[Open] Better Outrun My Gun

[Lance James Renner]

Lance lowered his arm away from being tucked lazily across Zoe’s shoulders. Walking to AP Chem with her was always an adventure. He always got caught up to speed on “Gabe 101”. Which for today included the fact that Gabe had a tendency of eating his marshmallows first from his Lucky Charms cereal and then always seemed disappointed when they were all gone. Shocking Zoe. Shocking. “Bloody brilliant,” Lance said, lifting his eyebrows in an unimpressed gesture as he held the door open for her. Everyone had just finished up with lunch and he had begged, begged Kiersten to ditch the last half of school with him. But of course not. Mackenzie and Riley would be so disappointed. Riley wasn’t his keeper.. but Riley would run his mouth to Logan. And Lance was trying to behave with all of this alcohol bullshit going on lately. Fine. Stay put in class. Lance sat in the back of the class, sliding in a seat next to Zoe. ‘ Where’s your phone, normally it’s attached to you,” he said, giving her a quick smirk. ‘ Okay so after Gabe was super adorable and ate all of his marshmallows I decided to get him a new bowl.’. Lance made a confused face before he questioned further, “ What does that have to do with your phone?”. Zoe scoffed in his direction, rolling her eyes at him. ‘ Well obviously he had to say thank you for me making him another bowl. So we had sex and I forgot my phone at home,’ she said, looking back towards the front of the class like that was completely sane train of thought. Lance blinked as he stared at her before shaking his head and looking back at the front of the class. “ Where’s Mr.Ki-“ Lance started to question before an alarm blared through the speakers. ‘ Code black on campus. All doors will be locked, Code black on campus.’. Instantly their teacher flew into the room, shutting the door behind him. ‘ Kids get away from the door and windows, file along the back of the class and crouch down. ‘ he said at an alarmingly quick speed.

‘ What is code black?” Zoe asked, still applying her lip gloss without moving from her seat. ‘ I think that means bomb’. ‘ It does not mean bomb, dumbass…. Does it mean bomb?’. ‘It means there’s a shooter on the campus’’Oh my god are we on the news?’ ‘Is this like a drill?Because if we have to go outside I totes forgot my frap in my car from lunch break’’Sheree they just said the doors were locked, we aren’t going outside if it’s a drill’’Well shit’. Lance blocked everyone out as he watched the teacher. There was a fear in his eyes. If it was a drill, he would’ve been notified of it. All of the teachers would’ve. He sat up from his seat, gripping Zoe tightly.’ OW! LANCE THAT HURTS!” she yelled out, trying to twist her wrist away from him. ”What doors lock?” he asked the professor. It was like he could literally feel his heart pounding against the inside of his neck. “ The main hall ones” he said. Lance looked at him like he was an idiot. “ But not the classrooms?” he asked, pushing Zoe down on the floor, ignoring her trying to wiggle away from him. ‘ They were being installed next week…’ the teacher said, seemingly still in shock as he began to direct students towards the back of the classrooms. Instantly all of the blood rushed from Lance’s face. He felt the air escape his lungs, tingling down until his nerves felt like they were on fire down to his fingertips. “ Kiersten…” he said beneath his breath. He stood motionless, paralyzed by his own fear that she would get hurt before he turned to Zoe. “ Call Gabe,” he said, taking his phone out. There were a lot of people he wanted to call. Kiersten…Logan. Samantha.But Kiersten that was.. different. He was going to find her. Logan he.. Logan was probably in a meeting and wouldn’t be able to answer. ‘ Why am I calling Gabe?’ Zoe asked. But apparently she realized they were in trouble, her hands were shaking when she took Lance’s phone from his hands. “ Tell him you love him,” Lance said distractedly, trying to remember. What the fuck class did Kiersten have right now. His eyes snapped open before he turned towards the door. French. ‘ Renner get back here’ the teacher semi whispered-yelled before Lance shoved past him and ran out into the hallway. Auditoriums, the gymnasium, cafeteria, all of that may have been shut off and things he couldn’t get to. But he had snuck out of enough class and wound his way through this building enough to know his way into the different hallways even if the main corridors were locked. Even if he stayed put and kept quiet in his little classroom, he’d never be able to live with himself if anything ever happened to Kiersten

Outfit

[Claire Jayne Madden]

Claire tapped her fingers against the front desk. Coming back here felt so weird. She felt weird even going back to the ABA. It honestly seemed like all of that was behind her years ago. Technically she was still enrolled at the ABA, she just did her classwork at home. Not smart to be an almost seven month pregnant teenager at a ballet academy. Talk about having a target on your back. She took in a deep breath and sighed. All she wanted was her transcript. She had to have one from here and from ABA. Ethan was making her have a ‘ Plan B’ just incase her ballet career didn’t pan out. It frustrated her that Shane didn’t seem to think it was a bad idea. Ballet was going to happen. She wasn’t giving herself any other options. ‘ Aren’t you…excuse me, aren’t you Shane Madden’s girlfriend? It’s true.. he really knocked you up,” a girl said from the corner. Claire smiled tightly. “ Sure did,” she said, looking back at the clock. How long was it going to take the receptionist to find this shit. ‘ Isn’t he like.. on tour?”. Claire nodded, “ Sure is,”. The girl gave a sound of sympathy, “ Wow.. that must be like super hard,”. Claire clenched her jaw, feeling her pregnancy hormones sort of kicking into gear. ‘ No having the man I’m in love with and is the father of my child being on an entirely different continent is a walk in the fucking park and everything I ever dreamed of,” she snapped, finally turning her head to look at the girl. ‘ Oh my gosh, you’re Natalia Richmond’s friend’ one of the young student aides said as she walked out of the copy room. “ You guys realize that I’m also the youngest person in the nation to have ever been signed to a ballet company starting as a principal?” she questioned, lifting her eyebrow as she looked at both of them. “ No? Nothing? Of course not. Yup. Hannah Montana is my best friend and I’m some band slut that Shane Madden knocked up, that’s me” she said shaking her head as she avoided eye contact with all of them.


The silence penetrated throughout the entire office. Well that shut them up. But it was short, the silence wasn’t going to be so kind. Claire turned her head as she heard the announcement. “ What’s going on,” she said, placing her hand over the top of her stomach as she looked over her shoulder. Suddenly it seemed like there were a dozen people running around the front office. “ Code black, what is code black?” Claire said, widening her eyes as she looked at the receptionist. “ There’s a gunman” the receptionist said, who was already on her way to the front door to lock it. “ What do you mean there’s a gunman” Claire said, watching as everyone around her was either shocked, crying, or hiding. But suddenly there was a gun shot and Claire felt her heart stop. She froze in place, staring out the window of the office. What in the hell was going on. Suddenly another one followed. “ Oh my god..” she said, completely unaware of what was going on around her. Someone’s arm was wrapping itself tightly around her chest, pulling her down underneath a desk. But all she could hear was people crying, trying to stifle the sound of their sobbing by covering their mouths with their hands. She was too stunned to cry. She didn’t even go to this school. And suddenly it hit her. Those shots could have been any one of her friends. Her head lifted up, and she started to try and crawl out from under the desk before someone held onto her tightly and pulled her back. Shane, she needed Shane. Shane was 14 hours away via plane. Holy shit what was the last thing she said to Shane. Claire closed her eyes, not focusing on breathing, or on how quickly her heart was beating in her chest. She didn’t care as another gunshot sounded off. All she could concentrate on was what in the hell was the last thing she said to Shane.

Outfit

[Kiersten Mollie Bannon]

Kiersten had honestly considered skipping school with Lance but had decided against it, much to his dismay. One, because her sister wouldn’t be very happy about it. Sure she skipped some times, But Mack made a point of making sure Kiersten passed the eleventh grade. Plus, once Kiersten realized that all her friends were either home schooled, transferred, or graduating, sometimes all combined at once, and that she would be the only one at school next year, she set her sights on graduating early. Now, she wasn’t totally sure what that entailed, because if that included summer school she wasn’t so sure that was going to fly with her. Plus she only really got average grades anyways. She didn’t even know if graduating early was an option for her. She made a mental note to meet with her counselor to discuss it anyways. Kiersten sat down at her desk, shoving her phone across the surface at Felicia who was next to her, showing her a picture from pinterest. “I want to paint my nails like that, I’m thinking we do it later at the label when Logan isn’t looking. Or when him and Blake go in the office with the door closed. Probably the latter.” “Deal. I’m gonna text Zoe and ask what she wants after school and we can stop and get food on the way over there.” “Tell her I have her purple shirt in my locker.” Kiersten looked over when Giulia sat down beside her, smiling politely. They had assigned seats, so they pretty much had to sit next to each other. Not that she didn’t want to sit by Giulia, but she didn’t know her that well. Giulia didn’t talk much and Kiersten knew for a fact, because she overheard Giulia on her phone in the bathroom like a month ago, that she spoke fluent Italian, so why she was taking French, Kiersten had no idea. Kiersten and Felicia and everyone else were all new this year anyways, and since they were all friends already, she supposed none of them had really branched out and met anyone at school. They were always going off campus for lunch and leaving school as soon as the final bell rang to get over to the label or wherever. Not to mention a majority of their group had some sort of fame to their name and the students either avoided them out of being too star struck or out of thinking they were stuck up.

Kiersten looked out the window of the school, already bored. French came easy when your mother made you learn a lot of it as a child. What was up with her mother and being all proper anyways? Whatever. She was getting a good grade in the class because of it so she couldn’t complain much. Kiersten was just starting to daydream a bit when an alarm started sounding, making her and Felicia both jump. All she heard was the alarm and kids yelling, asking what was going on before the teacher shut the door, yelling to be quiet and get away from the doors and windows. They were all herded to the back of the class, crouching down under desks and behind them, kids asking random things, “Is this a drill?” “Is there a fire?” “No idiot, we’d be outside if it were a fire.” “What about a bomb?” Some girl was crying and Kiersten spun around and looked at Felicia who was crouched down beside her, practically on top of her, Giulia smushed in beside her and the wall. “Felicia… you don’t think it’s a like, someone with a gun do you?” Felicia turned to look at her, both of them getting hit with realization about the same time that everyone else in the class did. The pair of them sank down lower, wrapping their arms around each other out of habit, staying silent. All Kiersten could think about was the list in her head of everyone she loved in this building right now. Felicia, first of all, because she was right next to her, then there was Zoe. Joel and Dani were on tour. Claire transferred luckily. But the one person that was top of her list was Lance. She closed her eyes, trying to think of his schedule. Okay, he was in Chemistry, with Zoe. Well at least they were together. She gripped her phone in her hands, her hands shaking so much she barely managed to type in "<3". It was all she could manage before she hit send and it hopefully got to Lance. Kiersten kept her eyes closed and hoped that nothing would happen to him, because she honestly didn’t think she could really live without him. And she knew she loved him, but now in this situation, she felt desperate not having him with her. Like breathing was suddenly made difficult and her chest hurt like it was going to just collapse. Was this was anxiety really felt like? Was she panicking? All she could do was cling to Felicia, squeezing her eyes shut tightly, trying to picture Lance in her head when she heard the first gunshot.

[Felicia Nicole Jenkins]

Felicia had only just texted Zoe when she remembered that Zoe forgot her phone at home, she'd told her that at lunch along with an elaborate story about why she forgot her phone. Felicia sighed, sliding her phone back and forth across the desk when she heard the alarm begin to go off. It didn't take long for the class to take cover, realizing what it was that was going on. Could there really be a gunman in the school? Was it one of their fellow students? Or an outsider? Felicia couldn't imagine what must be going on in someone's head to want to shoot someone else out of anger or hatred, spite, she didn't know. There couldn't possibly be someone with a gun could there? Felicia watched Kiersten, her own fear reflecting in her friend's eyes when they heard the first gunshot, sinking farther down, Kiersten's head resting on her shoulder. Felicia, squeezed her eyes shut, shortly after hearing a second gunshot. That was two. That could easily be two students, injured, or worse. That could have been Zoe. Or Lance. That was their only friends at school today right? It seemed the room was eerily quiet as everyone listened for more gunshots, but for the moment there were none. It wasn't as if they could go anywhere anyways, just because there was silence did not mean it was over. Felicia looked down at her cell phone, wanting to text her brother, or her mom, or Dex even. But what was she even supposed to say? Ryan was on tour, that would just panic him, as it would her mother, who was in Arizona. Dex, she really just wished he were there, he was tough as a nail, he'd know what to do, right? Felicia looked over at Kiersten, whispering just barely loud enough to be heard, "Did you text Lance?" Kiersten nodded and Felicia asked, "Did he text back?" Kiersten shook her head no and Felicia furrowed her eyebrows. Maybe he didn't have his phone on him, maybe it was in his locker.

[Giulia Rossella Ciaravino]

Giulia felt the blood drain from her face as she heard one gunshot and then the second one. She knew how easy it was to kill another person. She'd heard the topic get touched on lightly at home, joked about even, brought up but never flat out discussed. It was all hinting at crimes committed. And from what she had gathered, the first person was the worst. And the more you killed, the easier it got. That was two shots, with a possibility of two dead already. And it would only get easier from here on out. She didn't dare move, no matter how uncomfortable she was squished in between Kiersten Bannon and the concrete wall. For a moment it was quiet and then she felt her phone vibrate in her hand which she'd been gripping tightly. She glanced down, seeing Giovanni's name flash across the screen and quickly read the message, "Stay safe. Lilah's running things out here." She let out a quiet breath. So there were police people there already, or finally. She didn't know what was appropriate since she couldn't even figure how much time had passed. But her family was there, all of them, she was sure. And Lilah, which was good. Lilah was smart, she would know what to do. Giulia typed a new message, "Police are outside" and then nudged Kiersten, showing it to Kiersten and Felicia. They both leaned over and read it, nodding silently. All three of them could probably figure that the police being on the premise couldn't do much for them right now, but it was a small shred of hope that this nightmare might be over sooner rather than later. After all, after the two gunshots, there hadn't been another in some time, just silence. But alas, Giulia's thoughts were broken up quickly because there it was. A third gunshot, this time fairly closer than the others, judging by the sheer volume of it. Her ears were ringing, her heart pounding. She saw gunshot wounds all the time, knife cuts, open wounds from blunt force. Nothing ever fatal or too bad that she or someone else couldn't fix it. But she feared that whatever the consequences of those gunshots were, that they weren't fixable. She hadn't even realized that Kiersten had reached over and taken her hand, holding it tightly.

[Elijah James Hunt]

“ Keep your heads down,” Elijah said as he lifted his own head up, looking over at his students that were against the wall and cowering down. It felt like every hair on his body was sticking straight up and he felt a nausea he’d never experienced before. Kristen was somewhere in this building. He couldn’t leave his students to go find her and he was sort of in shock for himself for even considering wanting to do something like that. But there had been three gun shots. Three. And all he could think of was whether or not she was laying in a pool of her own blood. The image of it in his mind was enough to make him dizzy himself. All he wanted to do was hold her. That’s it. He felt completely worthless.. knowing that he would take a bullet for her, and at the same time knowing that his responsibility was to the fourteen students in his classroom right now. Could he put his love for one girl aside to focus on being there for fourteen young lives? He hated himself for having to question everything.

Elijah tightened his eyes as he heard another gunshot, but this time there was a female scream accompanied with it. That was not Kristen. Who ever it was, is going to be okay. He repeated those things to himself, forcing himself to breathe before he looked to his side, seeing one of his students weeping quietly into her hands out of fear. Elijah moved away from his spot on the wall slowly to make his way towards her. How could they all be so helpless. How could someone want to come in here, slaughter their peers like they were some sort of cattle. Surely the police were there.. they had to be. They were one of the most famous schools in the country for Christ sake, surely this was getting some sort of coverage. It wouldn’t be long and this nightmare would be over… Kristen would be safe, and he could wrap his arms around her. Elijah pressed his body against the wall near the girl who was visibly upset. He slid his arm gently around her, bringing her to his chest as he held her close. Even if someone’s daughter did die today, and if it so happened to be this girl, maybe her parents would rest easier knowing she hadn’t gone alone.

[Delilah Scott Kingsley]

Delilah moved past the line of police that were keeping people back from the school. How in the hell was something like this happening in their own backyard. It was one thing to have to do a hostage type situation when it was adults involved. These were children, and not only that but Dalton’s little sister was in there. She knew he was on edge. And she didn’t mention anything but there was someone in there that she looked at like family as well. She licked her lips as she looked over her shoulder, over towards Giovanni,Vincenzzo, Zach. Each of them had someone in there that they cared about deeply. She looked away, walking up to the table spread out with blue prints of the school building. She didn’t consider herself a double agent. She didn’t work for their family. She knew she would do her best to protect the people she cared about.. the people she cared about just happened to not be the most legal of all people. And she did her best to protect them with all she could without getting too involved. After all, they’d taken her in so welcomingly and had patched her up after she’d been shot herself. “Fox,” she said, looking up at him as he was looking at the school to get his attention before she looked down at the computers. Facebook, Twitter, all social media live feeds were pulled up. Kids had technology and they knew how to use it. Updates about the shooter and what was happening inside the building were flowing in at a quick pace. She had listened carefully at each of the gunshots, keeping her eyes locked on the building. People might think it was as simple as going in and shooting the bad guy and getting it over with. It was more complicated than that. They didn’t know what was going on inside. Someone could have hundreds of kids packed in an auditorium, waiting to kill all of them if they were on a team shooting and lost communication with their partner due to the fact that the government force picked the other one off.

“ Did you hear that?” Delilah questioned, looking at Dalton. So many people had different specialties in their fields. Delilah herself hadn’t been exceptional at hand to hand combat. But thankfully Zach was working with her, almost daily. What she was good at was weaponry , more precisely – guns. “ It’s two different guns,” she said , hearing it from the different gunshots and the way the sound resonated after the blast. “ We’re working with more than one gunman,” she said, taking in a deep breath as she looked back down at the layout of the building. Subconsciously she looked back at Zach before looking back at the blue print. Judging by the location of the shootings there was a shooter on each end of the school. Since there had been four shots, two on each end of the school, she didn’t anticipate there was a third. They would have placed him in the middle of the school. Delilah looked over at Dalton before she picked up her own headset, speaking into it quickly, “ Set up a team on the east corridor to be manned by Agent Fox”. Delilah looked at him, offering a shrug of her shoulder. She didn’t think he should have a gun in his hands, or that he should be here at all. He was too emotionally involved. But tell him that and he would beat your ass getting you out of his way. “ We have to split up,” she said. One of them needed to be on each side of the building. Two shooters in the school, and her and Fox happened to be the best shots that the agency had to offer when it came to aim and precision. They couldn’t afford to miss and one of the attackers get angry, taking it out on the rest of the students. Delilah pulled her hair up, walking over to one of the other teams. “ Okay you guys are coming with me. On my mark, and I mean it.. no one steps one foot out of line. Once the shot is lined up on our end of things, I’ll take it. You need to go into the building as quickly as you can after the target is down. Guns out, it’s not our place to trust any of the students yet. Search the building before we let anyone out. If you come across an unexpected shooter, .. keep in mind this is a probably a kid,” she said, biting the edge of her lip before she pushed her own feelings about shooting a kid to the side, “ That being said, shoot for the heart” she said before she checked her own weapon and headed off with her team to go towards the west side of the building.

[Ethan John Fox]

It had taken Ethan fifteen seconds after reading his text from Dalton to jump from the back of the auditorium for the classroom he was in and to run all the way down the steps and past his professor who was asking where the fire was. He’d left everything, notes, books, backpack. Fuck it. There was a gunman on the School of Performing Arts campus and he wasn’t sure if it was in the media yet or not. But he didn’t care, not even a little bit. Because Dalton knew it, and Ethan knew it… Ethan had sent Claire to the campus that morning to get her old transcript so that she could start looking at possible college options down the road if her ballet career didn’t work. He’d sent his pregnant sister to the most dangerous place in the city, and the guilt inside of him felt like it was ripping his stomach out. He had sped the entire way, itching to just be there, to see Dalton, to see Claire. He couldn’t even think of anyone else right now. Once he reached the school he ran out of the car, running up until the point where the police were pushing him back. “ Dalton!” he screamed out at the top of his lungs, trying to get his attention. He held his breath as Delilah turned to look at him before she kept walking towards the building. He licked his lips, how was this seriously happening. Ethan did a double take, seeing Zach over in the crowd before he made his way over. “ How many shots? Is anyone injured?” he asked, the blood drained from his face. They were in the same boat, their little sisters were in that building. That’s when it hit him, Stefan’s little sister was in there too.

Ethan tightened his jaw, looking back towards the building. Whoever was responsible for this deserved to rot in hell. Let him go inside, he didn’t care if he got shot. He just wanted to see Claire, even if it was for the last time, tell her he was sorry for making her go through this. Ethan felt someone stand beside him and looked down, looking at Natalia. She hadn’t known that Claire was in there, seeing as how he had literally told Claire just before she got there to go to the school and do this. It wasn’t like Claire updated Natalia on every second of her day.. well, not like they used to. Now Claire was so scatter brained from ‘pregnancy brain’ that she even wore two different shoes the other day. ‘ Natalia’ Ethan said, the feeling of guilt washing back over him before he shook his head slowly, ‘ Claire’s in there..’ . Ethan’s eyes snapped back to the building as he heard another gun shot. This was the most torture he had ever been in, and to imagine what the kids inside were going through, wondering which shot had killed their friend.

[Lance James Renner]

There had been a couple more shots and Lance was running faster with each one he heard it felt like. He had passed a few people in the halls, apparently not opening the doors to the classrooms and were just hiding out in fear. But he slid past the door to Kiersten’s French class room, having to stumble back up onto his feet before he jumped straight up and looked inside through the glass window. His heart literally stopped. It would be one thing to say that a chill went through his entire body, but there was nothing. It was a complete numbness. He moved towards the door, keeping his eyes locked on the gun that was pointed towards the students in the classroom. He opened the door as gently as he could, stepping inside as his eyes looked away from the gun and locked onto Kiersten. ‘ Get down!” the kid yelled, pointing his gun at Lance. Lance put his hands up to the side, making his way slowly in front of Kiersten. “ You don’t have to do this, mate” he said, doing his best to speak in a slightly hushed tone. ‘ You guys have no fucking idea why we’re doing this.. get.. DOWN…’ . Lance stood still, stopping in front of Kiersten before he dropped his hands down to the side. He started to move downward like he was going to sit down, but once he was in a position similar to one that the boys on the football team took during kickoff he lunged forward, colliding his body with him. Lance was already aggressive by nature. Endanger Kiersten and it was enough to make him go psycho on somebody’s ass- which included thrusting himself towards someone with a gun just to protect her.

Lance grunted as him and the kid wrestled against one another, doing his best to try and kick the gun out of the guys hand. But everytime he thought he had one up on him, he was thrust back against his back. The guy cursed, yelling at Lance for busting his nose as he stood up. “ Now you’re all going to get it,” he said before he brought his arm back up, holding the gun towards the group of students. “ No!” Lance yelled, watching as the gun pointed straight for Kiersten, Felicia and Giulia. He jumped up, just in time as the gun went off. The pain seared into the side of his head for a nanosecond before the burning sensation went through his entire body. His right ear entirely felt like an explosion had happened next to it and it disoriented him, causing him to fall to the ground. He took in a quick gasp for air as the pain surfaced to his lungs. There was more screaming, but there was no gunshot sound which was strange. He couldn’t move his eyes, or his body at all, to see what had happened, but there wasn’t any need to. Just a mere second after he had reached the floor himself, he was looking into the eyes of the guy who had shot him, who himself was laying lifelessly against the floor, head turned towards Lance with blood coming out of his mouth and pooling onto the floor. Lance tried to take in another breath of air, lifting his fingertips off of the ground towards Kiersten before the fog took over his brain, causing him to lose consciousness completely.

[Kiersten Mollie Bannon]

How many gunshots was that now, three? Four? Four now. That was another one. Kiersten sat still, barely breathing but somehow all of her senses were alert. Every gunshot that was heard, she couldn't help but wonder who it was aimed at. What if it was Lance? How in the world was she going to get through that if it was? She'd already lost one person in her life that she loved... She shook the thought from her head, she was being paranoid, and there were hundreds of kids in this school. The chances of it being Lance had to be slim. And her thinking like that wasn't helping anyone. Kiersten closed her eyes, leaning into Felicia and still hanging onto Giulia's hand. This had to be over soon, it had to be. And they would all be okay, and it would just be a nightmare that they would all look back on and be glad they all had each other and no one close to her would get hurt. This is what she had to tell herself to keep from panicking. And she almost believed it; until she heard the door swing open. Kiersten's eyes sprung open and she almost felt hopeful for a second that it might be someone coming to save them. But as she laid her eyes on her classmate, fueled with emotion and carrying a gun, her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach. This couldn't be happening, could not be real. Were they next? Someone in this room, or all of them? Kiersten couldn't even breathe evenly, only vaguely felt the blood struggling to make her fingertips because of the way she and Giulia were gripping each other's hands. It was like the three of them, Felicia included, naturally moved closer together, not daring to meet his eyes. There he was, some boy from school, wielding a gun and pointing it at all of them. Nightmare was not over. What was the last thing she'd said to Lance? Or her sister? Oh god. Poor Mackenzie. She must be freaking out, and if this ended badly, how would she even deal with that? How would Lance? What was the last thing she'd said to him? Had she said she loved him when they parted ways before class? She couldn't remember. Surely she had, she always did, didn't she? She'd texted him but he hadn't texted back. But he'd have to get it eventually, and he'd know she did. Love him, that is. That was the only peace of mind she could manage, however slight it was, just that if somethihng happened to her, Lance would know that she had loved him. That had to be enough for the moment.

However, speaking of her charming boyfriend, he just so happened to have made his way into the room, cautiously, but still there. If there was anyone to walk in right then, no one would have made her more relieved and terrified at the same time. She wanted him there; there was no doubt about that. The only thing she wanted was just to have Lance wrap his arms around her and fix everything. But the last place she wantednhim was in the same room as teh shooter, bringing attention to himself. Still, her need to have him there outweighed not having him there. She couldn't even hear anything being said, just felt herself reaching toward him, willing the space between them to just disappear. Everything was happening in slow motion, and yet she couldn't even seem to process anything except Lance trying to get to her. Just a few more steps, if only she could just reach out and touch him but she couldn't move. She felt like her arms were full of cement and she was glued to where she was sitting. He was right there, she could almost reach him, but he was moving again, colliding with the boy, trying to wrestle the gun away from him. Suddenly everything was happening so fast. Lance was on the floor, struggling to get up and she couldn't get to him, and yet her ears were ringing, hearing the gun go off as he fially mad it to his feet again, watching in horror as the only boy she'd ever loved took a gunshot to the head and fall right before her. Lance was strong, and passionate, he was opinionated, and he never backed down from anything, never let anyone walk all over him. He never went down without a fight. But here he was, falling so easily. She only vaguely sensed herself screaming. it was like trying to scream under water. You could hear it, but it sounded like it was coming from someone else and muffled. She knew Felicia and Giulia were gripping her tightly, trying to hold her back because she was struggling to free herself from their grasps, trying to reach Lance where he laid in front of her. She knew they were holding her back because the shooter was still there and there was a small chance he'd show mercy on the rest of them but she didn't care. All she saw was Lance, the gunshot wound, the blood pooling. She hadn't realized that almost no time had passed and she was very aware of the boy falling to the floor, the gun sliding across the floor where it rested at Giulia's feet. It seemed the nightmare was over, no more shooter, no more shooting. But she had a new nightmare now. Kiersten glanced up, seeing a woman, seemingly a member of police force, watching the downed gunman but still holding her gun at the ready. Looking back, Kiersten would be aware that the woman had said that nobody move, but Kiersten had finally managed ro get out of Felicia's and Giulia's grasp. She ignored the boy completely, thinking he could rot in hell nayways for all that he'd done. The people he'd shot, injured, killed. For what he'd done to Lance who was unmoving, unconscious, and laying in his own blood. If that kid who had shot everyone wasn't already dead she would have tried killing him herself, that's how angry she was. She was angry, felt like she was goingto explode, and yet she was scared and panicked, crawling to Lance as she saw him lift his fingers slightly toward her, gingerly cradling the only boy who'd ever made her feel safe and sound. She'd never been so not in control of her own emotions, and for a girl who never let herself cry, here she was crying, freaking out, shocked. Lance had never done anything to that kid, he didn't deserve this. All he'd done was try to get to her. And now she couldn't tell if she'd ever have him again, because as far as she knew, the boy in her arms was as good as dead.

[Giulia Rossella Ciaravino]

Giulia couldn't help but think, as she sat between a cold wall and Kiersten, a girl she hardly ever spoke to, that this was not how she wanted to die. And that she surely had an entire family outside that would give anyone in arms reach hell if she died today. She almost allowed herself a bitter laugh, picturing her older brother and her cousins, all probably itching to get inside the school and take out the shooter themselves, and probably enjoy it. She didn't think she would ever understand how they did it. Sometimes she thought maybe it was just a learned mindset, killing people and not really felling very much remorse for it. But she'd grown up in the same household and she couldn't imagine ever even stepping on a spider. And Zach, for example, was an outsider and yet she knew for a fact he could hold up more than a couple of fingers now like the rest of them. And he was fine. The biggest trouble in his life was that Scarlet that he was so attached to. Even now as she pondered all of this she was sent back to reality by the fact that the shooter was now in the room with them, squeezing Kiersten's hand she took a deep, quiet breath. No, not the most ideal way to go. Maybe it was karma on her family. There was a thought. Suddenly things were happening very quickly and she was only struggling to keep up, seeing lance, Kiersten's boyfriend, come in, heard him speaking to the boy, but the boy had said none of them knew why they were doing this. For a moment Giulia watched him, felt his eyes find hers. His name was Andrew, and Giulia, though not confident completely in her reasoning for him doing this, at least knew a thing or two about him, and knew how things were for him before this.

Andrew wasn't very popular, a bit of a loner, though he had a friend or two. All sliding through high school unnoticed mostly, except for the bullying. Giulia had first period with him, he hadn't been there today. But she'd witnessed it plenty of times, the bullying, the other boys picking on him, making high school more of a hell than it had to be. He didnt talk a lot, much like herself. He had freckles and was a bit chubby. He didn't play sports that she knew of. She was fairly sure he was an avid Lord of the Rings fan. She remembered he had head gear in middle school. He'd gotten picked on then too, and the stigma must have just followed him to high school. Just last week some guys in first period had been acting like assholes toward him, as per usual. Just being irritating, snapped Andrew's pencil in half just because. Giulia had offered him another that she'd had extra. He'd thanked her. Even offered a small smile. Surely this boy, who was now pointing a gun in her direction but had briefly met her eyes, was not a monster. He was just a scared, bullied kid who'd had enough. Maybe there was a lot more to his story than she knew, maybe the bullying was only the icing on the cake. But this was how he felt he had to deal with it. And for that she didn't feel sorry for herself but pitied him. No matter who made it out of here alive, his life would never be the same. This wouldn't fix anything for him. She felt sorry that no one had told him that. That shooting people wouldn't fix his life.

Andrew stopped looking at her when Lance hit him, and she hoped with every fraction of herself that Lance could just get that gun away from him. But everything was happening so fast, Lance falling, feeling like their last hope was gone, Lance getting back up, throwing himself in front of Kiersten as Andrew shot him. Literally taking a bullet for her. And he was down. And for an unknown reason, causing Giulia confusion for a moment, Andrew was down too, and by the looks of him she knew he was dead. She was sad to admit she knew was dead people looked like, sensed that he wasn't with them anymore. Giulia watched as his gun slide across the floor and rested at her feet, looking around for the cause of Andrew's death when she finally found Delilah in the doorway, gun still poised. Giulia felt she'd never been or would ever be again so relieved in her life to see Delilah. And though they both knew they probably shouldn't make it known they knew each other, they still shared a glance. Relieved to see each other. Giulia slowly moved her foot, sliding it toward toward the gun and pushed it gently in Delilah's direction.

[Zachary Adam Pierson]

Zach stood impatiently with the rest of the guys, assessing their group; himself, Giovanni, Matt, Vinny, Milo... all restless and scared. For them Giulia was in there. For himself, Zoe was in there. And if it were possile for himself to just go in there with a gun himself he'd go get her. He knew the rest of them felt the same way. He could pratically see the wheels and gears spinning in their heads, formulating elaborate search and destroy missions, designed to kill, which was what they did best. They do it gladly; anything to keep Giulia out of harm, and Zoe, and any other loved one they even knew in there. Zach just wanted Zoe here right now, he couldn't even stand it. He felt like he was going to be sick, and the urge to just break something was growing stronger by the moment. How long was it going to take to get people in there and get rid of the problem? But Zach trusted Delilah completely. If there was anyone at all he'd choose to send in who could legally do so she'd be the first on his list always.

Zach wasn't even totally sure what he could do right now to even make himself useful, or at least keep himself busy, so he pulled his phone out and texted Gabe, who was trying to get there as fast as he could. Up until now he really hadn't had much to do with Gabe but at this point, all Zach knew was they both loved Zoe, so it seemed. And she was in that school. If he was in Gabe's shoes, he'd want someone to keep him updated. Zach watched as Delilah headed inside, hoping she got this over with quickly. He turned to see Ethan Fox beside him, asking questions. Zach thought for a moment, "Uh, three. No four. Four shots. We don't know anything more than that right now. But they're finally sending people in, hopefully they end this sooner rather than later..." Zach took a deep breath, trying so hard to stay calm. It seemed everyone here who had a child or sibling or friend in there was just trying to get a grasp on the reality of this situation, but what the reality was, was that the entire thing was just unbelievable. Sure you heard about stuff like this happening, but never to you or people you knew. No one her wanted to believe that this was really happening.

[Mackenzie Janelle Collins]

Mackenzie found a wash cloth by the sink, dampening it with warm water and walked back over to Lily's high chair, wiping the food from her face and hands before she threw it back in the sink and lifted Lily out and carried her to the living room. She'd clean up the kitchen in a minute after she got Lily all settled with a Disney movie. Introducing Lily to solid foods was entertaining most days though. As Mack turned the TV on, she sat down on the couch with Lily, deciding on which movie she was going to put on, not exactly watching the news station that was on. Mack had school off for the summer, and Riley was at work. They had their little schedule worked out, so when Mack's attention was finally caught by the TV and realized they were reporting on a gunman in the School of Performing Arts, Mack was not prepared to have their schedule go to hell today. Because her sister was in that school. The only sister she had left. Her baby sister at that. What was the probability that Kiersten would be that kid that was shot? Mack could feel all the blood draining from her face, holding onto Lily who was squirming in her arms. Before she knew it she had hopped up, looking frantically for her cell phone, not remembering where it was. When did she even have it last? She found it next to the refridgerator on the counter, with a text from Blake of course, telling her what was going on. How had she not heard her phone go off? She didn't have time to check to see if it was on vibrate. She called Riley's cell, but he didn't answer. She remembered he was in a meeting, so she frantically called his secretary, poorly explaining the situation because her mind was jumbled as she was putting a light jacket on Lily and her little shoes, grabbing her diaper bag and her own purse, pleading with the secretary to just get Riley and tell him it was urgent and call her as soon as possibly possible. It sounded like the secretary got the idea because she promptly hung up.

Getting Lily in her carseat and driving down to the school seemed like a blur and finding somewhere to park was a pain in the ass but it was all Mack could do to keep herself from becoming completely useless. She had to get to the school in one piece, in some sort of sane state of mind. Kiersten needed her. Getting Lily out of the carseat, walking quickly to the school with the rest of the crowd, trying to find someone, anyone she knew. She couldn't feel her own body and Lily was eerily behaved, as if she sensed something was wrong. Mack wasn't even thrilled about the fact that she had brought Lily, but she was in such a rushed panic, she didn't even know who she could have left Lily with anyways. It just wasn't the place to be for an infant. She hoped Riley wouldn't be upset, but Mackenzie was secretely grateful to have someone to cling to right now anyways. Even if she was just a baby. She was willing her phone to ring, for it to be Riley, saying he was almost there, or already there, that everything was going to be okay. She couldn't allow herself to think of the worst possible scenario. She could not fathom loosing Kiersten today, it just could not happen. Period. She over heard people talking about the number of gunshots already heard, praying Kiersten wasn't one of them. It somehow crossed her mind that it could have even been Lance, Zoe or Felicia and that made Mack feel even more sick than before, sliding onto a bench nearby, unable to stand with out feeling like her legs were going to just stop working. She thought she should be calling someone, her mother maybe, but she couldn't talk. She thought if she spoke she would be sick or something, and how in the world could she tell her mother that? Hadn't their family been through enough? Hadn't loosing one daughter been enough already? Mack couldn't help the returning feelings, so familiar and sickening, remembering it was just about this same time two years ago, seeing old images in her mind of Vanessa, at the car accident site, in the hospital, unmoving, the last few moments she had with her. Mackenzie realized she was shaking, closing her eyes, just willing her phone to ring and for it to be Riley.

[Riley Scott Collins]

Riley clicked the end of a pen out of annoyance quickly as he listened across the room at the gentleman who was by no means going to get any type of investment help from him. Yet he continued to ramble. He moved the fabric of his suit, looking down at the time. Seriously, he had a final to take in like thirty minutes. He needed to get the hell out of here. ‘ Sir..’ his assistant said as she peeked her head in. Riley looked over his shoulder, spinning in his chair slightly, ‘ Sir Miss Bannon is trying to get ahold of you,’ she said nervously, looking around the room. “ If she calls again tell her I’m in a meeting,” Riley said looking back at the man in front of him. That was weird… Mackenzie knew he was in meetings all day. She would know not to call. Something had to be wrong.. Lily. His heart sank to his stomach, just as his assistant spoke up, ‘She says it’s an emergency’. Riley was already on his way of jumping out of his chair. ‘Our meeting..’ the guy said to him. “ Yeah you’re not getting a dime from us,” he said, shaking his head as he headed out of the boardroom and ran to his office to grab his car keys. Once he found them he began to dig through his desk for his phone. Where the hell did he have it last. He clutched it tightly, running down to his parking spot as he called Mackenzie. “ Baby, what’s going on?” he asked quickly as she answered the phone, still trying to start his own car. Why did everything get harder when you were in a hurry? Riley tossed his phone into the passenger seat, letting it connect to the Bluetooth in his car speakers as Mackenzie starts a bunch of sentences.. never really finishing a sentence. Just as he had turned onto the street to head home, assuming that’s the direction he needed to take, he felt like the world stopped. ‘ There’s a gunman at the school’. Riley turned the wheel of his car as quickly as he could, not caring as the traffic honked their horns at him and swerved to miss him.

‘ Kiersten get your ass to class’ he had said sarcastically this morning as they all had breakfast together. He shook the thought from his head. Now was not the time to worry about things that were said or weren’t said. They needed to focus on the present. “Kenzie, listen to me” he said, knowing she was probably frozen in fear. “ Is Lily with you?” he asked before giving a nod as she said that she was. “ And you’re at the school?”. Two for two Collins. “ As soon as you and I get off the phone you need to call Hunter, okay?” he asked, looking over at the phone as though it would respond. “ Tell him to come to the school and pick up Lily. Then he needs to take her to Mandi’s. She’s in the middle of a final right now, so her phone won’t be on,” he said, running his hand over his face as he listened to Mackenzie on the other end of the line. “ Everything is going to be okay. Everything will be fine. Kiersten is fine.” he repeated, turning off of the interstate and sped his way past a few cars. Some of them may very well be on their way to the school as well. “ I love you, I’m almost there.” he said before pressing the button on his steering wheel to hang up. Kiersten was a pain in his ass, got on his last nerve, made him want to tear his hair out because she was so hard headed. But she was his sister. That’s what she was supposed to do, right? She also made him light up with the simple way sarcasm rolled off of her tongue, could cry he laughed so hard from talking with her, and actually enjoyed being around her. She’d been through a lot. She was tough. Riley parked, not caring if it was actually a parking spot and just ran, leaving his phone in his car as he headed to find Mackenzie. He slowed as he came to her, wrapping his arms around her tightly as he kissed the side of her hair, leaning down to kiss their daughters forehead. “ Everything’s okay,” he said before leaning down to hug Mackenzie again, “ Everything’s okay…” he said, holding her against his chest as he looked up at the school, wondering what in the hell sort of nightmare was going on inside there.

[Blake Emma Renner]

Blake stared at Logan’s office door for what felt like hours.. centuries. It was probably only a few seconds. “ Miss Parker he is in a meeting,” his receptionist said for the twentieth time. Blake kept her eyes glued on the door. “ Stop talking,” she said quietly, barely even a whisper as she ran through each possible scenario in her head. ‘ There’s a gunman in your brothers school’. No… ‘ Logan, Lance might be in trouble’. .. Mmm.. No. She had always been good with words. She made a career out of being good with words. And she was speechless, staring at an oak door, wishing she could think of any way to phrase this that might not make it sound so scary. Suddenly the door opened and she was surprised to see Logan standing there, big grin on his face. ‘ Hey’ he said happily, wrapping his arms around her before he gave her a kiss. Blake closed her eyes, still unable to breath as she looked back at him. “ Hi.” she said before finally closing her mouth after standing there with it open like an idiot. “ Um..” she said, giving a slight shake of her head. She pursed her lips, about to say something but there it was again, the words escaping her. “ Logan..” she said before she pushed her hair out of her face and stood straighter, trying to build confidence. “ We need to go to Lance’s school. There’s a gunman on the campus,” she said before she looked over at him, reaching down to slowly take his hand. Their little Kenzie was already with a babysitter. That was one less thing for him to have to worry about.

Blake tightened her fingers around Logan’s, making her way to the parking garage so they could get o Logan’s escalade that she had driven here. It was a moment like this and Blake knew that her and Logan should have never gotten divorced. They should have never signed those papers. She was meant to be his and he was meant to be hers. They were meant to take care of one another. She got into the car, holding onto Logan’s hand as she drove. She only took it away momentarily, letting Logan sink all of this information in as she took her phone out and called his parents. ‘ Mr.Renner.” she said in a greeting before she looked over at Logan. ‘ I’m not sure if you’ve seen the news,… Logan and I are on our way but it appears that there is a situation at Lance’s school. A student has a gun,” she said. Talking to his parents was one less thing he had to do. What would he even say? And they needed to know. “ Okay.. well we can get back to you or we’ll see you there,” she said “ We love you too,” she added quickly before she hung up the phone and slipped her hand back into Logan’s. They drove without music, with utter silence. Her heart literally ached for Logan. First he had watched his friend Riley lose his memory. Then his protégé went into a coma. Now, his little brother was at the hands of a gunman. Not to mention Blake was literally on edge, wanting to chew off her nails, wondering what was going on with Mackenzie and Kiersten. She stayed silent though, letting Logan work it all out in his head before she parked the car and headed over towards Riley and Mackenzie. She gave a small nod of her head towards Zach as she saw him. Even if she was a bit skeptical about his and Scarlet’s placement at their Sunday dinner table.. if there was ever going to be something to bond him to their family like one of their own, this was it. Blake turned her head, looking down at Mackenzie. She kept one hand placed tightly in Logan’s before she reached down and held on to Mack’s other hand.