Lockdown!

There was an unexpected announcement in the middle of the sixth period: “Attention, attention! This is a lockdown! This is not a drill! Teachers, secure your rooms! There is a student that is armed and dangerous! This is a lockdown! This is not a drill!”

Mass chaos ensued immediately after the announcement. There was an audible rumble as every teacher rushed to lock his or her door. Mrs. Monroe, however, was just too slow. As she got out of her chair, the door burst open and a sophomore rushed in, his gun raised.

“Everyone sit down and shut up!” he said loudly. Everyone rushed to be the first seated--everyone except John.

“Look man, you don’t want to do this,” John replied coolly. “If you use that gun, you will go to prison for the rest of your life. Is that what you want?”

“No,” the gunman replied. “I don’t want to go to prison. I want to kill him!” The gunman pointed the gun toward Tom. John stepped in front of Tom to stay the hand of the gunman.

“Get out of the way, you idiot! Don’t you know that this gun is loaded?”

“Yes, I know that the gun is loaded, which is why I must stop you from doing something stupid, for your sake and his,” John countered. John remained so calm that it had started to make the gunman uneasy.

“What are you going to do, take the gun from me?” the gunman asked sarcastically.

“I will do whatever it takes,” John replied calmly.

“Well, if I’m going to prison anyway, I might as well go for something worth while,” the gunman said as he raised the gun to John’s heart.

There was a moment of indecision for the gunman. The gunman chose to pull the trigger, but he did not expect what happened next.

He is really going to shoot me, John thought. John threw his hand up to knock the gun away, but he heard it go off and felt excruciating pain in his shoulder. He ignored the pain because he had knocked the gun into the air. If that gun hits the floor, it will go off. John punched the gunman in the nose, making his eyes water. Then, he caught the gun just three inches off of the floor. John took the gun and hit the gunman across the face, knocking him completely unconscious. John almost passed out because of the pain in his shoulder. He had not noticed it that much when he had the gunman to worry about, but the pain had gotten to him.

Everyone was in complete shock. It had only taken John two seconds to take down the gunman. John immediately began giving directions, “Jennifer, go to Mr. Clampet’s room, get a small tub of water, and put some regular table salt in it. Jamie, call Mr. Clampet and tell him that Jennifer is coming because his door will be locked. Mrs. Monroe, do you have a first aid kit in here?”

This put everyone into motion. Mrs. Monroe replied, “Yes, John, I have a kit here. What do you need?”

“I need some gauze, tape, and scissors.”

“Don’t you need hydrogen peroxide?” she asked curiously.

“No, hydrogen peroxide kills the skin cells around the wound. It would be counter-productive,” John replied factually. “Saltwater works much better.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that,” she replied with a surprised tone.

About that time, Jennifer came in the room with Mr. Clampet right behind her.

“Oh my God!” Mr. Clampet asked.

As Mrs. Monroe recapped the incident for Mr. Clampet, Jennifer took the scissors and cut John’s shirt so the bullet wound was more accessible. Then, Jennifer grabbed a rag and started applying the saltwater to the hole in his shoulder.

When Mrs. Monroe finished telling Mr. Clampet the story, he was speechless. He knew that the principal had to be notified, so Mr. Clampet hurried out the door to do so.
* * * * *

John was faintly aware of the officer standing in the doorway. John had lost so much blood that he was constantly fading in and out of consciousness.

When his girlfriend, Sarah, found out about what had happened to John, she had dropped everything to go check on him. Sarah skidded to a halt in front of the police officer that was standing in the doorway. “I must get in there,” Sarah said forcefully.

“I’m sorry, miss, but you can’t go in there. This room is a crime scene,” the officer said.

“But I just want to see John,” Sarah said worriedly.

John looked up and saw her standing in the doorway. “It’s alright, officer. She can come in. She won’t touch anything.”

The officer stepped aside, and Sarah bolted through the doorway. By the time she got to John, her face was wet with tears.

“What happened, John?” Why did you have to be the hero? Why did you have to be the one that got shot?” Sarah asked rapidly.

“I’m OK, Sarah. I’m not going to die. The bullet went all the way through. If I hadn’t been the hero, Tom would be lying on the floor, dead, in a pool of blood. I couldn’t let that happen,” John said.

“When I heard that it was you who got shot, my heart stopped. Nothing can ever happen to you, John. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“I know,” John replied. I don’t know what I would do without you, either. But we don’t have to worry about that; not for a very long time.”

“I love you,” Sarah said.

“I love you, too.”

John then lost consciousness again.