Ch.88Chapter 88. Mass Shooting (4)

“Nngh! Urrrgh!”

Jane had turned bright red all the way to her ears from exerting every ounce of strength she had.

But no matter how hard she pushed, the door wouldn’t budge an inch.

“Huff… huff… haah…”

Exhausted, she leaned against the door to catch her breath and spotted Teacher Weiss calmly sipping his coffee.

“Don’t waste your energy. Just stay put.”

“…”

For some reason, his relaxed demeanor was irritating.

After all, who was responsible for her being trapped here in the first place?

Caught by Teacher Weiss, she’d been forced to listen to his endless stories about tips for handling elementary school children throughout the entire lunch period.

Thanks to that, all the other staff had already left, and by the time the lunch period was nearly over, only the two of them remained in the cafeteria—and that’s when the shooting alarm went off and the doors locked.

“Ah! How can I just stay put? The children must be panicking outside right now!”

“By now, the teachers and security guards who were outside are taking care of evacuating the children. The ones inside are all safely isolated thanks to the locked doors. You might get shot if you try to go out there unnecessarily.”

“How can you be so calm, Teacher Weiss?”

“Perhaps it’s because I’ve been teaching for too long, haha. This is why one should retire when they get old.”

“…”

Watching Teacher Weiss’s composed demeanor helped Jane calm down a bit.

She still desperately wanted to go out and see the children’s faces, but she somewhat accepted that there wasn’t much she could do in the current situation.

Still, it was difficult to be as rational as that old teacher.

“The window! We have the window!”

“I won’t stop you if you think you can survive falling from the fourth floor. I’d probably die instantly, but since you’re young, you might get away with just breaking both legs, hahaha.”

“…”

Looking down from the window, the ground seemed dizzyingly far away.

It would have been nice if there were something like a balcony below that she could climb down on.

The only thing to grab onto was a metal pipe attached to the outer wall.

“Well, if you want to climb down the wall like Spa…derman, go ahead.”

“Spa… what?”

“Never mind.”

“…?”

The generation gap.

Weiss just squeezed his eyes shut.

“Ugh! Ah…”

Jane reached out to see if she could touch the metal pipe, but quickly gave up and closed the window again.

She had thought that in such a crisis, some special power would activate and she’d be able to climb down the pipe smoothly like in the movies.

But she still couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Was her love for the children only worth that much?

Feeling a bit guilty, Jane became dejected.

“Teacher Jane.”

“Yes…”

“Everything will be fine. There are no gunshots now, right? The perpetrator was probably subdued by security or police after that last shot. Now we just need to wait for someone to unlock the doors.”

“I hope so…”

Looking at the still-shrinking Teacher Jane, Weiss sighed.

He put down his coffee cup and wiped his mouth.

“When you’ve been teaching for a long time, you experience all sorts of things. Unfortunate accidents happen, and sometimes we have to say goodbye to students before their time. I’ve shed many tears during those times. That probably hasn’t changed much even now. Anyway, after all those experiences piling up, I might have become a bit cynical. What you might call a rigid old geezer, a stubborn old man.”

“…!”

How did he know that’s what the younger teachers called him?

Jane felt a bit guilty and couldn’t meet Teacher Weiss’s eyes.

“Nevertheless, there’s something I haven’t lost. A positive mindset is exactly that. No matter how many misfortunes I’ve faced, I never lost that mindset. Children learn not only from their teacher’s lessons but also from their attitude. Don’t blame yourself, don’t lose hope, and preserve your energy. That’s the way to help the children.”

“…”

Jane bit her lip as she pondered Teacher Weiss’s words.

Every word rang true.

She sniffed back her tears and raised her head.

“Speaking of emergencies, I’m reminded of a time when we went on a field trip to a national park in Los Angeles. The weather was so gloomy that day…”

“…”

Somehow, Teacher Weiss’s story seemed like it would never end.

Since she couldn’t just cut him off, Jane was listening absentmindedly when—

BOOM!

“…?!”

A loud noise came from outside the door.

Jane’s face brightened as she immediately stood up, pushing her chair back.

Of course, she was glad to be freed from Teacher Weiss’s endless story, but she was mostly excited about the prospect of going out to see the children.

“We’re here! Here…!”

CRASH!

Jane, who had been calling out with her hands cupped around her mouth, was startled by the door violently shaking and fell backward onto her bottom.

If it were school staff or police, they would try to unlock the door.

Why were they banging on the door so forcefully?

“Teacher Jane. Help me carry this table.”

“What? Yes?”

“Quickly!”

CRACK!

The door twisted violently once more.

Doubt turned to certainty, and certainty quickly became fear as it approached Jane.

But Teacher Weiss’s firm voice moved her limbs.

Jane helped the grunting Teacher Weiss by grabbing the end of the table and pushing it toward the door together.

The long table, now turned sideways, completely blocked the door.

But it seemed this wouldn’t be enough.

“The chair! Bring the chair!”

“Yes!”

Taking the chair, Weiss hurriedly wedged it under the doorknob at an angle.

If positioned correctly, the door wouldn’t open no matter how hard someone pushed.

CRACK!

“Holy Jesus!”

At that moment, they saw a piece of metal forcing its way through the door crack.

What good was a sturdy lock when the door frame itself was being easily torn apart?

Weiss and Jane exhaled roughly as they slowly backed away.

THUD! BOOM!

The door was hit several times, but it didn’t open.

It seemed their barricade was successful.

Just as the two were about to catch their breath—

BANG!

“Get down!”

“Eek?!”

With the sound of gunfire, a hole appeared in the door.

Weiss grabbed the back of Jane’s head and shoved it to the floor.

***

“Son of a bitch. What the hell is going on…”

The sighs started from near the school.

It was absolute chaos.

Fire trucks, police cars, and even a few eager vulture-like reporters were visible.

The siren was still blaring at Saint Catalina School in the distance.

That meant the situation wasn’t over yet.

I realized what was happening about 5 minutes after it started, and now it’s been about 10 minutes.

How have they not subdued one perpetrator yet?

“Step back! It’s dangerous!”

“I’m a parent of a student at this school! Let me in!”

“Please step back for now. There’s a risk of gunfire.”

“What are those idiots over there doing? Why aren’t they going in quickly?”

“The perpetrator’s armament is too difficult to handle with just pistols, so once we gather sufficient forces, we’ll move in—”

“For fuck’s sake.”

I get that they’re blocking people from entering.

But you fucking cowards.

With nearly 30 police cars dispatched, they’re just surrounding the place and doing nothing?

Did you leave the concept of immediate response in your wife’s pussy?

I was furious, but I somehow managed to restrain myself from causing a scene in front of the police.

“Rest assured, sir. Saint Catalina has a state-of-the-art security system that isolates all students from the perpetrator—”

“That means they can’t escape either! You crazy bastards! What idiot designed this?”

This is driving me insane.

I couldn’t pretend to be crazy and jump over the police cars.

Nor could I call Cuss, who might be hiding somewhere, and draw attention.

It was truly frustrating.

Then suddenly, I noticed a group of children behind me.

I recognized a couple of familiar faces.

“Hey! Aren’t you Tim?”

“It’s Tom.”

“Right, Tom!”

“Huh? There are two Toms here. I’m also Tom…”

“I don’t care about you. Move aside.”

Tim or Tom, whatever.

Even if he was just an annoying brat, I was overjoyed to see a kid who knew Cuss.

The girl next to him also looked familiar.

Who was she again?

“El… El… Alamein?”

“It’s Alice, mister…”

“Right, Alice. What about Cuss? Have you seen her?”

Don’t beat around the bush, you cute little things.

I wanted to grab their ears and stretch them until they spoke clearly, but there were too many eyes watching, so I decided against it.

“Um… Cuss…”

“Yes, yes. Where is she?”

“She went back to the classroom earlier to get her phone…”

“Ah.”

That little shit.

During lunch, she should be playing ball and running around like a normal kid, not looking for her damn phone.

Is she already addicted to games?

Just wait until she comes back alive.

I’ll beat her within an inch of her life to cure that game addiction.

“But, but it should be okay! Our school doors lock so the perpetrator can’t get in! She should be safe!”

“…”

I thought differently.

The doors of Saint Catalina that I remembered were paper-thin.

With just a crowbar, you could crumple the whole door open, or if necessary, tear off the hinges with a hammer and open it from the other side.

I gritted my teeth and looked toward the inside of the school where Cuss might be.

I had to get in.

I couldn’t leave Cuss to the school’s pathetically inadequate security system.

If that damn alien dies, they’ll discover she’s not human when they collect her body.

That was the only reason.

“Damn brat…”

“Mister? Mister! Where are you going?!”

That was reason enough to move me.

I slowly started walking toward the school’s main entrance.