CHAPTER FIFTEEN: YOU'RE NOT HERE

Adam's Team

Adam and his followers immediately began running once their leader had pulled away from Bianca. They were sticky from well earned sweat that had either been caused by fright or from running from unknown shadows all night. So far they hadn't encountered any other creatures like the one Conner had killed, but they weren't going to start gambling with their lives when they were already this far into the game. None of the young teenagers planned on stopping and waiting in the middle of the hall for one of the creatures or KC to appear. Adam of all people knew what KC Guthrie was capable of. He was the only one out of the four survivors to have battled him face-to-face. Unfortunately KC had escaped before Adam could cause any good damage.

All of a sudden Adam came to a halting stop while heaving unnaturally and clutching at his stomach. He looked as though he was about to tip over, but Fiona was there just in time to catch him. Adam squeezed his eyes shut and took some of his dead weight out of Fiona's arms by trying to hold himself up. Gently, he pushed her away and leaned his back against a nearby wall of lockers. Alli and Dave glanced at each other when Fiona began whispering calmly to him. They immediately averted their eyes from the couple, knowing it wasn't any of their business.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Fiona's whispers were rushed, and she sounded more concerned than what was probably necessary. She had one hand placed on the crook of Adam's neck and the other on his waist. He was slightly hunched over with his blue eyes hidden behind tightly squeezed eyelids. He looked more like he was frightened rather than tired or injured. Adam nodded unconvincingly and cringed away from Fiona's worried face.

"I thought," he started heavily, "I thought I saw someone." Fiona understood at once. Adam had believed he'd seen one of his dead friends again. The shock of seeing one of them so close must've sent him off balance. He slowly inched his eyes open at a snail's speed and whispered, "I just need to take one of my pills soon."

"Why don't you go ahead and take one now? I can watch Alli and Dave while you're in the restroom."

Adam shook his head. "No, it's too risky right now. I'll wait until we assemble back with Bianca and the others." Fiona wasn't going to let him put off taking his pills any longer. "No, Adam, you need to take your medicine. We'll be here when you get out of the restroom."

But Adam knew better than to agree with Fiona's risky ideas. He was the only one in the group of four that really knew how to use a gun. He wasn't going to put anybody's lives on the line, especially Fiona's. He shoved past Fiona and began walking with a purpose set ahead of him. Fiona watched him with disbelief while Dave and Alli hovered behind their leader and his concerned girlfriend. Fiona looked mostly angry at Adam's ignorance though.

"Adam," Fiona stated with no emotion. He didn't respond to her call for him, so she tried again. "Adam, slow down."

He obeyed her order, but he took the order a bit too far. Adam came to an erupt stop and pressed his back against a wall of lockers. He was just inches from looked around the corner. His hand was pressed across Fiona's stomach thanks to him also pressing her against the wall beside him. Dave and Alli followed their classmates with ease and also stood against the lockers with nervous hearts beating in their chests.

"What are you doing?" Fiona hissed to her boyfriend. He quickly motioned for her to be quiet as soon as the words left her mouth with one finger over his mouth. The gun was raised in his left hand now as if he was prepared for a fight. None of his classmates quite understood why he was on the offensive side right now though.

Without warning a high-pitched sound echoed through the halls with a singsong pitch. There was no denying the whistle as it was now mixed with the sound of heels hitting the linoleum floor with loud clicks every half of a second. Fiona swallowed the pill in her throat and Alli covered her own mouth to stop herself from squealing and giving away their location. All of the girls who'd been wearing heels had removed their uncomfortable shoes earlier that night except for Bianca, but she was upstairs with her own team. So who else could possibly be in the school with them wearing heels…?

Adam was squeezing his eyes shut again, and his grip on the gun in his left hand was starting to look weaker and weaker. Dave, realizing what was happening, instantly panicked. If Adam, the only one who knew how to properly use a gun, couldn't use a gun then what were they supposed to use for self defense? The whistling had stopped by now, but everyone could tell from how loud the footfalls were that their visitor was just around the corner from their hiding spot.

"Give me that." Dave snatched the gun from Adam's grip and rounded the corner. He didn't even glance to see who it was before he closed his eyes, turned his head, and pulled the trigger on the gun. There was a loud yelp that sounded like it had come from a female and a loud bang as the victim of the bullet fell against the lockers. Dave was frozen as he watched Adam and Fiona round the corner to see who Dave had just blindly shot without a second thought. During the midst of all this, none of them noticed a confused looking Owen place his hand over Alli's mouth and drag her around the corner.

Adam's mouth gaped as he watched his flame-haired friend struggle with her left leg. Fiona on the other hand wasted no time in rushing towards her friend faster than grease lightning. "Holly J," she cried, "what are you doing here?"

Adam followed close behind Fiona and tried to help put pressure on the bullet wound in the middle of Holly J's left thigh. She winced at the pressure, but they knew better than to let go and let her bleed to death. Holly J struggled with her words and rested the back of her head against the locker doors. "Maybe someone should explain why I just got shot before I start answering questions."

Fiona and Adam shared a look that Holly J read well. She could tell from the frazzled looks in their matching blue eyes. So she'd been right to worry and check up on her friends in Toronto before setting off to Connecticut again. There'd been a churning feeling in Holly J's stomach all day when she'd heard from Fiona that her fellow survivors were staying overnight in the school. It was nice feeling as though they were all trying their best to forget about the night they'd all shared in December, but she knew that Adam wouldn't be forgetting about it anytime soon. Even if he was the one who had considered forgetting it in the first place.

"KC is-"

"KC has returned to avenge his dead father," Adam announced with no emotion showing in his voice or his face. He looked very neutral as he kneeled down beside a wounded Holly J Sinclair. As Fiona began discussing the details of the night with her friend, Adam threw off his Phantom of the Opera tuxedo jacket and began tearing a strip of cloth from his white button-through shirt. He motioned for Fiona to move her now bloodstained hands and began wrapping Holly J's wound.

"Can you stand?" he asked though he was already guessing the obvious answer. Holly J tried to move and prove that she could stand, but she unfortunately failed in the process and ended up cringing back against the wall of lockers. "I'm sorry. I don't think I can even get up right now."

He'd already decided what he was going to do before he did it. Adam placed his hands under Holly J's body and began lifting her off of the floor bridal style. "What do you think you're doing?" she stuttered nervously.

"Carrying you," Adam stated neutrally. He was acting as if it was no big deal that he was carrying the injured girl.

Fiona instantly piped up and began complaining. "Adam, you're in no state to be carrying someone. Just two minutes ago you were falling all over the place. Let Dave and Alli help her walk instead."

Adam opened his mouth to argue further with Fiona, but Dave spoke before any of them could say what they were thinking. "Alli's not here," he croaked with scared eyes.

Fiona's look matched Adam's. "What do you mean she's not here? She just disappeared?"

"He's picking us off one by one," Dave continued anxiously. His hands were shaking as he pushed the gun into Fiona's bloody hands instead of his own. The night's actions were starting to have its toll on the helpless victims.

"We'll discuss this later." Adam struggled for a short and unnoticeable moment before walking down the hall in his ripped white button-through shirt that was stained from the blood seeping through the cloth covering Holly J's wound.