#Chapter 141: The Antidote
Nina
“Three… Two… One!” On the count of one, Matt and I yanked the supply closet doors open. The rogue leaped out, but Enzo was ready in his wolf form, and tackled it to the ground. In a flash, Tiffany ran to the rogue’s side and jabbed the needle into its neck.
The rogue shrieked and wriggled harder against Enzo’s weight. Matt and I shot each other wary looks, but Tiffany seemed enthusiastic about her antidote And she was right The antidote seemed to be working. The rogue slowly faded back into a normal boy Enzo hesitantly released his grip on the boy at Tiffany’s request before shifting back once more and instinctively putting himself between the boy and I again. Watching him be so protective over me made my heart skip.
“There,” Tiffany said, stepping back and looking down at the boy, who was slowly coming back to consciousness with a confused look on his face. “Now, we just need to figure out how to administer this to anyone else who’s been bitten — but I’m not sure if I have enough just yet.” She bent down as he tried to sit up and helped him, speaking to him gently in hushed tones. Meanwhile, the doors that we barricaded began to rattle once more.
“I think we should get out of here,” Matt said warily, taking a few steps backwards away from the door “I’m not sure how much longer that barricade is gonna hold.” As he spoke, one of the chairs that was piled on the top of the barricade clattered to the floor Tiffany nodded and stood, helping the boy.
“We can get through to my office from here,” she said, nodding her head toward a service corridor at the back of the arena. “You guys get the others and bring them over. I’ll go ahead and gather the rest of the antidote I have, and any other supplies we might need. We’re gonna have to go in the tunnels, I think.”
At the mention of the tunnels, I felt my stomach drop. Enzo and Matt ran off to the locker rooms and began to usher the students out while Tiffany ran ahead to gather her supplies, meanwhile, I could only stand there, frozen in fear Suddenly, another chair fell off of the barricade, causing the door to slide open a bit I could hear the sound of the rogues snarling through the crack in the door Their animalistic sniffing and growling made me sick to my stomach, but at the very least it snapped me out of my fear and allowed me to help Matt and Enzo. “This way!” I said, gesturing for the group to follow as they filed out of the locker rooms. “Quickly.”
The door slid open a little more. Matt and Enzo got the rest of the students out of the locker rooms and ushered them along at the back of the group. I ran over to the door that Tiffany disappeared through and opened it, keeping track of every single person who went through while the barricade began to break apart from the rogues on the other side. As I worked, I pushed the thought of going into the tunnels in the back of my mind, I had to stay sane for everyone’s sake.
Suddenly, the barricade broke down the rest of the way and the first rogue burst in, skittering across the floor and looking around wildly until its yellow eyes finally locked on us. The last student ran through the doorway with Enzo and Matt on her heels, but just before we closed the door, I realized something as I stared frantically into the rogue’s eyes.
I knew those eyes. It was Justin. He had turned again. His nostrils flared as he barreled toward the door. I felt myself freeze in the doorway, stuck in a state of disbelief. My eyes widened as he approached, his yellowed, sharp teeth bared. There was blood on his muzzle, and although I knew he intended to bite or even kill me, I couldn’t move I was frozen to the spot
When a pair of strong arms wrapped around me and carried me away. I hardly even noticed until Matt slammed the door shut and slid the deadbolt across, blocking the rogues from coming through just before Justin slammed into the door from the other side, denting it.
Enzo carried me into Tiffany’s office, where the panic-stricken students sobbed and huddled. He set me down, then grabbed me by both shoulders. ” What was that about?” he asked, breathing heavily. “Didn’t you hear me calling for you?”
“T-That was–“I couldn’t get the name out, but I knew that Enzo understood. From the look in his eyes, I knew that he recognized Justin, too. But we didn’t have time. Through the windows of Tiffany’s office, we could see that the campus was crawling with rogues and the rogues saw us, too. They began to gather at the windows, watching and pacing. Tiffany was too busy gathering supplies to notice the girl walking toward the windows, entranced.
“Get away from there,” I said, stumbling away from Enzo toward her But it was too late Enzo grabbed me, cursing under his breath, as she walked up to the window and put her hand on the glass.
“H-Henry?” she whimpered, recognizing one of the rogues. For a long, palpable moment, the room was silent. The rogue Henry, I supposed his name was stared at the girl through the glass, sniffing.
Then. He slammed into the glass Glass shards went flying everywhere People screamed, there was an insurmountable panic I heard Tiffany shout something. It was all nothing but a blur, I felt a hand grip mine and yank me away from the windows, but my eyes were fixed on the girl as she fell to the ground, limp. The rogue spit out her arm before locking eyes with me and beginning to snarl, licking its lips hungrily as its gaze slid down to my leg. When I followed its gaze, I saw a big shard of glass embedded in my thigh, and the leg of my jeans was slowly turning red, but I didn’t feel it. “Come on!” a voice yelled, yanking me further away. “Hurry!”
More rogues began to scramble in. Two, three, four… I couldn’t even count them at that point. It was as though they smelled my blood. Somehow, I knew they were coming for me
“Matt! What are you doing?!” Enzo’s voice yelled from behind me. “I have to find the others!” Matt replied. “Go! I’ll hold them back!” I broke my gaze from the rogues to see Matt shifting, a rogue pounced on him, knocking him aside
The last thing I saw before I was pulled into the dark tunnels and the heavy metal doors were slammed shut was the image of Matt fighting for his life Everything went dark and quiet after that. For a moment, I thought that I had passed out from the glass sticking out of my leg, but then I heard murmuring. Someone flicked on their phone flashlight and cast the dark tunnel in a bluish tinge.
“Your leg,” Enzo said, crouching down to look at the wound. I shook my head, feeling the tears streaming down my cheeks as I thought about Justin, Matt, Lori and Jessica, James… What would their fate be? How could I be concerned about a piece of glass in my leg when my friends could very well all be dead?
