The Phantom School - 45 Chapter 45

I started panicking as the man suddenly got on his feet again. He must have understood what was going on… Now that he knew I was bluffing, I was intending to kill him for real. Otherwise, he could knock me out in seconds; and after that… I had no idea what could happen.

‘The safety!’ I thought. At least I could learn that much about guns from action games and movies. Although I struggled for a while, I managed to find and turn the safety switch. With no time to think, I pulled the trigger again.

*click*

I tried a few more times, but yet, nothing happened. Maybe the gun was unloaded…

“Pull the top, pull the top, pull the top!” Idil began yelling at me from the jail door. I froze for a second, trying to understand what she was trying to tell me.

*kick*

I was caught off guard when I was trying to figure things out. The gun slided off of my hand when the man kicked my arm. I immediately tried to punch him as a response, but before I could reach him, he managed to push me away. I fell down, but it didn’t hurt so much.

I rolled on the floor and started crawling towards the gun on the floor. As he was about to reach me, Idil strongly kicked the jail door in front of her, startling both me and the man. I used that short moment of panic and confusion to my advantage and grabbed the gun. As I tried to figure out why the gun wasn’t shooting, the man angrily kicked Idil’s jail door to scare her away. Idil got back a few steps and looked away as if nothing happened.

‘Pull the top’… What did that mean?

“Ohh…” I said loudly and pulled the slide on the top of the gun.

The man turned back towards me and moved to attack. I didn’t hesitate and pulled the trigger over and over again, without even trying to aim. The recoil disoriented me, but I could keep the gun mostly straight. However, just seconds later, I had to drop the gun as I had injured my hands. The hot material escaping the barrel had burnt my hands, and the slider had cut my skin. My ears were ringing. As soon as I got my senses back, I searched for the man.

The man was laying on the ground. He has been shot in the chest by two different spots. He was bleeding and struggling on the floor. I simply looked at him in pity… Have I really done that to a human being?

Even though it was for my defense, I couldn’t help feeling bad.

I grabbed the gun I dropped on the floor and stepped away from the man as he kept struggling. I couldn’t watch him for long, it was too hard for me.

“Can you hear me?” I yelled at the man. He kept waving his legs and arms in pain, but he didn’t answer me.

Just then, I heard some footsteps inside the hallway, far away. Undoubtedly, someone had noticed our little conflict and the gunshots.

Idil kicked the jail door again to grab my attention. I looked at her.

“Stop spacing out and get me out of here!” she said. She was frusturated.

I left the man on the ground since he had stopped struggling, and went to help Idil.

“Shoot that corner.” she said, and pointed to the corner of the wall where the locking mechanism of the jail door was connected to the wall. As soon as I pointed the gun to the wall, she ran as far as she could from the door. This time, I was cautious too; so I held the gun properly in order not to further injure myself.

*bang*

The door didn’t open. Instead of breaking the locking mechanism apart, the bullet deformed the metal pieces which connected the door to the wall.

“Now we won’t be able to open it even if we have the key.” I said. Idil came closer to inspect the damage.

While we were busy trying to open the door, the footsteps were getting louder.

“Shoot again, we have no other chance!” she said. I pointed the gun and pulled the trigger again.

*bang*

This time, the locking mechanism broke apart and the door opened. I started feeling something hot on my leg. When I looked down, I saw that it was bleeding. A tiny piece of metal from the door had cut my leg. I immediately got the tiny metal piece out of my wound.

Idil pushed the door wide open and got out out of the cell.

“The ricochet almost killed me.” she said.

“‘Thanks’ would be sufficient.” I replied. “I can’t make ballistic calculations every single shot.”

“Thanks anyway.” she said.

The footsteps became clearer. Some people were coming at this hallway.

“Damn, we are too late to run now.” I said.

“We have a gun.” she said.

“What makes you think that they don’t have guns too!?” I said. Even though I said that, I pointed my gun into the hallway, waiting for someone to appear. In case of danger, I could threaten them.

Idil stared at my face with a blank expression.

“Well… right.” she said. “Let’s hope they don’t.”

Finally, two men in white coats appeared at the end of the hallway. When they saw us pointing a gun at them, they stopped. We’ve engaged in a short staring contest before I broke the silence.

“Move away, I am armed!” I yelled. I pointed the gun at the ground and pulled the trigger in order to make it clear that I wasn’t bluffing.

*click*

Yet, the gun didn’t shoot. My face went red, and I started sweating. Worryingly, I pulled the trigger a few more times.

*click* *click*

Nothing happened. The two men at the end of the hallway started approaching again. The gun was empty, and I had lost my chance to threaten them.

“What do we do?” I whispered, but Idil didn’t say anything in return. When I turned to look at her, she was no longer there.

“Idil!?” I yelled, but got no response. I looked back to the other end of the hallway. The man had stopped, and one of them had something in his hand. While I was trying to figure out what they were doing, my eyes started burning. I had to close my eyes, so I couldn’t see anything. After a short while, my whole body was paralysed.