▌│█║▌║▌║Chapter 37║▌║▌║█│▌

Via and I sat under the desk trying to get our breath. As we were sitting there, my body began to ache more and more. I winced a little at my growing pain in my body, and I could see that Via was uncomfortable too. Jack is crouched down, moving around the shadowed office room, keeping an eye out for Mr. Grey. I could hear Mr. Grey’s lightning make an ear popping crack outside, and a boom as he landed on the ground outside of the hole he had made earlier. I shivered a bit when I heard him. He surely isn’t happy that I stuck my knife in his arm. I only took solace in the fact that it will take him some time to find us. We didn’t leave any hint at where we would go. It would have to take a minute even for him to find us. I looked at Via, and I noticed that she was visibly shaken too. I gave her a comforting smile. I will get her to pass this quiz. I reached at my pistols in my pocket and gripped them tight. I don’t want to be caught off guard by Mr. Grey again.

BOOM!

A loud crash rang throughout the building we were in and on our floor. It couldn’t be Mr. Grey already! How did he find out where we were so fast?! I peeked from out under the desk to see what happened, fighting off Via’s hand trying to keep me back, and I saw Mr. Grey holding Jack up in the air by his neck with a hole in the floor beside them. I instinctively got my pistols out and fired shots, but they did no damage again as Mr. Grey’s lightning aura was back in full force. Mr. Grey shocked Jack, and he was immediately knocked out. Jack fell limp on the floor, and I stood their dumbfounded. Mr. Grey turned towards me. He had a different look on his face than he did when I saw him in the sunken subway tunnel. This look was more serious, more… focused. He shot towards me, and he was behind me before I could even react to him. He picked me up by my cloak, and I could feel his lightning aura encase around me. I closed my eyes in anticipation of the shock that was coming to knock me out, but I didn’t feel anything other than the regular electric aura. I opened my eyes, and I saw Via running around us and kicking Mr. Grey. None of her kicks seemed to have any effect on him though. He just tanked everyone she threw, and he just watched her. Still holding my pistols in my hand, I turned them off of stun and onto the regular shot. Instead of shooting Mr. Grey though, I put the pistol up to my cloak and shot off the piece of cloth Mr. Grey was hold up. I dropped to the ground, and I immediately dove forward out of the way of Mr. Grey and Via. I shouted back at Via, “Get out of there!”

It was already too late though. Mr. Grey already had his hands on her neck, holding her up in the air. Gathering my resolve, I limped toward the both of them. I had to get there before he knocked her out. Without having anything on me that could affect Mr. Grey even a little bit, I just lunged my entire body into his legs. It was like I ran into a brick wall. He didn’t even flinch at my body being hurled into his legs at full force. He glanced down at me on the ground as I looked up at him. I felt a shiver run down my spine as I stared at his total blue eyes and watched as Via struggled to get free from his grasp. Feeling the hopelessness of the situation seep in, I have one last ditch attempt to help get Via out of here. I pointed my pistols at the ground, and fired multiple shots at the ground. Making a hold in the floor, we all fell down to the floor below. I landed on my stomach, knocking the breath out of me, and Mr. Grey somehow landed on his feet to my dismay. He let go of Via though, and I pushed her legs on the ground and shouted, “Go!!”

She ran at super speed a couple of yards away and then stopped. She turned around and looked back at me as Mr. Grey picked me up. She shouted, “I can’t just leave you!”

Looking straight into Mr. Grey’s eye, I responded to her saying, “Yes, you can. If you stay here then you’ll fail the quiz. You need to run and don’t stop running until the time is up.”

The next thing I knew, Mr. Grey was holding Via in his other hand. Did she run straight toward him?! I looked at her and she looked back at me and said, “Well, I did run. Sorry about stopping though.”

Struggling to find words, I started to hit the stab wound in Mr. Grey’s arm I created to try to get him to let go of Via. She has to pass! I can’t let everyone fail this exam! Especially not Via, who was so excited about this at the start. As I kept hitting the wound, I saw darkness in the next few seconds. I was blissfully unconscious from all the pain of my body, but with one painful thought circulating in my head. I failed.

▌│█║▌║▌║To be Continued║▌║▌║█│▌