Section 4: False Hope

I twitched my eyes before I could fully regain my consciousness, I was awakened due to the fiery heat I felt on the surface of my pale skin. It seems I fell unconscious for a long period since I didn't remember that the University became a pile of fiery junk with fallen debris everywhere plus the skies were getting dark.

I tried to lean on the window frame behind me but the wounds on my back decided to say 'fuck off the wall'. I groaned in pain as I fixed my sitting position. I wanted to sit comfortably but the shattered glass made my whole body feel itchy.

I seemed to be in a bind since a wave of fire made its way toward my direction. I tried to stand up but soon I fell with a loud thump, I must have looked pathetic. The fire spread wildly, I didn't understand why the sprinkler didn't turn on nor why the authorities never came.

The security drones were controlled by the police, but I saw no sign of police ever arriving here considering there's a fresh-looking corpse right in front of me.

The corpse was about to get swallowed by the fire, I tried to save the lifeless body of someone I once knew. I crawled to the lifeless body only to recognize Emily Harrington, Joel stalker, and friend.

The once feminine and chatterbox Emily is only an empty husk on the floor, with both of her eyes opened showing how terrified she was when she experienced death.

I reckoned that the cause of her death was a blow on her head, that might be caused by the fallen debris in this junk University. I closed Emily's terrified eyes with my soiled hand, I hope she attained peace in heaven.

"Aria!!", I heard yet another familiar voice called my name.

The fallen debris next to me moved a bit and revealed Ender, he panted heavily and then dropped his knees in front of me as if he was relieved about something.

His knees were scarred thanks to the shattered glass but he didn't seem to care nor tried to avoid the glass in any way. I tilted my head to the confused Ender, but he just kneeled straight like a statue he is.

"Ender what are you-".

"Thank God you're alright", he smiled in relief.

Ender embraced me in his warm well built arms, I tried to push him off violently but Ender tightened his grip as if he just caught a nice prey on his journey.

I felt this ticklish sensation in my chest as Ender tightened his embrace on me, it was something warm and calming that the insecure me felt safe.

I took a deep breath as I heard Ender sobbed silently, was I misheard what I heard, or did he just sob for an unknown reason? I tried not to disturb him but with the fire slowly reaching us I just had to poke him.

"Ender, I hate to break it to you but you gotta go", I pushed him off from me. "The fire is spreading fast and if you save me you'll probably get some nasty burns on your handsome face and I don't want that".

Ender didn't seem to listen to me at all, he piggybacked me to safety even if I told him to drop me dead in there. As if the fire had a grudge on me, it spread faster to the point the ground was covered in furious flames. Ender had to find which area that has the least flames than others.

I noticed how nervous Ender is as his sweat drops to the surface of my skin. He gritted his teeth as he jumped over the unsafe debris, I watched him as he squatted through the cave looking boulder. It took us about half an hour to escape the raging flames and yet still alive and kicking, except for me.

Ender put me down in a safe area near the staircase, he handed his handkerchief to me hurriedly with a worried face.

"Listen I'm going to the second floor to get ourselves a first aid kit to treat your injuries", Ender rattled, "Then we'll get out of here as soon as possible".

When he was about to leave, I grabbed onto his shirt pleadingly. Ender kneeled as I grabbed his shirt, his eyes were sad and red. I know his pupils are red, but I could slightly see the tears stain.

"If you want to keep me safe, don't put me in here cause the ceiling might drop and smash me to death. I suggest a non-building area like a courtyard or something".

Ender listened to me intently and piggybacked me to the courtyard on the University main building, he walked quickly to the courtyard I mentioned.

I'm not sure why he's so concerned about my well being, a lowly liar who hurts him in the past, although he's also at the wrong for his deception I never could bring myself to hate a liar like him.

Both of us were broken liars, controlled liars, we were just adjusting ourselves to the society's needs.

"Ender, if you let me die earlier you could have escaped on your own you know", I told the worried man. "Escape and leave me behind".

"No, I refuse", he answered straightforwardly.

Ender's stern voice surprised me, even during the chaos he tried to be strong. I admired his strong grip on me, his powerful voice, and his sorrowful gaze on me.

I had this urge to cry whenever Ender came to me, this suffocating feeling of warmth that he gave me didn't feel like a blessing to me. Those feelings just remind me how vulnerable and foolish I was once before.

I bit my lips disgusted by these emotions that swirled inside my chest, they should have been long gone but these emotions never left me.

Ender set me down on the comfy grass, he cleaned my face with the handkerchief I crumpled inside my sling bag. He noticed the freshly cut lip I foolishly did.

"What happened to your lip? Did you bite yourself or something?", Ender asked worriedly.

"Not really, I was just scared" I covered up with another ball of lies.

"Ah I see, it must have been scary for you" Ender pat my head. "Who wouldn't anyway? Okay just stay right here, I'll get the first aid kit".

He ran in the opposite direction in a hurry with his handkerchief crumpled inside his palm, now I felt bad for making things hard for him since I've been nagging at him for being unaware of his surroundings. I sat on the grass comfortably as I watched the stars from the courtyard, it was refreshing.

Even as the flames raged on inside the university campus, the flame never reached the courtyard which is weird since the grass was flammable objects anyway. I closed my eyes as slowly when out of the blue the skies turned cloudy.

I took it as a good sign, they might be able to wash off the flame of fury inside me.

"Aria, so it's you!" I recognize the high tone that people usually use.

I turned around and saw Andy, the male gossiper of the Joel bunch, approaching me with a heavy sigh.

"I'm glad I found you! I haven't found the other for God's sake" Andy sat next to me in a panicky state.

His white branded t-shirt has turned grey instead of white, his glasses were all dusty and his jeans were ripped at some parts. Andy wasn't the most handsome guy in the field, but he always dressed nicely even if his flabby stomach didn't allow him to.

"Did you stare at my stomach?" he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Must be your imagination", I smiled spontaneously to hide the awkwardness I had in my tone.

Andy told me what happened after the first explosion occurred, apparently there was another bomb that was set up on the fourth floor in Davinci University which brought chaos and casualties in the University grounds, he was separated from the rest of his friends when that chaos happened.

I casually nodded to his story, the timeline and situation seem to be pretty consistent with what just happened to me and Ender, the cause of the fire was the second bomb that someone planted on the fourth floor. The courtyard was far from the previous building I was in, which is the second building across the road.

"What should we do?", Andy quivered as he shook his head over and over. "I'm scared Aria, what do we do now?".

I'm grateful that for once Andy shut his mouth from gossiping, and now instead of gossip he quivered in fear of losing his life, I called that character development. I smiled mischievously as I saw his shaking hands, his every movement that indicated that he's engulfed by his own negative thoughts of dying.

He bit his fingernails clumsily as his teeth clenched tight to each other, it was fun to see the cheery Andy became this vulnerable to the thought of death. Honestly speaking, it wasn't entirely all fun but maybe he could change into a better person than less backstabber you know.

I poked Andy and talked to him for a bit to ease his mind, I knew Andy's interests were in the magical girl series. I tried to trigger her interest that might calm him down from his endless fear of death. Andy's eyes lightened up a bit when we talked about the magical girl topic, he was enthusiastic until the end.

Just when we were about to make a decent conversation, he was cut midways with the appearance of security drones in the vicinity. I swore that I could see Andy's lifeless gaze soon to be sparkled with hope, he flashed me with the widest grin he ever had.

"This is it! Our savior!", Andy stood up spontaneously as he jumped around childishly.

"Ah I see, but I can't move too much Andy", I sighed heavily. "My back hurts".

Andy didn't seem to notice the pain I had on my back, he immediately checked my back and shrieked like a girly girl.

"Oh my GOD! THIS IS BAD! Why didn't you tell me sooner!?", Andy patted my shoulder worriedly.

"Cause you didn't ask" I replied with a monotone deadpan face. "Ah anyway I should be the one who calls the drone, you're scared, right? I can do the job".

Andy stopped me from moving, he told me to sit down and let him do the job. He said it himself that there's nothing scary about the drones that would save their lives. I hesitated to let Andy go, I had a bad feeling about that drone's sudden appearance.

I never saw that type of security drones before, it seems to be newly made and the shape was more like a jet than a surveillance drone. I might have had myopia but I managed to identify the drone width and height.

The shape reminds me of an espionage war drone which is around thirty centimeters to fifty centimeters, only with a different color. I studied these before but I would never have thought that a dangerous drone would loiter around the university grounds.

"Hey, we're over here!!!" Andy ran toward the flying drones.

Truth to be told I didn't want Andy to go there, there's something fishy about that drone. I tried to stand up on my own feet to reach Andy who's already right in front of the drone.

Andy turned around to my direction, unaware of the drone switched to attacking mode right behind him.

"We did it Aria!" Andy smiled.

"You idiot! ANDY GET DOWN!" I yelled at him to duck but as soon as I yelled the drone opened the passage beneath it only to reveal a Gatling gun.