Carter jerked as she screamed his name, turning belatedly to look behind him in the direction her frightened gaze was focused. What he saw knocked the air from his lungs. Before he even had time to flinch or try to scramble out of the way, Serena had launched into action. Breathless, he glanced for the briefest of seconds at his unlikely savior, who seemed as stunned as he was by the attack and her swift response to it. The few feet her violent kick had bought them was just enough to allow them both to start running.
Carter was used to running from the law, and had even found himself on the wrong side of more than one gambling ring in the past. But running from trouble in those instances had provoked nothing like the terror that was radiating through his body as he and Serena scrambled to the bathroom. The sight that greeted them outside the door did nothing to quiet the panic that was fueling him onwards. He barely spared the unfortunate corpse more than a disgusted glance before following Serena towards the stairs.
"The roof?" he managed to make out between pants, having caught on to her general idea. "Good thinking." And it was good thinking-- most of their classmates seemed to be trapped in the great hall, their screams and shouts still audible even as Carter and Serena hurried up the grand staircase. They reached the top floor in what felt like mere seconds, their feet barely touching the polished wooden ground as they ran.
It had been years since he had last been inside this school, but the rooftop had a frequent spot for him and the younger boys he had sought to corrupt with pot and cigarettes and he remembered its location perfectly. His long legs slightly outpaced Serena as they ran down the hallway, but Carter kept his hand on her. It was difficult to see anything in the darkness, but he could dimly make out the door in the distance. He ran to it, nearly slamming into the hard surface. Desperate, he tried the doorknob only to realize that it was locked. He struggled with it for another minute, trying to use his shoulder as a battering ram.
"Okay, no go. We need something heavy to bang it in with," Carter said hurriedly, massaging his sore shoulder and casting his gaze down the hallway for a possible solution.