👤  Chapter 11. The Real Classmate

Before Nikita could realize what was happening, Maxim, who had been holding the knife in his fist the whole time, stood up and ran behind the desk, shutting everyone out.

— It was you! All along! — Dmitry came to a realization.

— Imagine, exactly me! — he spread his hands. — You know, I had to hold back for a long time! When I first joined your class, I spent all my willpower trying not to kill you! Every day I had to make the impression of a friendly, helpful and diligent student! Every day! Through all my hatred!

The classmates went to him from different directions to surround him, but then Maxim got behind the last desk of the third row, in the corner of the wall, which made the plan pointless. The astonished headmistress stood still like that, occasionally glancing over at the state of the sisters

Sigita shouted:

— You are a monster! How could you do such a cruel thing?

— How could you? — Maxim replied with both sadness and rage in his voice at the same time. — Remember how you mocked Michael! Nikita figured it out and told you what you had driven him to! To suicide! You think I'm a monster? No, you are the monsters!

— Michael was my best friend. I met him four years ago. At that time he was a student here and I was at school №16, which is about a hundred meters from our lyceum, you know it. But this didn't prevent us from being friends and meeting each other in real life. We often corresponded. We were good friends. And everything was perfect.

— But soon problems arose. You arose! — he looked contemptuously at his classmates. — Michael was different from the others. He had a mental illness that lowered his learning ability, but it was temporary. He was being treated, and had every chance of recovery! But you didn't understand that! Every day you mocked him, not letting him live a normal life!

— His parents complained to you, — he shifted his gaze to the headmistress. — And you promised you'd sort it out! But nothing changed. There were times when he had suicidal thoughts. I supported him with all my might. I believed in him. I told him that everything would be all right, that he had to wait a bit, that it would all be over soon. But one day, he just couldn't take it anymore. He cut his vein. And with his blood... wrote the word «Classmates» on the floor.

— For days, all I did was mourn him, sobbing, angry at myself for not being able to protect him. But I realized that tears wouldn't help. I had to honor my friend's memory by avenging him. I thought about it for a long time, planning how I would make his abusers feel what he felt. At the end of the summer, I told my parents to transfer me to the lyceum where he studied, and furthermore, to enroll me in his class. My parents didn't mind, because I was doing well and they listened to me in terms of studies.

— In order not to be suspected in the future, I behaved in a friendly way and always helped everyone. Not only you, but also the teachers. My appearance was to my advantage. I looked after myself, did sports, dressed well to give a good impression. I chose the classmates who looked the most aggressive, studied their behavior and invented games for them. When everyone left, I stayed after class and set up mechanisms that I bought from online stores. And the ones that were forbidden — on the Darknet. I started on the tenth of February, a Monday, exactly one year after my friend died.

— I used every moment of «privacy» with you to implement my games. For example, you, Nicholas, remember on Monday, I made you search for a button in someone else's briefcase? Then the student who owned that briefcase came up to you. He thought you stole his phone, checked the briefcase, and didn't find it. How do you think I did that?

— So here it is: once, three days before, you and I took a funny photo together with our classmates. I asked you to take off your jacket, and, while you weren't looking, attached an overlay inside with a mechanism that ejected the item inside when you received an SMS signal.

— On the day of the game, before class, I went into that student's classroom, stole his phone, came to you and discreetly put it under the layer. When you entered the classroom, I excused myself from class to go outside and started watching you from the hallway. And just as this student swung at you for a punch, I sent the message and his phone fell out of your jacket. That was so funny!

— And do you remember when you tripped on the tiles, and then saw the teachers lying in front of you? I anticipated your actions. I broke that tile, knowing that you would run and stumble in fear. You didn't actually lose consciousness from the fall. When you fell, I stealthily walked up and gave you a swift kick to the back of the head. I know the pain points. But you won't see the mechanism again. When you were asleep, I unhooked it. Otherwise, someday you'd definitely notice it and suspect something was wrong. I don't leave clues!

— Well, — Dmitry drew the line. — Anyway, we managed to realize it was you before the end of the lesson. We've won. Now release the sisters of Alina and Sigita, and tell us the room numbers where the gas valve is, so we can take them out.

Sigita approached the laptop, and knowing the girls could hear everything, whispered:

— It's over. Don't be afraid. Very soon they'll release you, and you'll be alive and well. We did it. We found him.

Maxim didn't say anything. He took out a remote control with two buttons, leaned his hands on the table, looked at the students in silence for a few seconds, and burst out laughing.

— HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!

Dmitry didn't take his serious gaze away from him. The others were looking at each other, but no one dared to say anything to Maxim. They didn't know why he was laughing and were afraid to find out.

— Okay, congratulations, you've won, — Maxim calmed down and put the remote control on the table.

Dmitry picked it up and twirled uncertainly in his hands. The only two buttons had the numbers «1» and «2» on them. Nothing else.

— And where should I press? These two buttons are exactly the same! Which one is responsible for what?

Maxim couldn't help himself and laughed again:

— HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!

— Speak! — Dmitry squealed.

— The first button will activate the gas supply to the sisters' rooms, but all the students in the other classrooms will survive. The second, on the other hand, will kill the students but leave the sisters alive. You must make a choice. Your friends' sisters, or hundreds of lives?

— It's not fair! — Nikita objected. – We won your game, didn't we!

— Did you think I'd just let myself be exposed like this?

— Bastard, I will now... — without finishing, he went around the desk and tried to grab Maxim, but this attempt only amused the latter. He foresaw Nikita's behavior, so managed to react, and ran behind the next desk.

— Whatever you want to do to me, precious time is running out! Tick-tock! Tick-tock! — he grinned. — And yes, I want to say one more thing. If you don't press any of these buttons before the end of the lesson, the gas will be released automatically and everyone will die! And I'll get nothing for it! The blame for all of this will be all yours! I'll disappear and never come here again!

— Why? — Dmitry asked.

— I'm moving to another city. All my things are packed. To you, — he looked at the headmistress. — I've already sent my resignation letter. And signed it for you as well. Copied your signature in your office, let's say, so you don't bother.

Maxim stepped to the door:

— Goodbye, classmates! Goodbye, headmistress! — he turned around, but as soon as he was out the door, he suddenly tripped on a thin thread and fell to the ground.

— What the...

He tried to get up, but the thread tightened around his legs and the mechanism on the wall dragged him down the hallway.

— What the hell?

Maxim put his hands firmly on the floor, but the pull was stronger. When it became impossible to resist, he was dragged to the center of the corridor. In desperation he grabbed the thread with both hands and tugged it in different directions, hoping that he would be able to break the thread, but the material was too strong.

Only now Maxim looked up and saw that a mechanism was leading the thread to the ceiling. He knew what was about to happen. And it did. A few seconds later he was already hanging upside down in the middle of the classroom. Hanging exactly the same way Nicholas had been, a few days ago.

Now Dmitry, Sigita, Alina, Nikita, Nicholas, and the headmistress were standing under Maxim, who was making pathetic attempts to untie the thread from his leg.

— It's no use, — Dmitry assured. — It's too thin to untie. You'll need something sharp.

Maxim rummaged in his pockets:

— Where's my knife? It was in my left pocket!

— This one? — Dmitry pulled the blade from behind his back and smiled.

— Where did you get it from? — the classmate was genuinely surprised.

— When you rolled over, the knife fell out. You didn't notice.

— But how? How did you...

— On February tenth, after your game with Nicholas, we found exactly the same mechanism here. It interested me, so I put it in my desk drawer for future study, but with the events that followed, it slipped my mind. And when you told us you were in this classroom, I remembered about it, so before we went in, we took it and set outside the door to trap you in case you ran away.

— No, no, no, no! — Maxim whirled around in indignation. — This was not to be!

— You've lost. Now tell me which button to press, because you're not going anywhere.

Maxim fell silent, but then his face broke into a wide grin while his eyes glistened and reddened. The way he looked at them read pure madness. Never had his classmates seen him like this.

— Why would I do that? Whether you catch me or not, I remain innocent! The police will have no evidence against me! All messages deleted, notes erased, traps destroyed! All these games are just a figment of your imagination!

Sigita took out her phone, opened a video in the gallery and brought the display up to Maxim's face:

— Before anyone saw, I put the phone on hidden recording. This video captured everything, including your confession. But if you stop the mechanism, then, so be it, I'll delete the video.

— Fine. Give me the remote.

Maxim accepted it from Dmitry and turned to his classmates with a lower edge.

— See?

— What?

— Come closer.

As they did so, they saw a very small, microscopic button blending in with the color of the remote's base.

— Now I see. What is it?

Maxim pressed the button.

At the same moment the video playback was interrupted. Sigita's phone froze, the display began to show broken pixels. Then the device shut down completely.

— What the hell is that? — she pushed the power button, but the phone didn't respond.

The classmate grinned.

— Besides the main mechanisms, this remote control has one more, a secret one. It emits electromagnetic radiation that kills all mobile devices within ten meters. You can toss it in the dumpster. In fact, all of you who have a cell phone with you now will no longer be able to turn them on. You will only play by my rules. And my rules are that you must choose one of the red buttons before the end of the lesson. How much time is left?

— Five minutes...

Nikita's gotten serious.

— Quickly give me the knife and the remote.

— What do you want to do? — Dmitry asked, handing him the items.

Taking them, Nikita answered:

— Maxim said that if we don't press any button before the end of the lesson, the mechanisms will trigger automatically.

— So?

— The timer is also controlled by a mechanism inside this remote control. If we take it apart, we can remove it, and then the timer will stop. The sisters will survive, and the valves in the classrooms won't activate.

Nikita inserted the knife parallel to the side edge of the remote, right into the dividing line, and pushed. The shell instantly split into two halves. Peeling off the top one, the student saw the microchip inside.

— If we break it without hitting the buttons, the timer inside will stop working.

— No! That's not according to the rules! — Maxim twitched helplessly. — How could such idiots have figured that out?

— As you can see, he's not happy. And that means I'm right, — with these words he took out a microchip and stabbed it through the center.

— No-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o! — Maxim's shout echoed throughout the classroom, but Nikita paid no attention, and finished what he had started. The device was destroyed.

The girls and hundreds of students were saved.

— What, Maxim, didn't you see that coming? We turned out to be smarter than you expected?

Without letting him say a word, Nikita made a sharp punch right in Maxim's face.

— Why are you silent, Maxim? Where's that smug smile of yours? — and hit him again, this time in the stomach.

The blows were so hard that Maxim got dizzy and his mouth bled.

— Speak, you bastard!

Nikita prepared for another blow, but Dmitry, who came up behind him, intercepted his arm.

— Enough. Let's have the security guard call the police. Let them deal with him.

— Okay, that's what we'll do, — he leaned over Maxim. — You're not going anywhere, you idiot. You're gonna answer for what you've done.

The headmistress strode toward the exit to call for the guard, but suddenly the door moved and slammed shut sharply.

The classmates flinched and looked there in a flash. The woman turned the knob, but the door didn't budge. Dmitry stood next to it and tried unsuccessfully to push it open. Then looked in the opening between the wall. The latch wasn't pushed in. So it wasn't the lock that was blocking their exit. It was something else.

— What is it? — Dmitry ran up to Maxim hanging by a thread and threw his fist into his face with all his might.

The latter spat blood, looked him in the eye and smiled.

At the same second, the valves in the fluorescent lamps on the ceiling opened, from inside of which began an active flow of green-colored gas.

— What does it mean?

He swung to the window and grasped the handle, but when he rotated, it fell away. The same thing happened to the other windows that the student tried to open.

— No!

Dmitry quickly picked up a chair and hit the window, but the wood it was made of couldn't penetrate the thick glass, and the furniture broke.

— Do you think I didn't foresee all this? — Maxim wheezed.

Dmitry walked up to his classmate and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.

— Forsee what?

— I didn't tell you this, but the gas valves were installed in this classroom too. The remote sent a regular signal to the mechanism to keep them from opening. But you destroyed it, thereby stopping the signal. You saved the sisters and the rest of the students in this high school, but signed your own death warrant.

— You sick bastard!

Dmitry moved to the door and began hammering on it with his hands and feet as hard as he could.

— Won't work. The mechanism restraining the door has more strength than a human being.

— Tell me how to disable it, or I'll kill you!

The student turned around and pounced on Maxim with his fists, but a sudden collapse of strength and dizziness knocked him off his feet. He looked in front of him, and a terrible sight appeared before his eyes. All of his friends and the headmistress were lying lifelessly on the floor, and the students in their chairs were no longer moving.

Meanwhile, Maxim leisurely pulled out a gas mask from under his shirt and put it on. Then took a deep breath and slowly turned his head toward his dazed classmate. Dmitry continued to stare at Maxim with dilated pupils, not believing what was happening.

And when Dmitry was about to pass out, Maxim smiled and calmly uttered his last words:

— Game over.