Author’s note: The sisters are all in high school together. Phoebe is a freshman, Piper a Junior and Prue a senior. They of course have no powers. I wanted to write this to see what the characters might do in a very scary, all too real situation. I hope you like it!

disclaimer: I own no one from Charmed…but I do own this story. Thank you Spelling et al.

WARNING: Some scenes of violence and profanity. Read at your own risk.


Tuesday April 30, 1990
Baker High School

12:42pm
BANG! BANG, BANG, BANG!
Her heart stopped and she never had a chance to finish the remainder of her Mexican pizza and chocolate milk. She was fifteen years old, cute lively and optimistic, but when hell broke loose on a warm spring day at Baker High school in San Francisco, California, Phoebe Halliwell, surrounded by panicked teenagers, froze in fear. She never saw it coming.

12:43pm
BANG, BANG! BANG! BANG, BANG, BANG! SCREAM, CRY, SCREAM! THUD!
One story above Phoebe, her older sister Piper had been mixing chemicals for lab work that was far ahead of the rest of her class. She now hid under the lab table, breath heavy with uncertainty. She knew trouble lay beyond the frosted glass door of her chem lab, but she dared not tread into the hall amidst the screams, and the bangs.

12:44pm
BANG! RAT A TAT TAT! BANG! SCREAM! BANG! BOOM!
Smoke fogged her vision as she lay huddled against the floor of the gym. The cheerleaders had been practicing when the pandemonium broke out. She thought the noises were funny until she heard the screams. Then she knew there was trouble. The BANG, BANG, came closer to the gym and then the BOOM, followed by more screams, and suddenly fire and smoke. Alarms went off. She felt a hand next to hers as she shimmied on her belly across the gym floor. Prue Halliwell, strongest and oldest of her three sisters, 18 years old, lay next to the already dead body of her teammate, her friend, hoping against hope that her sisters were okay.

**********************

Phoebe had quickly recovered from her state of frozen panic and dropped to the floor of the high school cafeteria. She scrambled across the floor toward the stairwell, the guns still popping in the air behind her. She felt the confusion and the horror churn in her stomach combining with the grease of the food she had barely eaten. The floor was slick with wax. Her hands slipped and slid as she crawled like a toddler. Reaching the stairwell she dared to look back. Children her age and older were not far behind her, each crawling toward one of the three exits. Two were internal exits that led in opposite directions to the interior of the school. The other an external exit leading to the senior patio. Phoebe looked again behind her and saw two boys dressed in black. One was holding a handgun and the other a rifle. Phoebe recognized both boys immediately as juniors at Baker High. The disbelief rang louder in her ears than the gunshots that followed after her as she turned the corner and began to climb the stairs quickly, if not clumsily. She had one goal, to reach Piper.

Piper heard another shot ring out but realized it was far down the hall. Still on her floor, but no where near the room she waited silently in. She reached into her backpack and pulled out the pocketknife that she carried with her. Her Grams had told her to carry the knife since Piper was constantly picked on at school. Piper never thought she would actually use the knife and still fearing the possibility she moved it into the back pocket of her faded blue jeans. Her light yellow T-shirt was beginning to dampen with sweat. Piper crawled to the door too frightened, and too shaky to stand. She lay flat on her stomach and turned her eyes toward the bottom crack of the door. She saw no movement and sitting on her knees, she slowly turned the knob. In her head she knew she would be safer staying hidden under the table, but her heart only screamed at her, “Phoebe! Prue!”

Prue had avoided the boys in black. There were two, one with a bag, the other with two guns. Prue wasn't sure what type of guns the boy held. She only knew that one was a basic handgun and the other must have made the rat-a-tat-tat sound that had killed her friend. Prue had crawled unnoticed beneath the bleachers. She wanted to run to her sisters and be sure they were okay, but she had to wait until they left to do it. She didn’t know how many more there were. She didn’t know what other weapons they had. All she knew was that they were armed and dangerous and that here sisters, like herself, were in jeopardy. The boys, satisfied that they had caused enough damage slowly made their way out of the double doors that led to the hardwood court that moments ago had been filled with laughing teenagers getting their daily dose of physical activity. Prue, climbing from her hiding place, looked around the gym. The smoke was clearing, the fumes dissipating. All Prue Halliwell could see was a mass of teenagers lying silently on the floor. She would have sworn, if not for the blood that surrounded many bodies, that the children had been sent back in time to kindergarten to take their naps. The silence after the commotion was eerie, deafening. She knew they were not napping. Among the twenty bodies that lay on the floor, Prue saw that very few of them were moving. She crept quietly into the locker room and made her way to the opposite exit, the one that would take her into the hall that led to the cafeteria, where she knew Phoebe should be having lunch.

Phoebe listened as the shots rang out in the hall just outside of the janitor’s closet on the second floor. She had crossed from the stairwell to the closet when she saw two more boys in black heading her way. They were too busy opening classroom doors and firing randomly into them to see her scurry across the hall. They would have to pass the closet in order for Phoebe to work her way through the hall lockers to the lab that Piper was always working at noon. Phoebe turned off the closet light and pushed herself into the farthest corner she could find. Not feeling hidden enough, Phoebe decided to lower herself into a large garbage can on wheels. She prayed that if they opened the door they would never sense her the way that the hairs on the back of her neck could sense them moving down the hall. All firing in the building had ceased. And Phoebe could hear every sound as loud as the gunplay had been. She heard them stop just outside. She knew that the only thing that stood between her and death was a thin wooden door.

Piper held her breath as she watched the two boys stop in front of the janitor’s closet. While they had been in the library firing their weapons, Piper had slipped passed them. When She heard them making their way out of the library, she had slipped into an extremely small water heater closet. She knew they wouldn’t waste their time looking there. As she watched through the vents on the door a movement had caught her eye. She saw her baby sister, Phoebe, crawl quickly by the door and into the janitor’s closet quietly shutting it behind her. Piper’s heart raced as she wanted to call out to Phoebe, but it was too late, the boys had made their way down the hall and now stood just outside the door. Piper was staring at the backs of their black-jean-clad leg. The tears fell down her face as she prayed for Phoebe. She hoped the dropping of the tears from her cheeks to the floor wasn’t as loud as she thought it to be. They opened the door.

Prue had made it to the carnage that had minutes ago been the cafeteria. The massacre there was three times worse than the atrocity she had endured in the gym. She didn’t want to look at the students on the floor. Afraid, so very afraid that one could be her baby sister. She prayed that Phoebe had made it outside, or to the stairwell, and gone to get Piper. She prayed they were both safe and far from harm. Prue felt a warm liquid on her hand as she crawled on the floor. She wiped the mess on her white T-shirt with the letters blaring, “Cheer Fever.” Not realizing what she had done, Prue looked down to see that it was blood that she had smeared across the pristine white cotton. It was quite a contrast between the two. The dark, thick, ooze soaked through to Prue’s chest and suddenly as though she had been dreaming, she was wide-awake. The sound, sight, smell, feel, and taste of her world became too real. As though Prue had been deaf and suddenly cured, she suddenly heard the crying of the scared, the groaning of those in pain, the silence of those who would not make it out. She saw the blood spilling onto the floor. She saw the best friends still holding hands as they had been gunned down running for the external exit, dying together. She saw the baby faces of her little sister’s classmates. She smelled the milk that had been dropped in a rush for life. She smelled the food burning in the kitchen as the cooks had also taken cover. And then the acrid, copper smell of the blood violated her nostrils. She felt the warmth of blood yet again, so real. And finally the metallic taste in her mouth like fear mixed with anger clashing with sadness. It was blood. Prue had bitten her lip in fear. From somewhere above her shots rang out, as they did in the hall on the opposite side of the cafeteria from where she lay flat on the floor. She rolled in on the floor next to the body of a boy she had once had a class with. And then she saw the boys in black making their way back to their crime scene. She closed her eyes and lay her head on the ground. She felt his foot next to her head.

Phoebe felt the air sweep over her head as the door was pushed open. She held her breath and let the silent tears fall, as she dared not let her heart beat in fear of being found. She heard them laughing. They were laughing. They had just killed people that were her friends, people that would never get their license. They had killed seniors who were only minutes ago gushing about the color of their prom dress, seniors who were choosing colleges, choosing futures. They killed them, and now they were laughing. Phoebe’s pounding heart cried out for those who were lost. But it cried out louder in the uncertainty of her sisters’ whereabouts. They turned the lights on and she prayed hard as she closed her eyes tightly that these boys in black would not find her. She prayed that they would leave her and she would fins her sisters and leave what had become a warzone.

Piper almost sighed aloud as the two boys met two more boys in black and they walked down the stairs. She could hear them laughing all the way down and congratulating each other on a kill well done. She had heard no shots, seen no motion in the closet. Somehow her baby sister managed to hide from them. She looked toward the dark sky and silently thanked God. She waited a few more seconds before she gently pushed open the door, crawled across the hall to the closet that hid her baby sister, opened that door and crawled in, pulling it shut behind her. She turned around. She saw Phoebe no where. She pondered for a second if the sight of her sister crawling into this room had merely been a hallucination. Then she spotted the garbage can. She knew with her heart that her sister had saved herself with street smarts. She also knew that if she just reached into the can and touched her sister, Phoebe might scream, so she decided instead to call out to her softly and hoping that they wouldn’t hear her.

Prue stayed completely still and wondered in amazement how long she could hold her breath. The blood that she had rolled in felt sticky as it slowly soaked through her shirt to her back. She knew she was covered in blood and hoped that the two boys who now stood where she lay would never look twice. She could hear them talking to one another. And then, their voices were soon joined by four more. Six boys in black, Prue thought, no wonder the bloodbath had been so severe. There were six boys with different guns of different caliber. Different homemade weapons, bombs, Prue knew they had it all. And all she could think was, “Why?”

She heard them laughing and then one of them spoke her name.

“Hey, one of you guys got that bitch Prue Halliwell?”

“Yeah, what a score! I always thought she was a snobby thing. So stuck up her and all her football guys and cheerleader buddies. I shot up this place so she must be my points"

Prue remained limp, as a foot slid under her leg and kicked it. She let it fall lifelessly back to the floor. A BANG rang out loudly just above her head. Her heart stopped and she just knew she had been shot. But she felt the debris hitting her head and realized quickly that they had fired at the ceiling. She could hear them giving each other high-fives as they walked back down the hall away from the stairway and away from Prue.

Phoebe had heard the door open and close again and now she was afraid that one of them had discovered her. She held her breath again. Then a voice, soft like velvet sang out into the terrifyingly chilly air.
“Phoebe? Phoebe. It’s Piper. I saw you come in here. It’s okay they went downstairs.”
Phoebe slowly held her head above the rim of the garbage can and found herself staring into the face of her sister.
“Piper? Oh my God. I thought they had gotten you. I was so scared.”
Phoebe climbed out of the garbage can and sat on the floor next to Piper. She wrapped her arms around her 17-year-old sister and for once in ten minutes felt no fear. It lasted mere seconds until they heard another shot. Phoebe felt safe with her sister but her heart began to pound again as she wondered where Prue could possibly be.

Piper squeezed Phoebe tighter as she heard the loud bang resound from somewhere outside of their little safe haven. She held her to comfort Phoebe and herself. The idea that at least one of her sisters was safe and sound brought Piper little comfort. She wanted them both there with her in that little closet, to know that they were okay and out of harm’s way. For now, she would take comfort in the fact that Phoebe, shaken and terrified, clung to her tightly, but uninjured. Prue’s image shot through her mind and she knew that either she, or she and Phoebe would have to find their sister.

Prue slowly rose from the pungent odor that surrounded her on the floor. She was shivering in her T-shirt and small black gym shorts. She had to get to Phoebe and Piper. She wanted to know, good or bad, what had become of them. Her tennis shoes slipped and slid on the cold hard tile beneath her. She grabbed the wall for support and found her way to the stairs. She was halfway up the stairs to the second floor when she heard a soft sound coming toward her. She looked up and cried at the sight. There stood her two baby sisters. They looked tired and afraid. They, too, saw Prue and immediately ran into her arms. The three sisters sat silently for a moment on the stairs. Piper whispered to Prue asking if she was okay touching the blood on Prue’s shirt. Prue couldn’t hold it back any longer. The tears fled from her eyes as she wrapped herself in her sisters’ arms and softly, barely above a whisper, explained, “It’s not my blood.”

Phoebe remained quiet while Piper asked Prue questions. She listened carefully as Prue explained why she had to get blood on her clothing and then explained the narrow escape from the cafeteria. It wasn’t until Piper turned to her and snapped her fingers in her face that Phoebe realized she was no longer shaking or for that matter terrified. She was frightened, yes, but her heart no longer pounded in her chest as though she would die. She knew that her sisters were okay and there with her, that’s all that mattered to her.

“Phoebe, are you okay? Are you still with us?”

“Yeah, Piper we’ve got to get out of here.”

Phoebe had cocked her head to one side listening to the commotion going on the second floor. The firing had ceased, but now they could hear girls crying and screaming. Boys were asking the black-clad terrorists to let the others go. Phoebe knew exactly what they were doing. She knew that the boys in black were gathering the survivors. She knew from watching television that the police were probably outside the school at that moment.

“They’re taking them hostage.”

Piper interrupted Phoebe’s thoughts and confirmed them. She held Prue and Phoebe’s hands tighter as she tried to devise a plan to get them out of the school alive. Nothing came to her. Piper was scared and realized that she was the only one of the three sisters still crying. She looked at Phoebe whose forehead was beaded with sweat. She knew Phoebe well enough to know that although she was scared, she was definitely in control of herself. She then turned to Prue who looked back. It was hard to determine what she saw in her sister’s eyes. It could have been fear, but it looked more like courage to Piper.

“Prue, what are you thinking?”

Prue blinked and looked from the youngest to the middle sister. She swallowed hard as the comprehension of what she had to do rose in her throat. She wasn’t sure where to start, but she wasn’t about to let Piper and Phoebe stay.

“I’m thinking that I’ve got to stay and help these people. Those boys think I’m dead, they won’t be looking for me. But you two have to go now. I would never be able to live without you guys and I don’t want you getting hurt. So we have to go to the cafeteria and get you out the patio exit. There should be police out there and also whoever else made it out. Now let’s go.”

Prue stood to lead her sisters to the cafeteria and quickly realized that a hand was pulling her back. She looked down and was staring straight into the Phoebe’s face.

“You aren’t going to do this by yourself. There’s no way you can take on 6 guys with guns all at one time. Let’s just go. We can tell the police what happened and about how many they have hostage.”

“Phoebe there may not be enough time. What if they start shooting soon?”

“Then I don’t want you to be there to get shot.”

“Phoebe’s right Prue, you can’t do this. You are not a cop, or a soldier, you aren’t even a high school graduate yet. You can’t take them on and really expect to come out of it alive.”

“Well, I can’t run and let innocent people, my friends, Phoebe’s friends, and your friends die. There are very scared people up there right now. I have to do something.”

“Well, then I’m staying too.”

“Phoebe, don’t be ridiculous. You and Piper need to go.”

“Again, Prue, Phoebe’s right. We aren’t leaving without you. So if you make a stand then we will too.”

“Then we need a plan. Where do you think they’re keeping everyone?”

“I’m guessing the library. I saw them go in there earlier.”

Phoebe, Piper and Prue rose from the steps and carefully, quietly walked through the now silent cafeteria. They had to step over bodies. Phoebe mentally did a head count and lost track as they rounded the corner to the opposite hall. Prue led them to the girls’ locker room. Phoebe reported to her sisters that she had counted 14 bodies in the cafeteria.

“Like shooting fish in a barrel.” Phoebe said solemnly.

Piper shook her head in disgust as she took a seat on the wooden bench between the gym lockers. She knew that this was happening but she couldn’t make herself believe it.

“How many are down in the gym Prue?”

“I don’t, Piper. Maybe 10 or more.”

“Your teammates?”

Prue shook her head to indicate that they were gone. All except for Becky who had been taking a makeup test.

“There has to be others like us who managed to not get shot. There has to be someone hiding in the school somewhere afraid to come out. People besides those being held hostage.”

“Probably Prue, but where? Where would they hide?”

“In the boiler room?”

“What did you say Pheebs?”

“The boiler room. My friends and I go down there to smoke sometimes.”

Phoebe flinched as Piper and Prue shot her a disapproving glance.

“Oh come one, in light of our current situation tell me you guys wouldn’t smoke now given the chance?”
Prue merely shrugged in agreement. Piper ignored Phoebe’s comment. That sat in silence trying their best to come up with a valid, survivable plan.

“Oh, Prue! I got it.”

“Shhhh…keep your voice down.”

“Sorry, but you’re all into athletics right? So don’t we have like some sort of skeet shooting team or something.”

“Yeah, so?”

“So where do they keep the guns?”

“In the hall closet locked in a cabinet next to the boys locker room.”

“Where’s the key?”

“Coach Thomas always has it with him.”

“Is Coach Thomas…”

“…dead? Yeah, I think so.”

“Then we’ll have to get the key off of him and get the guns.”

“Piper, none of us knows how to use a gun.”

“I don’t know about you and Piper Prue, but I’m willing to learn pretty quickly. And what about the bows and arrows too?”

“Okay, I’m with you guys but we have to be careful. Now what do we know, Piper?”

“Umm…that they are holding people hostage in the library…”

“…that there are apparently six of them…”

“Good Pheebs, what else?”

“We have weapons in the gym closet, and there might be people hiding in the boiler room.”

“Okay, now my little sisters we have to come up with a valid plan, and a backup plan just in case.”

“Just in case what Prue, I don’t like just in cases.”

“Piper there’s a chance that one of could get caught.”

Piper looked from Prue to Phoebe. She saw the determination in their eyes, and although she wasn’t very sure of the plan she was sure of her sisters, and she was never one to not follow suit. The three sisters devised their plan and when they hugged they sealed the deal. It was time.

Depending on the abilities she had, each girl assigned herself a role in the plan. Phoebe was cunning and slick, she was able to maneuver into the smaller places in the school a lot faster and with less visibility. She assigned herself the mission of checking out the boiler room. The sisters did not want to split up but knew that in order to cover more ground more quickly they would have to. Piper was the genius of the family. It was her job to figure out the where and who of the second floor. She volunteered to sneak onto the second floor and figure out a way to watch without being seen. Although Phoebe would have been better at it, Piper knew that she was the quick thinker of the three. Prue would get the key and get the weapons that they needed. They had agreed to meet back in the locker room at the sound of the 7th period bell, which meant they would meet back at 2pm. If one of them did not show by the late bell then it was to be assumed that they were caught and plan B would be put into action.

Phoebe was the first to exit the locker room. The boiler room door was in the school lobby, which sat just beyond the gym’s double doors. Phoebe tried not to look at the open cold stares of those that were gone in spirit but whose bodies still occupied the gym floor. She slid back against the wall to the frame of the double doors. She peered into the lobby and saw no one. She heard nothing. She made a quick dash across the lobby to the boiler room door and silently closed it behind her. She turned and faced the stairs. Slowly she crept down them listening for signs of life as she went. She wasn’t sure if the whispering she heard was real or not. Just as she reached the bottom step a hand reached from under the stairs and grabbed her leg causing her to fall the last few feet down. Her world began to dim as she was knocked out. Before the darkness came she saw that a figure, a male figure, stood above her, dressed in black.

Piper was the next to leave the sanctity of the locker room. She exited through that opened into the hallway that led to the cafeteria. Her heart pounded furiously throughout her small frame. Her breath shuddered on her lips as she climbed the stairs to the second level. She listened for sounds but heard no one. She decided to make it to the water heater closet that had hidden her earlier. She heard voices coming into the hall from the library just as she settled on the floor of the closet. She held her breath and strained to hear every word.

“Yeah Steve I can’t believe you got so many. That was pretty awesome.”

“Well, Derek, I had no idea that everyone would run like hysterical cattle. I could have gotten more.”

“So what’s our total kills now?”

“I think Adam said that if we added the gym, cafeteria, library, and the people in the halls, then total? We got about 38.”

“Do you think there are still some alive in the building somewhere that we don’t have in the library?”

“Probably, Steve, but who cares. They’re probably hiding, pissing in their pants right now. Bunch a little rats living in their packs.”

Piper allowed her breath to slowly escape as the men walked away. She crawled out of the closet and into a classroom next to the library. She knew that if she could quietly climb into the foam tile ceiling she could hear what was going on in the library, and possibly would be able to see who was there. She placed a chair next to the wall and standing on the chair lifted a tile from the ceiling. As she was climbing into the hole a male voice deep and husky rang out behind her.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Prue had made it to the spot on the gym floor where the coach’s body lay still. She held back tears as she fished for the keys hooked on his belt loop. She ran a hand over the man’s open eyes, shutting them and giving him final sleep. She quickly moved the rest of the way to the gym closet. She tangled with key after key until finally she watched the key turn the knob. She pulled open the door and slipped inside before turning on the lights. The light showered down on her as she turned and realized she was not alone in the room. She was about to run when a hand came over her mouth.

The 7th period bell rang loud. And within five minutes four people showed up at the girls’ locker room. Only two of them were Halliwells. After fifteen minutes passed they knew she had been caught.

***********************************
Prue Halliwell had come face to face with freshman Robert Garson in the gym closet. He had covered her mouth to keep her from screaming in fear. He explained to her quietly that he was hiding to live. She quickly took into account that he wore not black, but blue jeans with a red shirt. She relaxed and explained to him the Halliwell plan. When the 7th period bell rang, together they ran back to the locker room.

It was Phoebe who had the most trouble getting to the locker room for she was still quite dizzy from her fall in the boiler room. Andy Trudeau apologized again and again for grabbing her foot and causing her to fall. He promised he’d make it up to her. She almost laughed because he was hiding and not fighting, but then she remembered that if it weren’t for her sisters she, too, would be hiding or running. Andy gave Prue a huge hug when he and Phoebe entered the locker room. Phoebe knew that although they had been having their troubles, Prue and Andy belonged together.

Prue and Phoebe felt the apprehension smother them as they realized that Piper wasn’t coming. They held each other while the late bell rang and at fifteen after 2pm they decided that they would have to get her back.
*********************************

In the library, Piper Halliwell was alone and afraid although she was surrounded by 30 other people. Some cried in fear, some in sadness, some cried in pain. The noises broke Piper’s heart. She noticed a boy on the floor bleeding profusely. He was a guy she had once wanted to date, but she always thought he was out of her league. She looked around the room and noticed a jacket hanging on the back of a chair. She crawled to it, grabbed it and then began to crawl back to Jeff Keller. A voice stopped her. She turned to find a gun in her face and the angry eyes of a boy her age, a boy she used to sit next to in math, freshman year.

“Hey Thomas, settle down. It’s okay. That’s Piper Halliwell. She’s not like the rest of them. She actually has a heart and does her own thing. Let her take care of Keller if she thinks it’ll help.”

“What’s this Adam? You have a soft spot for the nerds?”

“What can I say Steve? I am a nerd.”

They laughed as Piper finished her path to Jeff and began to apply pressure to the wound. Her Grams had always told her that watching television would teach her nothing, but Piper had learned about gunshot wounds and applying pressure from her favorite source of information, the television. Jeff looked at Piper and tried to smile. She placed her hand on his forehead and tried to soothe him by running her hand through his hair. It was the best comfort she could offer in such a tumultuous time. She took note of the gunmen, and realized they were all in her class, juniors who had all been outsiders like herself. Adam Bagwell seemed to be their leader, their motivator. His followers that were now armed fugitives were Steve Harper, Derek Collier, Thomas Marlon, Jeremy Tyson, and Freddy Turner. Piper prayed that Prue and Phoebe would not try to get her but would instead get the police. The 30 plus people that she prayed with in the library were like lambs waiting to be slaughtered. Piper began to feel helpless and hopeless, until she remembered the knife in her back pocket.

*********************
Phoebe was shaking knowing that Piper was being held by maniacs with guns. She didn’t know what they would do to her, if they would shoot her or use her for one reason or another. Phoebe often felt things. She wasn’t sure where her fears came from but she had them. She was nervous about the plan that Prue, Andy, Robert and herself had concocted. They were going to get the boys in black one by one.

“But, Prue, I can’t kill anyone…”

“Phoebe, we aren’t going to kill them, we’re going to knock them out and lock them in boiler room. One by one, then we can get the cops and they can take care of them. But Phoebe, if they threaten you or they come after you, you shoot first baby. Defending yourself is not a crime. Especially against these men.”

“Hey Prue, don’t you think we should go ahead and contact the outside just to let them know that we are in here and that there are hostages?”

“Good idea Andy. I’ll go make that call, you guys stay here and be sure these weapons are ready.”

Prue left the locker room and quietly made her way to the coaches’ office where a phone sat on the cluttered desk. She picked up the receiver and was more than surprised to hear a dial tone. She dialed 911 and waited for the connection to the officers outside.

“This is Captain Franklin, who is this?”

“Sir, my name is Prue Halliwell. I am inside Baker High right now.”

“Is there a way for you to escape?”

“Maybe, but we aren’t going to try it. And if you guys come in they’ll kill them.”

“Okay, Miss Halliwell, how many are in there?”

“I don’t know. I know there are 6 gunmen, and I know they have people in the library. They have my sister, Piper. Right now, my other sister Phoebe, Andy Trudeau, and Robert Garson are with me. We’re going to get them out of there alive.”

“Now listen young lady. Don’t you dare try anything that can jeopardize the other students.”

“Sir we have a plan, it’s easier for us to sneak around than it is for a whole troop of you guys. Please. Is Inspector Trudeau out there?”

“Yes, hold on,” Prue waited for Andy’s father’s voice to come on the line.

“Prue, is that you? Is Andrew okay?”

“Yes sir we’re fine but they have a whole bunch of kids in the library and we know that if you guys come busting in here they’ll kill everyone and Piper is in there.”

“Okay, tell me your plan and I’ll help you out.”

Prue spent another five minutes on the phone explaining to Inspector Trudeau what was about to take place. When she hung up the phone she noticed the intercom on the wall. She looked down the list next to the wall and saw the number to intercom the library. She pressed the mute button and then the number for the library. Suddenly the room was filled with voices. Laughing and joking. Crying in the background. She had accessed the library without anyone knowing it. Or so she thought.
***************************

Piper noticed the red light on the intercom light up and quickly realized that someone had dialed it up. She looked at the boys with bullets and realized that she was the only one who noticed it. She quickly diverted her attention so that they wouldn’t follow her hopeful stare. The knife rested comfortably in her back pocket. She was glad she had it and had made a plan to use it. The boys divided their guard duties. Two would sweep the first floor, two would sweep the second floor and one would check out the lobby and gym area. That left only one boy in the library to overpower. Piper looked hopeful until she realized that the boy left was Adam Bagwell, and he had the rat-a-tat-tat gun. Piper knew she could do it, but she had to pick the perfect opportunity. And now that he was alone, it was the perfect opportunity.

**************************
Prue could hear the details of their guard plan. She knew that any minute a boy with a gun would be making a sweep of the gym. She quickly turned off the office light and ran back to the locker room. She hurriedly explained to Phoebe, Andy and Robert that they had to act fast. They each took a skeet rifle and took their intended positions in the gym. There they waited silently, hearts pounding, for the first boy in black.

Phoebe could see his face from her hiding place behind the bleachers. She was in the shadows. He looked so calm, so casual as though he was looking for a friend instead of a victim. He held the shotgun with confidence and poise. She could feel the single drop of sweat roll slowly down her forehead. She felt queasy. It was her role to distract the boy so that Andy could sneak in behind him from the lobby entrance. Prue and Robert would assist only if Andy or Phoebe were in trouble. Phoebe laid her gun on the ground in her hiding place. She slowly crept from beneath the bleachers and began to cry. The boy noticed her immediately, he took aim with his gun and slowly lowered it when he realized she was small and no threat.

“Oh thank God. You’re the police aren’t you? Oh thank God, please help me.”

The boy looked thoughtfully at Phoebe for a moment and then smiled a horrible grin. Prue watched from her corner of the gym. She knew what the boy in black was thinking. Phoebe was a beautiful girl. The boy thought he was about to get away with something. Prue thanked God that Phoebe wasn’t really alone, although the boy wasn’t aware of that.
“Yeah, sure. I’m the cops. What are you stupid? I’m way too young to be the cops.”

“Are you one of them?”

The boy smiled and moved closer to Phoebe. He lifted the barrel and slowly touched Phoebe’s neck. She could feel the cold steel every time her carotid artery beat another stifling beat. The sweat beaded quickly on Phoebe’s forehead. The sneer on his face hypnotized Phoebe like a brainwashing mechanism from the days of old war. She thought that if she moved, if she for one second breathed he would pull the trigger.

“Don’t look so scared, freshman.”

He knew she was a freshman, Phoebe’s eyes widened with surprise. She held no recognition of this boy in black, this junior that she hadn’t seen before today.

“Ah, now, don’t look so surprised. You’re one of those untouchable Halliwell girls aren’t you? Which one are you. Phoebe or Piper. I know you aren’t Prue because we killed that whore.”

Phoebe’s eyes did not waver as through her peripheral vision she saw Andy coming up behind the boy. Phoebe knew that if he was knocked out with the shotgun still pointed at her throat then the trigger would be pulled and she would probably be without a head, or a life. She had to find the courage to knock the gun away from her as Andy knocked him out. She wasn’t sure how it would play out.

Prue fought the shimmer for tears as she watched the scene unfolding. She could see that the shotgun was skin to metal with Phoebe’s neck. She wished she could run out yelling and try to distract him but that could jeopardize everyone. She had to trust her baby sister this time. She had to trust that Phoebe would figure out what to do.

******************************
Piper watched Adam Bagwell pace back and forth in front of the library window. His gun was gripped firmly and ready in his right hand. Piper and her pocket were no match for the machine gun. She checked Jeff’s makeshift bandage and saw that the bleeding had slowed and neared stopping. She was glad that he was going to be okay. She thought about her sisters and what they were doing now. She knew they had heard the guard plan on the intercom, and she knew that they had probably decided to take out the lone boy in the gym. She hoped that they were careful. She looked at the clock on the wall it was 8 minutes until the 3pm bell would ring. She looked again at Adam and knew that he wasn’t paying any attention to the clock. The bell would surprise him at first. She noticed that he looked agitated and scared. For the first time, Piper saw how scared Adam really was. She could use that to her advantage, but first she had to get him and that machine gun away from the rest of the group. She would never forgive herself if she got anyone killed because of a bad plan.

“Adam?”

He turned around looking tired and young. Piper realized that she had forgotten he was her age. Forgotten that there was probably a mother outside at that very moment wondering if her little boy was okay, if he had been hurt or worse, killed. Piper knew that that mother was in for a very rude awakening when she realized that her son was the leader of these psychotic gun-toting maniacs. For a second Piper had felt sorry for Adam and then realized that she wanted nothing more than to see him pay for what he and the other boys had done.

“I said what do you want Piper?”

“Um…I know now isn’t the best time but I really have to go to the bathroom.”

“Then go in your pants Piper because you aren’t leaving the library.”

“Well, that’s fine, there’s a bathroom in here remember?”

Adam looked at Piper with eyes of annoyance. Piper could see the mix of fear and anger in the crease of his forehead. She wondered to herself if she could really hurt him if she had to. Could she actually use the knife and plunge it into his skin? She wasn’t sure that she could.

“Okay, fine. But I’m going with you. You guys don’t move. Jeremy and Freddy are just outside in the hallway. If there is any commotion or movement they’ll know.”

He put his hand on the small of Piper’s back and pushed her roughly toward the back of the library. She opened the door to the girls’ room and was taken aback by the fact that Adam followed her in. There were two tiny stalls in the bathroom. She stepped into one and began to close the door. Adam stopped it with the heel of his hand.

“Don’t try anything stupid Halliwell. You got that?”

Piper nodded, her hands shaking as she tried to latch the door. She sat on the toilet annoyed and frightened by his presence in the bathroom.

“Could you maybe turn on some water or something?”

“What’s wrong Piper? You got stage fright?”

“Please Adam, it’s bad enough as it is isn’t it?”

She heard the faucet squeak to life and the sound of the water felt relaxing if but for a second. Piper had no intentions of using the bathroom. Instead she pulled the knife out of her back pocket and pulled it open until it clicked into full use mode. It was small but she knew that it would kill someone if it had to, if she had to. She flushed the toilet and unlatched the door. She carefully hid the knife in her palm. She began to walk toward the door waiting for the perfect element of surprise. Adam held the gun loosely at his shoulder. She knew he trusted her, or at least thought of her as weak and unable to hurt him.

“Piper? Do you see what’s wrong with this situation?”

Her heart stopped beating. What did Adam Bagwell see? She looked at him nervously and came face to face with eyes that knew all and saw all.
*******************************
Phoebe watched as Andy began to draw back his skeet rifle and bring it down handle first. It was as if the event occurred in slow motion. She saw that the boy with the shotgun was looking below her neckline, the time was hers to act. She stepped back one foot swinging her right hand to connect with the gun that was firmly against her throat. She grabbed the barrel of the shotgun and pushed up surprising the boy in black. Just as he was about to recover from the ambush by Phoebe, Andy’s skeet rifle slammed into his head sending him sprawling on the floor. The shotgun slid across the floor and Phoebe ran for it. She picked it up and felt the weight safely in her hands. She looked again at the boy who had held her at gun point and saw that Andy was checking for a pulse. He was alive but knocked unconscious. Phoebe let out a sigh of relief and was startled by a hand on her shoulder. Robert had come out of his hiding place in case there was a struggle. HE saw the visibly shaken Phoebe and relieved her of the weight of the shotgun. She felt another hand on her other shoulder. She turned and was immediately pulled into Prue’s arms. She let out a small laugh and then silent tears followed.

Prue could feel Phoebe shaking in her arms and held her tighter as Andy and Robert took the boy, who she knew to be Steve Harper, into the lobby and locked him in the boiler room. They then followed her into the coaches’ office so that they could hear what was going on in the library. There were still the sounds of the students being held against their will. Then they heard a girl’s voice.

“Do you think Adam’s going to hurt Piper?”

“I don’t know Amanda. I mean they’ve only been gone for a few minutes. I’m sure he wouldn’t hurt Piper, she’s just going to the bathroom.”

“But Jeff, why would you even think he wouldn’t hurt her? I mean look at you, you’re bleeding from a gunshot wound.”

“If he touches one hair on her head I’ll kill him.”

Prue and Phoebe held hands as they listened with fear to the exchange. Phoebe looked to Prue for reassurance that Piper would be okay.

“Piper must have a plan, Phoebe, or else she would never let herself be alone with this Adam.”
********************************

Piper blinked the sweat from her eyes.

“Did you hear me Piper? I said, ‘Do you see what’s wrong with this situation?’”

“I…I..don’t know what you mean, Adam.”

“Your hands Piper, you forgot to wash your hands.”

Piper prayed that the look of relief wasn’t as visible as it felt. She turned toward the faucet that was still on. She watched Adam from the mirror, the gun was still hanging by his side. In essense he wasn’t ready to fire. She knew the time was now. Slowly she moved her hands toward the water, then felt him pressing against her back.

“Do you need some help there, Pipe?”

Piper looked again at his face in the reflection. There was something in her face that she had only seen in movies. A vicious, hungry stare. He placed his hand in Piper’s hair and kissed the back of her neck. His touch made her sick. The time was now. She leaned back into him faking the perfect smile. And just as he was leaning in to kiss her neck again the 3pm bell rang startling him. Piper took her chance. She swung around, knife ready, and with a ferocity that scared even herself, she immersed the weapon into his midsection. He looked at her in pain and confusion. She saw the blood even through his black shirt. She had gotten him. He began to reach for his gun. Piper saw his movement, slow and unsteady, and took the opportunity to try out a kick she had seen on an action movie. She drop-kicked him to the floor and he hit his head hard on the tile. Piper stood there for what seemed like hours, but were only seconds. She made sure he was out cold and then took the automatic from him. She closed the door behind her and moved silently from the back of the library to the reading area where the students had been gathered. She knew they weren’t free yet but at least now they had leverage. She held the gun closer to her as she came into the full view of the other students.

********************************
Prue, Phoebe and their partners had been listening to virtual silence as they waited for their sister to return. The first thing they heard were loud gasps followed by an utterance of hushed voices, all in excitement.

“What do you think is going on? Do you think it’s Piper, do you think she’s…”

“Prue? Phoebe? God I hope you guys are listening. Are you there? It’s Piper.”

Phoebe looked at Prue. Her questions were about to be answered by the one person they both wanted to see and talk to more than life. The voice was like a sweet song to Prue and Phoebe. Piper had used the intercom to connect to her sisters. Prue depressed the button.

“Piper, it’s Prue. What’s going on up there? Is everyone okay? Are you hurt?”

“Yeah, for the most part everyone is okay? I have the machine gun.”

“How in the hell did you get that Piper?”

“Yeah well, no need to explain right now. The others will be coming back I’m sure.”

“Well, if you got the machine gun then Adam must be down. So that leaves only four.”

“So you guys got the one in the gym?”

“Yeah, he’s in the boiler room. Look Piper get everyone and get out of there.”

“I wish it were that easy Prue. You’re forgetting that there are two of them up here with guns just pacing the hall.”

“Yeah, and there are two of them down here. Okay listen. The police know we’re in here.”

“Maybe it’s time we call them in, Prue. I mean we can guard the door in here. They aren’t coming back in here. If you guys stay out the police can come in and take them out. Okay? Please say okay Prue because I really want to go home now.”

Prue thought silently for a moment. She, too, was ready to go home and go to bed. She looked to Phoebe who looked back with pleading eyes. Prue knew it was time to put the guns down and call in the police. She told Piper to stand by. She dialed the phone and spoke to the captain.

“Sir. This is Prue Halliwell again. We got two of them. We have someone in the library now with a gun, so those inside the library are safe. There are four left. Two on the first level and two on the second.”

“Where are you?”

“We’re on the first level in the coaches’ office. We are communicating with my sister in the library through the intercom. We have one shooter locked in the boiler room and one down in the library. What should we do?”

“Tell your sister to get help and barricade the library door. You guys hunker down in the office and do not come out until you see a badge do you hear me?”

“Yes sir. Just hurry please.”

Prue hung up the phone and used the intercom to contact Piper.

“Piper?”

Piper heard her older sister’s voice again. She had missed her more than she imagined possible in the last 45 minutes.

“Hey, Prue.”

“I talked with the captain outside and he said for you guys to barricade the door. They are coming in full force to get the remaining four shooters.”

“It’s already done. With 30 of us it wasn’t a hard task.”

She was silent for a mere moment and then it dawned on her that she hadn’t heard Phoebe’s voice yet.

“Prue, Phoebe’s okay isn’t she? She isn’t hurt is she?”

“She misses you, that’s all, hold on.”

Piper waited for the familiar voice. Instead what she heard was the voice of a small child. She had forgotten in all of this that they were all still children, doing what needed to be done. She could hear the shakiness and the fear and the tears in her baby sister’s voice with just a few words.

“Piper. I love you.”

“It’s okay Phoebe. I’m okay. Eveything will be over soon and then you, Prue, and me are going to spend an awful lot of time together. Okay?”

Piper could only hear choking sobs on the other end of the intercom. She wanted so badly to be just one flight of stairs down. To be huddled in that office with her sisters.

“Prue? How did you and Phoebe manage to take down that guy by yourself?”

“We didn’t have to. We sort of ran into Andy and Robert Garson.”

“Oh good. Then you aren’t alone. Okay, listen our window person said the police are moving in toward the building. I’m going to cut off the speaker just in case.”

Prue knew what her sister meant. Just in case the police messed up or the barricade failed. Just in case random gunfire once again sprayed across the bodies of innocent children. Before she turned off the speaker, Prue made sure Piper knew what was on her mind.

“Piper, I love you!”

“I love you too, Prue. And Phoebe.”

Prue let her hand linger on the intercom for a few moments before the chaos began. She heard gunfire and deep voices. She heard more gunfire and finally silence. They were safe in the office. But all they knew about the rest of the school was that there was silence.

There was a knock on the coaches’ office. The police identified themselves and slid a badge under the door. Andy cautiously opened it and was relieved to see his father not ten feet away. Prue was happy that the nightmare was over. She held Phoebe and together they cried. Both were worried about Piper. They believed that if they were okay then surely Piper would be okay too. Prue overheard the police talking about the damage in the library and the injured students.

“What damage officer? Was anyone hurt during the shootout?”

Inspector Trudeau tried to reassure Prue and Phoebe. But his words fell on deaf ears. They ran out of the office and toward the stairs. Only hearing a deep voice calling after them.

“You don’t want to go up there girls!”

Prue and Phoebe reached the second floor landing and turned right to go toward the library. They slowed as they heard screaming. They were screams of pain and agony. Phoebe looked at the wall across from the library door. Blood created a splattered mural. Phoebe clinched her eyes shut and tried not to breathe in the smell of gunpowder, smoke and blood. She opened her eyes again and saw that they were now standing outside a door that no longer existed and they could see the upheaval within. Tables laid on their sides, books scattered the floors. Bodies laid silently still.

Prue held her breath. She knew that Piper would fight to the death for these people. She tried to push the thought out of her mind as she and Phoebe, with the company of a uniformed officer, entered the library in search of their sister. Phoebe huddled closely to Prue as she recognized a form lying on the ground. It was Piper. She noted the blood on Piper’s pale yellow T-shirt. She grabbed Prue’s hand.

Prue felt her baby sisters grasp and knew that Phoebe saw Piper as well. She lay just in front of them on the floor of the library. A machine gun sat next to her, a boy’s body rested across hers. Prue felt the tears stinging her face. She and Phoebe had already cried so many.

Phoebe saw that the body that covered her sisters was that of Jeff Keller. He was riddled with bullets. Piper had not moved since they entered what had become an apparent war zone. Phoebe kneeled as Prue did close to her silent sister’s head. She watched as Prue reached her hand to Piper’s neck. She looked not at Piper but at Prue waiting for the results of the pulse test. The tears slid faster down her oldest sister’s face. Then she nodded and Phoebe knew that Piper was okay because a small smile of relief crept across Prue’s face.

As they pushed Jeff Keller’s lifeless body off of Piper, they felt a small amount of guilt. They were happy that their sister was alive. They pushed aside a fallen friend to get to her. But still they were happy that it hadn’t been Piper.

Prue pushed Piper’s hair out of her face and shook her shoulders.

“Piper? Piper, please wake up baby, it’s over. Please.”

Phoebe watched as Piper slowly moved her head and her eyes fluttered open. Phoebe let out a small laugh of joy. She quieted herself immediately and laid her head on Piper’s arm.

Piper felt Phoebe’s forehead against her skin. Was she dreaming? Had she lived? Prue’s voice confirmed that she had indeed lived. She sat up quickly looking around the library. She then remembered every second of those last awful minutes. She recalled the door bursting open the boys in black coming in. Piper shot at them taking out two of them. They shot back. Someone grabbed the gun of one of the fallen gunmen. They took out one more. Only one left. Piper fell. She had slipped on the blood of a downed classmate. The gun had flown out of her hand. She tried to stand but then out of the corner of her eye, like a movie in slow motion, Jeff Keller was coming toward her. He had her gun. She turned to see the final gunman aiming toward her. Gunfire. Her head hit the ground. Jeff Keller had killed the final gunman, before taking the last bullet himself. He had died a hero, her hero, their hero.


EPILOGUE:

Prue, Piper, and Phoebe walked down the hall of the school, now noisy with busy cops. The light from the open exit door beckoned them like an angel calling them home. They were feet from freedom. Their clothes stained and bloody. Their hair tangled. Their eyes heavy with exhaustion. They walked hand in hand. From around the corner Phoebe saw him coming. The boy from the boiler room. The boy who had held the shotgun firmly against her neck, who had leered at her and almost shot her. He came at them gun raised, firing. Phoebe screamed until her throat hurt.

The screams woke Piper. She sat up in the bed with Phoebe holding her close. Prue rushed in from the hall. They lay together in Phoebe’s bed. The nightmares had gotten worse in the days that followed the worst school shooting in the history. Forty-nine dead, one hundred injured. But the injuries no one ever talked about were those within. The nightmares, the hours two sisters spent trying to recover while holding on to their baby sister in the middle of the night. It was those injuries that rarely healed. Those suffered when children are forced to fight for their lives. When society or parents fail. When boys in black simply lose their logical minds. It is then that children are forced to face death in an unimaginable way. It is then…when children are soldiers.