Chapter 30

I stepped away as Onur's muscles contracted for the last time. The body started to slowly slide down the iron beam. I jumped away as the body came off and fell on the floor. I heard his bones breaking apart. Blood splashed everywhere, and the large hole in his stomach was visible. His insides had turned into a soup. His body fluids were leaking off of his digestive system. His right eye was missing, and a part of his brain was revealed by his broken skull.

Melis started running away without giving a thought about the danger of being alone. Idil and I started running with her to stay together. We followed her out of the cafeteria. She was crying loudly. I would do the same if the situation was different, but my survival instincts were powerful enough to silence my emotions and overcome my pain.

"Stop!" I shouted at Melis. "I can't keep up!"

That was true. I was very powerless, and we were just spending our energy running aimlessly. Melis realised this soon enough, and stopped in the middle of the hallway. She sat down on the floor, crying. I stopped a few meters behind her, breathing heavily.

"Why? Why, why, why, why..." Melis murmured.

I looked back at the cafeteria. I could no longer see the body from where we were.

"It could be worse." Idil said. "We could have to fight him." This thought didn't ease the pain, but she had a point.

"Perhaps we should look for Mr. Kenan's group. The door is already open, and it doesn't seem like they are going to return soon." I suggested.

Melis sobbed and laid on her side on the floor.

"Perhaps we should let her recover first." Idil said.

"Yeah." I whispered, looking at Melis as she was crying. We were all feeling the same pain, but Melis' reaction was... more 'expressive'.

We had to let her cry on the floor for a few minutes.

Idil crawled near Melis after a while.

"Hey." she said, softly. "We can't change the past, but we need to decide our future. Please get up, we are not out of danger yet."

Melis rolled around to look at Idil. She slowly got up, sobbing; and looked up.

"I will never forgive you!" she yelled in anger, referring to 'the community'.

"Come on." Idil whispered.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"To the other end of the hallway, where the restrooms are." Idil said.

We started walking away from the cafeteria, towards the other end of the hallway. We got up to the upper floor using the stairs.

"Mr. Kenan!" I yelled, but we received no reply.

"Where did they go?" Melis asked.

"Perhaps when we left our spot to search them, they went back to the cafeteria to look for us." said Idil.

"I don't think so. It is very unlikely for us to not encounter on our way here." I said.

"Well... you are right." said Idil. "Well then, seems like we will have to walk for a while."

We started walking deeper into the hallway. There were classrooms on the left and right, some doors were open and some were closed.

Melis suddenly pulled my arm. We stopped walking.

"What is it?" Idil asked.

Melis pointed to the ground. There was blood on the floor. I couldn't help myself, and I looked up to the ceiling. Fortunately, there was nothing above. I looked around the hallway, and saw another puddle of blood a few meters ahead.

"Looks like they ran into some bad situations as well." I said.

"Do you think... we should find them?" Melis asked.

"What do you mean?" Idil said.

"We were lucky, but... maybe it is already too late for them." Melis said.

"If that's the case... Then we have already lost." I said.

"We don't know about that." Idil said. "Not yet, anyway."

"Yeah." I agreed with her. "We can't give up now."

I started tracing the drops of blood on the ground. Idil and Melis followed me. We walked until we reached the other end of the hallway.

"Look at that." Idil said.

There was a damaged door on the right side of the hallway. I approached the door slowly. I wanted to know if someone was in there, so I gently put my ear on the door to listen. I couldn't hear anything, so I decided to have a look inside the classroom.

"I'm going to open the door." I said.

"Are you sure you know what you are doing?" Idil asked me.

"I think the classroom is empty." I said.

Idil and Melis stepped back as I reached the doorknob to open the door. I tried to push the door, but it was locked.

"Oh, well..." said Idil. "Somebody doesn't want us going in there."

I thought I could open the door by brute force, since it was badly damaged.

"Plan B!" I said, and backed away from the door.

"Oh no." said Idil and looked away.

I kicked the door, but I couldn't break it open at my first try. I stepped away again, and ran to the door, hitting the door with my shoulder. Still, the door didn't move.

Idil watched my desparate attempts to open the door, and chuckled. I turned to her.

"Is it funny?" I said. She smiled and looked away without replying.

I kicked the door once again. I couldn't open the door, but I managed to breach it. My leg went through the hole on the door, and a sharp ledge cut the back of my lower leg. It hurt a lot, and I screamed. I couldn't get my leg out of the hole.

"Are you okay?" Idil asked.

"Do I look okay?" I asked. "I'm stuck!"

"Okay, hold on, hold on." she said and approached the door. She tried to push my leg away from the door. My leg didn't come out, and it hurt more than before.

"Stop! Stop pushing it!" I yelled in pain. She stopped trying to push me away.

"Stop yelling at me, I'm trying!" she said.

Just then, I felt something touch my leg from the other side of the door.