Admiration

The sudden scream echoed throughout the whole school. It was loud that it could be heard from every part of the school. The scream didn't stop even for a second, it became more like terrified yelling. 

Raiden had no explanation for it other than it was of the people who went to the roof. Now, things started making sense to him as to why they didn't find any of those monsters on the first and the second floor. 

Just as Makie was about to yell out loud, Raiden blocked her mouth with his hands making her unable to make any noise. He put a finger on his lips, instructing Makie to make any sound. He removed his hand and Makie didn't speak a single word after that.

Raiden, Makie, and Takeshi, three of them sat in the room, all tensed up, having listened to the horrifying screams of people. Meanwhile, Chido laid on the floor, unconscious.

They waited there and carefully listened to the screams without talking to each other. And, in no time, they noticed that the door of their room had stopped shaking. That could only give them one explanation, that the monsters who were trying to enter the room had stopped trying to break in!

Raiden stood up and slowly walked up toward the door. He put his ears beside the door to get a good idea of what was going outside. 

He waited in the same position and then looked back towards Makie and Takeshi, all the tension on Raiden's face had gone away.

Makie and Takeshi looked at each other and then again at Raiden. They wanted to know what Raiden had found out.

Raiden again came by them and whispered, "Looks like they all left?"

"Really?!!!!!" Makie yelled out in enthusiasm.

"Shhhhhh," both Raiden and Takeshi had to silence her before she could have yelled any more.

"Oh! Sorry!" she apologized, silently.

"But, really? All of them left?" Takeshi asked, he was whispering too.

"I don't know about all but I can tell there is no commotion out there. But, I can bet they all are heading to the roof now and we stay here silently for some time, we can actually escape this school"

Makie's face got cheerful. A hope of escaping the school? It made her heart rest at some ease.

But, Takeshi still had some things that were bugging him. "Wait, why they are heading to the roof all of a sudden?" he asked.

"The scream!" Raiden said. "It came from the roof." 

"How do you know?"

"Because I saw a bunch of people heading for the roof when all this started. The roof was surely the better idea to go to but I think those monsters slowly started to go up the floors. That might be the reason as to why we didn't encounter any of them on the third floor and there was only one of them on the second floor."

"So, you are saying people were hiding on the roof all this time but finally the monsters breached it?"

"Yes, that."

"Oh no!" Makie got worried thinking about some of her close friends might be there.

"But, there is nothing we can do to help them," Raiden said. "We have our own things to worry about. And, I am sure they will somehow manage."

"I hope," Makie said in remorse.

That was the time when Chido got a little consciousness. He opened his eyes and found himself in a dark room, "Where am I?" he asked.

All three of them looked toward Chido.

"Chido, how are you feeling now?" Raiden asked.

"I don't feel very good. Ahhhh, my head hurts."

"Well, that would hurt a little as you tripped down from the stairs," Makie said.

Chido tried to pull himself up but he struggled.

"Hey! Calm down! Don't force yourself up," Takeshi said.

"Oh, no! I'm fine, I think."

He sat down on the floor and put his back against the wall. He could now have a good view of all three of them.

"What's going on here?" He asked. 

"Nothing much, just try to keep your voice down," Raiden said.

He laughed and said, "You know I wouldn't be able to shout anyway because I'm too scared."

"No, Chido! You are not scared! Even if a lot happened to you, you didn't give up. You were half unconscious but still tried your best to keep up with us. You definitely have guts, you just gotta believe in yourself a little bit."

"Raiden.... Thank you!"

"Well, yeah, no problem, but we can have these chats any other day! Looks like the screams have stopped coming."

"Yeah, it looks like that," Takeshi remarked.

"Screams?" Chido asked in confusion.

"No time to explain it! We gotta make our move now," Raiden stood up, Takeshi and Makie were ready to go along too.

"Can you stand up, Chido?" Makie asked.

"I'm sure he can," Raiden said as he offered Chido a hand.

Chido looked up to Raiden and he just saw his smiling face ready to take Chido with him. No matter what happened, no matter how things got worse, he didn't leave Chido behind. Raiden always looked back to help Chido. 

Not just now but Raiden had always helped Chido even before things in the school went down. 

Chido was the weak-looking figure in their class and he was an ideal target for getting picked on. That's why he couldn't talk with anyone in the class because he was afraid of everyone. 

But, Raiden brought him back from that isolation. He talked to him, helped him, and showed him that he didn't have to be afraid of anyone. 

Chido admired Raiden deeply from his heart. 

He held Raiden's hand and stood up. 

"Of course! I can stand!" he said very proudly.

Raiden smirked, "Now, that's what I'm talking about!"

"Looks like the gang's ready!" Takeshi said.

"Yeah, let's get the hell out of this damn school," Makie was spirited up too.

"Let's go!!!" Raiden called out.

"Yeah!!" Everyone was pumped up too.

"Ahh, but, go and remove those bookshelves out of the way first," Makie said, ruining everyone's excitement.

"Oh, yeah!" Raiden and Takeshi said in a dull voice.