As school was about to start, Scott, still disguised as a soldier, went into the tornado shelter to switch up his clothes and put his military uniform in a nearby ditch close to the school and covered with wooden planks.
When he headed out of the tornado shelter, he met his friends at the entrance of the school.
"So what did Principal Dover say?" Natalie said.
"He's trying to defend John. Little does he know, John is still on his neck. I can literally hear him behind the walls. I don't think he'll keep up the act for so long." Scott said to Natalie.
"Speaking of Doverr, what about the other students in this school?" Jim looked around them.
"What are you talking about?" Scott looked at Jim.
"Look around you." Jim said.
As the friends looked around, they realized that not many students were seen on school grounds.
"They probably just went inside the building already or maybe that it's really early and the students probably had a hangover during the break."
"It's not normal though. Many students would feel excited when coming back to school from spring break. However, ever since John is gone and the military is right up on our asses, I'm afraid that most of the students are in their houses afraid to step outside. Trust me Scott, I've been in this town longer than you have. Also, it now marks the year after John abducted me."
"I see." Scott Scratch his head.
"Shall we head to school then?" Isabelle holding Dwayne's hand.
The friends all headed into school. However, the aura felt different. As if the school is empty.
There were barely any students anywhere. When they were walking around, the gym was empty, the cafeteria, the hallway and even the classroom. Everywhere they went, even the football field, they were the only ones on school grounds and nobody else.
"My God." Natalie looked around.
"What happened to everyone? This place feels like a ghost town." Isabelle also looked around.
"This is the first time I've ever seen the school in this kind of way." Natalie said.
"Same here." Isabelle agreed with Natalie.
"I can't believe this. What about the staff?" Scott ran towards the cafeteria.
When Scott approached the cafeteria, he at least saw the lunch ladies cooking chicken patties.
"Excuse me miss? Have you seen any of the students come to school today?" Scott questions both the lunch ladies.
"Unfortunately, none of the students have passed by here today." The lunch lady said with a smoker-like tone.
"Yea. Now stop bothering us. We are making lunch for today." The other lunch lady said while constantly coughing.
Scott would walk away from the cafeteria.
Meanwhile, both the lunch ladies brought seem to whisper to each other.
[Shall we initiate the plan?]
Later, Scott and Jim both headed to their class as usual. However, it seems that the whole classroom was empty besides the both of them as well as Mr. Cheung.
Half an hour has passed in class and nothing seems to be going on with the precalculus class being nothing more than an overglorified study hall.
"Mr. Cheung, are we planning to do anything today?" Jim questions.
"Well, almost the whole class isn't here today, so I have no choice but to let you guys go."
"Really?" Scott was surprised.
"Yea. You guys are free to go."
"Thanks Mr. Cheung." Jim and Scott both left the classroom.
Meanwhile, Mr. Cheung took a walkie talkie out of the desk and spoke to it.
[It's go time]
Although it was just the morning, the staff of Sunshine High, the teachers, janitors, lunch ladies, librarian, gym coaches, and most of the school staff all got an alert from their walkie talkies. They would plan to also leave Sunshine High early without Principal Dover knowing.
Back in the hallway, Jim and Scott met up with Natalie, Isabelle, Dwayne and Bryan.
"So are you guys also let go as well?" Scott ask Bryan, Natalie, Isabelle and Dwayne.
"Yes." They all said together.
"Looks like Sunshine High isn't the school that it's meant to be. Maybe we should meet up with Agent Dan. I think he'll try to explain what's going to happen now. Since John is probably gone and now under martial law." Natalie suggests.
"Actually, lemme go to him. I'm the one who snuck in here and if the military found out that I'm here, then they're gonna hunt me down and I won't let you guys be part of the crossfire." Scott suggested.
"What should we do then?" Dwayne asked.
"We should try to investigate where the students are. That way, we can try to understand the situation better." Natalie suggested.
"Sure. Let me know more when you have time to question them. I gotta get to Agent Dan." Scott ran towards the tornado shelter.
"You got it." Scott and his group separated.
Putting back on his gear, Scott tries to blend it with the other soldiers even though most of the US military soldiers are more muscular and taller than him.
Scott brought out his phone to text him.
"Dan, where the hell are you?"
"Meet me at 67 South Broca Street, I'm in an abandoned house."
"Why there?"
"Because they would least suspect it. Also, there seems to be a fallout shelter in case the military's onto us.'
"Sure."
"How's school?"
"Full of shit."
Scott put away his phone and started running towards the address.
Later, Scott approached the address given and it seemed off. The house Dan was at was at the very edge of the town. There weren't any houses near the house itself. Also, the truck stolen was just parked adjacent to the house. What seemed interesting though was that the military had neglected this part of the town, thus being a perfect spot for Dan without ny suspicion.
"Smart." Scott said.
Walking into the house, the woods were constantly creaking and the pipes being faulty as they leaked.
"Yo Dan. Where are you?" Scott walked across the house.
Suddenly, Scott stepped on a wooden floor and then broke as Scott fell through the floor.
"Aw my Ass!" Scott landed on the mattress.
"Aw great. You already broke my wooden floor. It took me a couple of days." Dan standing besides Scott.
"Yeah. Your carpentry skills are full of shit." Scott stood up.
"So this is where you've been laying low?"
"This was the only place that had a strategic approach. We can blend in with the military as well as this place being a new place in trying to understand the town more about martial law. We already have the evidence, but now we need to interview the people about who John is."
"Aren't my friends enough?"
"No. We need to know more from the other students as well as the townspeople. That's how we can try to end this martial law. If the FBI knows the situation better, there will be less restriction on the residents and thus focusing more on John rather than them. Understand?"
"Sure. How have you been living here? Isn't all of your supplies back in the cargo?"
"Honestly, just luck. I found some emergency rations down here. I think it came from near this abandoned nuclear bunker right here." Dan pointed out the bunker.
"To be fair, I think this would be a good last resort whenever we need it." Scott about to open the bunker.
Meanwhile, back at his house. Mr. Cheung is shown to be entering his house since the staff had also left the school premises with Principal Dover being the only person there. Heading down to his basement and back to the home made elevator, Mr. Cheung passed by the shooting range and headed into a secret meeting room.
"Guess who brought some beer!" Mr. Cheung brought three six packs.
In the meeting room, almost all the Sunshine High staff, teachers to janitors, had all met in the meeting room. It was crowded with one lightbulb, connected from an emergency generator, shining the whole room.
"Can't believe we are literally in a room that we built and dug up." The lunch lady caught the beer.
"It would've been better if we actually had a meeting room in a faculty room." The baseball coach shotgunned his beer.
"Look guys, I know it's irritating to meet underground, but it's the only way where we can meet without him finding out."
[HE HAS SHARP HEARING]
"So Cheung, as a former soldier yourself, why are your buds in our town?" The janitor snatched a beer from Mr. Cheung's hand.
"First of all, they are not my war buds. They died in Iraq long ago and secondly, they seem to be looking for him." Mr. Cheung used his knife to chug his beer.
He then would finish his beer. "He's been kidnapping many of the students and thus the reason the military is here. They had suspected that a person from our core radius was abducting them. Thus, John is the one who's causing this."
"Wouldn't this be a good thing since the military is supposed to protect American citizens? That's what the American Revolution taught us." The history teacher fidgets with his pen.
"No. There's been a lot of corruption in the military. They see this town as nothing more than just a mosquito to be squashed. They would do anything to keep the country's reputation strong as well as destroy anything that comes in their way. I bet their last resort was to nuke this town if needed. That was one of our decisions during the war."
"What should we do now, Cheung? Now that John is gone, we can stop hiding and rescue the children can't we?"
"Not that simple. The military is in a very aggressive state. I don't know why, but if we just take the children in one of the school buses, our cars, and our getaway vehicles, they would shoot us down with the children in the crossfire. I don't care about my own life, but theirs is something as they are our future of this world. The world that keeps getting darker every single day."
"Besides. I think it's bullshit that John is 'gone.' I know he'll be back soon. I just know it."
Mr Cheung crushed a beer with his grip.
"How so?" The baseball coach questioned.
"We've been in this hell for at least a decade, he won't let anyone off the hook in this town for too long. Besides, I've witnessed what that kid can do. As if he isn't normal."
"Damn. What's our next plan then?" The Janitor added on.
"Not sure. But we sure know that we need to get the principal out of this first. He's the only one who's on John's dick and if we can't save him. He's gonna be burying his own grave."
"He technically is at this point. Can't you see how this man is sweating every pep rally we go to?" The lunch lady took another beer.
"DAMN IT! I'm sick of these damn pep rallies! It's giving me a migraine!" The coach threw his empty beer can at the wall.
"I'm sick of it too. But I think we should have our hopes up. Even though we dealt with this hell for so long, I think this school year seems to be a lot different ever since Scott came here."
"Who's Scott?" The lunch lady questions.
"He's one of my students in my math class. Things seem to be so different. It was the first time where John actually had to take a mental health month in January. Not to mention, Troy has been exposed as an abused. Something that nobody knew until Scott stood up to him."
"Oh. Isn't that the kid who allegedly killed Troy?" The baseball coach questions Scott.
"No, John says that he killed Troy, but I believed that Troy died from his own hands. I never believed what that kid said. John wanted to deceive people just to adore him. He would do anything to get what he desires. Even when killing my wife." Mr. Cheung picked up his pistol from his holster.
Back on the surface, Scott took a peek at what the fallout shelter had. Down the ladder, the shelter seems to be full of rust. All the rations had been removed from agent Dan. But something seems to be off.
"I can't believe there's these refrigerators from the 1950s that are still here." Scott opened up the refrigerator.
When opening the refrigerator, Scott realizes something. "The hell?"
"Dan! Come look at this."
Agent Dan went down to the nuclear bunker. "What is it? I don't have time for your I spy game."
"What is this?" Dan sees a hole on the bottom of the refrigerator.
"Not sure. But look closely." Scott moved aside for Dan.
"Is that a trap door? What else is this town hiding?"
"What do we do now? Should we explore it?" Scott looks at Dan.
"Let's check it out. Maybe there's more than what John is hiding in his mansion." Dan opened the trap door.
Scott also wanted to understand more about the mystery behind the town.
"Damn it's getting dark down here. Scott, you got a light?"
Scott lit his military flashlight, guiding Dan's way down.
"I think we reached the ground floor." Dan got off the ladder.
Scott also got down the ladder, but what they approached was a dark room. Luckily, Scott's flashlight was so bright that it lit up the room as if the lights were on.
"Hey Dan, I think I see a door in front of us." Scott pointed his light at the door.
Dan opened the door and surprisingly, it was unlocked. When coming out the room, the room was brighter than ever, there were spare guns, rations, and even weaponized vehicles.
"How did this stuff end up here?" Dan walked towards the weapon crate.
Opening up the crate, he sees what seems to be an AK-74. Putting down the rifle, he also sees different kinds of guns with some imported from different countries.
"Dan, is it normal to have this many weapons in a small fallout shelter?"
"I mean a small firearm is fine, but this many seems to be so weird." Dan looked at another crate full of military gear with grenades and MRE meals.
Scott and Dan both walked into another room and this room seems to be very large.
[IT WAS A SHOOTING RANGE]
"Why would there be a shooting range down here?" Scott questions.
Suddenly, someone is coming out of the small room close to the shooting range. It was Mr. Cheung and the other school staff.
"So if we can-" Mr. Cheung stopped as he saw two people in military gear.
"WHAT THE HELL!" Mr. Cheung took out his pistol.
"You got to be kidding me!" Dan took out his FBI issued pistol.
The other staff followed up as they took out their own guns as well.
"What is this?!" Dan pointed his pistol at Mr. Cheung.
"Who the hell are you?! And why are you in our bunker?!"