Avery was safe. For now. Her tears started to dry up. It’s not easy seeing your best friend get shot by a maniac. At school. Randy never deserved to die. Avery hadn’t found any alive classmates, yet. As she lifted the desk above her, she laid Randy down and gasped softly. Mrs. Perry was dead, looking like a ragdoll on the floor. She left a huge blood streak on the whiteboard. The rowdy boys in the back were all dead, sitting lifelessly next to the closet doors. Avery started to cry more. This wasn’t just a shooting. It was a massacre. 

The shots came back. But this time, no one was screaming. Avery put Randy on her back. She knew he was dead, but she didn’t want to believe it. She slowly opened the classroom door to see another surprise. Several kids on the floor, next to their lockers. Blood everywhere. Avery closed her swollen eyes, full of tears on the inside. This was a nightmare.

Far in the distance, Avery gasped. Very loudly. It was the maniac. But he wasn’t moving. Did she dare to look closer? She had nowhere else to go. Avery hid between the lockers.

The policemen came and dragged the maniac away. Avery felt a lunge of relief in her body.

She yelled like never before. “HELP! HELP, please!”

As soon as the policeman saw her, she ran to him and hugged him so hard. 

“Hey, hey,” he said softly. “It’s all right. Is he ok?” He had noticed the boy on her back.

“No,” she wept. “No, he isn’t. He’s gone. My best friend’s gone.”

The policeman bit his lip. He knew that must have had been scary.

“Come with me,” he said. “Your parents are waiting outside. They were so scared. This has never happened before in the district.”

The policeman hesitated while looking at Randy. But he simply gestured Avery to come with him, as she went outside the school doors and ran to the parking lot.