What are we supposed to do?! How do we get out of this?!
She was frozen, unable to do anything but watch the thing of her nightmares. How are we supposed to get away from a thing like that?
I don't wanna die…
"Uh-hum-he-hem—what?" Saphris sputtered, horrified and taken completely off guard. Dylan's instincts stilled—terrified of the sudden noise. Fuck no, Saphris please—why? "Fuck that! This is not what I had in mind!"
And before anyone could react any further, Saphris had spun around, grabbing Dylan by the wrist and sprinting past her—wrenching her back toward the lobby door. She twisted around, legs tangling and she barely managed to catch herself in the next step. No! Goddamn it Saphris—what have you done?! It'll disappear if we're not looking at it!
She turned, trying to look over her shoulder even as she ran in the opposite direction—dragged by her friend.
Despite the stumbling, she caught the tail end of its massive abdomen disappearing through the cafeteria doors.
So when they burst through the door into the lobby of the school, with Saphris starting to pull her left—Dylan desperately jerked her wrist away from her and frantically nodded toward the front office. "No—this way!" She hissed. If we go that way, it'll cut us off!
She didn't look back to see Saphris' expression, only knowing that in the next moment that they were in front of the door leading to the front-office.
But when she jerked on the handle, the door didn't give way. "Fuck!" She let out, her blood running cold.
"Come on!" A quiet familiar voice spoke suddenly, startling her. They're heads whipped over to the next door over, which –previously closed– was now propped open a few inches. "Hurry!"
She barely glanced at Saphris, before she reached for the door—darting in as she heard a pair of doors fly open—banging against the walls.
Saphris yanked the door shut behind her—locking it, and the stranger who saved them raced to put the window cover on. "Quick—over here!" She said, leading them over to the medical beds and crouching down next to another person.
Dylan and Saphris hastily sat down in front of them, and the four of them collectively held their breath as the smell of spiders grew stronger.
She felt dizzy with only the sound of her heartbeat to listen to. Her brain struggled to process the last few minutes—the fear thick and sticky, dragging her limbs down in a sudden fit of lethargy. Oh God, please say that we got lucky.
"Oh little lost girls…" the spider-woman creature hummed, far closer than Dylan was comfortable with. "Where'd you go…?" It rasped, almost sing-songy. "There's nothing to fear!" The feminine voice cackled.
"Hmmm… in here, maybe?" The words seemed to echo in her ears despite the wall separating them; the door handle shook and her heart leapt to her throat, thundering in her chest faster than before. "Ah, this again." The words were a dark, deep rumble that sent shivers down her spine. "I'm beginning to grow tired of this chase."
"Your time runs thin."
The door handle shook as the spider-woman let go of it, and then the musty stench finally began to fade—leaving their noses until they couldn't smell it anymore.
Were they safe?
This doesn't feel like last time…
The parting words of the monster echoed throughout her mind, striking a cord deep within her. The dreadful feeling of doom gripped her heart with icy fingers—the words ringing true in a way that haunted her very being.
A breath hissed out past her teeth as she tried to shake off the feeling.
"What the fuck was that?" A second familiar voice blurted—the girl she was sitting in front of.
"Oh! Sorry…" Dylan said, startled. "That was me sighing just now—didn't mean to–"
"No, not that!" The girl interrupted. "I'm talking about what just happened! What the hell was that speaking to you from the door?!" She demanded, voice trembling slightly.
The image flashed vividly in her mind's eye, saturated colors and fear sharpening the details. She couldn't contain the shiver that ran across her body, causing her to shake out her shoulders involuntarily.
"A terrible… thing—that was way worse than I thought it would be." Saphris started, her tone distant—distracted. Dylan was glad Saphris decided to do the talking, she didn't think she'd even be able to get a word out right now. "I thought… I thought it would be like the ones from The Hobbit. Huge, but ultimately just spiders. They're not inherently evil."
"But this was different. It was a fucking hybrid monstrosity—half-human. And holy fuck, the menace this bitch had in her eyes…" Saphris sighed, and Dylan knew she shook her head because she could feel her hair whipping lightly against her arm. "Pure. Fucking. Evil."
"Jesus…" The girl whispered, horrified. Seriously, why does she sound so familiar? The other girl too, for that matter. I swear to God that it's on the tip of my tongue.
"Thank you for helping us," Dylan said, finally able to speak—gratitude coloring her words. "We would've been screwed otherwise."
"Of course!" The first girl blurted, "We weren't gonna stand by while someone dies when we could've done something; not again…" the conviction in her voice was strong, even as she trailed off solemnly.
An uncomfortable feeling lodged in the back of her throat.
"You want to use someone as bait?"
Saphris' aghast face was pictured clearly in the forefront of her mind.
Our survival is all that matters.
"But… we know these people…"
"If it means that we're safe?"
She swallowed thickly.
"Yes."
Dylan was a very selfish person, as it turns out.
"What kind of monster did you guys run into?" She asked tentatively, knowing it was a touchy subject. It made her wonder though: how many monsters were actually roaming around the school? She'd already seen four of them. Three, if you don't count the one they'd only heard.
There was a hitched inhale in front of her, and an uneasy sigh as the first girl spoke again. "… we saw more than one. A little boy, and—you would melt –literally– if he touched you–" Her voice got watery as she said: "she was only trying to comfort him; the crying was awful to listen to."
Oh…
No wonder they sound so familiar.
How'd I not recognize their voices until now?
"Luci…? Abigail?" Dylan queried, shocked.
"Oh my god—Dylan?" Luci let out, stunned.
"Oh! That must mean… Saphris!" Abigail said, almost buoyantly. "I'm so glad you guys are okay."
"Yeah," Luci agreed thickly. "We thought everyone died after that—that… I don't even know how to describe it…"
"After what…?" Saphris asked hesitantly, afraid of the answer.
"It was just noise." Abigail whispered, voice scratchy. "A literal wall of noise –and blood– that had rushed past us. It was more than that, obviously—but it was a blur—we had barely managed to duck into that cubby hole before it swept everything away with it."
"There was so much blood."
"Wait," Dylan interrupted, piecing it together. "You guys were in the foyer during that massacre?" She asked, alarmed.
"Were you?" Abigail parroted, taken aback.
"No! Thank fuck for that. I ran for B-hall the moment the screaming started; I had to find Saphris." She replied, jabbing a thumb at Saphris despite them not being able to see it. "But we had seen the aftermath not too long ago…" she answered, trailing off miserably—the bloody scene they had stumbled across flashing through her mind.
She could almost feel the two of them cringing in the silence that stretched from her words.
She sighed again, rubbing at her eyes with the pads of her fingers. This is such a mess. What the fuck is happening? This doesn't feel real anymore—where are the cops? The parents? The fucking teachers?
As the silence continued to linger, Dylan realized she could hear the quiet, soothing tick of a clock behind her somewhere. And it surprised her to hear it despite the fact she knew that a battery-powered clock wouldn't shut down when the school did; it was comforting to listen to nonetheless.
"How long have you guys been in here?" Saphris asked suddenly, voice soft. It startled Dylan back into the grim atmosphere of their group.
"… Not too long after we were able to leave the foyer—and no, we didn't see where that wall-of-a-monster went. It just disappeared." Abigail answered in a rough voice, sounding almost irritated as she recounted it. "We tried to get into the front-office first—but, well, you know how that went–"
"Woah woah woah! Wait a damn minute!" Saphris interrupted loudly, stopping Abigail in her tracks. "You mean to tell me… that after listening to a monster thrashing someone over the intercom, which is in the front-office, your first thought was to get into the same room?!" She accused, tone thick with disbelief at the words she was hearing. "Are you fucking nuts?"
"Well… when you put it like that…" Luci commented sheepishly.
"… In our defense—we were a little traumatized from everything else that happened." Abigail defended weakly.
Saphris groaned.
"Either way. As soon as we figured out the nurse's door was still unlocked, we made ourselves comfortable." Abigail finished, shifting noisily as she readjusted to a better position.
"You haven't left since then?" Dylan asked, disconcerted. "Are you not looking for ways out?" She questioned, assuming—not thinking.
She realized the weight of her words as soon as they left her mouth. "What's that supposed to mean?" Luci accused, whippishly quick.
Dylan raised her hands in a placating gesture despite the darkness. "I'm sorry, that came out wrong." She started apologetically.
"Yeah. It did." Luci and Abigail intoned flatly.
She grimaced, speaking even as the shame crept up her cheeks. "But, I'm sure you guys have noticed how fucking weird this whole thing is." Dylan elaborated. "I mean, we've been stuck here for how long now, and the cops still haven't shown up? Something ain't right." She ended resolutely.
There was another pregnant pause at her words.
"What?"
"… Speaking of weird things…" Luci started uneasily, finally breaking the silence.
"You guys wouldn't believe what we found on the Nurse's computer." Abigail finished, taking over. "This shit-show has got to be way more complicated than we thought."
"Don't I know it." Dylan muttered, lowly. But she couldn't help the tiny thrill of excitement over the fact that they were finally getting more information on their situation. She glanced over at Saphris without meaning to, hoping to share a look with the girl before she realized the pointlessness of the gesture. "What'd you find?" She asked, leaning forward.