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Zackery

The girl tries to push through the door.

"Swine."

Zackery has never seen her before. When her head tries to peak through the door he doesn't recognize her. She can't get through even though she is trying. Something is blocking the door. She shoots wildly and then stops. The first shots ring breaking through the door. There is crying. There are people praying in this crowded bathroom. They are all over one another. He's never been so scared in his life. All of a sudden you just think about how human you are. All the fucked up things you've done come in your mind. All the kind things you should have done show up as well. Zackery feels so human at that moment.

The shooting stops for a minute. There is a boy sweating. He looks over at Mariano who is bleeding out underneath the sink. Mariano is crying. Caliph is sitting over Mariano. He's putting pressure on the wound trying to stop it from bleeding but it doesn't stop.

"Shh..." the sweating boy is saying, "She's going to hear us..."

Caliph swings at the boy hitting him hard in the side of the face. The boy squirms in pain, pulls back, pushing past a few people to get away from Caliph. He doesn't fight back. He doesn't even make a sound. He takes the pain because he knows there is something much worse behind the door.

Mariano gets quiet. Regardless of if Caliph hit the boy or not it seems like he heard the boy's concerns.

The girl is behind the door.

"Is he going to die?" Gaige asks.

Gaige looks over at Mariano. Mariano is crying. Tears are rolling down his eyes. He's still bleeding.

"Don't let me die," Mariano states.

Mariano isn't talking to Gaige though. He's talking to Caliph. Zackery watches intently as Caliph holds Mariano close. The rumors were all true between them. It was clear as day especially when Caliph kisses Mariano on his forehead. He kisses him on his cheek. He kisses him on his lips. He slathers Mariano with kisses as though the kisses would take away his pain. He kisses him as though it would end this horror.

"We're going to make it out of here," Caliph promises Mariano, "OK? We're going to make it out of here... I promise."

It's a promise that Zackery is sure that Caliph can be able to keep. That wasn't the point though. The point was comfort.

There is silence again. Maybe she forgot about them. Maybe she tried to get through the door and gave up. Roddy is dead. His huge body is covered in blood. It stains the bathroom floor. Everyone is so quiet. You can almost hear a pin drop. Half are still scared. Half are horrified over Roddy's dead body. His dead body is blocking the door.

Zackery sees Flip. He is still sitting there. At this moment he wants to do what Caliph is doing for Mariano. He wants to comfort Flip but even now in this moment he's not sure how. How does one man just grab another man in public and cuddle him. How do you tell him it was OK? Flip is shaking violently. Zackery wonders if he's having a panic attack. He's not completely sure.

"It's going to be OK," Zackery whispers to him.

"He's dead..." Flip states.

Flip is pointing at Roddy's dead body. He's pointing at the holes in Roddy. There were holes all over his body. He's unresponsive. The bathroom is dark and crowded. Zackery can't see his brother Cody but he could only imagine Cody was around. The two of them were never far away from one another. There is crying in the bathroom. He could imagine it's Cody.

Gunshots again. More gunshots. The gunshots are further away now. Downstairs. She's back downstairs.

"It's OK," Zackery announces to the room specifically looking at Flip as he makes his declaration, "She's downstairs.

The relief is temporary. It is momentary, but at the same time it is relief.

"We need to make a run for it," the Gamma James says.

Zackery hadn't noticed James was shot as well until that moment. He hadn't noticed James was bleeding out. He's been relatively quiet about it unlike Mariano who was crying. James is desperate none-the-less. He is just holding his leg silently. His face is pale. He looks like he is going to pass out. Flip and Zackery look at one another. James may not make it out. It's clear to everyone. There is a reason he wants to get out of this bathroom.

"I'll take him," Zackery states.

James was his boy. They had partied together. James was the one who brought Marilyn around when Zackery first started dating her.

"No," Flip says.

That's when Flip does something he don't expect. He grabs Zackery's hand. He holds it firmly. There are others in the bathroom who see Flip holding my hand. Right now though it doesn't matter. Gay or straight doesn't matter. Popular or unpopular doesn't matter. Right now the only thing that matters is survival. No one cares that Flip has grabbed his hand.

He squeezes Flip's hand back. The fingers lock into one another.

"I'll go," James says, "If I make it out I'll send for help."

"I'm coming too," a girl says.

Four other people decide to leave with James. Everyone helps them move Roddy's heavy body out of the way just enough for them to creep pass the big door. Just as the last one gets through the door, there are the footsteps. There is a loud running.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

"She's coming back!" Zackery screams out warning them! "She's coming back!"

The people struggle to get back into the door. Gunshots ring out. Zackery is shocked at that moment. He struggles to pull James back through the door. The others are struggling to pull him back so they can come in instead.

"Close the door!" Gaige is screaming at Zackery, "Close THE FUCKING DOOR! If she gets through that door we are dead!"

Gaige runs to the door in an attempt to shut out the people trying to get back in. There is a tussle at that moment. It's Flip. Flip is fighting Gaige back. He's trying to save the people.

"NO!" Flip screams.

Zackery is frantic. He hears Flip pleading to help James and he knows that he has to. James was his frat brother. He's pulling James through the door.

More shots break out!

"James!" Zackery screams.

It's pointless. He can't get him back through the door.

"Don't let me die," James pleads.

Tears are running down his face. He knew this was his last moments. Zackery can hear her behind the door. James is halfway through the door. He's stuck. Zackery is still trying to pull him in but he's not budging. There is a dead person on top of him. He can hear the shooter behind the door. She is reloading a clip into her gun.

There is silence. You can hear a pin drop. We all know what is going to happen.

"Push him out," Gaige whispers, "Close the door."

"He's still alive," Flip states.

Gaige attempts once again to kick James out of the door but Flip runs over and blocks the door from Gaige.

The shooter is reloading her gun.

Flip is screaming at her when he hears her readying her gun, "Please don't do this!"

James is crying. He's halfway in. There are so many people pleading for her to stop shooting. They were yelling at him. They were telling him that they didn't see her face. James is keeping the door open and now she was getting in.

She was making her way through. James fights but there is a gunshot. Within a matter of seconds James dies right then and there.

She's coming in!

She was coming in now!

Then there is silence. Flip looks over at Zackery. He's sweating. He's crying.

"Take care of me, please," Flip says.

Zackery has never seen someone react like that. The girl has made it through the room stepping over the dead body of James. The door is open. She is in the bathroom with them.

"Nadia. Please...please don't," Caliph states.

Nadia. That must have been the girl's name. She is pointing her gun. There is so much pleading. Zackery wasn't sure if that made her want to do it even more.

She starts shooting indiscriminately into the crowded bathroom.

She was laughing.

"Get down!" Zackery yells at Flip.

He looks to his right. He can hear the sound of the clip. Zackery is on the floor. There is chaos. People are trampling one another. There was nowhere to run though. It was a dead end. There were people all around him dying. Zackery panics. There is a girl that he recognizes. She is a freshman. She had been flirting with Zackery earlier in the day but he had turned her down. She got an attitude about it when she was turned down. For some reason he just keeps wondering why she hadn't left the party at that moment.

She falls right next to him. Dead.

If she had left the party she wouldn't have gotten the gunshot to her side. She collapses on the sink of the bathroom. Zackery holds onto Flip's hand at that moment. They are lying next to one another.

"Shh..." he whispers to Flip, "Play dead. Play dead..."

They had to play dead. That was the only way they'd get out of this bathroom alive. He closes his eyes a little. He lays perfectly still. Flip does the same thing playing dead following Zackery's orders.

"Swine," the shooter states.

Swine. Swine. Swine.

She says it over and over. She readies her gun again but that's when Zackery notices something. The gun is jammed. It's fucking jammed!

That's when Zackery hears Caliph, "RUN! RUN! NOW EVERYONE GET OUT OF HERE!"

Caliph is fighting for the gun with the shooter. He's fucking trying to wrestle the gun away from her. Gaige and Cody are the ones who move Roddy's body out of the way. They are the only ones strong enough. With that they open the door and there is an exodus out of the bathroom. Most people in the room are already dead by the time Caliph is trying to fight her for the gun but everyone else is getting up. They are running out as fast as they can.

Everyone alive is leaving the room as Caliph fights with the shooter. He's risking his life to save them.

"Flip c`mon...NOW!" Zackery states.

He pulls at Flip's hand. They had both been playing dead. He pulls Flip harder but then he realizes at that moment Flip isn't playing dead. Flip is just lying there. He isn't responding. Zackery goes over him trying to push him awake.

"FLIP!"

The body doesn't move. Zackery's hands are covered in blood. Flip hadn't been playing dead.

Flip was really dead.

~

I'm underneath the sink. Most people are running for it. I look at Caliph. He's fighting with Nadia over the gun. I'm bleeding out. I see Zackery. He's one of the only ones still moving in the room. He's standing over Flip.

The problem is that no matter how much Zackery is trying to move Flip, it's clear that Flip isn't moving. Zackery is crying wildly. Tears are raining down his cheek.

"Get out of here!" I scream at Zackery.

Zackery becomes aware of me at that moment. He walks over to me. He grabs me attempting to help me out of the bathroom. I push him away.

"We have to go. What the fuck are you doing?" Zackery asks me.

"No. I'm not leaving Caliph."

"You have no choice," Zackery is telling me.

Caliph is on top of Nadia at that moment. He's pinning her down trying to wrestle the gun away from her. The problem is that Nadia has the gun strapped to her with some sort of bondage strap. He's trying to literally rip the gun away from her as she claws at him to get it back. One moment the gun is in his possession. The next moment it is in hers.

It goes back and forth. Back and forth.

Any moment Nadia could get that gun and end Caliph.

"Get him out of here!" Caliph tells Zackery.

The voice is so loud. It's so strong.

"I'll keep him safe," Zackery tells Caliph.

That is when Caliph looks at me. He says the weirdest thing at that moment, "Future..."

Future. I don't get it. The words just shake in my ears. I know Zackery is grabbing me up. He's saving me. The words of Caliph just keep echoing out. Future.

What did he mean? What did he mean!

"NO!" I argue.

I'm not given a choice. Zackery scoops me up. I try to fight back but I don't have the energy. My body feels so weak. It's failing me. Zackery has me in his arms and he's runs out of the bathroom door leaving Caliph.

I look back and see Caliph one more time. He's still struggling but because of his concern for me the gun is now in Nadia's hands.

We are halfway down the steps when we hear gunshots ring out from the upstairs bathroom.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

There are no screams. There's nothing.

"NO!"

There was no point in me screaming. I bury myself in Zackery's chest. Tears are filling up my eyes.

Zackery keeps running. We get to the front where we finally see lights. There are guns pointed towards us.

"We're survivors!" Zackery warns.

"Come out. Run out slow. Where is the shooter?" the cops ask.

"Upstairs. First bathroom to the left."

The cops run past.

When we get outside I should feel happy but I don't. I feel like shit. I feel scared. I am halfway across the yard. There are all these lights. There are more police officers rushing into the building. The swat team is completely out right now. Off the side of the road there are ambulances. Behind them there was an army of major and local media.

Zackery is still carrying me and he hands me off to someone.

I look back. Caliph hasn't come out of the house.

"There's someone else in there," Zackery is screaming, "Caliph! He's still alive. He saved us. He's still in there!"

That is when I pass out.

I wake up hours later. I'm in a hospital room. I wake up screaming wondering if it was all a nightmare. I hope that it is some horrible nightmare. But it wasn't. The nightmare was all too real.

Zackery is in the hospital with me.

"What happened?"

"You had surgery," Zackery said, "Everything is pretty good. "

"You been here all night?" I ask him.

"I had to let tell them I was your boyfriend. Usually they'd have a problem with me being in here but after all we been through I guess they are giving us a pass or something. Besides I did tell your boyfriend that I would protect you."

"Caliph did he make it..."

Zackery shakes his head.

I don't know what goes over me at that moment. I just break out in tears. Zackery walks over to me and hugs me. He starts crying too.

"I would have heard if he did," Zackery states, "I asked. There's so much confusion though. I know they killed the shooter. I know that much. As far as survivors. There were so few. So...so few..."

He is tearing up. He has someone on his mind. I look at Zackery. I feel like shit at that moment. I rub his back. We console one another. We've lost everything. One day you are on the top of the world. The next day...everything was taken away from you.

"I'm sorry about Flip," I tell him.

"I'm sorry too..." he says, "I wish I had the chance to tell him the things I felt about him. I wish I had the chance to tell him that he was the best part of me..."

I can see Flip sitting there. I listen. I listen as he talks about his regrets with Flip. I think he loved him. He doesn't say it in the room but the way he describes his relationship with Flip felt like love. He never got the chance to share that love. He never would.

Zackery's remorse and regrets remind me of Caliph.

I had so many regrets. So much time I wasted with Gaige. Gaige had left me in that motherfucking bathroom while Caliph was fighting to try and save me.

I'm in the hospital late that night. I can't get Caliph out of my head. Zackery refuses to leave me. He cries about Flip the whole night until he cries himself to sleep. The media has been stationed out of the hospital waiting to hear our stories. I don't want to talk to them. Ever. I feel like talking about what happened that night would just make all of this real.

I didn't want it to be real.

I tuck Zackery in before leaving the room. My parents arrived a few hours later and they are both sleeping as well in the guest room. I always thought the guy was a dickhead but for some reason I'm changing my mind about him. He wasn't that bad. He wasn't that bad at all.

I'm standing out at the water fountain. So much has happened. I can't get my head over it. I can't really see how this happened. My hand is shaking as I'm at the vending machine in the hospital.

I pick a snickers and I hear it drop.

The thud noise causes my heart to drop.

It reminds me of the bullets. There were so many people that were dead. Jordan. Caliph. There were so many people that hadn't made it out of that party. I'm standing at the vending machine and I'm just crying. I'm just tearing up.

Someone walks up behind me. Grabs the candy bar when I can't pick it up. The person hands me the candy bar.

"Future..."

The word just reminds me of something. It reminds me of someone. I don't turn around. I'm scared it might not be true. I'm scared I'm just imagining it.

"What?"

"Future. I called you future because that is what you are to me. You are my future. You are my future when I was sure that I didn't have one. You the future that I fought for."

I turn around.

My heart drops.

Caliph!

I hug him so hard at that moment that he struggles to breathe. He has been shot. He's in his hospital gown. He looks like he is high off pain medications but none-the-less he manages to smile slightly and stare at me with those beautiful eyes of his. They are still so deep. They are still so loving. They are still perfect to say the least.

"How are you still alive?"

"She shot me but before she could finish me off the cops came," Caliph explains, "When I got out of surgery I literally started going door to door looking for you. There is so much chaos that no one knew who survived and who really didn't make it. They had me in here under Cody's name."

I hug him again.

"I'm just glad you're alive. I'm glad you're here."

Caliph shakes his head.

"I have something I need to tell you," Caliph explains.

"We have forever to talk," I explain to Caliph, "Let's just stand here for a minute. We have forever..."

He leans me up against the vending machine. He kisses me pushing his tongue down my throat. I grab on Caliph's ass pulling him deep into me. The kissing gets intense. His dick hardens. He grinds up against me on the vending machine. It's night time in the hospital and people could walk by at any moment but neither of us cares. I can tell he wants to have sex but at the same time we are both way too sore to even attempt it. I can tell when we both just end up holding each other instead of going too much deeper.

A few minutes pass but I can tell Caliph has something on his mind. He stares back at me. He grabs my hand. He's holding it.

"I need to admit something to you. Me and Nadia weren't cousins. I knew Nadia before this. The two of us were..."

"Stop."

"No. I need to tell you who I am."

"Whatever you did in your past. Whatever you were about to do doesn't matter," I explain to Caliph, "I know who you are, Caliph. I know all I need to know. You are my future..."

~

Weeks have passed since the shooting. Zackery files out of class. He can see Gaige and his boys. Gaige has on the Gamma jacket. Almost immediately there are all new Gammas and they were already back at it.

It was almost as though nothing happened.

It was almost as though no one had died.

"Hey you," Marilyn states.

Zackery looks over at Marilyn. A lot of people had gone into counseling sessions since the shooting. Zackery had thought Marilyn had been one of the survivors who had dropped out of school because of it. Felis U would never really be the same.

"Whassup?"

Zackery was sitting by himself. Ever since Caliph and Mariano transferred to another school, it seemed as though he preferred it that way. He looks over at the Gamma table. There was a time it meant everything for him to be Plugged into that life. Things had changed.

"Rumor has it that you aren't a Gamma."

"I left Gammas..."

Marilyn looks confused, "I thought no one leaves the Gammas. Isn't there some kind of curse or something? The curse of Ross Choice?"

He rolls her eyes, "Fuck that shit. I left. I dare someone to do something about it."

He looks over at Gaige's table. Gaige had replaced all the brothers he lost so quickly. As president he held a special Rush week. Gaige needed to be idolized. He needed to feel special. He needed to have people looking up to him and realizing that he was the best thing in the room.

"Well I was just worried about you. You need to tell your story. Gaige is doing it. He's supposed to be on Oprah and Ellen this week..."

"I hear. He's really profiting off of this."

Gaige has been running around like an asshole. He'd been a one-man press show since the shooting. It had really launched his acting career. Gaige was now the survivor of the Felis U shooting. His story was so dramatic. Most of it was lies though. He had said how he tried to save James. That was a lie. He had said how he was trying to calm everyone down in the bathroom. That was a lie.

He had said how he wrestled with Nadia over her gun.

That was a lie too.

No one corrected Gaige. It didn't matter to anyone else but Gaige. Zackery was still in a state of shock over what happened. Fame didn't matter. Being plugged in didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was life and Zackery would never confuse life with the shit he was doing before.

"Don't you want to tell your story?" Marilyn asks him.

Zackery sighs.

"Why does it matter? If he wants fame, then he can have it."

"Gaige was a punk. He pushed me down when he was trying to get away when the shots broke out," Marilyn states, "Him saying he is a hero is just crazy. I could have lost everything. I could have lost the baby...uh..."

Marilyn stops talking. She didn't mean to say what she said.

Zackery raises his eyebrow.

"Baby?"

"I'm...pregnant. I didn't want to tell you. I didn't want you to get upset."

"Marilyn I'm going to be a dad and you didn't want to fucking tell me?"

"Well not exactly. The father is...Flip."

Zackery's mouth drops. He looks at Marilyn's stomach. There was a piece of Flip inside of her. It was growing. It must have been the night that they had the threesome.

"Are you OK?"

"I'm going to be a single mother raising Flip's baby as my own. I don't have money like the rest of you. I contacted Flip's family after he died. They are dead broke. This is going to be hard..."

"I got you," Zackery states.

"Huh?"

"I got you. Anything you need financially. I'll call my family. I'll make it happen."

Marilyn is shocked.

"Why? Me and you broke up a while ago."

Zackery looks down at Marilyn's stomach, "it isn't about you. It's about Flip. You are carrying something inside of you that means something to me. It's a part of Flip. It's a part of the man that I loved..."

Zackery stares at the stomach.

All of a sudden he knew he had a story to tell.

"Where are you going?"

Zackery looks back at Gaige. He couldn't let Gaige get away with what happened with Ross Choice. He couldn't let Gaige get away with raping Caliph. He couldn't let Gaige get away with what he did the day that Nadia was shooting. What if Gaige was responsible for killing Barry as well? He couldn't put it past him. Once everyone heard what Zackery had to say they'd come up with the same conclusion.

If Zackery was going to help Marilyn bring Flip's baby in the world, then he would have to do something for Flip. He was going to do the thing that Flip had asked him to do before.

He would have to set the record.

Zackery crosses his arms. Gaige would pay. The Gammas would pay.

"I have an interview with Shady Shanice."

THE END

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