Matt raised the metal rod, and slammed it. It hit. It actually hit. Matt slammed the metal rod on the lunch lady so hard that she collapsed on the ground. Was Matt really that strong? There was silence yet again. This time, it was out of shock. The lunch lady collapsed on the floor while they stood victorious. It was a miracle. The monstrously strong lunch lady was now down on the ground, and Matt delivered the first and final blow. He was their saviour, he had ended the current hardships they were facing.
Matt kicked the lunch lady's head to get a response. She didn't move.
"Is she really down?" asked Caden.
"Probably." said Matt. Even though he only delivered one blow, he looked exhausted, his breathing was intense. Violence was really the answer all along. They didn't need a plan or anything, once Matt saw an opening, he took it, and this was the result.
Josef glanced over at the lunch lady. "Was this really all she got?" he said in his mind. He had some degree of amazement for Matt. He did what he couldn't do. Matt made a move, and the result spoke for itself. While they were working like slaves, Matt was already preparing himself for facing the lunch lady. He was indeed brave, braver than anyone else in the room at that moment.
Josef felt useless, he thought that they could survive without him. A couple nights ago, he had sworn to himself that he would protect everyone, but now he was the one being protected. He felt weak, he couldn't do anything to help. It wasn't a matter of "could," but "should." He should have done something, to at least try and save everyone.
He felt frustrated. Was he really this weak? The people around him had done so much for everyone. They fought off the janitor, they unlocked the locked doors, Gerald cooked the food, they encouraged each other, and now Matt had defeated the lunch lady, ending their mental torture. But what had Josef done this entire time? It seemed like everything that went well for him was from the result of luck and outside help. He survived thanks to someone hiding him in the locker, Avery was saved from the janitor by Gerald and the others, he defeated the chainsaw lady because the other party didn't fight him, and now Avery and Serenity are going to be saved thanks to Matt.
He thought that he should have died, he should have just joined his classmates in the class 1-F classroom, dead and headless. He thought that the only thing special about him was the revolver, but that itself was also from outside help since it was already with him when he had first woke up. But he was wrong, he had already forgotten how he saved everyone during Mr. Fatmouth's punishment. He had forgotten how many wounds he endured from climbing the tree just to warm everyone up. He focused on his downsides and had completely forgotten his past acts of heroism.
"I'm not so sure about this." said Josh.
"What do you mean?" said Caden.
"The lunch lady, we should.. finish her off."
"You mean.. kill?" said Matt.
"Yes, yes, we should." said Josh.
"Sounds fucked up." said Matt.
"But guys! She's still human! She's only being controlled. We can still cure her."
said Gerald.
"Sure, we could cure her, but how? I'm pretty sure only the scientists know how." said Josh.
"But what about that time with the janitor? We were able to bring him back to his senses." said Gerald.
"Yes, that is true, but only for a brief moment." said Matt.
"Josef, what do you think?" asked Caden as he elbowed him.
"Josef?" said Josh.
The others had noticed his silence, but he still continued to stare at the ground, thinking about how weak and useless he was.
"I'm just gonna go ahead and do it." said Matt. "She will eventually wake up and hunt us down anyways, it's better to increase our chances of survival while we can."
He raised the metal rod again, aiming for the lunch lady's head, this time, he was going for the kill. He slammed it down. He missed, he had hit the ground instead, but it wasn't because his aim was poor, it was because the lunch lady had dodged it. She rolled over in the very last second. Every single one of them was taken back, shocked at what had happened. The lunch lady stood up.
"That hurts, my dears! I thought we were getting along!" she said, but her cheerful voice wasn't there. Instead, it was rough, angry, and wrathful. Her face was beaming with anger. They felt nervous. Even though it was cold everywhere, they were sweating.
"It seems that someone needs to be disciplined!" she looked at Matt. She slowly walked towards him, one step at a time. Every time she took a step, it was as if the building itself was shaking, and so was Matt. Every step the lunch lady took forward, he took two steps backward. He was done for, the lunch lady has chosen him as her target. Her presence itself was frightening, it was like he was facing an elephant, an extremely murderous elephant.
The lunch lady sneaks her hand under her apron. She pulled her hand out, but now it was firmly grasping a large butcher's knife.
Matt's fear skyrocketed. He booked it for the emergency exit they had made. He dashed toward it and climbed the makeshift staircase they had made, which reached the only available exit, the open window. He dropped the metal rod he carried so it wouldn't get in the way of his panicked climbing.
He was almost there, he could almost reach the window's ledge, but the lunch lady didn't permit this. She went near the makeshift staircase, they thought she would climb it as well in order to reach Matt, but they were wrong. Instead, she kicked the bottom table, the base of their stairs.
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It collapsed, the tower of chairs and tables collapsed to the ground, and so did Matt. He was so close yet so far at the same time, he could almost reach the light of the outside, but now he was fast approaching a different kind of light, the light of the afterlife.
He crashed to the ground, landing on his back, it looked painful. He ignored the pain and quickly stood back up. He didn't seem to have broken any bones, but he was obviously hurting. He ran for the entrance that was blocked by their barricade. Them barricading the entrance came back to bite them as they had no other exit available, but he still ran towards it. While running, he took a quick glance back, he saw everyone frozen in place, not moving. It wasn't as if they didn't want to help Matt, they were simply too frozen by the fear of being next on the lunch lady's chopping block.
Then he glanced over at his captor, the lunch lady. But instead of seeing a large, fat, raging woman, he saw a chair instead, a chair that was fast approaching him at seemingly lightning speed. The lunch lady had thrown a chair. He ducked with all his strength, he barely dodged it, but because of all his inertia from running, plus the sudden duck, it made him out of balance, and he tripped.
The lunch lady didn't waste any time. She jumped. She jumped so hard that it seemed like she flew across the room. The entire room had shaken when she landed. Matt glanced up from his vulnerable position. The lunch lady was directly in front of him. He was done for. She raised the knife, and after a brief pause, she went for the kill.
"Aaahhhhhh!" screamed Matt. At the last moment, he had caught the lunch lady's hand. It seemed highly unlikely, but he was able to stop her, but not for long.
Even with Matt holding back the lunch lady's hand, she still forced it down, the knife slowly approaching him. He was using both of his hands, while the lunch lady only used one. He was shaking, he feared death, and he was getting closer to it.
As the seconds passed, the knife came closer and closer to his body.
"Help!" He screamed quickly. He didn't want to yell for a long duration, as it would make him use more energy, making him weaker.
It was at this moment that everyone started to move again. Matt's desperate call for help had broken their frozen state, and they were now on the move to help him.
The lunch lady raised her other hand and formed a fist. She was going to punch him, but Caden had his back. Before the lunch lady had generated enough power to even commit to the punch, Caden had grabbed her hand. He grabbed her hand with both arms and pulled it away, stopping her from performing a deadly punch. When he had the chance, he quickly took out one of the table knives in his pocket and stabbed the lunch lady in the arm. But it wasn't enough to stop her.
She changed her mind on punching Matt since Caden got in her way, instead, she focused all her power on bringing her other hand down and stabbing Matt. The blade was almost touching his chest.
"Gerald! Help!" Caden yelled.
Gerald ran in to help. He maneuvered around the lunch lady and tried to strangle her. He used all his might, but the lunch lady didn't even flinch. He had thought about using his table knife as well, one stab in the neck could have done it, but he was too scared to resort to such savagery.
The knife was now touching Matt, he could feel the cold, sharp blade even with his uniform on.
Josef and Josh didn't know what to do. Caden and Gerald were already doing everything they could, but nothing's changed. The lunch lady was still going strong.
"Josef! The gun!" yelled Josh as he shook Josef's shoulder.
Josef looked at Josh. He looked stressed, while Josef was still frozen in fear. It took him two breaths before he could even move. He quickly plunged his hand into his pocket and pulled out the revolver. His hand shook violently as he pointed it at the lunch lady.
"Shooot!" yelled Josh.
He couldn't. He couldn't do it. All he needed to do now was pull the trigger, and everything would be over. The lunch lady wasn't that far, so his accuracy would probably be alright. They were holding the lunch lady still, so he probably wouldn't miss. There were no other factors that could prevent him from saving Matt, only himself. He began to sweat, even from his hands, it made his grip slippery.
"What are you waiting for, Josef! Shoot!" yelled Josh. This time, he firmly grasped Josef's shoulder.
"Josef! Shoot!" yelled Gerald.
He still couldn't do it. He was only standing there, yet he was already breathing heavily, like he was hyperventilating.
"Josef! Quick! He's going to die!" yelled Caden.
Matt let out a scream. He was in pain, severe pain. The knife had already cut him. The lunch lady only needed to make the wound deep enough to become fatal. It was extremely painful.
"Josef!" yelled Josh.
"Josef! please do it!" yelled Caden.
"Just do it already!" yelled Gerald.
He closed his eyes. He couldn't do it. Everyone was pressuring him, but he didn't give in, he couldn't give in. It was his time to shine, only he could save everyone, but he couldn't. He couldn't pull the trigger, he couldn't muster enough strength to do it. He couldn't, he couldn't, he couldn't, it was always he couldn't.
The clock was ticking. He needed to make the choice now or his friend will experience a slow and painful death. He just needed to pull the trigger, he didn't mind the lunch lady dying, but for some reason, he just couldn't. His hands were shaking. He didn't know what he was thinking of anymore, his head was in a massive spiral of clouded thinking filled with stress. He knows he could do it, his friend was dying, anyone would obviously shoot, but why couldn't he just do it?
"Josef! Please! Please save me!" screamed Matt, the knife plunging deeper and deeper into his chest, his uniform was now stained with blood. Everybody else was screaming at Josef to shoot. But he couldn't process anything anymore. All the sounds of yelling became distorted and gradually lost volume in his head. His vision became blurry, wavy even. He felt like he was about to faint, everything was now spinning around him. Then suddenly, his vision became black.
He opened his eyes. All he could see was darkness. He wandered his vision, but everything was still covered in pitch black. He didn't even know where he was, but for some reason, it felt oddly familiar, like he had experienced this before. He wandered his vision more until he turned around, there was a door, a rusty gray door. It looked like it was floating in nothingness. He approached the mysterious and desolate door. There were post-it notes all over it. He took a closer look, there were words on the notes.
"Stay away." "Turn back." "Leave." "Do not open." And there were many other messages that were similar.
He was curious. He reached for the doorknob.
"Bang!"
He opened his eyes. He was back in the cafeteria. He didn't know what was currently happening. He looked forward and realized what had happened. The lunch lady was down on the ground, and blood was leaking from the center of her stomach.
Everyone was frozen. Matt was still down on the ground, but the knife was no longer slowly killing him. Gerald stood there, looking down on the lunch lady, processing what had happened, and Caden was still grasping the lunch lady's hand, and since he was holding her hand, he had noticed something that would send a chill down everyone's spines.
"She's... dead." he said. He observed that there was no pulse.
Josef was still processing what had happened. "What did I just see? What was that door? How did I get there? Why was it so familiar? Why is the lunch lady dead? Was it me? Did I do it?" he thought to himself.
He couldn't formulate answers for some of his questions, but at least some were answered.
He looked at his hand that held the revolver. Faint traces of smoke could still be seen, vanishing into the cold air. His finger had pulled the trigger, but it wasn't just him, there was another finger on top of his. It was Josh's. He had pulled Josef's finger along with the trigger.
Josef began to shake again, he didn't directly pull it, but deep in his mind, he knew. He killed her.