Locked In

October 27, 3030 6:05 A.M.         Chaos.         I can hardly register what's going on. The sound of gunshots in the room is almost deafening. Bullets are flying everywhere, and bodies are falling everywhere else. The guards aim for those who didn't make the cut and pull the trigger without a second thought. I gather myself and raise my gun, the metal cool and heavy in my hands. I scan my eyes over the room, searching for Scarlett. She's watching in horror next to Madison and Karter. I aim my gun toward Scarlett, and we make eye contact before I take a deep breath and pull the trigger.          The body crumples and falls to the floor, and I can hear Madison's scream even from across the room. I push toward them, not even acknowledging the body on the floor.          "You idiot!" Scarlett yells. "You nearly shot me!"         "You're lucky he didn't get to you first," I huff, nodding toward the guard that was about to attack her.          My heart is pounding rapidly. Never in my life did I ever think I would be in this situation. People are killing innocent people, thinking if they just followed directions, they would be safe.          No one's safe until they get out of this city.         The four of us crowd together, backs facing each other, and fire at all angles. I aim toward the guards, preventing them from continuing their executions. During all the chaos, I spot Penelope running to safety, protected by another guard. A bullet whizzes by my head, barely missing my ear. It came from the direction of Penelope's bodyguard as he led her to safety.          "What do we do now?" Chloe shouts once she reaches us, avoiding and returning gunfire. She runs out of bullets, but she's quick to reload and start firing again.         "We get out of here!" I groan when I run out of bullets as well, quickly reloading. Scarlett and Chloe cover me as I do.         "Easier said than done!" Karter rolls his eyes, gunning down a fellow classmate.         Scarlett reloads her gun, saying, "We have to find a way back to the school."         "Okay," Madison says. "How do you propose we do that?"         "We'll figure that out once we get out of here!"         We continue to fire, slowly making our way out of the building and to safety. Right before we can close the doors, a bullet grazes me, and I shout in pain. I hide behind the doorway, pushing pressure against the wound as Karter and Madison push the doors shut. They break the lock, preventing anyone from following us. Luckily the bullet only scratched my skin, but it still hurt like a motherfucker. We weave our way through the halls, passing the empty prison cells before finally making it outside. I feel blessed to finally get a breath of fresh air, but the joy doesn't last long. We run for what seems like forever until we stumble across an abandoned building. Karter helps Scarlett climb through an open window and she lets us in through the door. We stay out of sight, hiding in the shadows and away from the windows, unseen by anyone that passes by. The room is quiet, only filled with the sounds of us catching our breaths.         "Well?" Karter huffs. "What now?"         Chloe perks up. "I have a really, really terrible idea."         "At this point, I don't think anything is terrible," I mumble as I rip some fabric off my shirt to cover my wound and stop the bleeding.         "The sewers are everywhere underground. There's surely one that leads straight to the school."         "I take that back."         "The sewers?" Scarlett hisses, narrowing her eyes. "Chloe, we're not going through the pipes." ****** 7:00 A.M.         "I can't believe we're going through the pipes," Scarlett grumbles.         I can't help but agree with Scarlett. I have to stop a few times, vomiting before I can move forward. The combination of the sewage stench and the pain in my arm is making my stomach feel queasy. I try to breathe through my mouth, hoping to stop inhaling the stench, but it doesn't help. It's as if the fumes still make their way up my nose without my permission. It's sickening.         "If we make it out of this city," Chloe says, "I'm going to shower for 3 hours straight."         "I'll bathe in a lake at this point," Madison mumbles.         We crawl through the sewage pipes for what seems like several hours. A lot of terrible things have happened to me this past month, but this? This takes the cake.          Finally, finally, Scarlett stops and looks at a compass she had pulled from her pocket. "Okay, the school is north of the Capitol Building. So theoretically, this should put us right outside the school."         "Theoretically?" Madison repeats.         Scarlett climbs the ladder against the wall. She grunts as she pushes up the manhole cover, scanning the area for guards. After the signal, we climb out of the sewer one by one.         We sneak around the campus, trying to avoid the security cameras and possible alarms that could trigger. Nearby, we hear the sound of a glass bottle rolling across the concrete.          "You have got to be shitting me," Karter growls as a guard rounds the corner.