‘A whip?’ 

Her eyes traveled the course of the weapon. It’s owner, a student with another whip cracking at the bubble. No noise could be heard, but the sheer anger in his face was easily understood. It shook her, like the test had. The pounding of the second whip made her slow to get up to her feet.

‘What is going on? Why is he acting this way? I didn’t do anything to him. Why am I even here?’

Her mind raced with more questions as she fought to stand against the waves of fear. This kid outside the bubble tried so hard to pull the weapon that was already lodged in the barrier, but the bubble sealed entirely around it. 

‘I want to go home! I’ll be safe there. Why is this happening to me?’ Her brain screamed as she shook staring at the crazed green clad teen. 

Something shined in corner of her eye. Alexa turned to take in what it was. A robot was rolling forward. A burst came from it’s main gun and struck the side the side of the bubble. The walls of the shield held with no issue.

‘The was a strong shot. Why would they shoot something like that at students? A-are they trying to kill us?!’

 After the first shot, the robot turned it’s sights to the student still whipping her shield. Of course, Alexa expected the student to see the robot’s trajectory, but it wasn’t the case. Nothing but her barrier seemed to matter to this guy. 

‘H-He's gonna get blasted! Look!’ Her arms frantically pointed at the robot rolling toward the whip kid.  She mouthed “look”, but it was just adding gasoline to the fire. The pounding grew exaggerated in sight. 

Time slowed as the robot locked it sights on the new target. The fear clutched her heart as she watched.

[i]“Are you really going to just sit there and watch?”[/i] A voice whispered inside her.

‘What can I do? I’ll get hurt!’ 

Silence rang in her ears. Here mind raced with fear and obligation pulling her in separate directions. If she didn’t act soon, who knew how bad this would be. 

[i]“You got this! You got this! You got this!” [/i]

Something in her shattered. Alexa opened her mouth to suck in a breath as she put herself in a running position. The moment the inflation of her lungs started, the barrier fell. Her legs pumped hard, propelling her forward. Everything felt slowed down as Alexa charged forward. The owner of the whip was off balance because he wasn’t expecting the sudden release of his first whip. 

‘Perfect.’ 

Instinctively she knocked into his body. While falling, Alexa wrapped her arms under his shoulders to restrain his arms. The weight of his body on her hands against the floor hurt so bad.The vibration in the ground grew as the robot came closer to them. A small whimper slipped, but she couldn’t focus on the pain. 

“Of course he didn’t forget about us.”

Alexa took a breath and got him into an arm bar.

“Don’t struggle! I’m trying to save you!” was through her teeth as she held tight. Her cheeks took a bunch of air in and she held it. 

The barrier formed around the struggling pair.

‘Maybe the pain will bring back to his senses. I just hope -’

The robot fired another shot at the barrier.

‘Why me?’