CHAPTER TEN: DARKNESS THAT NUMBS OUR MINDS
"Did you hear that?"
"I didn't hear shit," Adam called back at Sadie.
Fiona and Bianca glanced at each other nervously while trying to keep up with Adam. He looked back to make sure they were still keeping up.
Almost everyone could see a flaring hatred that none of them ever expected to see in Adam's eyes. Before the incident ten months ago, Adam had been a bubbly and quite happy person.
And he had every reason to be happy. He dated Fiona Coyne, the hottest girl in school, and had the best two friends that anyone could ask for.
But then KC had decided to plant a hatchet in Clare's skull, and Eli had taken his own life with a gun in front of Adam and Bianca out of depression. He'd accused KC and his deformed father of taking everything he loved away from him.
Clare had been Eli's very reason for existing. Now he was resting six feet under with the love of his life and three other innocent students. One of those victims had been Adam's stepbrother.
And after all of these people had been taken from Adam's grip like grains of sand, he'd become a very dark person. He'd become violent and had started way too many public fights. He'd even been arrested once for driving under the influence.
After he'd put Wesley in the headlock and had given him a concussion after many punches were thrown, he'd been arrested in front of his entire high school.
And the truth was that Adam had only spent five months in a jail cell. It had been within the first two months that the security guards caught him talking to himself or having multiple personalities.
They ignored it at first, but soon it became too serious to ignore. Adam had then been diagnosed with schizophrenia during his fifth month in the jail and had been administered to an institution in Montreal.
Only one of the four survivors from last December knew about him being in the institution for five months, but the whole school knew about him being a lunatic.
He'd only been attending the shit of a school again since October 1st, but it had only taken a little over a week for rumors to fly. Some people thought that it was him who had killed his own friends ten months ago.
Adam even caught himself second guessing the things that had happened. Like…what if he really had killed all of those people? What if he'd really done it, but he just remembered it differently?
"What the hell?" Adam frowned at the wall in confusion.
Connor approached Adam warily and asked, "Are you looking for something?"
"Last time we were here, we escaped out of a window. It was right her, but now it's gone…"
Bianca stepped out of the crowd and kept her eyes on Adam. "Simpson had every window that could be opened removed. And every other window around here has Lexan glass. Unbreakable…"
"I guess he made that arrangement after I ransacked the place. I've got a feeling like he was scared though…," Adam responded.
"So we're fucked? Is that what you're trying to say?" Bobby asked from the back of the small crowd of teenagers.
"We're not fucked, Bobby," Sadie said softly. It didn't sound like she was really as confident as she sounded. "We'll find a way out. We've got three survivors with us."
"Oh, shut up." Bobby scowled at Sadie and said, "You're just staying positive so that you don't start going crazy like Owen and schizo here."
He threw his hand out at Adam, showing them that he was the schizo he was referring to. Adam quickly tensed, but Fiona took his hand so that he wouldn't do anything stupid or reckless.
Dave quickly came to Sadie's defense. He stepped in front of her and shoved Bobby as hard as he could. Bobby barely even budged, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to know that he had angered the rich boy.
Bobby had a very violent streak, and Fiona was the only person who would know about that streak best.
"Hey, lay off, man," Dave ordered while Bobby looked down on him. "She's just trying to help."
"Does it look like she's doing any good?" Bobby hissed.
He stepped slightly closer to Dave and said, "It doesn't matter how positive any of us can get. We're all gonna die, and all of you are too pathetic to face that."
Adam watched their actions play out with a face that showed no emotion. Dave laughed to himself before looking back up at Bobby while still smiling.
"We're pathetic?" he asked. "You're the one abusing women."
Bobby's temper instantly flared as he picked Dave up by his collar so that his feet were swinging about a foot off of the ground. He set his jaw and pursed his lips while looking at Dave with hatred.
"Do you wanna die tonight, little man?"
"Hey!" Bianca interrupted. She easily shoved Bobby, who dropped Dave back to the ground. Dave rubbed his neck while Sadie rubbed his shoulder from behind.
Bianca stepped close enough to smell Bobby's expensive and intoxicating cologne and said, "I don't even know why you're here tonight, pretty boy. But you need to get your shit together, and you need to get it together soon."
Bobby leaned away from Bianca's snarling face with wide eyes and his hands held up in innocence. Bianca leaned over him with angry eyes before glancing back at Adam and Fiona.
"Three of us here survived KC's bullshit ten months ago. Do you think we got through it by being an asshole and being negative?"
Bobby stayed silent and pressed his lips together. Bianca eventually leaned away from him and looked back at her classmates. Her cheeks burned red for a little bit before she flipped her hair and crossed her arms. She kept her eyes on the wall where the window used to be.
Alli glanced over everyone's faces with worry. "So how are we getting out of here if we don't have an exit?"
No one answered the question, and everyone kept to their own breathing space while they thought of an answer in the dark hall. Adam answered first.
"We don't."
"What do you mean we don't?" Jenna barked from beside Wesley and Anya.
Adam glared at the teenage mother and repeated, "I mean we don't. The only way we're getting out tonight is if we kill these stupid creatures of KC's."
"Are you serious?" she asked rudely.
"Yeah," Anya stepped from the trio, "I mean it's not like any of us besides you three are experienced with a psychopath serial killer defense mechanism."
Bianca laughed quietly to herself with Fiona, but Adam didn't crack a smile.
"That's why I have a gun. I've killed people before. You'll be fine with me."
Nearly everyone there choked on their own oxygen besides Bianca and Fiona. But even they didn't look particularly happy about the subject.
"You've k-killed p-people?" Wesley stuttered nervously.
Adam wore an evil smirk while approaching Wesley slowly with his eyes locked on his. "Oh yeah but just one person in particular though."
Wesley gulped as Adam was only a foot away now. He pulled the gun out of his pants and held it out in front of him as if he were examining it.
"I took this gun and aimed it straight between their eyes." Adam slowly brought the gun up and pressed it to Wesley's chest. Both boys were surprised that no one stepped forward.
Mostly everyone there was too scared by Adam's actions to actually do anything.
Adam leaned closer to Wesley while still pressing the barrel of the gun against Wesley's thumping chest. He could tell that the geeky boy was probably going to have a heart attack if he didn't take a step back.
"Bang!" Adam yelled, shaking the gun to cause a slight vibration on Wesley's body.
Wesley and everyone else jumped while Adam cackled with laughter. And just like that, Adam's face became serious again while he stared into open space.
"What just happened?" he asked them al in confusion. He could see in their faces that they were all terribly frightened at something.
"Nothing," Fiona spoke quickly. Everyone turned to her and quickly began nodding with her, telling Adam that they were just a little frazzled over what was happening tonight.
"Have you killed anyone, Adam?" It took every ounce of courage in Wesley's body to actually step closer to Adam and interrogate him.
Adam quickly looked away and whispered, "No, I've never killed anyone in my life."
Wesley didn't look like he was buying it, but everyone else quickly dropped the subject. The thought of a psycho killer leading them through a school filled with unknown creatures wasn't the best thought to think of on Halloween.
Bianca suddenly clapped her hands and wore a bright smile. "The first question is does anyone need to use the restroom?"
Almost everyone nodded. Bianca grumbled and muttered, "It's gonna be a long night."
Fiona stepped closer to Adam with a concerned look in her eyes.
"Are you okay?" she asked. "You look kind of sick."
Adam looked over at her but didn't return her hint of a smile. He wore a serious look and said, "I'm as fine as anyone can be who's locked in a high school with monsters."
Fiona cocked her head to the side, but Adam looked away before Fiona could start an interrogation.