'd ever seen him and that was saying a lot. But there was something else in his voice. Fear. He'd been scared by what we'd just been through.

Maybe Ris was human after all.

"You're correct. But none of them would've had the impact on you that this one did," Cain said carefully. "You won't be forgetting this lesson anytime soon."

"And the lesson is?" McKayla asked, her teeth gritted like she was fighting her desire to maim the man she claimed to be in love with.

"Just hear me out, Miss Murdoch," Cain said. The sound of him saying her name seemed to calm McKayla the tiniest bit. But the blaze of fury never left her eyes completely. Cain seemed to take this as an invitation to continue, and promptly turned to look at the rest of us. "All of you. Please hear me out."

We stood there silently, some of us too shocked to move, others curious to hear what he had to say. I wasn't sure which camp I fell into.

When Cain's eyes fell on mine, though, he didn't just glide over me. He stopped.

"Kida," he said, surprising me out of my stupor. "Why didn't you do anything to help Phil, here?"

So, zombie guy's name was Phil, huh? I looked at him and he waved at me jovially. I didn't wave back. I did, however, consider giving him the finger, but discovered that most of me was still frozen in place.

"I..." I started to speak, but seemed to choke on the word. Was Cain blaming me for not helping? And why was he singling me out, of all the people here?

"It's okay," Cain encouraged. "Please just say the first thing that comes to mind. Your answer won't be wrong."

I gulped and looked around at the others helplessly. Garrick still hadn't moved away from me. He wasn't holding onto me as tightly as he'd been before, but I could feel him beside me. If he hadn't been there, I wasn't sure I would've had the courage to answer.

"I...I figured someone else would do something to help," I admitted quietly, looking at the ground, not wanting to meet anyone else's eyes. "Everyone's been here longer than me, so I guess I thought they'd know better than I would, what to do."

I felt so ashamed. Here I was doing all this training to act like a hero, and now, during my first so-called test, I'd failed. Miserably.

"Exactly," Cain said, a hint of pride in his voice.

My eyes shot up at him. That hadn't been the reaction I'd expected. And by the look of it, the others hadn't either. They seemed just as dumbfounded and confused as I was.

"Mr. Moore," Cain turned to Ty, no longer focusing on me.

I breathed a little sigh of relief, but could still feel the others looking at me. Were they disappointed? Judging me? The thought left me feeling strangled, but I told myself I would deal with the fallout later. Instead, I was just grateful Cain was focusing on someone else.

"Why didn't you go get help?" Cain asked Ty, same as he had me.

For the first time, it seemed like Ty wasn't enjoying his time in the spotlight. He looked away from Cain, his mouth drawing into a thin line, and then looked up at the ceiling in defeat.

"I assumed someone else had heard or seen it, and help had been alerted. I didn't think..." Ty said and then let his words trail off.

"You didn't think it was your responsibility," Cain finished softly.

"I messed up," Ty said, shaking his head and dropping his chin to his chest.

You could hear the remorse in his voice, see it in the lines of his face. He felt just as badly as I did about not having done anything. In that moment, I actually thought about giving him a hug.

"What you're describing is called the Diffusion of Responsibility," Cain said, walking over and clapping Ty on his shoulder comfortingly. "It's a sociopsychological phenomenon that occurs where a person is less likely to take action in an emergency situation when others are present. And unfortunately, it's entirely too common. In fact, you all acted exactly as I suspected you would."

He'd expected us to fail? I grew momentarily angry. Why was Cain even bothering to train us if he had no faith in us? It seemed like a total waste of time and resources.

"When the diffusion of responsibility is in effect, the more people that are around, the less likely you will be to help someone in need. Either because you think you're less qualified to do what needs to be done, or because you assume that someone else has already done it," Cain explained. "This is sometimes also described as the Bystander Effect."

"Kitty Genovese," Ris said out loud.

We all looked over at him, confused.

"That's correct, Mr. Stevenson," Cain said.

When Ris noticed all of us staring at him blankly, he rolled his eyes and explained.

"Kitty Genovese was this NY chick back in the day, who was murdered in front of dozens of people," Ris said. "She was like, stabbed over the course of a half hour but nobody came to help her. Everyone thought someone else had called the police or would save her or something. So, since they were all complete asshats, she was just left there to die."

"That's awful," Sophia said, tears misting her eyes.

"Except we're the asshats here," McKayla whispered, no longer looking pissed but horrified.

"I wouldn't put it quite that way, Miss Murdoch," Cain said. "You were simply being human. It's been proven over decades that this is a common phenomenon. And despite the way I know you all feel right now, this experiment wasn't meant to make any of you feel badly. We orchestrated it to prove a point. Because that's what we do here: we teach you how to be heroes. To combat all the things standing in your way so that you can do what you're trained to do. You see? We had to do this to ensure that if you are ever in this situation again—or one like it—you will act. That time, and all the times after it. When it counts."

Cain was right. As awful as the experience had been, there was no way in hell any of us would ever forget it. Never again would we assume someone else would be jumping in to help. From here on out, each of us would leap to action.

"Again, I understand if this was upsetting to you," Cain said, addressing all of us again. "That's good. It should've been. But by putting you in real life situations, you will be much more likely to handle yourself out there. You'll learn to adapt to stressful conditions, fight through the panic and fear, and then act accordingly. And that will save someone's life someday. Maybe even your own. Humans respond. Heroes act."

We glanced around at each other, recognizing the same determined look on all of our faces.

We would be better, it seemed to say.

"Oh, and one more thing," Cain said, turning back around even as he began to walk away. "This isn't the last time you will be tested without warning. You should always be on alert. Assume that everything is a test and that we expect you to act the way a hero would. Just because something happens outside of these four walls, doesn't mean you don't have a responsibility to do something. You do. You always do. So, be at the ready. Anywhere. Anytime. A hero rarely gets a heads up that tragedy's about to strike."