Zein's Point of View
We immediately ran toward the scream. My heart was pounding against my ribs; I knew deep down that the "peace" of the afternoon had already shattered.
A man lay on the floor, three stab wounds in his back. He had been blindsided, likely killed before he even realized he was in danger.
"Clear that corpse out of here!"
We turned to see Teacher Kath standing behind us, her face twisted in annoyance rather than grief. "He's blocking the hallway," she added coldly.
The guards arrived and began dragging the body away like a sack of trash. There was no respect, no moment of silence—only insults and indifference. They were heartless.
"And you!" Teacher Kath pointed a sharp finger at the crowd of students. "What are you staring at? Move!"
The crowd dispersed instantly, leaving only the seven of us. Liam urged us to walk away.
"You're really not going to do anything?" Mia asked, her voice trembling in disbelief. "A student died and no one cares?"
"They're just showing us that everything here is pointless," Matt said, his voice heavy with thought. "That we shouldn't waste our time on things that don't matter."
"That's exactly how it is," Liam added, that unsettling smile returning to his face. "They don't care about the dead, and they certainly don't care about the murderer."
I looked at Liam. What is it about this guy? Is he a demon too? Underneath that cheerful mask, I felt like he was hiding something dark.
"We should go back to the dorm," Dave suggested.
"I'll go ahead," Liam said, glancing at Vanessa. She didn't look back.
"You guys go on," I told them. "I have something to do at the office."
I watched them walk away, then turned back to the floor. The body was gone, but the blood remained. My eyes followed a trail of crimson droplets leading toward an old, abandoned wing of the building. My feet moved on their own, guided by a morbid curiosity I couldn't suppress.
The trail led to a classroom that looked like it hadn't been used in years. I checked the empty hallway one last time before reaching for the doorknob. I knew opening it was a mistake—disaster usually follows curiosity in this place—but I pushed anyway.
The room was pitch black. I reached for the light switch, gasping when I felt something wet and sticky on the plastic. I flipped it. The light flickered rhythmically, casting stuttering shadows across a room of overturned chairs and dusty desks.
I looked at my hand. It was covered in fresh blood. The killer had touched the same switch only moments before.
Every time the light flickered off, I held my breath. Every time it came back on, the room felt more claustrophobic. Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind me. Before I could scream, someone grabbed me and shoved me hard against the wall.
"Why did you follow me?!"
Even in the dim, flickering light, I recognized him. He was one of the three men who had beaten up Nazzer earlier. And the man stabbed in the hallway? That was Raven—his friend.
"W-why?" I stammered, my knees shaking. "Why did you kill your own friend?"
The man, Paulo, seemed to snap out of his trance. He let go of me and kicked a chair in frustration. "I had to," he sobbed, still clutching a bloody knife. "I have to kill them... or they will kill me."
"Who? Who told you to do this?"
"If I don't kill him, I'm dead," he repeated, ignoring my question. He looked at the knife, then at his blood-soaked clothes, and began to cry.
"But killing is wrong, Paulo. It's against every law—human or divine!"
"I have no choice!" he screamed. "I have to kill so I can live!"
He bolted out of the room. I chased after him, desperate to stop the cycle. He didn't seem to hear me. He walked through the halls with the knife in plain sight, not even caring that his clothes were a testament to his crime.
He stopped when he saw the third man from the music room—Julse.
"Paulo? Why are you holding a knife?" Julse asked, looking confused. "Have you heard? Raven was killed."
"I know," Paulo said tonelessly. "I killed him."
The air between them turned ice-cold. Paulo held the knife out toward Julse, handle-first.
"Take it," Paulo whispered. "Use it to survive."
"What are you talking about?"
"I know the rule, Julse. I know that if you don't kill me, they will kill you."
I stood frozen. The manipulation was perfect. They had blackmailed these three friends, turning them into predators and prey just to satisfy a grudge held by the Higher 10.
My eyes widened as Julse reached behind his back. He didn't take Paulo's knife. He pulled out his own. Before Paulo could even blink, Julse drove the blade into his chest.
Paulo collapsed. His blood joined the stains already on the floor. In an instant, another life was snuffed out.
"I'm safe," Julse whispered to himself, a haunting, delusional smile appearing on his face. "I'm safe now."
I wanted to scream at him. You aren't safe. You might be alive, but your soul is gone.
As with Raven, the guards appeared within minutes to haul Paulo's body away like refuse. Julse wandered off into the shadows, a ghost of the man he used to be.
I returned to the SSG Office, exhausted and hollow. I slumped into my chair and stared at the wall. Everything that had happened—the beatings, the murders—it all started because they mistook a "demon" for a "nerd."
The door opened, and Teacher Kath walked in.
"How was your investigation, Ms. Shion?" she asked mockingly as she sat at her desk. "Did you find the killer? Did you get any 'justice'?" She laughed. "Of course not. That's why we don't waste time on useless people."
"They aren't useless! They were human beings, Teacher Kath!" I snapped. "We are talking about lives!"
"Lives without meaning," she countered. "Actually, they're the lucky ones. They won't have to experience the coming deluge."
"Deluge? What are you talking about?"
"A deluge that spares no one," she said cryptically.
The door opened again, and Fritzy and Onel walked in, looking bored.
"Ugh, so stressful," Fritzy complained, checking her nails. "There are corpses everywhere today. It's disgusting."
"Did someone else die?" I asked, my heart sinking further.
"A suicide, to be specific," Onel replied casually. "Someone jumped from the rooftop all the way to the ground floor."
My voice was barely a whisper. "What was his name?"
"From what I heard," Onel said, "it was Julse."