Surviving The Thinning

6.

~Louisa~

After being forced to sit in my chair in the Thinning room, I start silently crying. Sarah was screaming and lots of others were sobbing. They strapped our hands down and pulled out huge syringes of a strange liquid.

I guess they use poison to kill us off then...

I was looking around at my crying classmates when suddenly the lights all shut off and one of them shoots out of their chair and makes a run for the door.

Quickly, everyone realises that the power outage released our hands from the restraints and everyone tries to escape our dark fate. The guards grab all the fleeing students and force them back into their chairs, but not me.

"Get back in your chair!" The guard closest to me shouts.

"Remain seated!" Another yells, guarding the only exit.

I use the frenzy as a distraction and pull out Ms. Birch's key card and get to the door when the guard is busy holding back a girl. I push the card against the scanner and bolt out of the small room.

I look back and forth, take a deep breath and run down the hall not knowing where I was going, other than that I wanted to be as far away from the Thinning room as possible.

Once I thought my distance was large enough, I slow and peer around one of the corners, only to find a guard in front of me. I dash back behind the wall and quiet my breathing. Counting to five, I look out again and find the corridor empty and decide to continue down.

I scurry around, trying to find an exit, and find myself in the hall with another guard. He was looking the other way luckily and I run in between two rows of lockers. I slide down the wall and hold my breath as the man walks past. Each step echoed in my ear and I could hear my heartbeat getting louder and faster.

Even after the guard passes me, I stay kneeling against the wall and calm down my heart. I hesitantly stand back up, looking both ways before walking away from wherever that man was going.

After a few minutes, I find an exit door to get off this floor.

I pull out my key card again and push it into the scanner, but it doesn't work.

"What? Please... Please work." I mutter in distress.

"Hey! What are you doing down here?" A voice calls out to me.

I pause and pull my arm back to me, holding the key card close.

"It's about time. I called for you ten minutes ago." I state.

"What?"

"I'm Ms. Birch. I teach tenth to twelfth grade."

"Wait, why are you wearing tha-?"

"I just saw a student go down that stairwell." I cut him off.

I watch him closely as he starts to walk toward the door and once I'm behind him, I jump onto his back and hit him over the head.

He staggers, but manages to grab my arm and pull me over his shoulder and slams me onto the floor, hitting the lockers on my way down.

"Ah!" I scream out in pain when my head hits the ground.

I lay on the ground, winded, and my eyes widen upon seeing the guard pull out his baton. He's about to swing it when a hand reaches out and grabs him. The guy pulls the guard around and sends punch after punch before slamming him to the ground, banging his head into the ground over and over to knock him out.

"Blake?" I ask in shock.

"Louisa?" He whispers.

"Oh my god!" I exclaim softly and try to sit up.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Blake rushes out crouching beside me, pulling me gently into his arms.

"I'm fine. What are you doing here?" I murmur into his chest.

"I came to get you. I know you passed. There's no way you failed and I passed. Something has to be going on." He explains.

"Blake. It's so scary in there." I say as a silent tear slides down my cheek.

"You're safe now, I've got you, baby." He mumbles, kissing the top of my head.

"We have to go." I declare.

He nods and stands up, bringing me with him carefully.

I rest my hand on a locker and regain my balance, as Blake grabs the manual override lever and pulls it. Using all of his strength, he successfully pulls the switch.

"Level 4 breech! Level 4 breech!" An alarm blares.

"C'mon!" Blake yells over the siren, taking my hand and runs down the staircase with me in tow.

***

Another update!!!

There may be a gap between this upload and the next because I need to put out my next chapter of my other story that I'm writing called Wonderland.

If I don't upload soon, Merry Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate! I hope you have a great time!

Thanks for reading, voting, commenting and following! <3