CHAPTER 6
"Breaking News. An unidentified gunman has taken control of West Valley High School in Los Angeles, the site where earlier in the year, students ran rampant in a karate riot. All students have been forced into a lockdown and the number of casualties and fatalities so far is unconfirmed. Police are on site now. Stay tuned for more, folks."
Johnny POV
The four adults watched the TV in horror, all of them immobile in shock. Several moments later, Carmen was the first to react.
"Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God." Carmen murmured, tears springing into her eyes as she leapt to her feet, grabbing her handbag. "We need to get to the school NOW! No, we need to go home first so I can grab my gun! This man wants to go after my baby! I'll kill him, I swear to God I will!"
"Carmen, calm down." Johnny said, taking Carmen's hands and attempting to calm her down from her hysterical rant. In any other situation, he would laugh at how crazy his girlfriend's words were, but his face now was nothing but sombre. He had not one, but two children in that school, Miguel and Robby both at risk of being gunned down at any moment.
"What do we… What do we do?" Daniel stammered, at a loss for words in his astonishment and fear.
"I think… I think we go to the school right now like all of the other parents are." Amanda replied, as the four practically sprinted out of the restaurant, their bill laying unpaid on the table. None of them really cared at this point. Their only thought right now was about either Miguel, Robby or Sam, the parents of each respective child freaking out in their own right.
The adults dove into Daniel's car together, Daniel already having put the car in reverse and was speeding out of the restaurant. As he did, Johnny sat back in his seat, his head in his hands. There was a chance he would never see Miguel and Robby again, and Robby would have to go down to the grave thinking that Johnny didn't give a crap about him. THAT WAS NOT TRUE. Johnny loved Robby so much it physically hurt him to even think about the possibility that he would never see him again. Johnny's lack of a relationship with him for the first 16 years of his life was by far Johnny's biggest regret. He had scurried away like a rat and as someone with father issues himself, he didn't blame Robby at all for wanting nothing to do with him afterwards. Even after Johnny wanted to be a part of Robby's life, he had made mistake after mistake that had led Robby further and further away from him and into the manipulative clutches of Kreese. Constantly trying harder with Miguel than Robby because it was easier than trying to regain Robby's broken trust in him was one of his biggest fuckups in the past year. He wasn't going to feel guilty for loving Miguel - his first student, his girlfriend's son, and the boy who had almost single-handedly pulled him out of the emotional gutter multiple times - but he could've tried harder with Robby. He should've tried harder. And now he was terrified that it was too little too late.
As Daniel drove flat-out towards the school, zooming past every stop sign and traffic light without a second glance, Johnny turned to Amanda, who was sitting next to him in the middle row of the car.
"What do we do now?" He asked her, looking to her for guidance, instructions for what to do. He had spent the past year providing his students with any answers they required about Karate, but he truly had no clue about any of the answers about being a parent.
Amanda turned to face him and looked him right in the eye when she responded.
"Hope and pray…"
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Miguel POV
318… 319… 320…
Miguel silently counted the seconds since he had sent the message to Sam, his nerves rising like bile at the back of his throat with every passing moment. His heart was pounding so violently that he felt like it was about to leap out of his mouth. He could feel a mixture of both beads of sweat and tears rolling down his cheeks as he waited. And waited. And waited.
More and more seconds passed without any sign of a response, and all Miguel could think about was the worst situation: that one of the bullets that they had clearly heard being fired had buried itself in Sam and robbed her of her life. Miguel was a couple of seconds away from getting up again and making a break for the door when suddenly, he felt his phone vibrate.
Almost dropping it in shock, Miguel scrambled to grab his phone and he turned it on to read the words illuminated on the screen…
Unknown number: New Message
"Fuck." Miguel swore under his breath, his stress that had temporarily been alleviated returning in full fold. Who the hell was texting him right now? Probably some unaware scam text trying to weasel money out of him.
Miguel put down the phone and ignored the notification, however several minutes later, he had gotten four more messages from the same number. Each one causing him to leap in shock and think it's Sam, he was seriously annoyed now. He needed to tell whoever this was to fuck off. He opened the message thread and was prepared to write an angry reply when the messages caught his attention. His eyes widened when he read them…
(13:54) Unknown number: Miguel it's Sam
(13:54) Unknown number: I'm on Counsellor Blatt's phone right now. Still locked in her office rn. R u okay?
(13:56) Unknown number: Miguel?
(14:00) Unknown number: MIGUEL UR SCARING ME PLS ANSWERRRRR
Miguel immediately relaxed massively. He could feel most of his stress practically evaporate out of his body, leaving him exhausted more than anything else. He was still terrified about the situation, but a little less so now that he knew Sam was okay.
Upon reading the final frantic message, Miguel finally got over his shock and answered her.
(14:00) Miguel: Hey don't worry i'm fine
(14:01) Sam: WELL IF UR FINE U ANSWER YOUR FUCKING PHONE!
(14:01) Miguel: Sorry. Saw the unknown number and thought it was a scam message. Could say the same to u btw. What happened to ur phone?
(14:01) Sam: Phone died
(14:02) Miguel: Right. Well how are u doing?
(14:02) Sam: Could be better, could be worse. It's kinda scary being here alone. Having to be locked down with Blatt was worse tho so can't complain
(14:02) Miguel: Ur alone? What happened to Blatt?
(14:04) Sam: Um…
(14:06) Miguel: Sam?
(14:07) Sam: Okay, fine. Don't judge me ok!
(14:07) Miguel: Wait… u didn't throw her out into the corridor did u?
(14:07) Sam: WHAT NO! WHO DO YOU THINK I AM!
(14:08) Miguel: Haha sorry I had to ask! So what did u do?
(14:10) Sam: Well she was being rlly annoying and was panicking and was making sm noise and refused to let me use her phone to text u so I kinda quietly knocked her out. She's lying next to me rn
(14:10) Miguel: SAM!
(14:10) Sam: Sorry but what did u want me to do?
(14:11) Miguel: Eh fair play. Probably deserved it anyway lmao
(14:11) Sam: Yup. How r u doing btw? Can't be fun to be stuck with all those CKs
(14:12) Miguel: Fine I guess. Been tackled by Robby twice already so my back's hurting a ton but no actual fighting. Everyone's just ignoring each other
(14:12) Sam: Yeesh. What happened?
(14:14) Miguel: Long story. I'll tell u when we're outta this shit
(14:14) Sam: Um…. okay. Well see u soon I guess
(14:14) Miguel: Yeah, see u soon
At that moment, Miguel put down his phone and sat back, slightly more relaxed but still not completely satisfied. He still felt… regrets. The fact that he knew there was a chance he wouldn't make it out of this situation had made him more honest with himself, as he didn't want to have his ticket on earth punched while he still had regrets. So a couple of minutes later, he picked up his phone and turned it back on…
(14:17) Miguel: Hey Sam?
(14:18) Sam: Ye?
(14:19) Miguel: Look, u know how we might not be leaving this school?
(14:19) Sam: Well duh the cops have to arrest the psycho first. Gonna be at least an hour or two more
(14:20) Miguel: Not what I mean Sam and I think u know that.
(14:21) Miguel: Ur not stupid. U know we might not be walking out of here alive. Some psycho is roaming the halls with a gun and we don't have a fckg clue who it is, who they're gonna shoot next, and how long it'll be till the cops get them. And if I die today, that's fine, as long as I die with no regrets
(14:21) Sam: STOP TALKING LIKE THAT! UR NOT DYING FFS!
(14:21) Miguel: 'IF' Sam. IF the key word. If I die, I don't want to die with regrets
(14:26) Miguel: I know this is like the worst time and way to tell u this I'm rlly sorry bout that. But I'm not going to go out without you knowing how I feel about u. I just know that I wouldn't be able to rest easy without u knowing. Last year was one of the worst years of my life, but this year was definitely the best and I have you to thank for that. I love u Sam. And it's ok if u don't feel the same but I just thought you deserved to know. You know, in case smthg happens to either of us
(14:30) Sam: I love u too. So much. You make my life so much better in every conceivable way. I've known for a while and was going to tell u soon, but I guess no time like the present huh?
(14:30) Sam: But I'll say again NOTHING IS HAPPENING TO US! This is just a dumbass who had one too many drinks last night and has a grudge against high school students. We're going to be okay.
Almost as soon as Sam had sent that message, there was suddenly a loud ringing of microphone feedback as the intercom speakers that were connected to every classroom from the principal's office screeched on and a gruff male voice greeted them.
"Good afternoon, everyone!" The voice announced, confidently and loudly as if he was some kind of talk show host, not a deranged gunman who had invaded the school. "For those of you who don't know me, my name is Mike Barnes. Ever since I was 18, Cobra Kai has been my life. I was first a student, before being given the opportunity during the past year to be a sensei. To pass on my knowledge and wisdom to other students. And I taught these students to show no mercy. To never let your opponent win. And over the past 24 hours, I realised something: my enemies are not just the Miyagi-Do students who defeated the Cobra Kais in the All-Valley last weekend, but are also the Cobra Kai students who, despite all of me and my colleagues guidance, failed us and lost. I would be a hypocrite if I taught my students to do whatever necessary to come out on top, no matter the consequences, and then not follow that logic myself. So… I would like all Cobra Kai students and Miyagi-Do students in West Valley High to come to the music room in exactly 5 minutes to take their bullet."
Miguel, Robby, Tory, Hawk, Kyler and Demetri looked at each other in horror as they listened to the psychotic, murderous man basically announce that they were about to be killed.
"Um… so…" Robby mumbled, unable to find the words to express anything.
"Hold on! We don't have to go, right? I mean, he doesn't know we're in this classroom so he can't force us." Tory remarked.
As if on cue, the intercom rang once more as Barnes turned it back on.
"I forgot to mention something!" Barnes exclaimed, still speaking in that annoyingly cheery tone. "In the music room next door, I have 30 random innocent students in here. After the five minutes are up, every minute that I don't see a Cobra Kai or Miyagi-Do, I off one of them."
The way he said that so calmly made the Karate students begin to doubt that he was actually being serious. Until…
"Oh, and in case you don't believe me…" Barnes said, before a deafening BANG went off, followed by a sickening SPLAT as the bullet made contact, followed by a blood-curdling scream.
Everyone closed their eyes in horror as they knew what had happened: Barnes had just killed another innocent teenager.
"If all Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do students come, I give my word that I'll let these innocent teenagers go. See you guys soon! Don't be late!" Barnes said, before clicking off and hanging up the intercom. Once he was gone, the 6 terrified students turned to each other, all of them speechless in shock. Eventually, Miguel was the one to finally break the silence.
"So… I guess this is it." He remarked, drily. "You guys ready to die?"