"What's happening?" Julie whispered, but Vicky didn't answer her.
Instead, the shortest of the three intruders, an older man with silver hair, told them to all remain seated, and as long as they cooperated no one would be harmed. Julie resisted an impulse to bolt for the door, and saw that Billy, one of the more popular boys in school, was not so disciplined. He was up almost before the silver-haired man finished his sentence, and a cascade of gunfire from all three men stopped him cold. There were gasps and screams as the boy fell, and Julie was reminded of her brother.
There is no God, she thought to herself as she watched Billy spasm and bleed out on the floor. Even with a plethora of bullet wounds, including what appeared to be a head wound, he did not go easily. Dying was hard, and not something you did quietly. At least that had been Julie's experience. It was the same with her brother, lying broken and bleeding in the street all those years ago, crushed by a suburban for no reason at all.
Vicky turned her head and puked, and so did Sam. Not long after, Jessica tossed her cookies. Meanwhile Billy was still in his death throes. The men were speaking, telling everyone to calm down and as long as nobody else tried anything, there was no need for anymore bloodshed, but Julie wondered how many of her peers were hearing them. Looking around, most of them appeared to be in a daze. This is madness. Feeling helpless, Julie offered up a prayer to a deity in which she didn't really believe.
God, if you're real, please, just help me get through this. Don't let me die here today, and I promise, I'll do some real soul searching. I'll go to church more often. I'll pray more often. I'll try to find the faith I lost. Just don't let me die. It occurred to her that if God was real she would have nothing to fear anyway, and He was unlikely to grant half-assed prayers, but still it helped her to calm her nerves.
I'm going to live, she thought, deciding to stay calm and wait patiently in her seat. If an opportunity presented itself, she'd be ready.
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