Chapter 4: Power

I looked around and saw the other kids that were in here with him were trembling and looking at me in shock.

I bent down a little closer to the kid's head and said "Listen, I'm gonna let you go and you're gonna be a man and walk away

without any drama.", I let go of his arm and stood up. He scrambled to his feet and brushed himself off.

"What the hell, dude, that's assault.", he stared daggers through me. I didn't care, he needed to be taught a lesson.

"Look, kid, I'm not going to say that what I just did was ethical but if you think for a second that I wouldn't do it again in a heartbeat you're sadly mistaken. This morning my friend over here watched his wife get eaten, he hasn't necessarily gotten to take his anger out on anything and I'd be happy to let him fuck your shit up.", I pulled the pack of cigarettes from my pocket and lit one, I wasn't a smoker so the sudden appearance of something other than the musty LA oxygen in my lungs shocked me. I continued to draw in the metallic, chemical-tasting poison.

"Now, I'm not hard to get along with, but as a general rule of thumb it's best to not mess with a man who got thrown into madness and suddenly all of his decisions are the difference between life and death. Anyone have any questions?", a hand shot up from the back of the crowd of kids. I didn't get a look at the face of the person who took my half-serious question seriously, but almost immediately the crowd started parting to let him through. A pudgy kid in a black hoodie stepped forward and said "You don't actually believe you can just bust in here and beat up on a kid who's like 30 years younger than you and you're automatically head honcho, right?" 

The voice sounded familiar but I couldn't quite place it. "First and foremost, you need to learn to respect your elders, secondly, I'm 32. Third, what's your name, kid?"

"First and foremost, I'm not a kid. Secondly, you're still twice his age. Third, the name's Jon."

It clicked, I knew where I'd heard that voice before. Without thinking I blurted out "BloodyCrystal?"

"You play videogames old man?

"It's Golden, bro. I knew your voice sounded familiar."

"Shit, I'm sorry bro." He turned his head to the others and pointed at me. "Guys, I know this dude, he's cool, we're in good hands."

The blonde kid decided to put his two cent in once again, "Who the hell are you and why do you think you can just step up in front of everyone and tell them that this dude's okay because you played a few rounds of Fortnite together?", I'll give him this, I've known him a short period of time and he's already good at grinding my gears.

"Look brother, let me ask you something. What are you gonna do when some of those things break into this building and start gnawing on you for a midday snack? You're gonna scream for someone to help you but won't help yourself. You don't have the ability to lead these kids out of a paper bag."

If looks could kill I'd have dropped dead on the spot. The kid was furious, he looked like he was about to explode. I was honestly scared, but I held my ground the best I could and didn't show that I was almost literally shaking in my boots.

"Arthur, calm down, you've got that look in your eye that says you're about to do some stupid shit." I was surprised to see Jon step up to the plate like that, but didn't know whether to congratulate him for stepping out of his comfort zone or be worried that Arthur was about to do something stupid. Arthur diverted his attention to Jon for a moment and started hyperventilating.

"Arthur, bud, are you okay?" I was starting to become more concerned than scared at this point, his face kept getting more red as each second passed.

He finally spoke, "You think I can't lead my way out of a paper bag? Let's see how well you do against a whole group of those things!"

I didn't know what to do. I froze in place. Everything slowed down as Arthur turned and ran towards the back door of the cafeteria. He threw it open and started screaming. By the time I came to, Arthur was on the ground and Kaylee was on top of him with her hand over his mouth. It was too late, the damage was done. Within seconds there was howling and banging on the door. 

I figured we'd be safe for a few seconds at least so I started concocting some form of a plan. 

"Alright, look everyone! I don't know how much time we have left until those doors come busting down with a bunch of those things following in behind them. You, where do they keep the busses?"

"I-In the garage attached to the school."

"Alright, here's the plan, Arthur here is gonna be so kind as to lead us into the garage, right buddy?" I had a tight grip on the lapel of his pink polo shirt. He glared at me with disgust as I jerked him to his feet. I made sure to remind him that if he tries anything he'll end up on the ground with a taste of my fist all over the side of his face. 

It took a minute or two to unbarricade the doors, as we shut them once again the back doors burst open with the sound of what seemed like hundreds of feet. I used two of the metal chair legs the kids used to barricade the doors from the inside to barricade them from the outside and kept the other two to use as weapons if the need arises.

"Why the fuck aren't we running?"

"You know what that's a good idea. Arthur, lead the way."

We sprinted the whole way to the garage, it seemed like the noise from the doors rattling and those things screaming was following the whole way. One of the busses had the door already opened, I walked up the stairs and got in the driver's seat. The kids followed suit. The keys were in the ignition, the motor turned over almost instantly, it was going good. I slammed on the gas and put a hole in the metal garage door. 

Once we got out on the road it gave me time to reflect, the roads were fairly clear. I had no idea where we were going but I hoped we'd be safe.