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Chapter 7 – Shadows Over the Gate

The sun rose on El SHARKAWY School like it was any other day.

But we knew better.

This wasn’t just an academic institution.

It was a battlefield.

I arrived at the outer perimeter. Same time as Mo.

But while he walked through the gates with the arrogance of a man about to win a Nobel Prize for Villainy, I circled the wall like a predator.

Then I found it.

The spot.

A concrete face 30 meters tall. No windows. No cameras. Just stone and sky.

I unhooked the collapsible ladder from my harness, set it against the wall, and ran up like a spider possessed. No hesitation. No noise. Pure muscle memory.

At the top, I collapsed the ladder, hauled it up, and crouched low.

Pulled out my hunting rifle.

And took aim.

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What I saw?

Made my stomach twist into knots.

Mo.

Talking to a five-year-old girl.

She stood there smiling innocently while he crouched down beside her, saying something I couldn’t hear.

But I could guess.

I tightened my grip on the rifle.

My finger hovered over the trigger.

Then—

He looked up.

Right at me.

And he smiled.

That smug, void-eyed smile that said, “You’re too late.”

I knew the mission was compromised. My cover? Gone.

So I stood up and screamed across the courtyard:

> “IF YOU THINK YOU'RE IN A SKULL EDIT—THINK AGAIN!”

 

Mo blinked, caught off guard. “Well, shit,” he muttered.

And then—

He crouched behind the girl.

Used her as a human shield.

Curled up behind her like the coward he was.

That was it.

I couldn’t shoot from here.

I slung the rifle, pulled out the ladder, and ran down the ladder, collapsing it mid-movement with one hand. On the ground, I drew my M1911 pistol, chambered, aimed.

Mo was holding the girl by the back of her neck.

I locked the barrel on his forehead.

“Let her go,” I growled. “Walk away now, and no one gets hurt. You can leave this school and never see children again. This all goes away.”

He didn’t flinch.

> “I’m too far into bliss,” he said, his voice low, eyes glazed.“I can’t go back to your normie women.”

I holstered my gun and cupped my hands.

I knew he was a weeb and would fall for it.

"Kame..."

"HAME..."

 

My grip tightened.

He turned and tried to run.

The girl still in his grasp.

I pulled out the gun again and...

> BANG.

 

I fired.

The shot tore through his arm.

He cried out—not in pain, but in surprise. Like he didn’t think I’d really do it.

He dropped the girl.

And still managed to chuckle.

> “See you later… my pink honey bun.”

 

He stumbled off, clutching his arm, vanishing behind the school building.

I rushed over to the girl, holstering the gun.

“You okay?” I asked, breath shallow.

She nodded. “Yeah. I’m okay.”

“You probably shouldn’t go here.”

She looked up at the school, then back at me.

> “Even after what happened… it’s still better than the orphanage.”

 

I blinked. “Orphanage?”

She nodded again. “The kids there hate me. They hit me.”

Silence.

Then I crouched beside her.

“You want a place to stay?”

Her eyes lit up. “Yes, please!”

We started walking away from the gates.No one stopped us.

Not the staff.

Not the students.

Everyone saw the gun.

And no one wanted to test me.

We walked through the streets, side by side. Me, still sweating from the shot. Her, calm. Innocent. Brave.

We reached the metro.

The doors slid open.

We stepped inside.

> “So… what’s your name?” I asked.

 

> “Lola,” she smiled.

 

> “Very cool name.”

 

> “What’s yours?”

 

> “Seno.”

 

We sat in silence as the train pulled away, the steel wheels humming beneath us.

Two strangers.

One gun.

One ladder.

And the first spark of something that felt like hope.

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