Part 18 — Solving Problems

Zap coughed, showing that he was alive.

Xin took a deep breath, calmer.

Ed shook the pistol in his hand. "Yep. Still got a few shots left."

A few shots. I got it. Xin took another deep breath. She began to run away from Ed.

"Get back here!" Ed started chasing Xin. Xin ran through the halls, dodging students left and right. She turned a corner and busted through the cafeteria doors. She ran through the narrow pathways between the tables and went through the other doors. Ed, behind her, jumped onto the tables and starting doing parkour on the tables. He jumped from the last table to the doors and ran through them.

Xin was trying to circle back to Zap. I can do this. I just have to find my way... While Zap and Ed were fighting, Xin had noticed three other doors in the room they were in.

Ed took out his phone and began calling his friends. "Get to school! I need backup catching someone!"

Shit! Xin increased her speed. I have to get there quickly. She turned a sixth corner before seeing a sign that had "EXIT" on it. Bingo. She dashed for the door. Opening it, she saw Zap, sitting down near the exit doors. When he saw her, he stood up and opened the exit doors. "Let's get out of here!" Xin shouted. Zap walked out the door a second before Xin ran out of it. She grabbed his arm and led him into the forest surrounding the college.

"No noises," she whispered. She walked a reasonable distance into the forest and stopped. Resting, she said, "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit. Five bullet wounds, arms are dying, my stomach is aching...again."

"We'll deal with Ed one day, I promise," Xin said. "Then you can deal with his stomach."

"I did do that. Actually, I aimed for that most of the time."

"Wouldn't you love to kill him from his stomach?"

"Hell the fuck yes."

"I know you would. Okay, we're going to wait here a while, then we can walk the way we came and find our way back home."

"Okay," Zap said, anxious to get home. "We're going to wait here for a long while, though."