And at that moment she exploded.

She grabbed a boy by the leg, dragged him down and then threw him with both hands. The boy's body shot out at such speed that it hit those of us in front of her and sent us backwards. I landed in the front row, so I could see everything she did next.

Without pausing, she jumped to her feet. She grabbed a boy by the throat and ripped it out using only her fingers. She buried her hand in a girl's abdomen. She kicked a boy's head off. All in the blink of an eye. She jumped on her victims, grabbed the neck of one and smashed her to the ground. She grabbed a girl by the knee and used her as a mace to swing at a boy, who flew through the air several meters before falling to his death.

I could see no more. Erica intended to kill us all. I had to escape, to get to safety. I realized what a fool I had been. I had risked too much, and at that moment it was my turn to pay.

I broke into a run, through the terrified crowd. I heard a loud scream behind me, but I didn't dare to look. Yet I didn't need to, as my classmate's body flew through the air, over our heads, and landed a few meters in front of me. I had to look at him to avoid tripping over his body. He was completely twisted, some bones were grotesquely sticking out of his skin. I wanted to vomit, but fear and adrenaline prevented me from stopping.

We headed for the stairs in a hurry. I wanted to run as fast as I could, but the people in front of me were blocking my way. Meanwhile, Erica was jumping from one to another, shooting herself and bouncing off the walls. She was like a pinball, as if she had a pass that exempted her from the laws of physics. She moved so fast that it was hard to follow her with my eyes, she hit so hard that a single punch launched several kids flying at once, so powerful that she broke concrete and bent the iron bars of the railings. Blood and bones were flying everywhere.

I climbed the stairs as fast as I could. At that moment Erica sent a boy flying behind me and propelled us all forward. I fell flat on my face, under a couple of other girls. I stood up in a hurry. As I did, Erica grabbed a boy by the arm, ripped it off and then used the same arm to bat him and send him flying. Without stopping, she bent a girl's back like a book. Then she jumped on another to kill her with a knee to the face. A boy next to her fell over in shock, Erica grabbed him by both legs and spread him open up to the neck.

The hallway was about twenty meters wide, but it didn't feel wide enough to get away from her. I still had to go around it to head for the exit, like the rest of those left alive. But Erica wouldn't even stop to breathe, just killing people as she went. She was jumping, running, and propelling herself around us, not letting us escape. It was a never ending nightmare.

Then, something I didn't expect happened: from behind me a large figure ran out, wielding something bulky in his hands. But he wasn't trying to run away like the others, he was heading straight for Erica. It took me a second to realize that it was Pekos, and another second to realize that what he was holding was a school desk.

-Pekos, wait!- I shouted.

But he didn't hear me. Instead, he reached for Erica just after she had split a girl's torso in two, from collarbone to hips. Pekos didn't stand a chance against Erica, but she wasn't looking at him and didn't seem to notice. Then Pekos swung with all his might, and hit Erica hard, so hard that it knocked her to the ground and propelled her two meters across the floor.

Pekos stood between the most recent corpse and Erica, ready to give her another blow. However, he had broken the table with it. Erica, for her part, looked confused. I noticed that some of our classmates had stopped and contemplated Pekos' heroic act. I think they thought about joining him.

But Erica got back on her feet as if nothing had happened, looked at Pekos, raised her hands, approached him in the blink of an eye and punched him the most powerful punch I had seen her do. I saw Pekos' body deforming from the magnitude of the blow, first it was his back, then his head and limbs. The impact itself caused a roar that hurt my ears. Pekos flew at full speed, crashed into a stone pillar, went through it and continued flying across the grassy field. In the middle he fell to the ground and began to roll uncontrollably until he broke into two pieces, and then five, and more, until his remains were scattered in a wide radius over the grass.

It was definitive, nobody and nothing could face her. We continued running, and Erica continued to ram us like a train. Bodies flew, screams thundered, blood rained down. The people running around me blocked my way and at the same time protected me from the monster.

We herded our way to the exit, which consisted of another long, wide hallway, protected by a solid concrete ceiling and thick pillars on either side. At the end was the gate. It was closed, because it was school time, but at that moment it was the least of our worries. We ran there at full speed, Erica couldn't stop us all, or so we thought.

As we approached the exit, a roar above our heads made us look up. There was no time. Suddenly the roof shattered, and debris fell on the students closest to the gate. Tons of rock and metal crushed them in an instant.

The rest of us stopped at once. I thought about going around the mountain of debris that had been left behind, but it looked difficult for a girl like me. Then I saw Erica standing on top of it, with her legs apart and arms outstretched, ready to jump on any of us.

At that moment a small, red haired girl walked past me, stepped forward, and stepped between Erica and us.

-Wait, please!- asked Galica- Erica, stop! There must be a way to talk all this over! Please! You can't...

But Erica lunged at her before she could say more. Galica shielded herself with her arms in fear, but Erica pushed them out of the way with no trouble, held her face with one hand and shoved her other hand inside her mouth. Galica tried to fight back, but Erica didn't stop for her spasms, she just continued. She shoved her whole hand in. It dislocated Galica's jaw, but she went in even deeper. She stuck her whole forearm in and past her elbow. Galica's face was as red as a tomato, her eyes wild, her neck the width of a football, as Erica pushed in deeper and deeper. Suddenly she stopped, and withdrew her arm with something in her hand, something springy and shiny, connected to two cartilaginous tubes: her stomach.

Galica vomited blood in buckets and fell to the ground, dead. Erica glared at her in anger, then lifted her stomach and threw it in the face of a screaming girl off to the side. Then she continued her hunt.

I couldn't take it anymore, I didn't want that to happen to me. But I didn't see how I would escape a terror like that. Erica was a beast hungry for death and destruction. She didn't try to play with us or get distracted by our suffering, she just concentrated on killing us one by one, fast, efficient, cruel. I began to cry, thinking that I was going to die, that my last moments would be spent in terror, suffering unthinkable tortures and begging for my life.

We ran across the front yard of the school. I saw a boy trying to jump over the three meter fence that led to the street, but as he reached the edge, Erica grabbed him by the feet, lifted him up and whipped his neck against the fence, decapitating him. Then she threw his body over our heads.

We walked past the teachers' offices. I saw other kids getting in, but I didn't think it was a good idea. I continued on my way. Not long after, I was startled by strong and crushing noises coming from the offices; windows shattering, walls collapsing, arms and legs flying and terrified screams pleading for their lives.

-This is my chance, Erica is distracted!- I thought to myself.

Let the rest die, I couldn't take this nightmare anymore, I didn't care about anyone's life but my own.

I took advantage of those seconds of rest to think. The school had only two entrances: the main entrance and the back entrance. The main one had been blocked by the collapse caused by Erica, we only had the back one left. We could also try to climb the gates, but just remembering how Erica had decapitated that boy made my neck hurt. No, the back gate was my only chance. For that I had to go through the playground of the younger elementary school kids, turn down the hallway on the right and head for the kids' courtyard. At the end of that courtyard was the exit.

In this way we continued. We crossed the small courtyard of the children still fearing for our lives, but in silence. Only our groans of exhaustion and despair could be heard. We crossed a short tunnel and arrived at the kids' courtyard.

A large, flat space opened up before us, with no buildings to hide in. Just half a block away was the open gate.

-Come on, we have to get out!- exclaimed a boy.

I wanted to run with them too, I had to risk it, but then I noticed Troveto beside me, who was looking at a point high above, to our left. As my classmates took off running, I followed the line of his gaze to the roof of the building. Above the third floor, a silhouette was running loosely, waving her long blonde hair in the wind, her with bloody hands outstretched like claws, ready to tear her victims apart. Erica was watching us, she had followed us to that point silently because she knew we were going to run to the only other exit.

Then she jumped off the roof onto the street, out of the school. Something about all that didn't sit right with me. I had lost sight of her, but I was sure where she was headed. Troveto didn't move forward either.

-It's an ambush!- he said as he understood.

I looked at the fifty or so students running with all their might towards the open gate. At that distance I couldn't scream... or rather, I didn't want to diminish my own chances of survival. If I screamed, Erica could locate me. I had to use them, let them serve as a distraction. I had to save myself.

Just then, as they approached the exit, Erica appeared from outside. The students stumbled to a halt, but Erica didn't give them a break; she rammed one, punched another, snapped a third in half, decapitated a fourth with a kick, took off the arm of a fifth and with that arm batted a sixth, all in a matter of seconds, not stopping. The others tried to flee, but the vast space of the courtyard prevented them from finding shelter, and Erica lashed out like a train. She could shoot her body from one side of the courtyard to the other in the blink of an eye and slaughter them all. All of them.

-Come on, this way!- Troveto told me.

We turned again and headed down the path that led to the grassy field, in the same direction we would go if we wanted to go back to the grassy yard. But instead, we entered an empty room that looked like an amphitheater. It was the audio visual room, where plays were performed and speeches were given.

After closing the door behind us, I looked around. The lights were off, the chairs were empty, no one was there. There were no windows either.

-Erica won't know we came in here- I realized- Troveto, you're a genius!

He didn't react, I guess it wasn't the time for flattery. He leaned against the back of a chair until he stopped panting. Then he looked toward the door. I don't think I'd ever seen him so worried. It was to be expected in our situation, but his worried face felt like dry water or cold fire, something it wasn't supposed to be.

I shook my head. I wondered if any of my classmates had survived the carnage in the race to the back exit. Maybe one or two would have made a run for it and were on their way home... but the idea was seeming sillier the more I thought about it. Of course Erica wouldn't leave anyone alive. No one could hide from her. Troveto and I had been lucky, but nothing guaranteed we'd get out of that room alive.

I looked at the walls. There were no windows. Erica couldn't see us, but we couldn't see her either. She could be on the other side of the school, looking for us, as much as waiting for us just on the other side of that door.

-Someone has to go out and look- Troveto said.

I turned to him, fearing that he was asking me. I couldn't, I couldn't bear the thought of risking myself like that, of coming face to face with Erica. However, he stepped around me himself and held the doorknob with one hand. He paused for a moment to take a breath.

-Very well- he said.

Troveto opened the door. At the same time, a clatter behind us made us turn around. Suddenly there she was, at the back of the room. She had broken through the wall as if it were paper, from the opposite side.

Erica noticed us instantly. I don't know why I thought she would flash us a maniacal grin, but she didn't, she just looked at us like we were weirdos she had to squash. It didn't help that her whole body was soaked in blood.

-Shit!- shouted Troveto.

He burst through the door. Erica shot her body towards us. Obviously I ran outside too, but then the bastard slammed the door in my face and left me alone with the beast. Erica roared. I pounded on the door, desperate.

-TROVETO!- I shouted.

I didn't have time to say anything else. Suddenly I felt an abrupt impact and I ducked, covering myself with my arms. For an instant I felt no pain, and I thought Erica had made a mistake, that she had missed her lunge. Then I dared to open my eyes. I turned around, but Erica was no longer in the room. I noticed that the lighting had changed drastically and that there were several bricks around. I looked back at the door, next to it a huge hole had opened up, more than enough for a person to pass through without any problems.

I peeked through that hole. I couldn't believe Erica hadn't noticed me.

But then I heard screams of pain, pounding, skin tearing, bones falling and blood splattering. I turned to the left. I couldn't see it well from that angle, as a pillar covered my view, but I clearly noticed that Erica had caught up with Troveto and was tearing him to shreds.

-Fucking traitor!- I thought.

More importantly, Erica was distracted. This was my chance to escape... But to where? The back entrance had proven to be very risky; there was nowhere to hide as one headed there, and Erica could catch me in a heartbeat if I tried to run. The other exit was sealed off by debris. Maybe I could grab a table and climb the fence. But hauling a table up to the grille was too much for me and would have taken too long.

Then I remembered our classroom, with the back window facing the street. The IV°C room was on the second floor, above the height of the railing. If I could get to that window, I could try to jump to the sidewalk and call for help.

I started to run. It was my last alternative. It was risky, but there was no choice, it was either the window or Erica.

I retraced my steps back through the hallway, toward the intersection where Solis' murder occurred. A pile of bodies littered the floor. Blood had pooled in small rivers and was slowly descending into the gutters.

I looked to the side, at the large grassy field. There, too, were some corpses. Twisted, cut, torn, mutilated, crushed.

The sky was gray, the day was dark, my chances of survival black. I was exhausted, sweaty, terrified and splattered with blood. I wanted it all to be a nightmare, but I knew full well I wasn't going to wake up.

I made my way to the stairs. I rushed up them, and as I was reaching the second floor, an explosion startled me again. I threw myself to the floor as a precaution, but then realized that the blow had been nowhere near me. It took me a second to realize that it had occurred at the base of the stairs. The sound of falling debris confirmed my suspicions. I looked back, not finding Erica, but noticed that the stairs were gone.

-She wants to trap me upstairs- I realized.

I didn't like the idea of Erica leading me, but I couldn't do anything else. I continued running down the hallway. Downstairs, in the courtyard, more of the bodies Erica had left behind in her destruction could be seen. It was clearly noticeable where she had made the decision to kill us all: the spot with the largest pile of corpses.

Before I had gone far down the corridor, another rumble startled me. A projectile flew from the second floor at a very sharp angle, hit the ceiling and landed in my hands. Then I looked at it: it was Rifal's head.

I let go of it as I let out a scream of terror. I couldn't believe my hands had his blood on them, I wanted to wipe them off, but there were no towels or paper, I had to make do with my uniform. I moved quickly to leave her behind, but then another head appeared from the second floor and almost headbutted me. I recognized another classmate.

-Stop, please!- I shouted.

From where I was, I couldn't see Erica; I was covered by the railing, and besides, I wasn't sure if I wanted to see her. But I knew she was there, down below, doing everything she could to torment me. I was completely helpless.

I ran to avoid the heads, but Erica kept throwing them at me one by one. Galica made me trip and fall, Pekos hit me in the stomach, Troveto hit me in the back. A boy broke a door, another girl burst on the railing and splashed me with her blood on my face, I think some drops got on my tongue, how horrendous.

I ran and cried in despair as the decapitated heads of my classmates rained down on me and I could do nothing to stop it. The way to the last room was not so long, but it seemed like an eternity.

After a dozen heads, I slipped through the last door and closed behind me. The heads were over, I could now feel safe for a few seconds.

I immediately looked to the back of the room. There it was, intact: the window leading to the street. It would be a big jump, maybe I would break a leg or sprain an ankle, but it was my only hope. Desperate, I made my way across the room, dodging tables and backpacks, to the window. Then I opened it and...

-No.

A hand caught my face and threw me backwards. The momentum caused me to push several tables, as my body spun backwards. I ended up falling to the floor.

Bewildered, I got to my feet. In front of me was her, Erica. Her body covered in red, her face that of a furious beast. She had jumped from the second floor to the window to surprise me.

There was nothing more I could do. I had never been so afraid as I was in that instant.

I began to shake my head, I kept crying.

-Let me... don't kill me... please- I begged her.

That only made her angrier. I noticed her jaw clenching and her nose wrinkling into a sneer.

-I just wanted to make friends- she stated- I wanted a normal life. I wanted to graduate from school like everyone else!

Her eyes began to water. I started to get angry. How could she come to me with that speech, after killing more than two hundred students? I opened my mouth to plead, but she came at me in the blink of an eye, grabbed my face again and dragged me to the end of the room, against the blackboard. There she lifted me up and held me tight, her hands on my face. I tried to brace myself, to pull away, I tried punching her in the arms to make her let me go, kicking her in the ribs, scratching her wrists, but nothing would affect her.

I was beginning to foresee what was coming next.

-Wait- I begged, shaking my head- Let me live, please!

But she slammed me against the blackboard with such force that it knocked the air out of my lungs and closed them for a while. Her fingers wouldn't budge from my face, and then began to tighten. Her face reflected a storm of anger, years and years of pent up frustration, a beast that would continue to annihilate everything in its path until there was nothing left of the world.

I began to kick. The pressure in my skull was becoming unbearable. Despite my crying, breathless screaming and kicking, Erica's fingers kept squeezing like an automatic compress. I begged her to stop. I asked her to forgive me. I told her we could be friends, that I'd forget everything if she let me live.

No, please. Erica, no.

I'm in pain.

Don't do this to me. It's horrible. I can't take it.

My jaw is broken. My skull is cracking. My remaining eye is going to explode.

The pain is unbearable.

I want to scream.

Let go of me.

Let me go, please.

Erica...