Another day. This time, the alarm clock didn't go off, most likely a bad omen. Kitai rushed to get ready for school, barely making the bus. "Sigh... stupid alarm. Why didn't it go off?" If only that would be his only worry for the day.
Homeroom had started when he got to school; the bus had taken thirty minutes longer than it usually did on its route because of the accident that happened on a local street. Then the announcements came on.
"As a reminder, today is a half day, to make time for the parent-teacher conferences today..."
"Great... now my parents can see my crappy grades..." Kitai wandered off in his mind. The announcements never meant anything for him. He didn' participate in any afterschool activities or clubs, and he didn't do any sports because he wasn't the athletic type. All he would ever do was go home, and talk to his online friends. Quite the boring and dull life, but it had never gotten to him before.
The announcements were just about to finish, breaking him away from his train of thought. "Now, please report to your first-period classes."
Biology class, joy. Biology was one of Kitai's weak points, and he could never understand the concepts of the lessons. He would always have to study a bit more, which rarely happened. For some reason though, this period seemed different from all the previous Biology periods... something was odd about it. Something he could not point out. The idea confounded his mind, and he could not put his finger on it.
The teacher began one of her ongoing lectures about Biology. How could she be so interested in a topic that Kitai found so... boring?
"And so, the diploid organism is represented by the symbol 2n, which means it has 2 pairs of chromosomes." stated the teacher. And then begun the monotony of his life in school. Kitai looked out the window and began thinking of what life would be like if he lived in Arizona... with Rea.
Meanwhile, three black Hummers drove into the school parking lot, breaking down the iron fence. Fourteen men walked out, each armed with an AK-47 assault rifle.
Kitai looked out the window, bored. His eyes laid a gaze upon the group. Then Kitai's eyes met the tallest of the group's eyes, Vertigo. They stared at each other, even though neither of them met before, until the teacher asked him to answer the next question.
Kitai immediately shot up. He looked down on his textbook, and did not see where they were. "Uhm, I... don't know where we are."
The teacher rolled her eyes while the class giggled.
"Then sit down, and pay more attention." she ordered.
Kitai sat back down, and looked outside to check for the men. There was no one there anymore.
The suspicious men rushed toward the front entrance of the school, and the unattentive guard tried to pull his pistol out of his holster, but was incapicated before he could successfully shoot.
"Like taking candy from a baby..." mumbled one of them.
"Yea, this sure was a great idea. Who wouldn't want to pay a few million dollars to save a bunch of highly academic dorks anyway?" laughed another.
Someone threw a rock at one of the terrorists, hiting him in the back of the head. "Shaddup. This plan isn't flawless, you idiots should know that. This is the third try." Suddenly a tall, bulky figure entered the building. He seemed like a behemoth to the others in his group, a six foot, ten inch tall monster. He held a cigarette in his mouth, smoking away. The fourteen other men nodded in accordance. He pulled out the cigarette with his left hand. "Ok you dolts, we're gonna do it right this time, or someone's gonna have to answer to me. Ya got that?"
"Yessir!" they all replied.
The fourteen of them split up and scattered throughout the building, blocking of all non-emergency exits. One of them knocked out the secretaries, and locked the emergency exits electronically. No one was getting in or out; which would make it that much easier to protect. The leader went straight for the intercom system, ready to make his little State of the Union to his favorite little audience.
"Hello punks. This is your favorite terrorist leader, Vertigo. Pleasure to meetcha."
A wave of fear swept the entire school body. A terrorist? Attacking their school? Unheard of. Why would anyone attack a school in the middle of Delaware, a state that barely anyone cared about? Everyone gaped in horror, and were shocked to realize the truth.
"Oh, and don't worry. I'll take good care of ya." The message ended abdruptly.
No one in the building found anything to say. They were at a loss of words, and a great wave of fear swept over the school body. Terrorists ran into the rooms, collecting anything valuable, and they made sure to get every cellphone, along with the backpacks the students possessed.
"Heh... so very easy... now we just need to make the ransom call." Vertigo grinned an evil smirk. He was waiting for this moment. There were approximately nine hundered students in this school. If he could get ten thousand dollars per student, that would be nine million smackers. Nine million. He could already tell how he would spend that nine million. Of course, being a greedy bastard, he could easily demand for more. Maybe even one hundred thuosand dollars per student. That would make it ninety billion. Ninety billion. Those two words alone resonated in his mind, he loved the sound of those words. Ninety billion.
An hour had passed. No one said anything. No one could say anything. They were still too scared. And even if they weren't, there would be nothing to say. Fear was still control of the minds of all of the students. If they did something, they could get shot for it. Plain and simple. No way could they do anything about that.
One of the mobsters came upstairs to pick up the prettiest girl, one of those ditsy blondes that any man would want to save. It was a perfect plan. Get one of those blondes to advertise how well you've held up the school. She'll cry and scream for her daddy. How perfect. They picked a girl named Loretta.
Kitai heard Loretta scream as she yelled out in the hall.
"I don't want to! I don't want to help you idiots!" she screamed. Everyone looked down, sad, as they were scared to do anything.
"Shut up." the man smacked her in the back of the head to silence the screams. Loretta began to cry. She passed the room Kitai was in.
His eyes met hers. The sadness filled in Loretta's eyes gave Kitai the courage to do something bold, daring, courageous and yet stupid at the same time.
After a good half hour or so, Kitai pulled out a manga from his side pocket. It was entitled "Tsubasa," one of his more favorable mangas. It featured an interesting storyline, romance, and flashy fight scenes. One of the patrolling terrorists out in the hall caught this, and approached Kitai, who was still sitting down.
"You there, where the hell did you get that?" he inquired.
"Me?"
"Who else would I be talking to, you idiot?"
"Oh, sorry. I'm reading a manga. Tsubasa. Its basically a Ja --"
"I don't care what the hell that damn thing is! Where did you get that!" the man was so mad that it seemed like one of his bulging veins in his forehead would pop at any moment.
"Oh, sorry. I'll put it away..." Kitai started to move, acting as if he was going to put the book back, but instead threw it straight up into the air.
The terrorist looked at the manga for a moment, then looked back down at the seat.
"What the... where'd he go?" the man looked to his sides, and saw no signs of Kitai.
"Behind you." Kitai whispered. Kitai had somehow managed to manuever around to the man's back, and threw a quick elbow to the spine. "That was easier than I thought it would be." The man fell, and smacked his head straight into the desk, as if he hadn't taken enough damage already.
The class just stared, stupified by the heroic act.
He motioned them to not say a word. "Everything will be all right."
Kitai picked up the dropped AK-47, and headed outside.
"Fourteen of them... I guess its time to test my luck." Kitai headed towards the door of his biology room carefully. He peaked his head out of the corner, looking left and right, just like a five-year old would when crossing traffic. "Oh boy, this is gonna fun."
He smiled an odd smile. Was Kitai enjoying this?
Kitai saw a shadow coming from the corner just a few feet away from the door. He quickly pulled his body back into the room, and once again, motioned for everyone to be quiet. The guard walked by, not noticing what had just happened. Then Kitai rushed him, the guard turned, but a moment too late, as Kitai already threw a lethal blow to the man's neck. He fell unconscious.
"Two done. Thirteen to go." a grin covered Kitai's face.
However, he was unaware that they apparently walked in pairs. Another man came walking into the hall.
"What the..." started the man.
He reared his gun. Kitai panicked. He couldn't shoot, that would alarm the other terrorists, and that was something he surely did not want to do. He had to do something though. Quickly, he threw his newly acquired rifle at the man's head, knocking him out. And just as swiftly, Kitai caught both rifles in mid-air, to make as little noise as possible. "Three down."
Kitai then dragged the bodies back into the Biology room, and requested that the bodies be "well taken care of." He rushed out of the room, this time to the left, but he ran stealthily to not attract attention. He saw two shadows nearing the corner. He pushed his back against the inner wall, his fists ready to throw a few firece jabs. Just as he saw the legs of the shadows, he leaped out in front of the two men, and threw a fearsome uppercut at the closer one's jaw, rendering him unconscious. The second groped for his knife, or any weapon at that. His rifle was strapped around his shoulders, and wouldn't be able to aim it fast enough. Kitai took this to his advantage and pulled on the rifle with both hands, bringing the man towards him. Then he let go with his right hand, and thrusted his elbow into the man's Solar Plexus, rendering him unconscious as well. "Five down."
Kitai noticed something about the group's defensive layout. If the terrorists were following a pattern, then there were two of them at each corner, accounting for eight of the fourteen men. Well, nine since he had taken care of the one in the Biology room. Six left... where would they be? The lobby maybe? Wait... no. He thought harder for a second. Where would you put your other men to strategically lockdown a building? The exits. They were more than likely guarding the exits for the building on the first floor. Counting the gym exit, the auditorium exit, the cafeteria exit, and the library exit all on the first floor, that would leave one of them. Vertigo was obviously in the office, guarding the lobby. That accounts for all of them.
But he didn't have any more time to think. Kitai heard a bulletshot stream towards him, and reacted with a quick dodge to the side. He looked up, realizeing that there were two men staring straight at him, both in a firing stance, ready to spray a deadly storm of lead.
Fifty nine bullets came storming through that once empty hall way, all aimed straight for Kitai. He looked for a way to escape, but there was none; no doors to run behind, no lockers to cover him. It was just him, the wall, and the oncoming storm. Luckily though, he spotted a small gap in the bullet wall, and he advanced to try and test whether or not he was truly lucky.
To the two men, he seemed like an insane little boy that wanted to die. Kitai was dashing straight for them, at full speed. And as soon as the bullets were a few feet away from crashing into his flesh, he dived for that small hole, his only hope. He dove for his life. The hole was not big enough though. Six bullets managed to make contact on his arms, and they ripped away bits of skin from his body. Kitai winced in a bit of pain, and tried to minimilize the damage by spinning out, which proved to help, but only a little.
The men were in shock. They didn't think the teen would make it out alive, so there guns weren't ready to empty another clip, but they tried to reload their guns with great fervor now, their hands shaking, trembling in sweat. They thought of what the boy was capable of, and that only worsened their ability to reload. Quickly, Kitai got up, still wincing in pain from the scratches, and managed to get to the men before they could reload. The two terrorists started to open their mouths, ready to scream, but nothing came out. They reached for their knives. Kitai wouldn't let them though, or at least the first one. Before he could fully unsheath his dagger, Kitai had already launched a high kick to his face. The other man turned his head to watch as his partner flew backwards from the attack, and managed his knife out. There was no one in front of them though. And once again, Kitai was behind his target.
"Try harder next time." Kitai threw a punch for this man as well, knocking him out much like the first six had been.
And then again, he heard that noise that embodied death for many. A man from the far hall was shooting at Kitai. Again, Kitai dodged the bullets, this time it was as if he were dancing to dodge the bullets. Kitai's body barely caught two more bullets, ripping his shirt right along the side. He did not noticed this scratch though, as the pain from the previous wounds overwhelmed the pain from these insignifcant shots. He managed to reach the man before he could reload, and his leg met the his victim's legs, in a sweeping action, causing the insurrectionist to fall backwards. Then another figure loomed over him from the side with a weapon ready to fire.
"Shit..." Kitai muttered. How was he going to dodge this one? Kitai had taken a lot of his effort to not falter from his wounds, and running the distance of the two halls in a matter of seconds was a challenge for him. Here's the second guard he forgot about, aimed straight for the lone warrior.
Kitai examined this scene for however long he could to find an escape route. Kitai found one.
The body.
He thrusted his two palms at the man who was still in mid-air, and launched him like a projectile straight at his comrade. The man pulled the trigger, and his rifle screamed loud shooting out the panels on the ceiling. Starting to gasp for air, Kitai's arms fell to his knees, worn out. He breathed a small sigh of relief. "Nine down."
The walkie-talkie that one of the terrorists was holding started to scream out to Kitai. "Yo, what the fuck is happening up there? Hello? HELLO?" It was Vertigo's voice. Quickly, Kitai picked up the little toy, and provoked his enemy.
"Hey Vertigo. Guess what, nine of your buddies are down for the count. You should get better men next time." Kitai then threw the voice box at the ground, and smashed it with his feet. Kitai picked up one of the guns and started to walk down the stairs.
Vertigo was flaring mad. He then reached for the intercom system, flipping switches, blindly trying to get it to work. He needed to contact his other guarding men, but only one of them had a damn walkie-talkie. Why'd Vertigo have to be so cheap? But when his head swayed from side to side to search the room, he realized he still had an ace up his sleeve.
The next three guards weren't stupid. They held sniping positions, aimed on the only stairway that wasn't locked, the stairway that Kitai would soon come down; they were ready, their fingers were itching to pull the trigger. Sweat trickled down their foreheads. One of them couldn't take the pressure. He let out a bullet, shattering the glass that had been on the door.
"When the hell would that punk get down?" he shouted.
Then they saw the door creak open. The three of them let their rifles loose. The door filled with bullet holes in a matter of seconds, and then creaked open. No one was behind it though. They were confused for a few seconds, and then a figure jumped down the flight of stairs. It was Kitai. Kitai started his frantic dash toward his opposers once again.
The men reloaded their guns frantically. They didn't want to lose. They wanted to net that nine million dollars. They wanted that money bad. They quickly reloaded their guns, and fired a second mad torrent of bullets toward Kitai. The bullets formed a huge cluster of lead down the center of the hall, an easily avoidable attack. Or so Kitai hoped. He slammed his back against the wall left to him, hoping the bullets would fly on by him, and not touch him at all. He was wrong. One bullet managed to land straight into his left leg. It found a nice new home in his leg. After the realization of getting shot sunk into his hard head, Kitai fell to his knees, grabbed the wound, and cried in pain. He never knew that a bullet would hurt him this much. He quickly turned though to shoot the men though; he would not let them fire another volley of bullets.
Kitai aimed his gun. His target was clear in his sights, the gun rattled in his hand. He never wielded a real gun in his life before, he clenched his teeth, tears still running down his face. He let loose his fury, in the form of cold metal that could kill. The men were truly scared. They tried to get up to run away, but that did not help them at all.
The three bullets hit.
But no one died. No one fell to the ground, to spew blood, and yet, the bullets hit their marks: the guns. The rifles were blasted back, away from the stunned terrorists, smacking into the wall behind them, broken. They were now defenseless. Kitai launched himself at one of the three men, his right foot landed straight on his face. When Kitai landed from his potent jump kick, he grabbed the right leg of his target who didn't even get a chance to stop sliding yet, swung him to the left, and then launched him at the next victim. Two down within a matter of seconds. That left the third one, who was greeted by a powerful tackle to his backside, led by Kitai, which launched the man's face straight into the hard tile floor. Kitai recovered with an elegant front sumersault. It seemed like he was almost trained to do this.
Kitai fell to his knees once again. He was covered in blood, the pain of the bullets acted in unison to add a giant bolt of pain to Kitai. He grabbed his left leg once again, pressing it hard, hoping the pressure would stop bleeding. It only helped to stop the flow of blood though, but the pain of the bullet was still in there. Wiping off the sweat from his forward, and any blood that would come off with his right arm, Kitai got up. He wanted to beat Vertigo's face in the ground even more than before, and he wanted to do it now. He walked toward the empty lobby, expecting a man to be standing there, waiting for Kitai. There was no one.
"Vertigo, you bastard, come out!" he screamed in clear and utter annoyance. Kitai was more than just angry.
Vertigo partially came out, with a majority of his right side still hidden.
"Yo. Was beating up my comrades fun?"
Kitai spat out a blood, and then pressed one of his hands against the side of his neck, making an odd crack noise that relieved Kitai. Then he put his two hands together, and cracked his knuckles. "Its time for this farce to end." His eyes were filled with determination now, and if he was allowed another second, Kitai hand would be well embedded in Vertigo's face.
But Vertigo finally showed his ace. He pulled out Loretta with his right arm, dragging her out with him into the open. He hid behind the girl, with his gun aimed straight at her head.
Kitai's arms fell. "... bastard."
"Thanks for the compliment. Now, drop the gun. And kick it towards me."
Kitai could only comply. He didn't want her to die. Even though he barely knew Loretta, he knew that he couldn't carry the fault of someone else's death on his conscience. Especially when it was Kitai's idiotic idea to be a hero.
"Now. Spread your legs out, like you're about to do a jumping-jack. And put your arms straight out. And look at me in the face too." Kitai complied yet again.
"Nice... nice..." Vertigo aimed for Kitai, and let out a shot straight at Kitai's head. Kitai dodged. Vertigo pointed the gun back at his hostage. "Do that again, and Ms. Loretta here dies."
"..." Kitai looked down to the floor in disgust.
"Did you finally realize that you can't win? Took you long enough." Vertigo smiled, and let out a shot straight at Kitai's right arm. Kitai's right leg took a sudden step back to reduce the pain, even though his arm was bleeding. "Oh my... you are quite a strong boy." He let out another shot, this one was for Kitai's right leg. Kitai's left leg began to bleed just as his right was shot. He fell to the ground.
"Damn.. you..." Kitai barely managed those words. The bullet wounds hurt him, there was no use trying to hide it, but still, he tried to. Kitai stood up yet again, reluctantly, breathing harder than ever before.
Vertigo started to admire the boy's strength. "Such a strong boy... what a waste." He let another bullet soar. This time, Kitai's left arm. Kitai fell a second time. The pain was unbareable. Tears began to fall from his eyes. Yet again, like a broken robot, he rose.
"..." Vertigo had nothing to say. He was silenced by his amazement, fear, cowardice, and glee. He would soon get as much money as he wanted, and only this boy was standing in his way. In a few seconds, he would be no more. Just a few more seconds... but this boy scared him. What was this abomination standing in front of him? How could it still stand?
Vertigo put those thoughts away. Another bullet was launched, this one was for Kitai's stomach. A scream of pain was heard throughout the entire school.
Kitai's face lit up with pain, excrutiating pain. He couldn't take it anymore. Kitai fell to the ground once again, and rolled in pain. Somehow he grabbed his chest in pain. He was crying full force now. Tear for tear came rolling down his cheeks, falling to the ground. His eyes were closed, and he rolled into a fetal position. "Make it stop, make it stop, please, anyone, make it stop," was the only thing coursing through his mind. He did not like this pain one bit.
It stopped though. Kitai stopped moving.
"Hah, I knew he'd die." Vertigo smiled. He laughed an evil, maniacal laugh, a laugh filled with a sense of accomplishment. But slowly that laugh faded away, as did the smile.
Kitai pushed against the cold floor that had been his friend just a moment ago. His arms were shaking. Each wound was spewing blood out. It took two minutes for Kitai to push himself up into a standing position. Two long, painful minutes. Tears were still rolling down his cheek. His teeth were grinding against each other from the pain.
Vertigo just stared at the sight. It was disgusting. How did Kitai still manage to move? Then the magnum pointed to Kitai again.
"No! Stop!" Loretta screamed. "He's dead already!" she cried for Kitai. Kitai looked up at her face, and saw a grin there.
"Its ok Loretta..." he whispered.
Vertigo yelled at the top of his lungs, "Damnit! Shutup!"
Kitai looked up, and his cold, hard stare met Vertigo's eyes. Vertigo stood there, paralyzed for a moment. And then he stopped standing in shock. He aimed the gun for Kitai's head.
"Kitai!" Loretta screamed harder.
Vertigo pulled the trigger.
And in a sudden move that seemed stupid to Vertigo, Kitai dodged the bullet.
Vertigo saw what had just happened. He looked in disbelief. "I hope you both rot in hell then!" He pointed his gun straight for Loretta. He pulled the trigger for a seventh time.
Loretta closed her eyes as the barrel poked at her temples.
click
Vertigo gasped in horror. He pulled the trigger again.
click
Nothing came out. The gun was empty.
Kitai proclaimed, "I win."
And with that, another blind rush. This one was more of a frenzy than the others, as his tears did not let his eyes to see clearly. His bullet wounds were spewing out blood. His legs would tremble each time he put weight on either one. His arms were shaking, with no sight of stopping. And then his fierce fist met Vertigo's face. Vertigo closed his eyes to ease the pain, but that did not help, not one bit. Vertigo was launched straight for the wall behind him, the wall that was eight feet behind him. He crashed straight into it, cracking some of the bricks. He fell to the ground, his head bleeding. When his body finally met the floor, his eyes opened instinctively. He looked straight at the site of Kitai, who was still standing in his punching position. He tried to say something, but nothing came out. And nothing would come out, not until he regained conscience five months from now.
Loretta stood there, with no words coming out. Her mouth stayed wide open. She rested her left arm on Kitai's left shoulder. "Kitai, its ok now. You can rest," she said in a comforting tone.
Kitai pushed her arm away.
"Its ok Loretta..." he whispered again.
And then he fell to the ground. His body met the all too familiar floor. His tears stopped. His blood stopped flowing out. His movement stopped. Kitai layed there, dead.
