Tornado
10 If you falter in times of trouble,
how small is your strength!
Proverbs 24:10 - NIV
Waverly University
9:05:54 am
After killing the professor and six students in room 204, and six students and the professor in 205, Wang walks out to the corridor and goes to the room right across 206, where his class was supposed to be. The panicked professor still closes the door, vainly trying to protect the lives of the students inside, but Wang shoots him through the door twice. Once the professor is dead, he kicks the door open, and opens fire against nine students who were trying to escape their seats running to the open window.
They drop like flies.
People poke their heads out of the classrooms, and Wang goes out and sees the curious souls. They bring their heads back into the classrooms, and in a mad attempt to save their lives they close the doors, and try to barricade the doors with whatever is available. Wang walks back to room 203, and can't open the door. Professor Viviane and another student are holding the door closed, while the other nine students are struggling with the window, trying to escape the massacre.
Wang smiles sadistically, and opens fire against the door. Even though they are mortally wounded, both Professor Viviane and her student still keep the door closed with all their fading strength. The students, thirteen in total, start jumping through the window, without regard for the fall. As Wang sees that his potential victims are escaping, he shouts like a wounded animal, and keeps on firing against the door until the gun starts to click. It is empty.
He loses some precious seconds reloading both weapons, and as he looks through the window, there is only one person in the room, ready to jump. He aims and shoots through the window. He falls.
9:09:13 am
"All units, all units," says the police dispatcher, "shooting at Waverly University."
The Metro Police cars, leaving from several PDs throughout the city, receive the call and are briefed on the situation, and speed through the city towards one of the worst nightmares that they had ever imagined.
9:07:15 am
Once properly dressed, Matthew grabs Sarah's hand firmly and with a piece of metal that he took from under the Lab tables, leaves to the corridor. There is some lull in the noise on the second floor, only hysterical shouting and moaning can be heard. And that worries Matthew a lot.
"Whatever happens, stay behind me, don't speak, if you see something that should not be there, run, don't wait for me, ok?" he says in a low voice, totally serious.
Sarah is starting to panic, "Matthew, what's happening? Was that noise really shots?"
He starts walking down the corridor, with his back glued to the wall. He sees a door opening further ahead, and grips Sarah's hand firmly and raises the metal bat in his hand, ready to strike whoever comes out.
An old man, with wire rimmed glasses pokes his head out, and when he sees them, glares at them for a moment. Matthew stares at him back, but Sarah takes a step towards him, "that's Professor Lewi Chewbowski, from applied Physics," she says to Matthew.
Matthew relaxes his guard a little, but still keeps the bat ready for any eventuality. The old man signals for them to come to him, and they hurry down the corridor and enter the room where he is.
As they enter it, they see twenty other students, all huddled in a corner of the lab. They seem to be in one of the Engineering labs, as Matthew recognizes some of the instruments.
"Who are you?"
Prof. Chewboski studies both youths cunningly, and sees a young man in his mid-twenties with a student he had seen several times on the corridors glued to his arm. By the state of their clothes and hair, they probably were engaging in activities he'd rather not know, but at least they were alive.
"Lance Corporal Matthew Buchanan, sir, and this is Sarah McGee." More shots are fired, and immediately Matthew pushes Sarah behind him and takes a defensive instance, coming close to the door to study the corridor.
Prof. Chewbowski sees that the young man has some military training, and decides to take advantage of the situation.
"Are you any type of cop?"
"I'm a marine, sir." He answers without taking his eyes from the corridor, assessing any kind of threat that might come from the lower floor.
Prof. Chewbowski goes through his pockets, until he finds his set of keys, "here." Matthew looks at him questioningly.
"I'm going to leave through that door, and you are going to lock it and barricade it." Matthew stands to full attention, studying the professor, who points to the heavy cabinets with tools, "barricade the door, use the cupboards or the tables, whatever, but don't let anyone, and I do mean anyone come through it until I come back, or until the cops arrive."
"Sir, I…"
"No," Sarah interrupts, "we have to do something," both prof. Chewbowski and Matthew look at her, and she starts to stop being afraid and starts getting mad, "people are dying out there, and we have to do something to help them!"
"Yes dear, I'm going to do something," Prof. Chewbowski leads her to one of the chairs and forcibly seats her in one of the chairs of the lab, "you will stay here safe, inside this locked room."
"No," she says, "I want to help them."
"Sarah," growls Matthew.
"What, they are dying!" More shots are heard, and they flinch at it.
Prof. Chewbowski turns to Matthew, and puts the keys in his hand, and closes it. He stares in Matthew's eyes, and tries to transmit the seriousness of the situation to him.
"Professor, we could help, we…" Sarah insists, but her pleading falls in deaf years.
"No," he looks at Matthew in the eye, and notices the resolve at his responsibility setting in, "you will protect these civilians, and you will not let anyone come through this door, do you hear me, marine?"
"Yes sir."
"That's an order."
"Yes sir."
Prof. Chewbowski nods and opens the door slowly, trying not to make any noise, "Lock it after me, don't open until I come back, or the police, ok?
"Yes Sir."
"No no no…" says Sarah.
She attacks Matthew, running to the open door. Matthews intercepts her and holds a hysterical Sarah in his hands, covering her mouth with his hands so she might stay silent. She struggles against his hold, but he drags her back into the room with the other terrified students and shuts the door.
She attacks him viciously, cursing him, as he locks the door with the key and puts it in his pocket.
"We have to help him, we have to do something we…."
"Sarah," he holds her forcefully by her shoulders, "stop." She starts crying even more, as they hear more shots being fired and more screaming.
More shots and there were no more screams.
He brings her to the furthest corner from the door, and drops Sarah on the floor, "stay here." He looks around the room looking for anything big enough to block the door but small enough so that can be moved. They are in one of the Engineering labs, with heavy machinery and workbenches.
He points to two male students, "you two, help me here."
He grabs a corner of one of the workbenches, and with the help of the two students barricade the door. Not satisfied yet, he and the two students drag a piece of equipment, probably a wood cutter, and lay it on top of the heavy bench, effectively blocking it.
"Do you have mobile phones with you?" he asks the student who helped him move machine.
"Yes, we all have," one of the students give his to him, and the others start going through their things, looking for their own phones.
"Good, turn it off"
"Why, do you want to get us killed? We must call the police, it is our only link with the outside world," says a scared girl with running mascara on her face.
"No listen, in the terrorist attacks in the hotels in Mumbai, in 2008, the terrorists tracked the victims by their mobile phones' signals. One of the victims, a politician, was stupid enough to call a radio station and give the exact location of where he was hiding, and the terrorists were listening to it, found their hiding place and everyone was killed, so obey and turn it OFF."
The students sullenly start turning off their phones, and handing it to him, who drops all of them in a trash can. Matt walks towards Sarah and sees her looking at her own phone without turning it off. He sits down by her side and gets the phone out of her hands, even though she fights him off.
"Give me that," she slaps Matt on the face, struggling with him, wanting her phone back.
"I want to call my brother!"
He looks at her, studying her for a moment.
"That's actually a good idea," and starts dialing on her phone.
"I thought you said they could trace our calls," says one of the Advanced Engineering students seeing that he is using Sarah's phone.
"Well, that's exactly what I'm counting on."
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