6 Section 5: Explore the Grotesque University

Andy, who was slow to respond, soon got himself shot by the rain of bullets that came from the gatling gun. I widened my eyes in shock to the horrifying scene that had unfolded in front of me.

Andy's guts were scattered everywhere on the grass, his arms and legs were cut off from his main body. The once peaceful courtyard that belonged to my University is now smeared with my friends blood and the sound of bullet rains.

My stomach swirled in madness when I watched Andy innards spilled like it was nothing. I dropped to my knees, a surge of vomit tried to reach it's way to my mouth. Andy who was a friend of mine, a cheerful annoying gossiper I once had is now lying on the grass with his innards scattered like decorations.

"No, please don't do this", I tried to hold my agony I felt inside my chest.

I crawled away from Andy's position to avoid the dangerous drone. The drone might either use a thermal detector or motion sensor, I didn't know which one but for now my goal is to stay away from the security drones as far as possible.

The security drone scanned Andy remaining then moved away from his body, I reckon to find a new shooting target. I slowly stood up to my knees and walked to the nearby pillar on the edge of the courtyard. I hid behind the pillar for a while, I hope that drone didn't follow me.

I took a peek toward meat lumps that were once a person named Andy, it looked like the drone went somewhere else. I slumped on the ground, my back wounds still sting as heck. I could only hope Ender didn't end up dead like Andy, being killed mercilessly.

I tried to stand up slowly making my way through the vast courtyard in the main building. If the drones are present, then the best way to hide from them would be the debris inside the building, if I could dismantle the drone I would know what kind of sensors they used to hunt us down.

"Still what took Ender so long? My back freaking hurt like hell!", I cursed under my breath.

I decided to go back to the side building where I saw Emily died and where I lost my consciousness. If my memory serves right, then there's a newly built university clinic on the third floor.

What a pain, I had to return to that cursed place where their corpses lay around like flowers in a garden. The bright side is that now, grotesque scenes are viewable without any censor on the TV like how I usually watch my favorite gore TV series.

I had to say the main building also had damage that seems to be caused by a massive explosion in the hallway area. As I made my way to the side building, random thoughts entered my brain.

The explosion that caught me off guard didn't seem to be a massive scale bomb, so it shouldn't have caused massive damage to the building. However, it didn't seem to be that way since the building was massively damaged by the bomb. I could only guess that the type of bomb to blow up the university was different from the cleaning robot one.

I could only conclude that whoever planned this attack is very meticulous and had planned this attack long ago. I had to think of something else, otherwise, I would go crazy because of Ender's absence.

I passed by the main hall where students usually hung out, now it's just a place where the lifeless lump of meat gathers around. I guessed the drones concentrated their attack on the main hall since lots of students had bullet holes in their corpses. I probably should tell the remaining survivors if they exist, that the main hall is off-limits.

"Aria".

"Yeah?", I turned around to the source of the voice but no one was there

Well to be exact, no one would have the desire to call my name since they all died horribly. I could only guess the ghost of the dead haunted me for living longer than them.

"Aria, you dummy" a voice spoke again.

The familiar voice came from inside my sling bag which is weird. I searched my bag for the source to only find my cell phone with an AI Joel on my screen. I widened my eyes, I forgot about him being transferred to my ID card and cellphone.

I rolled my eyes annoyed, I'm not sure how to react toward his sudden appearance. I'm not exactly in the mood to be surprised by his sudden appearance, lots of things already surprised me.

"Ah, hi," I said tiredly.

"Hi, I need to talk to you," the AI replied.

I rolled my eyes in annoyance, I am worried about Ender to even care about what the AI wanted to say.

"Joel, can you access the net or not?" I asked the AI impatiently.

Joel seemed to be taken back, he sighed as he replied to me with Joel's cheery voice.

"Ah, I can't connect to the net for some reason sorry about that" Joel AI replied cheerfully.

"Okay, as an AI who used to work under Wishmaker I'm sure you know the layout of the city correctly?" I asked the silly boy on the screen.

"Yes I do" he nodded approvingly.

I sighed in relief, the map might come in handy to our escape plan later but now I had to find Ender. I shushed AI Joel before he could continue, I regretfully told AI Joel that I had to do something before I conversed with him.

The AI Joel stared at me worriedly, for an AI he seemed to be able to express his dissatisfaction with me. Even though it intrigues me, I had to reason with him to shut up along the way.

When I entered the entrance to the side building, the atmosphere was different than before. The fire was almost gone but there were traces of bullets on the floor. I clicked my tongue in annoyance, if Ender were to end up like Andy I couldn't bring myself to look at his corpse.

I made my way to the stairs cautiously not to make any sound. I recognized the stairs where Ender put me before. However, I didn't notice how close the stairs were to the entrance gate. I would like to slap my head, but before that, I went up to check the second-floor hallway.

"It looks dark" I jolted as AI Joel talked.

"That damn AI almost gave me a heart attack" I mumbled.

"Joel, since you have no net access does that mean you cannot access the University surveillance camera?" I asked the AI in my grip.

"Yep that's true, I have to access it directly through USB means", AI Joel answered straightforwardly.

Well that sucks, I couldn't trace Ender's location through the surveillance camera. That being said, then I had to use conventional means to find Ender. I went upstairs to the third floor and found a pool of blood in front of the clinic.

I walked quickly to the blood pool and investigated it, I kneeled and touched the blood. I don't know what to feel to a dried pool of blood, it didn't explain Ender's disappearance from the clinic. After that, I stumbled upon another corpse inside the clinic.

I felt a pang of anxiousness and guilt as I watched the corpses on the cold floor, I just hoped that the corpse didn't belong to him. I checked the corpse one by one. Fortunately, they were only strangers that I never met.

It's strange that I even think this way, I felt less empathy toward these strangers that have been brutally killed by the drones.

I checked the clinic multiple times just to make sure I didn't miss anything. I couldn't find Ender at all except for his handkerchief on one of the corpses. I ransacked the clinic cupboard for bandages and medicines, which were still left behind.

"Is Ender in trouble?" I grew worried when I saw the untouched meds inside the clinic.

I went outside the clinic only to find more pressing matters at hand. My cell phone rings quite loudly, I thought it was a prank from AI Joel but it wasn't. A mysterious app got installed on my cell phone, an app called Wishmaker.

I could only think AI Joel was the one who installed it but he couldn't connect to the net. I just wished I could find Ender so that we could go to the shelter to find the rest of my friends there.

"That's if they survive..." I frowned.

Not long after the Wishmaker got installed, the app told me to find someone or something I hold dear the most with the time limit of twenty-four hours. I shook my head, denying what's the possibility of this app's sudden appearance.

"Listen Aria, you have to do what the app says", AI Joel said out of nowhere.

"And why's that?" I laughed sarcastically.

"This app is dangerous, it's a virus that I couldn't eliminate. However, I could help you by extending the time limit by hacking the app code", AI Joel said convincingly.

"Oh okay, how much time do I have?" I asked him.

"Twenty four hours, five minutes" he lamented.

Five minutes extension didn't help me that much, I didn't know what to do with the app so I decided to leave it be. I put my cell phone in my jean pocket, there were lots of empty classrooms on the third floor so I explored each room for clues and useful items.