The Designs Of Change

~Chapter one-Human Ark~ (Aure POV)

          It had been a normal day. Blue sky. White puffy clouds. And the sun was shining cheerfully. With the feeling that something was drastically wrong. Me and my best friend Copia walked down the hall towards my art class, in a heated discussion about my 70 late assignments.

          "Aure, I know you need a tutor, but I'm just not available every day." Copia seemed a bit exasperated about this, and sure, I had been asking a lot of her lately, but I needed to pass these classes.

            "You don't understand," I grumbled. "I never have time to learn anything because V.R games are my top priority."

            "And you don't know what your problem is?"

            I thought about it for a moment. "No, not really."

            I got the distinct impression that Copia wanted to slam her face into a book right then. "You're like a starving squirrel and those V.R games are your nut supply."

           "Exactly--"

           It was then that the wall exploded.

          Its entire mass turned towards us, shrapnel flew and dust clouded the air. I felt a small piece of something graze my cheek in the explosion.

          And logically, I froze.

          Being surprisingly in control, Copia grabbed my arm and ran out along the hallway until we came to a custodial closet. She shoved me through the open door, and without a word, slammed the door with me inside, and with her definitely not safe on the other side.

          Outside the safety of the wall, I could hear bombs and gunshots going off after the fleeing of my best friend. All of the school shooting drills had never prepared me for the terror that I experienced when the real thing happened.

          I slumped into the corner of the closet. I could feel my heart pumping madly against my ribs as if it were trying to break free and run away like I wanted to do. I could hear more of the gunshots, and I huddled closer against the wall, hoping whoever was out there wouldn't think to check the closet for targets. I sat there tense, for what felt like an hour. Eventually, the shots ceased, but I stayed put for a little longer, just in case.

          Is Copia alright? Why did she run back out there? There were a lot of gunshots. Caseus? It's not like he's my favorite person, but is he okay? Kamilla? We were never the closest of friends, but I hope she's alright.

          I could hear the footsteps in the hall from the approaching miscreants as they blew in more walls on the west side of the school. Before I knew it, the shots and bombs started going off once more, shaking the walls and sending tiny flakes of debries off the ceiling. They might try to blow in every wall to find any stragglers. At that thought, I took my small body and looked around for a more compact and secure part of the closet.

          There.

          There, near the top left corner of the cramped room, was a rack of supplies settled on top of a shelf. Under that, was a toat. The toat looked slightly larger than the average, it was tucked up against the far side of an outcropping of concrete. I quickly opened it.

          It had a few things inside, like a few spray bottles with various cleaning supplies. I took them out as fast as I could, and set them on the shelf hopefully in a way that made it look like they were always there and hadn't just been moved.

          I quickly tucked myself inside, my back pressed tight against the side, and my face ducked in my crossed arms. I put the lid on and waited, sure enough, I heard a soft hiss coming from the doorway. They wouldn't use bombs that could hurt anyone inside, would they?