Chapter 3 – Plan

"Everyone is clear with the plan, yes." Maya said still looking intensely at her phone.

No one piped up with a question to reply, everything was going well. Molotov cocktails were being made in one corner, but that was the least interesting thing being made. A taser like device was being made with the physics teacher, the chemists were playing with acids, alkalis, poisons and other fun chemicals, a teacher was teaching self-defence to who would listen and the library next door (an abnormally large room for a school) was being used for research and the biologists and nurses prepared first-aid.

The plan was to arm ourselves and when they heard anything abnormal or someone pulled a fire alarm and secure the perimeter. James walked into the library searching for a specific newspaper article about a massacre. He picked up a laptop and sat himself next to where the newspapers were kept. James picked up the newspaper dated around Christmas just passed, it had the information he was looking for.

The Royal Festival Hall, murder scene of hundreds of people. Culprit was April Krat. She was turned in by Harvey Aldrich to the police, he was a private detective. The facts and evidence Harvey put forward went a long way to put April in jail, however it didn't prove her guilty in the grizzly crime and it was only thanks to the jury she was in jail. He was looking for parallels between this crime and what was happening now to no avail.

A lot had happened in London and Harvey seemed to be the centre of it, wherever something abnormal happened in the past year you could expect to see Harvey.

"Of course, stupid James," he reprimanded himself. While there had been strange activity it had only been in the last year, why wouldn't he have thought of this? That was an easy question to answer, Harvey had cleared dealt with them all swiftly and it quickly became accepted that, that is how the world works. James started looking at all the culprits to find they had all worked at the Heron but left at different times for varying reason. This could just be a coincidence but it seemed Harvey targeted these people however he could find nothing on them that would help in the current situation. The Heron, James contemplated and then he remembered something awful, a death sentence of sorts.

This was getting him nowhere, he looked around the library, the grand wooden bookcases stood tall and challenged anyone to read their books. James took the anatomical skeleton from the corner of the biology room and discretely tried to move it. The wheel squeaked and many turned to see what the sound was, he quickly started browsing the books. After two minutes he tried again, luckily there was no squeak, his preparations were now in place. He looked out the window and down to the carpark lying underneath him and then to the city which was unnaturally quiet. This quietness was what had put James on edge to begin with, there should be commotion on the streets right now.

James quickly wrote a note and headed back to the assembly hall. Passing Emma and Mum he gave them a note, when his mum read it her face drained colour and all the adrenaline evaporated in one fell swoop. She turned to find her son who had already made himself scarce.

James was chewing gum and waiting for his friends to meet him in a nearby classroom. He had to go and pick up the key for it from the janitor office. "What do you want?" An irritated voice called to him, it was Isaac.

"It had better be important." Maya muttered.

"Nah, just wanted to reminisce for a bit," James said trying to smile. "Particularly our trip to London."

"The theatre trip," Chloe grinned.

"No. The weird trip to the heron."

The three friends all frowned at James and Maya even looked up from her phone. They seemed disappointed at what James had just seen.

"If you just hadn't worked that out you wouldn't have had to die." Isaac soberly commented.

"You were our greatest idea, you were supposed to be the greatest of us." Chloe said.

"Am I right in saying that all the people who went on that trip lured their parents here into a trap to try and be more efficient." James confirmed.

"Yes." Maya answered.

This explained why he had been last to arrive to the school, the others had known in advance on what was going to happen. This had most likely been planned and he had led his family into the trap. James needed to get out of here. Instead of backing away he went forward towards them to try and surprise them.

"It's family Fun Fridays, you can't kill me today of all days," he stepped past his friends swiftly dodging the grabs for him. "I have to go to my family now." James went through the doorway and snapped the door shut behind them.

Thump, the door shook as he kept it shut with his body. James fumbled through his pockets to grab the key and with a shaky hand he reached for the keyhole only for the door to shake once again throwing James away. Quickly regaining himself he presses against the door again and this time succeeds to lock the door. Taking the gum from his mouth he plugged it into the keyhole to stop Maya from picking the lock.

"Keep calm," he said to himself. The door wouldn't last for very much longer and he had to keep with the plan if Emma was to survive this. "Remember, Emma needs to survive this." James went back to the janitor's office and picked up a match box. He then sprinted to the assembly hall, there wasn't much time. He burst through the door with haste to see everyone working diligently, he jumped up on to the stage and went around the back to find an amplifier and a microphone. It didn't take long for him to connect it up.

Ladies and gentlemen," the crowd turned to see who was making all the noise. "I am so sorry, so very sorry." James looked for Emma and his mum in the crowd, "Catch." He threw the matches at them, "now I'm sorry to say this but run."

The door burst open, "run from what." The door burst open and the three friends that had been locked up walked in.

"You of course," James beamed. Sweat dripped down from his brow but he retained the calm demeanour. He spied Mum and Emma slip away from the corner of his eyes. "I'm sorry to inform you that anyone that has been in the Heron can't be trusted."

There was clapping, James turned to see a man wearing a blue suit and top hat. He had definitely just arrived. "Everyone go to sleep," he ordered. "Except you," he pointed at James. Everyone in the room collapsed. "I like you James," in less than a second, he had travelled across the room to be right next to him. "I want you to entertain me." He touched James and he felt something cold go through his body. "you have five minutes to get out of here, run."

James took the chance to escape the impossible situation. All he could think about was home.