CHAPTER 7
Daniel POV
When the adults finally made it to West-Valley, half an hour had almost passed. Stupid L.A traffic had made the journey seem like it had lasted an eternity and when they finally made it, they charged out of their car to the swarm of panicking parents. They immediately pushed their way to the front of the group and they saw a policeman talking into his walkie talkie a few feet away. Running over to him, the policeman looked up and saw them, a pained expression on his face as he recognised the fact that they were parents' of kids in the building from their frantic expressions.
"Sirs. Ma'ams. Please go back to the area where we asked all of the parents to wait." He asked them politely.
"What's going on, officer?" Daniel asked him. The officer sighed, clearly tired of repeating the same thing over and over again.
"I'm sorry but we can't disclose any information to parents yet. Just know that the LAPD are handling it with all of the resources we've got."
All four adults could easily tell that the policeman was withholding information.
"Officer, please. My daughter is in there!" Amanda begged. "If you have kids yourself then you would know how I'm feeling right. How excruciatingly painful it is to just sit and wait with no information about the situation. No way of knowing if my daughter is even still alive."
The policeman looked down for several moments and eventually gritted his teeth and looked back at them, resigned to tell them what was going on.
"Look, ma'am, we really do not have that much to go on right now. As of right now, four students are confirmed to be down right now, with around 3 more unconfirmed. We don't have the names of these students yet. The shooter's name is Michael Barnes. That's all we know at this time. We don't know what his connection is to the school. Why he's here. I'm really sorry."
After the officer said the name, Daniel didn't hear anything else. His face blanched in horror as he immediately recognised the name of the most ruthless Cobra Kai student and sensei ever. The man who made Kreese seem like a pussycat. Even after the policeman was done talking, Carmen - who like Amanda had no clue who Barnes was - could tell that the policeman was still withholding something.
"Officer, there's something else, isn't there?" Carmen asked. The policeman sighed and nodded.
"Yeah, there is." He eventually admitted. "We do know a little bit more information. Mr. Barnes was apparently the former Sensei of the Cobra Kai dojo in Reseda, a dojo that according to one of the parents, officially closed down this morning. This parent also informed us that another dojo named Miyagi-Do beat Cobra Kai in some contest over the weekend. A couple of minutes ago, our machinery was able to pick up a message that Mr. Barnes released to the school through the intercom system. Apparently, he has taken around 30 student hostages to the school's music room, hostages that he has promised to let go on the condition that all Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do students meet him there and get themselves executed. They are the targets, the only students Barnes will go after. So your children will most likely not be targeted."
Daniel, who had turned pale as a ghost and felt like he was about to throw up, shook his head and croaked…
"Not quite."
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Robby POV
The 6 teenagers didn't speak for a long time. Robby's whole body felt numb. He couldn't bring himself to move. The shock of his situation still hadn't truly sunk in. He was going to die that day, plain and simple. He knew that there was always a small chance this would happen from the second an unidentified shooter walked into the school, but the probability had gone from less than 1% to 100% really fast. In a matter of days, he was going to be in a casket, being buried into the ground in a coffin carried by loved ones. But wait… what loved ones? His mom and who else? He had pushed away Johnny, the Larussos and everyone else in his life for 17 whole years and it all led to this: he was going to die being loved by almost no one. In a few years, no one would even remember his name.
His eyes darted around the group and locked on Miguel and he scowled. While no one would remember Robby Keene, everyone would remember Miguel Diaz for the rest of their lives. Miguel was the mold of what Robby was supposed to be: a warm member of a family; Sam's loving boyfriend; an intelligent, hard-working, high-achieving student in school; and Johnny's perseverant, loyal first ever Karate student. Was Robby seriously jealous of Miguel right now? If someone told him that he would be feeling this way right now 24 hours ago, he would have laughed. He never in a million years would have thought that he would be wishing to be more like Miguel Diaz. The boy who he had been locked in a ruthless rivalry with for the past year.
As Robby looked around the room again and again, his eyes going around like helicopter blades in his shock, he noticed that Miguel was definitely one of the more devastated about what was going on. Hawk, Robby, Kyler and Tory were clearly hiding their terrified, distraught emotions, but Demetri and Miguel didn't bother with it, their faces not at all masking their worry. Miguel had tried to text Sam but as he expected, she wasn't answering her phone at that very moment. Robby watched as Miguel eventually tossed his phone aside and reached into his shirt to grab something. Raising an eyebrow in confusion, Robby saw Miguel pull out a thin, discreet gold chain from around his neck, but Robby's face quickly filled with realisation as he noticed a gold cross on the end of it. Miguel then closed his eyes and started murmuring something quietly in Spanish, presumably some kind of prayer.
After a few moments of watching Miguel, intrigued, Robby decided to finally speak up.
"Hey, Miguel?" He asked. Miguel's head shot up, and Robby caught a glance of the tears that were slowly trickling down his cheeks.
"Yeah, what?" Miguel mumbled, not in any kind of harsh tone, but a quiet, defeated one.
"Do you believe in it?" Robby questioned. Miguel's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"Huh?"
"You know, God? Heaven? Hell? All of that. Do you believe it's all true?" Robby asked. Miguel nodded.
"Yeah, I… I do." He replied.
"Doesn't it seem a bit far-fetched though?" Tory asked, joining in the conversation. Miguel shrugged.
"No more far-fetched to me than a deranged former-karate sensei storming the school and killing a bunch of innocent students to get revenge on 10 teenagers for winning a Karate tournament." Miguel remarked in reply. "And besides, it's kind of reassuring to believe that there's something else up there."
"Still. Heaven and Hell seem so unrealistic." Tory commented. Miguel nodded.
"Yeah, you're right. That's why I'm not sure I believe in everything that happens after death according to churches. Like why should sinners be punished in hell for eternity for the sins of just a short 80 year life? And why can't those who regret what they did bad on Earth make their way from Heaven to Hell?"
"Exactly! So you don't believe in it?" Robby interjected. Miguel shook his head.
"I didn't say that." Miguel murmured. "I want to believe that Heaven exists. Not necessarily for me, but for those dealt a much shittier hand in life than I was. Not just for those children in like the poorest areas of the world who die from dehydration and disease. But also for people like… well, people like the two of you to be honest. I want there to be a time when you, Tory, can life freely without having to worry about working 3 jobs to pay for your mom's medical bills and rent and all of that stuff. And where Robby, you can take as long as you need - centuries if you have to - to get over your anger towards Johnny without ever having to worry about a ticking clock. That's the Heaven I believe in."
The fact that Miguel was actually speaking nice things about them took Robby and Tory by surprise, and they had to pick up their jaws slightly. Miguel noticed and had to hold himself back from rolling his eyes. He was going to die in less than an hour. Might as well be honest now. He didn't hate any of them. He hated Barnes, who was going to stop him from ever seeing his family again. He hated whoever turned Barnes into the monster he became. But he didn't hate Robby and Tory, who were in the exact same boat as him.
Robby still looked slightly unsure of Miguel's views of religion and decided to speak up again. He knew that he was about to die so might as well ask whatever now, right?
"But Miguel, and I mean this with all due respect and no offense intended, if God really does exist, isn't he kind of a jerk? Like he's supposed to be the most generous, the most giving, and yet he puts all of us in this situation. Doesn't sound very kind to me."
Miguel couldn't help but chuckle at this.
"Man, if I had a dollar for every time someone has asked me something like this." Miguel remarked. "Look, I personally don't believe that it's God's job to stop all of the bad. Humans will still do bad things to each other because unfortunately, that's just who we are. It's just God's job to give us the strength to get through it, even if that means dying. I can die with my head held high, believing that I was a relatively moral person. There is something waiting for me on the other side. Something hopefully better than this crappy Earth. And that's all I need to know."
There was another few moments of silence, before Miguel sighed and stood up.
"Well, good talk guys but I think we have to go. You guys ready?"
Hawk and Tory reluctantly stood up and both turned to look at Robby but Robby didn't. Instead, a look of determination flashed through his face. He had clenched his jaw so tightly that his teeth were practically grinding together, and his eyes sparked with a look the opposite to Miguel's. He had found the strength to get through the situation, just like Miguel had talked about.
"You know what? No, I'm not." Robby said. "I don't know about you guys but I'm not going out without a fight. We literally have nothing to lose, but we have everything to gain. Let's stop Barnes. All of us. Together. If all of us put aside our differences, I'm sure we could do it. So what do you say?"