Ten minutes.
Ten minutes to decide if she would give herself up…Or let them all die.
Keira could feel every pair of eyes in the room drilling into her.
Ten minutes. That's what he said.
But already, each second felt like an hour.
She looked around.No one said anything. Not anymore.
Some looked at her with horror. Others with pity. And a few… a few already looked like they were beginning to hope she would do it.
So they wouldn't have to.
Her throat tightened.
This wasn't supposed to happen. This wasn't real. She was just in class. Just wearing her uniform. Just having another regular day in her very normal, very controllable life.
And yet here she was, being offered up to a monster, in front of everyone—by a teacher who still hadn't raised his voice once.
A small sob broke out to her left.
Keira turned and saw a girl—Maria, she thought her name was—hunched over in her seat, covering her mouth as tears welled up in her eyes.
It was spreading.
The panic.
