A second explosion followed the first one, almost instantly. The first one had been bad, but this one was horrible. It came from somewhere near the science room just a few doors down the hall from where they were standing. Alicia screamed again, as a third explosion rocked the school—this one even closer—Alex grabbed Alicia around the waist and pulled her to the ground. He didn't know why he did it, but a moment later he sure was glad he did. Bullets sliced through the air, bringing down at least 10 students. From what Alex could see from his low position was limited. There were at least three gunmen, and there also seemed to be one woman, she appeared to be in charge.

The normally quiet halls were filled with screams of anguish and pain as students felt the white hot pain of a bullet, or noticed that their friends had already been gunned down. Alicia buried her head deeper into Alex's shoulder. When she moved it slightly he could see black stains from her make-up. Her eyes were welling up with tears.

"Alex, please, get us out of here!" she sobbed.

A million ideas rushed through his head, each one less likely to work than the last. Finally, he settled on the gym. It was just down the hall and there were three exits. The issue was that if there was a gunman in the gym, they would be killed immediately. There was no cover in the gym, just an open floor. He knew it was a risk, but one they had to take if they had any hope of getting out of there alive.

"Alicia?"

"Yeah?" her voice was shaking and tears silently run down her pale cheeks.

"When I say go, I want you to run as fast as you can to the gym. Take off those shoes, there is no way you can run in them."

Alicia quickly took off the heels, she knew Alex was right, but it was still hard to part with them. Alex looked around, Tom was gone, and it was just he and Alicia in this little corner. Students ran everywhere, and every minute or so, another explosion rocked the building. This was complete and utter chaos.

As one of the gunmen turned around to shoot someone, Alex whispered to Alicia, "Go!"

She didn't look back. She sprinted toward the door and threw it open. Alex was actually surprised at how fast she could run. The man turned around at the sound of the door opening, but he didn't do anything. He just redoubled fire at one of the younger boys that had just rounded the corner. Alex took this opportunity. He knew the man would turn and fire as soon as he started running, but he also knew that he needed to get out of there.

Alex had been sent all over the world for MI6, but very few things could compare to the despair that struck him as he sprinted full out across the gym. At least half of his classmates were dead by now, and another quarter were probably injured. How could this have happened?

He wrenched open the door to find Alicia crouched on the ground crying and shaking in fright. Her entire face was coated in streaks of make-up. Alex gently told her, "You need to get up, we have to get out of here before they come looking for us."

"Why would they look for us? We aren't that special. I mean, they have plenty of other kids to shoot," her voice broke as she uttered the last sentence. She mumbled something unintelligible through all of the sobbing, but slowly rose to her feet.

Alex had to half carry her across the field behind the school. Once they reached one of the alleys of London, he paused. What were they going to do? They needed to get help. That was for sure.

At the end of the block they emerged on after they had trampled through the alley was a small coffee house. It looked like somewhere that they could wait while they figured out what they would do. Inside, there were about twenty five people gathered around a plasma television, obviously watching some new program. Alex ordered two small coffees for Alicia and him and sat down.

He could feel the adrenaline rush subsiding slightly, and for the first time in over an hour, he was able to actually think straight. "What was going on?" was the one thing that kept floating across his mind. He was telling the truth when he said that he had no idea.

At that moment a smiling woman brought the coffees over to their table. Alicia accepted her coffee gratefully, and slurped it down. Alex, who had almost forgotten that Alicia was sitting across from him, let the woman set it on the table. Suddenly, coffee didn't sound like such a good idea. He had just glimpsed what was on the television.

There was a live broadcast of what was happening at Brookland School, and it was not a pretty sight. Smoke and flames were rising from half of it, and you could hear another explosion as the reporter spoke. Alex watched as one of the windows in the lobby shattered, obviously struck by bullets.

That wasn't the worst of it, oh no. If the only new issue they had right now was a window breaking, Alicia and he would be relieved. Suddenly the reporter received what looked like a note card from one of the camera men. He looked down and read it, as two photos popped up on the screen. "These two students are the ones that many claim to be responsible for planning this attack, and also for planting the bombs that killed many students."

The pictures were of Alicia and Alex. He couldn't believe it. Everyone knew that there was no way that Alex could have done that. And why would Alicia do something like that? She was new to the school; can you really develop a hatred that fast? The answer was no obviously, but everyone else didn't know that.

Alex watched as the woman behind the cash register picked up the phone while looking straight at Alex and called the police. "Alicia," he grabbed her hand, "we have to get out of here!"

"Where on earth will we go? The cops will be looking for us everywhere!"

"I have no idea, but it isn't a good idea to stay here!"

"But, wouldn't it be easier to let the police sort it out," she appeared terrified, like she had just seen a ghost.

"I don't have to argue, let's go!" He was screaming now. He grabbed her hand and yanked her out of the coffee house. The one thought that drifted through his mind was scarier than all of the problems of the past two hours. What is this was his fault?

Thank you to Lady Zarobiti for prompting me to write another chapter. I hope you like it!

-Marissa