In the school.
"I know you're in here," he said. "So don't make this harder than it has to be."
Busted. Well, he's just one kid and there's a lot of us, so if he tries anything, he'd most likely fail. I saw the boys start to emerge from their hideout, and so Gina and I followed suit.
All of us stared him down as we gathered on one side of the room as Trent stood on the other.
"Well, well, well, what have we here?" Trent said, crossing his arms with a smirk on his face.
"What are te doing here, Trent?" I asked, raising one of my eyebrows. Trent smirked and started pacing nonchalantly around the room - like a cop who's caught some troublemakers up to no good.
"The domanda is: what are te doing here?" He asked, turning towards us again.
Craig stepped forward, "Alright, enough of this! What do te want, Trent?"
"I'm here to kill te intruders," he detto with a blank stare. "You won't leave this building alive."
"Intruders?" Gina asked with confusion in her voice. "Are te like... some sort of security guard o something?"
"Something like that," he detto suavely as he started backing away towards the door.
"Hey! Where do te think you're going?" I demanded.
All of a sudden, Stan charged at Trent and threw himself at him, but to our astonishment, Stan went THROUGH Trent. Right through. I gasped, "He's a hologram!"
Trent grabbed Stan da the back of his camicia and flung him back into the room like he was just an empty sack of potatoes.
Stan hit the floor with tremendous impact, and before we could help him up, Trent set the room on fuoco and slammed the door as he exited.
"A hologram that can slam doors and pick people up?!" Cartman hollered.
As shocked as we were, we all desperately tried to find an avenue of escape, but there was none. The fuoco was just getting larger and we were continuously being pressed farther and farther away from the door da the flames.
"What are we gonna do?!" Gina yelled.
"I know!" Stan detto as he grabbed a DP can and threw it at the fire, but instead of having the desired effect, the fuoco just got worse.
"Niiiiice one," Gina said.
Is this really how it's going to end? The Ribelle - The Brave and noble team of student revolutioners burnt to death in the school building? We're going to go down in history as failures. I closed my eyes tight, and fought to get away from the scortching flames, when all of a sudden, the door burst open on the other side of the room.
"Mica!" Craig yelled.
Yes! It is Mica, and she has something in her hands...
"Hold on!" She yelled and started spraying foam on the flames. It's a fire-extinguisher!
"Oh, thank God!" I detto as the flames died down and we were able to sposta about again. Mica hugged Craig, "Are te okay?" She asked.
"I'm alright," He said.
"What was that?" I asked - still utterly shocked with the whole scenario.
All of us looked at Cartman and he was holding his chin with one hand and staring at the floor in deep thought.
"The security has gone into overdrive. Its final defense against intruders is creating a hologram from our subconsciouses and using it against us. It can touch us but we can't touch it."
"Well, that's just a great how-do-you-do!" Butters said, throwing his arms up in frustration. "You heard what he said, fellas. He's not gonna let us out of here alive!"
"It's not a he," Craig said. "It's an it. Trent Boyett IS the security."
"But why the fuck is it going all haywire?" Mica questioned. "I mean... it's trying to kill us!"
"Well, maybe because it's a really high-tech security system? After all, the government did make it a necessity to have all the schools in the country secured."
"We have to be all stealth from here on out, guys," Stan said. "Let's just stick together and hope that the security system doesn't find us again."
Being as quiet as we possibly could, we crept into the hallways of the school. Every step we took seemed like a challenge - especially when there's so many of us. We were just making it around a corner when I stopped.
"Hey... Where's Stan?"
Gina looked around and whispered, "I don't know."
"What if he got killed?! What if he--?!"
"Wait," Gina interrupted as she walked around the corner. It didn't take long for her to come back around - dragging Stan da his arm as he struggled to get away.
"My DP! No!!!" Stan cried.
"You can rape the vending machine all te want tomorrow, Stan!" Gina admonished him. "Right now we have to get OUT of here!"
"Fuck!" Stan yelled.
"Shut the fuck up!" Cartman screamed at them.
"Too late for that," a voice from a distance said. We whirled around to see Trent standing at the end of the hallway.
"Shame," he said, "I thought I had killed te all. Guess I missed one," he looked at Mica. "But that's not a problem. That just means I get to kill te all over again." Just then, a few più holograms appeared - but they weren't Trent Boyett. These holograms were clones of US! They looked exactly like us - same clothes and everything.
"Run!" I yelled and we all took off down the hallway. We made several turns throughout the school - not knowing when the holograms were going to attack.
All of a sudden, I felt something grab onto my leg and I fell over face-first.
"Dani!" Butters shouted.
I twisted and struggled with all my might to make the hologram that looked like me to let go, but its grip was too tight, and I was beginning to panic.
Just as I was sure I was going to die, I heard a loud zapping sound behind me. I turned around and saw that the hologram had let go of me - and its form was blinking and flickering with blue electricity surrounding its body. The sound of the electrical current going through the hologram sounded like a million volts gone out of control! Pretty soon, the hologram disappeared, and I was left on the floor gasping for air.
Butters helped me up, and I noticed he was holding an opened water bottle.
"Did you... Did te throw water on that hologram?" I asked.
"Yeah! I figured that since the hologram had physical capabilites, it was made up of electricity! I guess the water disrupted its velocity strength... And I know that electricity doesn't go that well with water so... Voila!"
"You're a genius!" I said, hugging him.
"Guys!" Cartman said, "We need to find the power switch of the school! If we can shut off the MAIN power source, then these fucking stupid-ass holograms will disappear!"
"Where the hell is the power switch?" Stan asked.
"I bet te it's in the basement! Where else would they store the school's energy core?"
Just then, we heard multiple holograms manifest themselves.
"We'd better hurry then!" I urged.
Cartman nodded, "Dani, Craig, Mica, and Gina go downstairs and try to find the power switch. As soon as te find it, turn it off! Butters, Stan, and I will stay up here and ward off the holograms until te shut the power off, got it?!"
We all nodded with the light of determination in our eyes and headed downstairs without another word.
As soon as we touched ground, holograms that look like us manifested themselves. They all didn't hesitate to attack, but luckily, we all had waterguns at the ready.
Gina took her backpack off and retrieved a bow and some arrows.
I looked at her, "You carry a bow and arrows in your backpack?"
"Of COURSE I do," Gina detto - dipping the tips of her arrows in water. Without another word, we all started fighting. Unfortunately, the holograms dodged the water here and there, but we still had a good advantage.
Gina shot several water-tipped arrows at the holograms, and I was really impressed with the collateral damage she was causing.
Holograms were being destroyed da the minute, but they didn't stop coming. Once one was destroyed, another one would appear. The chaos was neverending.
"We need to find the power switch!" I yelled at Mica. She nodded and we all took off - destroying holograms as we went. It was dark underneath the school. Only a few dimly-lit, yellow-ish lights on the walls gave us insight as to where we were going. If it weren't for those lights, we would be totally and completely blind.
It reminded me of that scene from I Am Legend when Will Smith was running through that dark building to save his dog.
Holograms would pop out of nowhere - some looking like us and some looking like nightmarish figures that te wouldn't ever want to encounter.
"There it is!" I yelled - pointing at a large black and red switch on the wall.
"How do te know?" Gina shouted over the din.
"It's gotta be it! It's right successivo to that voltage box! Let's give it a try!"
Craig immediately made a sposta for the switch, when a look-a-like hologram grabbed Craig da the throat and held him against a wall. Craig gasped and tried to free himself, but apparently the task was impossible.
The hologram just started sliding Craig up the bacheca da his throat to choke him, when Mica flung herself inoltrare, avanti like a juggernaut - killing the Craig hologram with rapid firepower.
Craig slid down the bacheca into a sitting position and pointed at the switch - urging us to pull it.
With no più time to spare, I ran full speed for the switch, but just before I turned it off, I heard a blood-curdling scream ECHO throughout the whole basement. I fell to the floor - shaken da what I had heard.
"What was that? Did one of te guys scream?" I asked.
Three resounding no's answered in reply.
"That was... weird," I said.
"Does anyone have a flashlight?" Craig asked.
"I do," Mica said, clicking hers on.
"Let's get out of here. I hate being down here with all these fucking spiders and boxes..."
Studiously, we made our way back to the tromba delle scale and as we were ascending the stairs, we saw Butters sitting on the superiore, in alto step with a face so scared and panicked that I asked, "Butters... What's wrong?"
He glanced up at us with a grim frown, and none of us... were ready for his response...
"Stan's dead."
LOOK FOR PART VI COMING SOON...
The Mockingjay Pin
Butters's Epiphany
