Chapter 9 #5
I froze at the sight of her; teeth bared, and her face twisted in pure hate as she took on one of the Jackals’ girls.
She was fierce, relentless, as she ripped at the girl’s hair and clawed at any part of her she could reach.
The girl she’d been pummeling was on the floor on her back, her hands up to defend herself, while her legs were kicking wildly.
But even when she landed a mark or two, it did nothing to halt Meredith, who was in full attack mode.
As alarming as it was to see Meredith giggling, cute nickname calling Meredith being so ruthless, it was the sight of Celeste coming up behind her, a stool in her hands, that scared me the most. She raised her skinny arms, lifting them high over her head, and I realized she was about to bash it on the back of Meredith’s skull.
I made a mad dash into the crowd, my focus entirely on Celeste.
I jumped over the bodies of kids who were rolling on the ground, struggling with their own rivals as they pummeled each other and tried to gain the upper hand.
I saw Meredith straighten, and her eyes caught mine, hers changing from fury to recognition and then bewilderment.
“Mer, look out!” I yelled, desperate to be heard over members of security who had finally broken through and were slowly separating kids pair by pair. The alarm was still ringing with a shrill, along with the shouting and screaming of the room, it was nearly deafening.
Meredith didn’t hear me. If anything, she moved back a step closer to Celeste, who smiled like the psycho-bitch that she was as she swung, bringing her weapon down.
I threw myself at her, right past Meredith, and barreled into Celeste’s stomach, knocking her back.
The stool fell to the floor beside us, missing its mark, and we both rolled.
When I stopped, I was on my stomach and quickly pushed up onto my hands and knees, my eyes darting around as I searched for signs of a threat.
Sure enough, Celeste was also quickly recovering from the fall, and she crawled forward, her coloured hair falling over her face so that her eyes, lasered on me, were staring through the strands.
She reminded me of that girl from The Ring, the way she moved and glared at me with pure hatred.
I scrambled back several feet, occasionally getting struck by a flailing fist or other limbs, but I didn’t look away from her as she attempted to stand.
“Casey!”
I heard my name, but I couldn’t see who it was in all the chaos around me. I rolled over and pushed up off the ground, running back through the crowd, hoping to free myself so I could make a break to the kitchens again.
“ Casey !” I heard it again, but I couldn’t see shit.
I ducked under an arm that swung dangerously close to my head and pushed past several pairs of fighters.
I sidestepped out of the way from another two who flew back into the wall beneath the barred windows, and when I did, I felt someone’s nails rake over my scalp before seizing a fistful of my hair.
My head was roughly yanked back, my neck kinking painfully, and I found myself looking up into Celeste’s panting, sweaty face.
“Fucking whore!” she practically spat the words out.
“You’ve been nothing but a fucking pain in my ass!
What is it that they all want? You got a magic pussy, slut?
” It was then that I saw the stitches in her ears, and my hands flew up, seizing hold of them, and pulled.
Celeste shrieked, pulling her head away, which only made it worse as the stitches were ripped open.
She released me, crying in pain, and I stumbled sideways into the wall.
I’d been about to make another break for it, when one of her cronies stepped in and grasped my arms from behind, lifting me up into the air.
Celeste came at me, her lobes red and bloody, and picked up a discarded fork from the floor.
“I’m gonna make you bleed, bitch!” she snarled, lifting it up over my head. I struggled against her friend's hold, even attempting to reverse head-butt her, but she managed to dodge me at every time.
A huge figure came flying at us, slamming into Celeste, and made her shriek in a way that sounded like a pig squealing in pain.
Hunter seized her by her throat and lifted her up off the ground while also slamming the hand that had been holding the fork, over and over again into the wall by her head.
His grip was so tight, I could make out how his forearm was flexing, the tendons tightening beneath his skin.
“Staaaahp!” She choked out.
“Fucking drop it, cunt!” Hunter’s lip was bleeding, one of his lip piercings was gone, and his dark brown hair was disheveled. He was breathing hard like he’d just fought like hell to get here.
“H-Hunterrrr…” Celeste coughed against his hold and kicked her legs as her face slowly started to turn purple. “L-let goooo… bitch… deserves… it!”
“You fucking touch her, and I’ll give you to him to sell, do you understand?”
At his words, Celeste’s eyes widened in fear, and her kicking stopped.
Just as she dropped the fork, the girl that had been restraining me disappeared.
I spun around to see her thrown face-first into the wall with a sickening crack, and she slid down into a heap on the floor.
I stared in shock at the thin trail of blood that oozed from her, but I didn’t have time to register any of it because the next thing I knew, the person who attacked her seized my hand and tore me away from the crowd.
I hurried after them, having no choice but to follow as the grip on me was so tight I lost the feeling in my fingers.
Shaw was urgently pulling me along, guiding me around the crush toward the emergency exit.
The lights were still flashing, but it was dying down as more members of the faculty broke in.
In the distance, I could hear sirens blaring from outside.
Around us, injured kids were either lying on the floor bleeding, while some sat along the walls, looking thoroughly beaten down.
From the doors leading to the atrium, a flood of people were scattering, students and members of the gangs, all making a break for it.
“Come on !” Shaw hissed at me, and he let go of my hand to jump over the counter.
I followed suit, trailing him as he shoved open the doors into the back.
We ran past the work tables, oven, and fridges until an emergency exit came into view near the back.
Shaw ran right toward it, and I continued following, both of us running out into the cold, October air.