The Hamster Wheel

My eyes meet Chase's eyes and instantly begin to water. My breathing was off, my chest was heaving, and I was slowly getting less oxygen into my body than before.  It was an oncoming panic attack that could not have come at such bad timing.  Chases eyes grew larger, as my chest drew him in. He could see I was slowly starting to lose control of myself and his realization made the oncoming worse.  I grabbed my chest in frustration and tried to sink so far within myself, that I began to concave into the ground headfirst.  I needed to stop it. I had to control it.  Scooting towards me, Chase grabbed me by my shoulders and pushed me into his chest. The smell of his cologne on his clothes calmed me down, and I was able to slightly gain control again.  "Shhh, it's okay Jen," he whispered, shakily.   I took a slow inhale and exhale before grabbing his hand and squeezing it.  The sound of sneaker scuffles entered the room and heads swiveled towards the door. Sheer panic and terror was on everyone's face. It had been 20 minutes since an armed shooter entered the building of a community college and let loose fire.  Except this school shooting was way different.   First, they killed the power.  That shut down all light, WiFi, phone lines, and building functions. No alarm could even be signaled to go off as an alert. Total confusion left the student body in a phase of vulnerability.  Then, they attacked.  Multiple shots were fired on the first floor near the Sheridan entrance. Assumably, they killed the security guards in the lobby because it stopped within seconds. But there is no guarantee there aren't any more casualties.  Finally, a phone disabler.  They made the area remotely impossible of calls, texts, or even access to social media getting out. Every phone displayed a message that read "server out of range" and then changed to a black screen.  Now ?  Silence.  There have been no more reports of gun fire, screams, or voices heard in the hallways. For twenty minutes straight, it has been pure silence.  Nothing is more terrifying than not knowing when you're going to die.  "We need to move," Chase whispered into my ear. Lifting myself up a bit, I looked at him to see if he was serious.  "You know that's risky. There's someone with a gun out there," I whispered, roughly.  "Yeah, who is not shooting. We're practically waiting to die in this room, and you know it."  "Where would you go, lover boy," Riley whispered next to him.  "Anywhere out of here. We're sitting ducks right now,"  "Oh so you're going to be the super hero today and lead everybody to safety?" She asked bitterly. "You're out of your f*****g mind."  "Well then tell me how long you want to f*****g sit here, Riley. They haven't said s**t since they got here. It's been 25 minutes!" "Y'all motherfuckers too loud!" Shane whispered from across the room.  Chase waved him to come over. Looking at the door, Shane got up and ran to our spot by the teachers desk.   "Shane, we gotta leave man," Chase reiterated.  "I was thinking the same thing, but the risk factors are too large right now. We don't know what's goin on, they blocked our phones man.... this s**t got some type of terrorism written all over it," Shane explained.  I looked down at my own hands... It had never even crossed my mind that this school could be targeted for a terrorist attack.   "It's a community college for f***s sake! Why would someone target us for terrorism ?!" Riley said.  Shane shrugged and smacked his lips.  "Nigga, why does anybody target anything for terrorism? They just reek terror,"  "For political reasons or emotional reasons, there's always a hidden agenda," I stated.  "I'm tired of you white motherfuckers always classifying terrorism as if it only deals with people outside the country. If you shoot up a school, THAT is terrorism. You're reeking terror. It's simple!" Shane argued.  "Look, we're not about to get into an argument over political definitions. I'm making a plan to leave. Are y'all in or out?" Chase asked.  Shane got quiet and looked at the door. The day was getting later and the sun was setting. Soon enough, his dark complexion was going to become a cloak for him.  "f**k it, I'm down." He said. "Destiney!" He whispered across the room to his girlfriend.  She came crawling over.  "What's goin on?" She asked. "We bout to come up with a plan, and dip. You down?"  Fear took over Destiney's eyes and I could tell she was struggling to come up with an answer on the spot.  "Baby, I got you. Trust me," Shane whispered. She sighed and nodded.  "Okay fine. I'm in."  "All you mother fuckers are crazy, but the people doing this are crazier. So I guess I'm down too," Riley reasoned.  "All right, so this school has long hallways. We should avoid them. At all costs. I say we head down the stairs, go towards the high school side of the building, and leave through the exit right there. Stairs lead right down to it." Chase explained. "How do we know if they're not down there?" I asked. "We don't. That's the risk we gotta take," "We need some weapons or some s**t," Shane muttered.  Scanning the room, his eyes landed on a meter stick. He ran over to get it and came back.  "It ain't much, but it's something," he said. "You're gonna stop a bullet with ruler?"Riley asked dryly. "Ya know, you actually were kinda funny when class was in session, but now I'm realizing you just straight up annoying," Shane remarked. "Guys, shut up and let's just go," We all stood up and began to walk towards the door. Only as soon as we approached it, the professor stood up and blocked us. "I can't let you leave," he stated with a shaky voice.  "We can't stay in here Greg, they are going to kill us. We gotta at least try to make it out of here. You can come too," I told him. He shook his head in frustration and looked down. His breathing had picked up and his skin turned a shade paler. Looking at him a bit more closely, I realized he was sweating like crazy. His short red hair was stuck to his forehead like glue, and his shirt was drenched.  "No no no... you guys have to listen to me. I can't let you through," he muttered.  "Like hell you are," Shane said and grabbed him by his shoulders to move him. Only as soon as he did, Greg pulled out a  gun and held it to his forehead.  "Woah woah! What the f**k?!" Riley shouted. We all backed away from the situation and Shane stood there with his hands in the air. Destiney pulled Shane back and stepped in front of him.  Greg stood there, holding a black glock in his left hand, trembling badly. Desperation and fear was written all over his face as he took turns aiming the gun at all of us. He was at a loss of words.  I could not believe what I was seeing.  "NONE OF YOU CAN LEAVE, OKAY?" he shouted. "Please don't make me shoot you," "Are you apart of this?"  someone yelled.  "Yeah why do you have a gun?" "What the f**k is going on?!"  "Is this a sick joke?!" "EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" he yelled, and took off the safety feature on the gun. "SIT THE f**k DOWN AND DON'T MOVE!" We slowly went back to our spot and sat down. It was evident that whatever it was that was going on, was bigger than we could have ever imagined.  Suddenly, a  beeping noise sounded from his coat jacket and everybody in the room froze. The idea of a possible bomb scared us all, and I was praying to god that I wouldn't be right.  The professor started patting his jacket and pulled out a small black box that was beeping rapidly. Placing it on a desk, he clicked a button and backed away from it. "Professor WHAT THE f**k? IS THAT A BOMB?!" Shane yelled. We all stood up and ran to the furthest corners in the room in a frenzy. Shrieks and cries filled the air as the professor stood there and watched us behind his glasses. I couldn't tell if he was bewildered or saddened by what was happening, but he kept the same composure. He suddenly crouched down and  put his head in hands. Running his fingers through his hair, he began to sob uncontrollably, holding on to the gun with one finger.  "I'm sorry! I didn't have a choice! They're holding my family hostage!" he cried between sobs. "I need to do as they say or they will kill them," "THAT'S BULLSHIT MAN!! YOU MURDERING INNNOCENT PEOPLE!" Shane yelled. "This is so f****d up," Pauline, a blonde classmate cried. "May I have your attention ladies and gentleman..." filled the room and we all froze realizing it was coming from the box he put on the desk.  "I understand how you all must be feeling right now. Fear, rage, concern. It's only human for you to be expressing these emotions. You must be rather confused, so allow me to clear it up a bit."  The speaker paused for a moment. "We infiltrated the building approximately 30 minutes ago with the hopes of acquiring information that humanity depends on. Over population is estimated to occur within 10 years from now and the government has yet to do anything about it. So, with the best hopes of saving our future, me and a group of scientists decided to do something about it ourselves. I have designed a small capsule that has been implanted within each professor in this building." "Wait, what?" Greg asked. "Now, what this capsule does, depends on the professor. Generally speaking, upon bursting, the capsule will release a disease that can be spread to others. How this disease will develop, depends entirely on the host. Said host could either die, become only a host for the disease, or completely birth something new entirely. We attempted to run a stimulation on lab rats, but the disease was too powerful. It killed all of them." The room went up in a roar and cries. "WAIT NO! I'M GOING TO DIE?!" Greg shouted, grabbing the speaker trying to speak into it.  "Shut up everybody!" Pauline screamed. "They have to be joking," I whispered.  "That experiment left us host-less without a population to test it on. So, this is where you all come in. We know that this disease can without a doubt kill, but we need a cure in order to release it to the public. You are all here to today to serve the purpose of finding said immunity." Pause. "This school has brought in an extraordinary range of diversity, so I am confident that something will be found. I assure you ladies and gentlemen, this is nothing to be afraid of. To die for a worthy cause is an honor. You should all be proud to have been chosen to serve your country." I looked over at Greg who began to pace back and forth, tapping the gun on his forehead. His hands kept rubbing the back of his neck in aggravation. Did he know they implanted a capsule? "Now, this experiment will last how ever long it takes to find the person with the immunity. There is no access to cellular data or no way of reaching anyone outside of the facility. You are all being watched at every point in the building. There is a live feed streaming." "So I will conclude this announcement with sheer encouragement. Good luck. You all have sixty seconds." Click.  _________ Comment yes if you want a second chapter!