Oskar paused at the door. Then Kiev said to Oskar good-naturedly "Come in Oskar! Sit , sit ,sit. Have a drink, how about a vodka tonic?" In which he drew a small flask out of his pocket.

"Sir. We have a problem."

"What is the matter?" asked Kiev

"Well, one of the hostages in the office sent an E-mail saying that they were in danger." Oskar waited for Kiev to explode with rage, but that never happened. All he said was, "Let them come."

Oskar walked down the hall towards the classroom of Zanthia Foray. Kiev had decided to let Oskar pick a classroom at random, for the teachers and students did not know of their captivity yet. Oskar decided to use the element of surprise, to gain entry to her classroom. The he got up the courage to burst into the room, and told everybody not to move.

"Please, don't hurt us." Zanthia spoke for the whole class.

"I don't want to."

"Then why are you here?"

"Ransom." The Oskar said curtly. "Get the kids out of here. Take them to an empty room, just so that I can talk to you alone."

"Fine." she said with more courage. She carefully herded the rest of the middle schoolers, with the exception of Michael who was still feeling woozy from blood loss, into an empty classroom across the hall. "Don't worry, kids.  I'll be all right. I'm just going to talk with the man, that's it. Immediately after that, I am going to come right back here." And with that she swung around and closed the door behind her.

Zanthia walked briskly back to her room, and let her eyes adjust to the dim lighting. "So, what do you want?" she said after a moment's hesitation.

"I want you to help me." Oskar said with momentary struggle. "Help you with what?"

"I want you to help me..."

"Well?"

"...I want you to help me, destroy, Commander Kiev's plan."

"There's more of you?"

"Yes, at least two hundred."

Zanthia sat in stunned silence. "Two hundred more soldiers?" She repeated.

"Yes, plus the Commander, and his Personal Guards."

"That will be a lot to chew, but I think that we can handle it with reinforcement." said Zanthia. She was formulating various plans in her head, none of which would work. Then a voice out of nowhere said, "Why don't you gather up all of the hostages, and revolt against the army?" They both had forgotten that Michael was still there.

"But why can't I come?" Protested Michael. "I could be a big help." He pleaded.                    

"No, Michael, you can't come. It would be too dangerous for you. It is already dangerous enough as it is." Ordered Zanthia. "Go and inform your classmates about what is happening. They are in the classroom across the hall." And with that Oskar and Zanthia, departed room thirty-two.

Oskar and Zanthia kept close to the walls, and shadows, lest anyone was looking for Oskar. Their plan was to override the main office, and free the hostages trapped there. Although Oskar had a gun, he did not have another one for Zanthia, so she was relying on her wits, and her knowledge to defend herself. They moved slowly, avoiding windows, and doorways. In sight of the office, Oskar grabbed Zanthia's hand and said: "Pretend to be a prisoner, we could get in without too much commotion."

"OK." She mouthed. Oskar drew his gun and pointed it at her back. "Just for show." he whispered in her ear.

As they marched into the main office, a sentry, asked, "State your business?"

"I want to see Commander Alexander Kiev." Oskar stated formally.

"Too bad, he just left."

"Well, where is he?"

"Dunno."

Oskar pretended to turn and leave, but he really reached for his gun. He swiveled on his feet and struck watchman full in the face with the butt of his rifle. The guard staggered back, his nose clearly broken, and blood was spraying everywhere. He was yelling and moaning in pain, which was the cause for what happened next.

Doors opened all around them, until there were seven more men standing dumbfounded around the bloody sentry. Zanthia was the first one to react, and did a 360 scissor kick and made contact with two more faces.

The teacher grinned and whispered: "Ten years of Judo and Karate can do that to a girl."

Two more broken noses, Oskar thought. That was when all hell broke loose.

The guards descended on the fighting duo, and in the middle of the melee, were Oskar and Zanthia fighting back to back. Oskar, grabbed a pair of scissors from the desk beside him, and threw them at the nearest soldier, who fell backwards, screaming, over a smashed computer, with them protruding out of his chest. Zanthia, meanwhile, knocked a guard out by hitting him in the pressure point located in his neck.

It was only when the guards started to shoot that Oskar brought out his gun. One sentry shot at Zanthia and missed. But she didn't. She did a back kick into his temple, which left him unconscious. Oskar took his rifle.  There were then two guards left. One tried to run but Oskar was to fast for him. He grabbed long pole from the ground and gave the man the dead-knee with it. Then bashed him upside the head until he was knocked out.

Zanthia had the other one in a headlock and mercilessly beating him in the head with a telephone.

"Zanthia, leave him." They began to search the remaining offices for hostages, and finally found all of them locked in the smallest one.

"Stay here, and don't come out, we will come and get you when it is safe!" Zanthia said firmly. One of the hostages closed and locked the door, while Oskar and Zanthia went in search of Commander Kiev. After they had checked all of the rooms, they decided to look outside.

They prepared themselves as best they could, with borrowed coats from the teacher's lounge. Zanthia picked up two pistols saying, "I think I can use these." Then they stole outside, and kept watch for the Commander.

As they were walking across the courtyard, a light shined on them, and the unmistakable voice of Commander Kiev called "Throw down your weapons, and kick them to me." They did as they were told. "Now, stay where you are and don't move." They couldn't if they had wanted to for all the rest of Kiev's troops had assembled behind him.  "Now, what am I going to do with you two?  You have been upsetting my plans as it is, so why should I keep you alive? I could just shoot you now and be done with it. As a matter of fact, I think I will." Right before he pulled the trigger, there came a huge war cry of a thousand voices, for all of the hostages had been rallied throughout the school by Michael and were now running screaming towards The Commander.  The Kids were willing to fight and maybe even sacrifice their lives while armed with little more than scissors and the kitchen's knives.

It took both Zanthia, and Oskar to disarm Kiev. They wrestled the gun out of his hands and had him lying face down on the ground in a few moments. "Zanthia, stay here.  I've got to help the others, make sure that he doesn't get away!" Oskar sprinted across the ground towards Michael. Michael was now trying to fend off a gigantic man, with a long, knife. Michael kicked the man's shin, and then slashed at the man's stomach, which disemboweled him. The man stared at his steaming organs as the spilled out of his body, and onto the cold frozen ground. About this time, it started to snow.

The battle was very evenly matched. Although the Russians had firearms, many of them had left their guns inside. The occupants of the school had the combined force of wanting their freedom badly enough to kill and be killed for it.  The police had been sent out a very long time ago but had not been able to get in because the school had been so well protected by enemy forces. It was now well into the night, and the combat was still raging on.

When dawn broke, it arose with a scene of horror and disbelief. Of the one thousand two hundred students that attended Glennwood Middle School, seven hundred forty-three of them had died. Of the staff, Forty three out of sixty seven had also perished. Distraught parents were everywhere. The police had found the remaining survivors in the cafeteria solemnly preparing breakfast. All of the Russian survivors had been disarmed and taken into custody. Commander Kiev was not among them. Zanthia had killed him, after he had tried to escape.

Nobody found Michael's body until late morning. Oskar and Zanthia discovered it. An unidentified soldier had apparently strangled him, but Michael, with his last breaths of life had gutted the man who throttled him.

                           Six months later…

A statue had been built in honor of the students and faculty that had perished in the fight between the school and the army. Also, during that time, Oskar and Zanthia were married. But they always felt a hole inside them every time they passed the school, for they had lost a very good friend, Michael. Every time Oskar thought back to that night at the school, he thought of Michael. He also thought of the plaque on the statue, honoring all that had died. It read:

             In sacrifice we saved you,

                   So in life repay us

CONGRATS TO…well…HE CHANGES HIS NAME TOO MUCH ANYWAYS!  TO MY GOOD FRIEND BOB!

REVIEW BOB'S FIRST STORY!