Cornered - Takumi (open tag)

[fryn]

"What was that?" hissed the girl in front of Takumi. He'd heard it too. A loud popping exploding noise and a scream. No, more than one of those sounds.

"It's gunshots!" exclaimed a boy off to Taki's left. "I know cuz I heard the same sound on Miami Vice last night. Someone's shooting the place up!"

"Don't be dumb," said the boy's neighbour. "It was a car backfiring."

"Cars don't scream."

Takumi had to admit that was a logical response but he honestly hadn't a clue what the noise had been. A gun? Here? Impossible... wasn't it?

Their teacher vanished from the room, only to scamper back in seconds later. "We're evacuating the school," he stated. "Orderly line, please."

They started to file out, more screams and sounds of sobbing echoing along the hallway. Takumi was at the back a his seat in the room had been in the back corner. As such, he - plus the three in front of him - were still in the classroom when all hell broke loose. Those who had already left the room broke into a sprint as they bolted for the main entrance and the relative safety offered outside but Takum and the other three bolted back into the classroom, ducking down low behind the desks as more gunshots rang out... and they were getting closer by the second...

[Evan Hughes]

He was an idiot. That’s all Evan could think, he was an idiot. Sure, other people, quite a lot of people had called him that in the past, and he supposed some of the stuff he liked to do could be called idiotic, but it was all in good fun. He had been making his way, really, really slowly, to the cafeteria. Seeing how it was lunchtime and all. And he was really hoping to see Brittany. He had heard something about her having blonde hair. Which didn’t sound like his girlfriend, so he was curious to see what that was all about.

And then he heard bangs. He knew they were gun shots, he’d seen more than enough action movies to know what gun shots sounded like. But, to hear that noise in his school wasn’t something he would have ever expected. It was enough to get him to stop singing though, It’s A Small World having to be finished another time.

He waited, though he wasn’t sure what he was waiting for, when another shot sounded, and there was absolutely no mistaking what it was. A warning quickly sounded over the intercom, and he saw people rush past him, to the nearby exit. It would be easy enough to make his way out of the school now.

So Evan turned and made his way further inside. He was an idiot. Someone had to be playing a prank. There wouldn’t be shooting in Gould, couldn’t be. But if there was, then Brit, Patch, Mal, all his friends were stuck inside. He couldn’t take on people with guns, wasn’t about to try, he wasn’t that much of an idiot. But, he didn’t feel like he could leave either.

His efforts to find anyone were cut short though. A guy with a gun tended to stop people in their tracks, which is exactly what happened to Evan when he saw such a guy step out in front of him. He did the only thing he could do at that moment. He swore, panic flooding through him. That happened to get the guy’s attention, and Evan turned and ran away like a maniac, so he couldn’t see the gang member raise his gun. He heard the shot though, it coming far closer to him than he would have preferred. No so bravely, he turned a corner, banging on doors until he found one that was unlocked. He rushed inside, closing and locking the classroom door behind him, before leaning on the door, struggling for breath. He heard footsteps come closer, and it was only now that he looked at the four others in the room, holding a finger in front of his mouth.

[fryn]

When the door had been thrown open Takumi had winced, expecting it to be the gunman. Instead a boy ran in... and one unknown to Takumi. Hardly a surprise, though, given that today was only his second full one at the school. Taki went to stand to see if he could find out what was going on but the boy motioned for him to return to hiding.

Footsteps ran past, stopping a little way past the classroom door.

"I know he went this way," one voice stated.

"Shi-it. Where in hell did he go then, 'cutre'?" demanded another.

"Who cares? Come on... we need to find that ' asqueroso' Phan... This way..."

The group moved on and Takumi released the breath he'd unknowingly been holding. Was it safe to leave? He highly doubted that to be the case. The cops would be arriving soon, surely, and so the'd be better advised to remain in hiding and pray that no one had been hurt.

He turned to the newcomer.

"What's happening? We heard gunfire and screams... Is the school under some kind of attack?" This sort of thing wasn't supposed to happen. Not unless it was in the movies.

Thad. Thad was out there... He had to find him.

[Evan Hughes]

Evan realised in that one moment, or at least he had the strong opinion, when he heard the voices outside the classroom, the guys talking about him, at least he thought it was him, that if they found him, he was dead. Actually dead. There would be no more late night dinners with his mum. No more making out with his girlfriend, or pigging out on chocolate with her while talking about absolutely nothing. No more pulling pranks with Patch. No more watching his best friend and Mal tease the hell out of her. When he thought about it like that, he was scared.

It was a relief when they all left, though it would be better knowing where Brittany, or anyone else for that matter, was. He was going to text her, or would have, if he hadn’t left his phone in his locker. And it was no good in borrowing someone’s phone, he was bad with numbers, was lucky to remember his own.

One of the guys spoke up, an Asian, and Evan turned his attention to him. “Yeah, some sort of attack. I don’t know what kind of attack, I saw a guy with a gun, he started shooting at me, so I made a run for it. Didn’t hang around to ask questions.” He forced a grin, still trying to tell jokes, even in this situation. His coping mechanism.

“I think you should all stay here.” he told him, considering whether he should take off, and look for his friends. “They might come back. And they don’t seem really friendly.”

[fryn]

An attack? It sounded like something straight off the big screen. Takumi had guessed that was what had happened, given all the gang fighting he'd heard about but it was still a shock to hear it confirmed as such.

When he heard the bo's recommendation that they stay put Takumi shook his head. "No, I have friends here. They might be in danger." Sidra, he felt sure, could take care of herself but Thad? No, otousan would be scared out of his wits. And Izzy. What had happened to her? The others, too. "This isn't happening," he muttered in Japanese. A nightmare maybe? He'd wake up in a sec and find himself in detention for nodding off during class. Yeah, that was it. He was alseep... and et he knew that wasn't the case. This was real. Painfully and terrifyingly real.

"They went that way," Takumi stated with a gesture of his hand towards the left end of the corridor. "Towards the cafeteria..." and where most of the kids would be right now. His own class would have been there had their sensei not been late in assigning homework.

"There is another way to the cafeteria? Through the kitchens perhaps?" If so he could at least check that they were all still alive, even if there was little he could do on his own to help. Then again, there was always the possibility of taking one of the gunmen out... A very slim possibility but one regardless.

[Lia Juarez]

Lia pulled Jandro into the closest classroom. "Shut up and just get your butt in here. They are not going to care that our dad was Spanish, not when we look Norwegian," she bitched at her twin who looked like he was in shell-shock, but whether it was from the events or his sister it was hard to tell. She blushed when she saw they weren't alone.

Jandro shook his head trying to break out of the fog he was in. "Oh my god.... Saint. He is out there and he will be looking for us," he said knowing his slightly older brother too well. He wouldn't let his own safety keep him from finding the twins. "Can we come with you?" he asked the Asian boy who was talking about the cafeteria. "We have to find Saint. He has a bad temper and he hates gangs."

[fryn]

As before, Takumi jumped a good handful of inches when the door opened. His heart was going to give out completely before the day was through - of that he was positive. He relaxed marginally when he saw it was a couple of kids instead of a gunman. "It is dangerous," Taki pointed out but then again, theese two new arrivals were worried about this Saint person. He assumed it was a friend as he didn't know who the couple were or that they indeed had an older brother.

"It's not safe to stay here either," he reasoned with himself. The way out of the building was probably cut off by now and hopefully the cops would be on their way.... He looked at the flaxen-haired kids, unable to miss the worry in their eyes. "Saint is important to you... yes?" They nodded as one. "In that case... stay close..."

Taki crept to the door and opened it a scant inch or two before peering warily out into the corridor. It looked clear... at least, for the moment.

"Which way to the kitchen?" he asked and seconds later the small group of students were heading towards the rear of the school, not even remotely aware that the kids in the cafetria were currently being held at gun-point and to be used as the gang's mode of escape.

* * *

The kitchen staff had, sensibly, fled and the aroma of scorched food met them when they ducked into the vast room. Meals had been heating for the lunch-time rush and several had burned away to nothing more than unrecognisable charred lumps. Takumi took no notice of the ovens, though, looking instead for anything they could use to defend themselves. "Knives. There must be knives here. Anything else you can see that you can use... grab it."

[Evan Hughes]

Evan didn’t know how he managed to get talked into getting closer to the guys with the guns. Well, it didn’t take much convincing. He figured it was likely at least one of his friends were there, given that it was lunchtime and all. He hoped he was wrong, that they all had managed to get away, out of the school. Which, if that was the case, made this even more of a bad idea.

He had followed the Asian guy, whose name he didn’t know, he realised, into the cafeteria. But, he supposed this wasn’t a time for introductions. At his suggestion, he grabbed the largest, meanest looking knife that he could find, really hoping that he didn’t have to use it. After all, he loved movies like this, people taking over with guns and people inside taking them down. He just didn’t necessary want to be in something like this. But, there was no going back now.

He had heard bits and pieces, and put together what he could. So, it sounded like a gang thing. A racist gang thing. Which made it seem all the more pointless and stupid in Evan’s head. He was brave, in an odd sort of way. He would think nothing of hurling himself down a hill or a bowling lane, or do anything that would result in pain and possible broken bones. This was a lot different, but considering his companions, he really didn’t feel like he had a choice.

“Uh, so, what are we going to do? I mean, we can’t really storm the cafeteria. Even if we do have knifes, they’ve got guns.” he spoke softly. “Maybe one of us should try to peek, see what it looks like in there.” He hesitated for just a moment. “Maybe I should peek. I mean, if it’s some racist thing, maybe they might not shoot me if they bust me.” He really hoped that was the case.

[Jandro Juarez]

"Saint is our brother, he will be trying to find us," Jandro said in a low voice as they were moving. They knew who Evan was. His pranks made him almost famous in school. The Asian boy was unfamiliar and Jandro figured he must be from Silver.

Jandro had done a week of detention helping clean the cafeteria so he knew where things were kept. "Over here," he opened a cabinet where there were knifes hanging on a magnetic strip. "They are sharp but not balance well for throwing."

Lia grabbed some fresh herbs and began to braid a rope which she whispered over and then put around Takumi's neck. "For good luck," she whispered. She figured he needed it the most because he was Asian.

[fryn]

Ok, hindsight was fantastic but rarely was it a skill harboured by man. In hindsight, coming to the kitchens was sheer insanity. In hindsight, telling the others to look for knives was even more so. In hindsight, he wished they'd stayed in Osaka. All that considered, Takumi knew they had to make the best of a bad day and he drew in a deep breath, nodding to the boy to agree to him taking a peek into the cafeteria. "Just a tiny one, tomo... ok?"

Taki was a little startled when the blonde girl draped a braided necklace over he head, telling him it was for good luck. He smiled down at her. "Aaah," he said softly. "An 'omamori'... We have something like this in Japan but its not the same to look at. Arigatou gozaimusu. I will tell you all about them when this is over. Deal?" He pushed his hand out towards the girl and after a pause she grasped it. Takumi touched the charm as he thought, his fingers lightly caressing the herbs that had been entwined into the rope. "Kitchens are dangerous places... hai?" He frowned slightly as he continued. "Fires are commonplace... soo... there must be... aaah... I don't know the word... Rain inside?" He gestured with his fingers, mimicking falling drops of water.

The Japanese boy rose a little from his crouch and scanned the kitchen. "There! Look!" He pointed at the sprinkler heads above them. "They would also be in the cafeteria, I think." He picked up a heavy rolling pin and crawled to the fire alarm box... and drew back the weapon. The glass shattered and a wailing sound filled the air, soon accompanied by a deluge of water. If nothing else it would hopefully confuse the gang members... At best it would cause complete chaos amongst them.

He grabbed a couple of nearby extinguishers.

"You know how this works?" he asked the girl as he handed her the smaller of the two. "How many gunmen can you see, tomo?" he hissed to Evan. If the chaos was good enough maybe they would be able to coat the guys in CO2 foam.

It was a big maybe and hindsight started to rear its ugly head once more...