A deafening bang rang through the auditorium. Principal Duncan jerked as a bullet ripped through his chest.
Then Screams erupted more louder, from everyone who was in the auditorium including the teachers and the guards.
Jax watched in horror as blood pooled beneath Duncan. His vision blurred with rage and panic.
On the other hand, Callahan just smiled.
While the other students, scattered like birds outside, a wave of panic crashed through the school as a single gunshot pierced the air. That was when Callahan had shot Principal Duncan.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
The sound of three more gunshots ripped the afternoon and everything outside froze.
Grace caught her breath in her throat and the world slowed. The blood drained from her face as her heart pounded violently against her ribs, "Oh my God...Jax."
Her knees almost buckled.
"Grace!" Maya called her.
"Was that a gunshot?!" Amber asked in shock and frustration.
More students outside paused in terror as some clutched their mouths, tears threatening to fall from their eyes.
Inside the school bus that had just pulled up, Rowan and Theo stiffened. They heard the shots and their bodies became rigid. They were just coming back from a friendly basketball match outside school. Only to be met with despair.
"Did you hear that? Rowan asked.
"The hell is going on," Theo scanned the scene.
They saw students sprawled out across the campus grounds, as some hid, while others ran.
Then their instincts kicked in. Without further hesitation, Rowan and Theo bolted from the bus, sprinting towards the school.
Grace's entire body trembled as a sickening fear sank in her stomach. She knew something happened to Jax. She turned on her heel and ran for the auditorium.
"Grace, wait!" Amber called out on her but she didn't stop. Tears blurred her vision, her mind in a storm of panic.
"Shit, let's go after her," Her friends had no choice but to follow, their own fear growing as they pushed past terrified students.
But in Grace's head, nothing mattered except for one thing, Jax.
The heavy scent of gunpowder and blood hanged in the air and the scene was a wreck.
Jax's father laid on the ground as he bled out, his chest soaked in red. Jax was on top of Callahan, his hands wrapped tightly around his throat, squeezing, his knuckles white with rage.
Callahan's face turned purple, his body jerking violently as he clawed at Jax's grip. Jax's eyes burned red and his teeth clenched so hard they could have shattered.
His father's blood was on his hands, literally and figuratively.
He could hear the ragged gasps from the man who had abandoned him, and yet as he watched him, fading away like that, he ached. More than he ever thought it would.
Grace, Rowan, Theo, Maya and Amber had raced inside. The other guards, teachers and students, had already ran once Jax's father intervened when Callahan pointed the gun at Jax. His father attacked Callahan from behind. But while Jax and his father were fighting to get the gun off from Callahan, he shoved Jax's father with his legs and shot him three times.
While the security guards ran, they called the police, once they reached outside.
They all froze. "Oh my god," Grace staggered.
Her tears threatened to fall as she took in the horrifying scene.
"His dad..." Amber whispered in shock.
"Shit, Jax is going to kill him." Maya rambled.
Jax didn't even hear them, his grip tightened around Callahan's throat, while his father and Principal Duncan bled.
Callahan gagged, kicking his feet weakly, as his face lost color. Rowan and Theo exchanged a glance.
They knew that look from Jax's eyes. It was pure and uncontrollable rage. And if they didn't stop him now, he would end Callahan.
"Jax, let go, man!"
They ran to him.
His entire body trembled as his rage blinded him. Then Grace moved too.
She dropped to her knees beside him, and grabbed his arm, "Jax...please," she pleaded softly.
Then he finally stirred and his breath was ragged, and his arms were shaking. Grace cupped his face, forcing him to meet her eyes, "Don't do this. This isn't you."
For the first time since his father got shot, Jax saw her, her tears and her fear and the pain in her eyes that mirrored his own. His finger slackened.
Callahan gagged for air, coughing violently, with an expression that he for sure knew Jax was going to kill him this time.
Jax slowly pulled back as his chest heaved, his entire body shaking. His hands were coated in blood, his father's blood.
He looked over, and he saw his father's eyes dulling, his body going still.
Amber and Maya called for an Ambulance.
Jax's face twisted in agony. A single painful sob ripped from his throat as he clutched his hair. Rowan and Theo quickly retsrained Callahan, who was too weak to fight back, as the distant sounds of sirens filled the air.
But all Jax could do was to stare at his father's lifeless body.