... It had to be.
Jordan opened his eyes, ready to smile and sigh in relief, but he wished he hadn't. The room around him wasn't the familiar green walls with a computer in the corner, but instead it was the science room they had taken refuge in the night before. It was a feeling of sadness and disappointment like Jordan had never known.
He slowly heaved himself up, realizing he was sleeping on a table. The first thing he noticed about the room around him was that it smelled awful. His eyes went wide, and he quickly jumped off the table, scanning the room. He didn't see a single one of those things inside the room, just Jack, Brian, and Renae. So where the hell was the smell coming from?
Walking over to Renae, he saw what was causing it: chemicals. She was mixing them into small handmade containers, and they all smelled equally like crap. Jordan looked over to see Jack sitting on the other side of the desk, and decided to ask him instead of disturbing her.
"So, what's going on." He asked quietly. Despite his effort, it was still Renae who answered him.
"Creating a bad scent. If they can track us and each other by the way we smell, then we'll just have to cover up the smell with a different one. Jack's idea, genius really..." She explained, and Jordan had to admit that it was a pretty good idea, except...
"What if my theory's wrong? In that case, this wouldn't have any effect." He argued.
"I doubt that, your theory seems to be pretty spot on." Jack replied. "Besides, if it doesn't work, we have all the stuff we need to defend ourselves."
"A lot of good that's done us so far." Jordan said with a pained laugh. "Three out of five of our original group are dead, and we're still trapped in the school."
"Then we'll just have to make sure nobody else dies, now won't we?" Jack replied.
"I don't think it's that simple..." Jordan began.
"It could be." Jack answered before he could go on, and Jordan had to admit that it was a pretty convincing comment. He decided to simply nod in reply.
"Okay, well, she should be done soon. We should probably get ready to go, we both know we won't be getting any help from him..." Jack said, gesturing to Brian. Brian, hearing this, turned around to face them.
"You think I should care about what happens to you idiots? The only person I care about is me, and that's the way it's gonna stay. I don't give a crap if you live or die, as long as I survive." He said, then turned around and continued ignoring them. Jack shrugged, and the two of them began to gather supplies.
Ten minutes later, the capsules were finished. They smelled awful, an strong ammonia scent with a few others mixed in. They were, at last, ready to make a final run for the roof. Basic positions, Jack at the door and the other three ready to run out the second the door opened.
"Alright, you guys know the plan." Jack said. "Head for the stairs, get out the window, climb up on the roof. We all clear?"
The group nodded in agreement, and prepared to go. Jack counted down from three, and then thrust the door open...
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The smell worked, it seemed, because the group was ignored by the things flooding the hallway. They could walk around through the crowd, and they wouldn't pay them any attention.
"Aw, man. This is too easy! These things are more retarded than I thought if this is all it takes to trick them." Brian was laughing at the things that had converted his life into a living hell. Some of the crowd stopped moving. The other tree signaled him to shut up, but he just laughed at them.
"They can't hear me! They're just a bunch of-!" He was cut off mid sentence as one of them tackled him from behind. As it bit him, he screamed louder than any other member of the group had. At this, the entire crowd stopped moving. When Brian was finally dead, the hall was completely free of sound...
Until Jordan realized... They were listening for breathing.
"Go!" He yelled as the crowd began to charge at the trio. Not much fighting was needed to get to the stairs, but the stairs themselves were covered. It reminded Jordan of how the stairs always used to look on a school day...
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It took what Jack estimated to be twenty minutes for the three of them to fight their way up the stairs. There were less of them up there, but still a whole lot of them. All charging at them at once, it was extremely difficult not to lose your balance and go tumbling down the stairs, but he managed.
Renae wasn't so lucky. She was tackled, and sent over the railing to her death. Jack cringed at the sound of the two of them hitting the ground. He noticed Jordan moving forward and continued to follow him. He was tackled by one, causing him to fall towards a table. His attacker clipped its head on the corner of the table before it could bit him, and he cut his leg on the edge.
Jordan quickly helped him up, and they both continued moving down the hall. He looked out the window, and all of his hopes and plans were crushed...
They were on the roof, too. Some of the windows were open, so he assumed that's how they'd gotten there. Jordan saw this too, and instantly started looking in every classroom they passed. He seemed to be looking for something particular, but he failed to mention what it was.
When they reached the third classroom down the hall, he seemed to have found what he was looking for, because he grabbed Jack's hand and threw him into the room.
"What are you doing?" He yelled, as he noticed Jordan wasn't coming into the room himself.
"Neither of us are going to survive this, I can guarantee that. There's a video camera in there, use it! I'll buy you some time, just make sure people know what happened here!" Jordan yelled in response, closing the door between them before Jack could reply to his directions.
He didn't know what to do... So, he walked over to the camera, picked it up, and turned it on. Full battery, how fortunate. He sat for a moment, thinking about what he was going to say while blocking out the constant thuds on the door.
Then he hit record.
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"My name is Jacques Rudel. I'm the last survivor of what was once a group of seven. For the past three days we've been chased around West High School. I'm currently taking refuge in one of the higher rooms, where I've found this video camera. However, I know for sure that very soon I will not be a survivor anymore. I'm recording this so that anybody who finds it will remember the group that fought beside me. There names were..." He paused for a second.
"Ashley Williams."
The vain and extremely attractive girl, taken down in the hallway when she refused to defend herself.
"Matteo Cordoba."
The dedicated ROTC student, taken down in the hallway in front of the eyes of his childhood friend.
"Brian Welter."
The annoying and selfish one, taken down due to his own stupidity.
"Renae Stevens."
The teacher, tackled to a plummeting death.
"Melanie Richards."
The girl that wanted to be everyone's friend, victim of an excruciatingly painful death.
"..Jordan Schupp."
The quiet outcast, sacrificing himself so that Jack could make sure their story was known.
"Thank you..." He said, finally turning the camera off. He looked out the window to see a sky blackened with smoke.
Then Jack, Jacques Rudel, turned to face the door as they broke the door down.
Anybody alive to listen at that moment would've heard a short struggle, the knocking over of desks, and then...
Silence.
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