Page 51 of Cruel (Brutal Academy)

"I think I'd need more than that." Parker walked behind me as Hunter led the way.

We stepped as silently and carefully as we could. Here and there, the shuffling continued. No one turned on a light. No one shouted or became hysterical. Every single person in that room knew there was a potential for them to become a target even though they didn't know who might be aiming.

At any normal university in Australia, everyone would have their phones out. They wouldn't even stop drinking or having a good time. But Brutham was a different place.

A dangerous fucking place.

Ahead of me came the thud of bodies connecting. That was followed by a short grunt of surprise from Hunter.

"Who the fuck is that?" he whispered.

"Dane DiMarco and Chloe," Dane said. "Is this some bullshit you assholes are pulling?"

Speaking of fucking dangerous.

"Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing," Hunter said. "We were right here with you. How could we have pulled anything?"

"Because you're you," Chloe said.

Hunter chuckled. "Thank you for the vote of confidence, but this isn't us. And if it isn't us, and it wasn't you, then—"

"It's someone else," I whispered. I remembered what Chloe said a couple of days ago about the twins having lots of enemies. His family, my family, none of us were short of enemies. Straight off the top of my head, I could think of several who might come after any one of us.

"Have you had any death threats recently, Mr D?" Parker asked.

"From anyone other than you guys? No," Dane replied. "You?"

"Same," Parker replied. "But that doesn't mean someone isn't after one of us in particular."

"That sounds like a good reason why we should stay away from them," Chloe said. "If whoever is behind this is after them, then we should make ourselves scarce."

"I was thinking the same about you," I said coldly. "Who else have you pissed off recently?"

She didn't answer.

"This might not be about any of us," Slade pointed out. "But whatever this is, we’ll deal with it. We’ll need weapons for that.”

“I know where we can get some," Hunter said. “We need to get to them first.”

"Yep, let's do that," Dane said. "But there are several hundred students and teachers here. Chances are, this has nothing to do with any of us."

He didn't sound like he believed his words either. Anyone with the last name Bell or Brantley, or with affiliations to either family, were going to be the prime targets. Most of the other students were from less influential families. Except those with ties to the Yakuza, Bratva or the Italian mafia.

Standing around contemplating the possibilities wasn't going to get us somewhere safe.

"We'll keep going," Hunter concluded. "We can't be far from the door."

We resumed walking, moving even more carefully now.

"There's the doorway," Hunter said. The corridor beyond that was bathed in moonlight.

That would make it easier to see but it would also make it easier to be seen.

"Where are we going?" I whispered.

"We need to get out of the building," Hunter said.

"They might be anticipating we'll do just that," Dane said. "We could be walking into an ambush."

---