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Chapter Twenty-One: Try or Die

All eight of them were crammed into the coach's office, which only had one window on the door. The office was located in back of the Boy's Locker Room. Some of them were still wearing their gym shorts and t-shirts. They all hunkered down to avoid the sight of the door window. Outside they could hear the occasional unloading of what sounded like a machine gun. Sometimes these sounds seemed like they were moving farther away, and other times they sounded gradually louder and coming closer.

Alex was kneeling in a corner. Only a little more than an hour ago, he was getting ready for gym class and trying to steal a few sneak peeks when the sirens went off. At first, along with the others with him, he thought it was an inconvenient fire drill. Then there was the sound of explosions and gunfire coming from the gymnasium. So he followed a group of boys into the coach's office.

Looking around, Alex saw a collage of petrified teenagers from ages fourteen to eighteen. Some were sobbing, others were praying. Most only sat there, face in their hands and elbows on their knees, just waiting. Waiting for help or waiting for death. It did not matter, so long as nothing happened. So long as they were still just waiting.

Suddenly, there was the cackling sound of bullets being fired and of a guy laughing hysterically. She was in the locker room.

"Get down..." sparked Mark, a cocker spaniel, with all the authority he could muster without shouting. Everyone obeyed. Alex lay on the floor, his hands covering his head and grabbing onto his fur.

Fuck!

As the gunfire and the shooter's laughter grew louder, Alex could only think about how worthless he felt.

I'm gonna die here...alone.

He could only face up to the reality that he lied himself away for so long: he was nobody. That guilt is what made death so dreadful.

"Guys!" whispered the voice of a young fifteen year old rabbit who was ducking under the desk, "Guys! Look what I found." The rabbit held up a revolver, "it was in the bottom drawer."

"Is it loaded?" asked Mark.

"No, but the bullets are here."

"Give it to me," demanded Mark, with a voice that derived its authority from the age and size of its owner. The small rabbit quickly complied. As the gun was passed, another round of fire burst out with the sound of striking metal. The bullets were now hitting the lockers.

Fuck!

When the round ended, Mark sat up, "Kid, grab me some bullets." Again, the small rabbit complied. Mark looked around at everyone, eyeing each with a sense of calculation.

"Ralph, Ron, Slug," Mark addressed the three biggest kids in the room, "He's getting closer. We'll wait till he unloads his next round. After that, we go around the locker rows and find him. I'll shoot him and you three tackle him. Break his arms and his legs."

Then Mark turned to Luke, the otter sitting next to Alex, "Luke, I want you to take the rest and head for the exit. You'll have to run across the gym so you'll be out in the open, but it's the nearest exit. So go as fast as you can."

Luke nodded with determination. Mark then moved his eyes around the room, taking everybody into his sight. "We can either sit here and wait to die or we can die trying to save ourselves. Which do you want?" The room was silent, but the face of every person crammed into that small office gave the obvious rhetorical answer.