{¤¤¤¤Chapter Four: Nearly Escaped¤¤¤¤}

Charies Hopkins is known in her hometown for being a selfish, greedy kid. Growing up she realizes that she has a special gift. But this even made her self-absorbed and judgemental. 

All she wanted in life was awards, that she'll boast to everyone.

She whispered, "Tsk,"

Emily heard it. She has no idea what is going on. 

She just wants to go with her to team up. But she loses hope. Kind of People like Charies look hard to convince.

She was trembling, it is hard for her to take another step. Her brain was trying to force her not to scream nor run away, it will make her in the place of danger.

But she can't.

Emily has huge fears about strange things. She always screams every time she watches a horror movie, every second of it. Experiencing it now herself is even much more blood-curdling. 

Emily is a naive girl. Yet she had intelligence any genius has. That is the reason why she is here. She did not expect to see something like this, right in a school environment. 

She looked around and noticed that there were no afflicted kids nearby. She puffed in and sighed in relief.

She decided to stop there.

Little did she know that someone is approaching, coming closer.

Her eyes darkened as it looks like she can feel it coming closer.

She screamed.

Charies stopped in terror after hearing the scream. She trembled and turned her head to her back. 

Emily was laying her back on the floor, both of her hands cuffed. She was hesitating and looks at Charies. She mumbles a sentence, her eyes trying to say she needs help. Her mouth was drooling black liquid, her eyes crying black tears.

She twitched as she stares at her.

She fucking needs help.

It is too dangerous. Says her ego. Save yourself.

She crawls faster and closes her eyes so she won't look back.

Meanwhile in the Headmaster's office.

The headmaster sips his tea. He grinned.

"What an idiot." He laughs after.

A big screen stood in front of him, showing the scene of Charies crawling for her life. 

He picks up the remote beside his cupholder. He pushes buttons and the screen shows another scene.

The candles flickered and the wind blows. The windows opened and a leaf entered the office. He did not pay attention.

His entire mood changed. The light moved away from his face. His eyes glowed red as he glared.

“Coming without my permission, is that where you are only good at, Arleen?” He says her name and turns to her.

She is almost kneeling on the floor, hiding her gaze from the headmaster. Her uniform is full of stains, and she looked like she haven’t eaten for days.

She silently sobs.

Arleen is one of the top seniors in the class. She was close to the headmaster she’ll do anything for him. Which lead her to this.

“I’m sorry dear headmaster. Please let me explain-“  He interrupted her in the time where she is about to finish the last sentence.

“Who gave you the permission to speak?” He says and puts down his remote. He punched his desk. The whole room shook, and the tea had fallen from its cupholder. The tea spilled on the floor, staining the red carpet.

Her eyes filled with fear as he tries not to collapse on her knees. The headmaster is in bad mood. Or did she make him angry?

She heard footsteps that is coming to her.

Her long auburn hair was pulled by the headmaster. She looks up and met his gaze. His eyes met hers. His eyes are cursing her. She saw the veins in his forehead show up as he pulls her hair harder.

He whispered in her ear. “You useless whore, coming to my office like I ever need you.”

He gathered all his power and threw her against the wall. Paintings of the former headmasters had fallen from its holders. The impact made the wall crack. The wall looked so thick no hole can be seen.

His emotions changed.

Tears flowed from his eyes.

He sniffed. He ran to a painting that had fallen next to the girl. He hugged the painting.

“Forgive me, Father.” He hangs it back to its place.

He goes back to his seat as nothing happened. He wipes his tears and picks up the remote. He goes back to the scene, where he saw Charies crawling for her life. She was thriving, no ‘CHILD OF THE SOOT’ was following in her footsteps. The remaining kids that are left in the tenth row of the seats are following her.

Soot children have a small range of eyesight. What they see near them is pixelated, and when it is far away, it is pitch black.

He picks up the telephone and taps a number. Someone answered the call.

“You know what to do now, Evans.” He says in a serious tone.

“Understood, dear headmaster.” Says an unknown caller, maybe a senior. 

Charies panted. She can feel that someone is following her.

But there were dozens of them.

She stopped and turns around. The afflicted ones aren't moving at all. She saw some kids like her crawling and pouting. Like when a house is on fire, they have to stay low as possible. Soot particles are mixed with the smoke. She turns back to the gate. The gate stretches forever. When they came here, the gate was so close to the last row of seats. How come? 

She thought, Maybe crawling makes me slow. She turned to her back again. 

"Maybe it's okay to stand up and an now." She said. 

The soot children are far away now, and it will be safe - maybe.

She stands up and sprinted her way to what she thought, the path to the barricade gate. She saw the shadow of the gate. She smiled. She holds the chain to the lock and pulls it. At her back were the other children running and panting. 

They are finally free.

She scrambles the chains to find the lock. Her freedom depends on her hands. 

Luckily, the lock has the key in it. She twisted the key and sighed when it is finally open. She smiles once again as her sweat drips from her forehead. In her back were the children, celebrating as she does so.

She turns to them.

"Help me pull it open," she commanded.

She watches them open it together. Before a single light was let in, joy and glee were in their faces. They had no fear after seeing the barricade gates open and smell the scent of trees.

And corpses.

With the sound of a gunshot, their joy was gone.

Their faces filled with fear.

One of the survivors stood up and asked, "What was that?"

Charies replied. " A gunshot."

Upon her declaration, there was nothing but silence. 

The wind entered the gym.

The scent of blood entered her nose. 

"Blo-blood!" Another survivor screamed.

They turned around, and saw one of the survivors, lying on the floor, blood in its chest. 

Another gunshot was heard. Everyone started panicking and screaming, sprinting their way to the gate. 

But as they did so, each one was shot.

Charies managed to pass the gate.

She got to her knees and panted. She sighed in relief. She managed to get out. 

She stares back inside. 

Everyone was lying on the floor, blood staining their uniforms. She was terrified.

Her heartbeat pounds faster and faster, she can barely hear the sound of the birds. Sweat dripped from her forehead. She combs her black hair. She got up and turned to the circle where they waited to start the exam.

She never thought this will happen.

What a relief she survived.

She smiled, and then she felt something pierced inside her. She looks down, her chest was stained with blood. She touched her lips wet with fresh blood. 

She collapsed facing the floor. 

She nearly escaped.

LILY

She woke up as if she has just gotten up from a nap. She rubbed her eyes and turned around. She saw that no one here has normal eyes. All inky. Some were on the floor, some standing, asking themselves why they are here just to suffer.

She breathes in.

The cold air entered her lungs.

"Is it gone?" She said. 

She coughed. It isn't gone. The worm is still there. 

She got up and walked around. Test papers are on the floor, everything stained with soot. She looked up, her eyesight is pitch black far away.

She touched her back. A doll was poking her, and when she tried to touch it, the doll climbed to her shoulders.  It was holding a glasses and jumped onto her face to attach it. 

She blinks and corrects the position of the glasses. 

She looks up once more, and she can see the seniors, clearly.

The doll jumped back to her bag. She whispered to the doll. "Thank you."

It responded a blink and snuggled in the things inside the bag.

"What are they doing there?" She asked.

And someone responds from her back.

"They just killed the survivors." 

She turned and a boy, with black eyes like her, was in her back.

"Huh?" 

"I heard gunshots earlier yah know." He responded.

"How'd you know that they killed 'em?"  She asked once again.

"It's from our new leader." He said.

"New leader?" 

"That man who started it all." He chuckled after.

He coughed, and then told her. "You and me girl,"

"We are the ones who passed the test." He continued.

"Ho-how?" She asked. He seems irritated, but because he is a gentleman, he responds.

"We're the ones who survived the worm. The other ones who died failed." 

She did not move nor mutter any word. But he continues, so she will not be confused.

"We're about 20 who survived." 

She clenched her fists and grits her teeth.

"I'm backing out. I had enough of the monsters. I don't want to meet more." 

The boy smirked. "I'm afraid you can't. We're stuck here,"

And he continued with a stare that made her have heebie-jeebies.

"FOREVER."

-----from the author------

Glad you did not give up on her. Hope to see you in the next upcoming chapters!

Please be prepared, something is coming.

--ANNIE CHAN :0