TRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

Ryu stood up quickly, initially startled by the fire bell, but to the assurance of Mrs. Wingdings, the school principal, Ryu understood that this interruption was only a fire drill. Following the procedure, Ryu and the rest of the school calmly filed out of the classrooms, making an organized evacuation.

Everything would have been up to plan, if it weren’t for Crazy Tom, the local troublemaker.

“FIRE! FIRE! THERE’S A FIRE! AGGHH HELP MEEEE…!”

Ryu turned to retort back. “Shut up Tom! No one’s going to believe your –”

A girl screamed, marking the beginning of what Podunk High would forever remember as the “Stampede Incident”. It turned out that Tom had grabbed the nearest person by the shoulders, and started shaking her, keeping up with his act of terror. The scream was what set off the panic; everyone from the sensible Roy Louis to the eccentric Amy Henko made a mad dash for the exit, believing that they were in grave danger from some mad serial killer.

Mrs. Wingdings made an attempt to subdue the Black Friday scene in front of her, but her shouts were buried by the award-winning screams of the school choir sopranos.

Ryu was one of the lucky few to make it out of the chaos without getting trampled, panting as he ran toward the designated field behind the school building.

“What the hell, Tom!” Ryu cursed to himself, “I almost died — that goes the same for everyone else!” Ryu turned back to survey the mess.

Tom was nowhere to be seen (Maybe pinned under the pile of students or beaten up for causing a riot, either way, he’s screwed for life). Just looking at the exit, you would think that a murderous psycho raised up a massacre and piled the bodies at the doors. About one-third of the school was either still inside the building, or stuck under someone.

“The 911 response was quick.” Ryu thought as he turned around to listen to the sirens of the police, ambulance, and fire department. Podunk High was really stuck in one hell of a rut, and Ryu briefly felt a slight breeze of sympathy for Crazy Tom.

“Great job Tom, you succeeded in making the gravest mistake of your life.” Ryu muttered to no one in particular. After a minute or two, Ryu gathered his thoughts and ran to help his friend Greg, who was hanging from the second floor balcony.