"Sir," she said, her words a clean, sharp break in the silence.
"Oh hey!" Azoff exclaimed.
"The fight is over for the moment. And now your wounds require immediate treatment." She didn't wait for a reply, instead kneeling and setting her case down.
She reached out and firmly took the hand that gripped the sword, turning his wrist to examine the deep, angry claw marks that had ripped through his uniform and flesh, ignoring the drying monster's bloods and the Major's unblinking stare.
It was 009 of the night, and the group was still hiding in the library, the whole time.
Now, hours later of that horrifying incident early that day, the silence was almost worse than the noise. The faint hum of the emergency sounds outside was the only sign that the humans hadn't failed completely and still there's some hope.
Matthew had now woke up and was sitting on a chair and talking with the others. The library was the only quiet place in the whole school, no destruction and nothing.
Matthew rubbed the back of his neck, the knot of fear and exhaustion finally loosening enough for his mind to start working. He looked at his friends.
Ryan was sitting cross-legged on a wooden chair, polishing his glasses with a focused intensity. Emily and Sarah were huddled together on a long sofa, their eyes fixed on the barricaded door.
Ethan was pacing the short distance between a stack of encyclopedias and a globe, chewing nervously on his thumbnail.
"Alright," Matthew began, his voice barely a rough whisper, "We can't stay here. It's too quiet. If they find out that we are hiding here, then we're doomed."
"And even if they don't find us, we'll starve to death!" Ryan muttered, stopping his pacing, "We haven't eaten since evening, and that was..."
"Shut up, Idiot!" Ethan said, pulling over a large dustbin towards the group, "What's this?"
"Packets of food items?" Matthew said.
"Yes! Everything was eaten by us since noon!"
"Seriously?" Matthew asked.
"Yeah! And mostly by this shithead!" Ethan looks at Ryan, pointing at him with his eyes.
"You brought the whole cafeteria here?" Matthew turns to Ryan.
"They were also eating with me!" Ryan replies.
"Why the fuck, you didn't wake me up then?" Matthew yells at them.
"Can you guys be quiet for a while?" Sarah yells at the boys.
"We need a plan to escape from here, Matthew." Emily said, her voice was deep, "We can't stay here for a long period."
"Do you have any plans?" Ethan asked.
"Nothing specific," Matthew admitted.
"What are we going to do then?" Emily asked.
"Just look and run." Matthew replies.
"And we need to be careful while running, cause I don't want to encounter another fucking monster on my way out of here!" Ryan stands up.
"And we have to find a way to get out of the school campus, which is safe for us!" Matthew said.
"What's with the main gate?" Ethan asked.
"Because I had heard one of the security guards announcing to the principal that he had blocked the main gate, so that the monsters couldn't enter the campus!" he paused, swallowing hard, thinking of something, "And the secondary exit near the gym is much closer to the side of town where the attacks started."
"Okay. But when did you hear the conversation between the guard and the principal?" Ethan asked.
"Maybe when they were still alive!" Emily added.
"Exactly!" Matthew looks at Ethan with a weird expression.
"Then we can't go out either of those ways." Ryan pushed his glasses up, his eyes sharp even in the dim light.
"Any alternative way?" Sarah asked.
"The walls behind the football field—it's low, and it opens up to that dense cluster of residential backyards near the Berry Hills road. Fewer crowds, fewer things to draw attention." Matthew added.
"That road leads towards home for us," Emily said softly, looking at Matthew, a hint of agreement in her voice. "It's the longest route, but... the safest. I feel a lot of nothing from that direction. Which is good."
Sarah nodded, pulling out a small, folded map of the campus she had snatched from a bulletin board earlier.
She walks up to a nearby small table and calls Ryan, "Ryan, can you help me pull it?"
Ryan walks up to her, and pulls the table in the middle of the area where the group was sitting, and after helping Sarah, Ryan then goes back to his seat, on that wooden chair.
"Matthew's right. The field runs perpendicular to the main chaos. We'll stick to the shadows of the school buildings until we reach the track, then cross the field fast. No lights, no talking." Sarah puts that small map on the table to make a better plan.
"But how do we know the campus is clear?" Ryan asked, his eyes fixed on the map.
"We don't," Ethan replied, his mouth curving into a mischievous, yet grim, half-smile. "But we can check it. Give me five minutes. I will look for the security footage of the surveillance cameras, to check if there's any monster inside the whole campus!"
"You know how to access the surveillance cameras?" Ryan asked.
"Yeah, I can! What the hell do you think about me?" Ethan said.
"You're a moron!" Matthew exclaimed.
"Look who's talking!" Ethan turns to him instantly.
"Can you guys please stick to the discussion for a while! Please!" Sarah jumps in.
"Okay." Ryan replies.
"Ethan, your idea is great! But…" Matthew frowned, "That's insane. It's a risk."
"It's a smart risk." Ethan countered. "I'm fast and I know alternate routes, which are safe. And one more thing, you and the girls be ready, if I don't come back in ten minutes, assume the worst and leave without me. Head for the field."
"Stop watching too many horror shows!" Matthew exclaimed.
"Yeah! He's right!" Ryan added.
"Still I would say one thing, we're a group. We will get out of here together, or we won't go. And you're right. We need eyes outside. Emily, Sarah, stay here. Ryan, you come with me. We'll provide cover for Ethan's run." Matthew said firmly.
"Cover? With what, sarcasm?" Ryan squeaked, but when Matthew shot him a look, he just sighed. "Fine. But I am not leading."
"You are fast in ruining emotional moments!" Emily gets closer to Ryan and whispers.
"Hehe! Very funny!" Ryan replied, and rolled his eyes away from her.