Day 1 12:10pm
Patter had devoted his entire life so far to wrestling. He had been wrestling since he was 6 years old and had just about every college trying to recruit him. As team captain, he had turned the team from pretty good to the best in the state and nationally ranked. He could tell something was going to happen but no matter what he was going to keep his team together.
Something was about to happen, the 2000 students of Altim had all just woken up within 10 minutes of each other and in a space far too small to hold them. Whoever had done this clearly wanted them alive, hopefully, and if there weren’t any adults to keep students in line right now there probably wasn’t going to be. They were also probably going to let out soon unless this was a test to see how long it would take for them to start killing each other. Something Patters severely doubted because anyone would be able to answer that question, not long.
“Okay, look around, who’s missing.” Patter looked around at the team assembled around him in the corner of the room. As far as he could tell the whole team was here.
“A couple of freshmen are still missing, want me to go find them?” Charps the team’s heavyweight said. He was massive and looked like the typical heavyweight full of fat and lacking agility. Charps had fat but under it was the body of a professional bodybuilder and he could move like a bullet. At the start of practice, he would normally mess with the freshmen by bringing his 280 pounds to bare and basically sitting on them. In response, the younger kids would team up and fight back. There had been one time when they had stolen his shoes so in response Charps ran the thief down and tickled him until he begged him to stop. It was strange but also harmless so no one bothered stopping him.
“Go find them I want everyone here. We need to stay together, this whole room is a powder keg.”
“Patter what has you so worried, no one’s trying to kill us.” Hops a 2nd year on the jv team spoke up, he was casual about wrestling. He was short and one of the lightest kids on the team. He tended to be optimistic.
“Remember that fight at the football game? One kid threw a rock into the stands and a brawl started. We’re all scared and freighted, it’s not even going to take a pebble”
When Nick first awakened, he thought he was in a hospital. To his surprise, he was lying among hundreds of other students all in different states of awakening. He thought about the events that had brought him here but found he could hardly remember anything.
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He left early because Dad and Mom had been fighting again and he didn’t dare stay in the crossfire. Fortunately though, classes had been going well until the end of AP Chemistry. It was during class change that events started getting fuzzy, he remembered being pulled from behind before crashing into something. One only other thing was the tall shadowy figure standing over him radiating an aura of pure terror.
It wasn’t the first time Nick had been jumped and beaten senseless, but that was for encroaching on someone else turf and more about sending a message. This was different, there were no pleas or begging, just the ruthless inflection of violence upon him.
From the little Nick remembered he knew that he shouldn’t be able to form such coherent thoughts. He should have at least been concussed if not comatose, whatever had brought him here must also have fixed whatever damage that had been done to his head. He was grateful but thanking his savior would have to come later. In the meantime, he needed protection.
“Get out of my way, let me try.” Brody said proudly as he walked up to one of the locked doors. In response, the crowd surrounding the door parted before him. When everyone was out of the way he kicked the door center mass. The stupid door didn’t even budge. Well then, he was just going to have to kick it even harder.
“Hey, Brody, I uh need your help.” A nervous, paranoid figure walked up next to him.
“What is it Nick, can’t you see I’m busy.” Brody stopped and stepped back. He was trying to get the door open and didn’t have time to be distracted.
“I think someone is trying to kill me.”
“So, who do you want me to beat?” This wasn’t the first time Nick had come to him for help like this before. Typically, it was when someone else got upset at him because they thought he wasn’t delivering what he promised. Nick hadn’t ever tried to cheat Brody and gave him a sizable discount on his next buy if would scare whoever it was off or if need be, get the point across in a more meaningful way.
“I don’t know, all I remember is that someone ambushed me between classes. The next thing I know is that I’m waking up here.” Nick’s eyes dared across the entire room as he spoke. It was as if he expected death himself to appear out of thin air.
“So you were the one making all that racket on the back hall before that dam noise started.” Brody remembered a crowd piling up on Back Street, something about a fight but it wasn’t his business so he kept walking. If it was Nick getting beaten, then it was most definitely his business.
“It was more of the other guy making noise than me, I didn’t even get a chance to fight back.” For some reason Brody didn’t understand Nick sounded regretful while saying it.
It was a given that he would never stand a chance in a fight and Brody couldn’t help but chuckle at Nick’s embarrassment. Still, Nick was a dear friend, mostly because his product was cleaner and purer than anyone else’s while still being cheap. He claimed it was because he cooked it himself but Brody bet he just had a supplier he was afraid of giving up. Either way, if something happened to Nick then something happened to his supply and that was unspeakable.
“You know, if you can help me, I’m sure me and a couple of my buddies can keep you safe.