Massacre

“That was an unintended consequence of Napoleon’s plan...”

Andrea rolled her eyes as she sighed and looked at her watch: Another 25 minutes of torture in this history class! She looked around the room and as usual most people from the third row onward weren’t paying any attention - and were either staring blankly into space or scribbling who knows what - pretending to be taking notes. In the same way as she’s heard all her fellow seniors in her school complaining about being done with all this, she couldn’t wait to finish school this year and get into the real world: A world where she knew she would become a great psychologist someday. She wondered what the point of learning about history was anyway: Who cares what some dead person did to other dead people? She’d much rather be listening to Martha Stewart ramble on about the latest home-making tip than be a part of all this crap.

“Mr Jenson, what was the reason why Napoleon intentionally decided to lead his army into what we can now see as an impossible-to-win invasion of Russia in 1812?”
Arrrghh! It was that damn nerd Stacey asking questions in a manner that showed she knew stuff about this stuff that made them all just seem stupid. After asking the question, Stacey briefly turned around and was met directly with Andrea’s daggered stare. All too impressed with his star pupil, Mr Jenson went right on to answer the question - but it was more a monologue of him lost in time than anything she found remotely interesting. He’s kinda attractive, she thought: Young - probably in his mid thirties - dark eyes, thick eyebrows, short crew-cut pitch black hair, tall and a great smile. She knew that Mr Jenson was married and wondered what his wife was like, and whether she was pretty. She wondered whether he would ever cheat on her - given how the female teachers around school tend to hang on his lips, drooling.

“Miss Martin, what do you think was the key factor that lead to Napoleon’s defeat at the hands of the Russians at Leipzig in 1813?”
Andrea nearly jumped as she heard Mr Jenson ask her a question directly. The bastard knew she wasn’t paying attention - now he was trying to expose her in front of these nerds. She had to think fast - knowing that a portion of her grade depended on her interaction in class.
“I think it’s because he...”

Andrea was stopped in mid-sentence by an impossibly loud bang coming from the hallway - followed by screams. All over the classroom people ran to the door to see what was going on.
Then another bang - this time louder, closer. Andrea realized that her legs had stiffened and she was frozen, immobilized with fear at her desk: She recalled the scene from a movie she had seen a while back and this sounded and felt just like it did in that movie.
“Oh my god” was all she could say as chaos erupted in the classroom: People were running out of the door - shoving each other and standing on top of one another to get out of the classroom to run away from whatever it is outside in the hallway. Then BANG, BANG, BANG. Screams. Thumps. People hitting the ground.

Then more growing screams as people tried to run back into the classroom. The pandemonium pushed so many through the doorway that people got stuck and the traffic back into the classroom barely moved. BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG! The sound of people dropping to the ground seemed to be the loudest among the screaming and shooting. That’s what it sounded like - the exact sound from the movie in fact. Someone is shooting and killing people! And they’re out in the hallway - within a few steps of the class! Andrea darted around the room - looking for a place to hide and bumping into others who seemed to be doing the same thing. She noticed how more and more people were finally getting through the door and nearly sighed a sigh of relief when Mr Jenson shut and locked the door behind them. There was blood everywhere: Pooling from under the door, dripping from people, spurting and spluttering from the bodies who just made it back into the classroom only to drop to the floor... Dead. Were they really dead? Was this real? Andrea fought her body’s stiff resistance to movement as she stumbled into the storeroom and knocked her ankle against a metal box with books in it. She winced but moved on quickly to scan the room for additional hiding space. It was difficult to focus in this dark room against the backdrop of panicked screams and crying. She found a large wooden cupboard with slats in the doors, opened it, and with relief she jumped into the large empty space - quietly shutting the door behind her.

To be continued...