And in other news, today marks the Anniversary of the discovery of the Exos. The mayor will be hosting a celebration in the town center for all to attend. We will be broadcasting live starting at 6pm. And now, the weather.

"Brendon, hurry up dear! You dont want to be late for your first day."

"Coming mom!" Brendon comes bumbling down the stairs, almost stepping on Mr. Whiskers who decided to nap on the last step. Instead he ends up tripping on said cat, and fell flat on his face.

"Oh dear, where are your glasses? You are the one who made yourself need them in the first place, the least you can do is wear them."

Fine mom. Brendon reluctantly pulls the glasses out of his pocket, which were spared the fate of being shattered from the fall. He grabs his backpack from its sedentary position on the couch. Love you mom. She ruffles his bright orange hair and reaches to give him a kiss on the cheek. Love you too sweetie. He breaks from her overbearing grasps, and heads out 10 minutes earlier than expected, despite his mom nagging him about his lateness.

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The pallor concrete of the sidewalk has a forceful pressure under his feet as if the ground itself was rejecting his travels. He stops to look at the telecast screen on the sidewalk pole while he was waiting for the little man to signal that it was time to cross. And now we shall be reading comments from citizens about their opinions on the exos. Sherly writes my exo is my everything. I suffered from chronic migraines, and now my head is pain free!

Tsk. At least those things helped some people. Instead of relieving and illness, they gave me one. The man flashes on screen, and he is off.

As he walks, he observes the small buildings that line the streets. The corner store was made from the corpse of a megamart from years past, Despite the outside being made up of broken, patched up concrete, the inside was quaint and welcoming. The houses were all made of either mismatched brick or chipped and crumbling doors, all of it was pre-war era. A repairman was restoring a house whose wall was crumbling by taking new bricks and smashing them to look like they were old and damaged. The people of Estralia are really terrified to let the past go.

His thoughts are interrupted by a woman preaching. Not these guys again, he thinks. As he approaches the mumbled sounds are now a clear chant. PAIN IS NECESSARY. YOU ARE GOING AGAINST THE ORDER OF THE UNIVERSE.. The strange woman was a part of lustitae est dolor, a sadistic cult who despise the Exos, and believe that pain is good and is needed to destroy the weak. The tattoo on her left thigh is their symbol: a bloodied pendulum blade behind the scales of justice. She is also wearing the cults cloak, a teal one with gold trim, and a broken gas mask which slightly muffles her voice, He tries his best to scramble past her, but she shoves a pamphlet in front of him, and he takes it, too afraid to protest his real feelings.

After that awkward encounter New Life High School comes into view. The brick and mortar building was supposed to emanate the feeling of a secure learning environment. The only security Brendon got from it was the maximum kind. Here goes nothing. With a confident step forward followed by many meek ones, Brendon enters the building. He checks and then double checks out each room number, scanning the halls for his classroom. He keeps his shoulders tight and close, while his steps are short and his pace is slow. After a few cramped minutes, he finds it, room 204. He settles down on a chair in the back right. Everytime he shifts, the chair wobbles slightly, but it wouldnt matter since he wouldnt be moving much. Mrs. Yardsborough stands up from behind her desk and utters the words Brendon had been dreading, Class we have a new student. Please come up to the front and introduce yourself. Brendon starts his shaky ascent up the aisle. As he finally makes it to the gallow spot, his face is flushed, and the shaking hasnt stopped, he swallows. Um-Hi my name is Brendon Dander. Im from Thia. Nice to meet you all. As he walks back to his seat he hears the sniggers of his classmates, and the comments he knew were coming. Whats up with those glasses? He looks like a drop-out Harry Potter. Nah hes more of a Ron, except hes never getting laid. He looks like a little bitch if you ask me. Why would they let his kind here? Hes fucking crazy.

He tries his best to control his breathing as the lecture began to drone on, but the asshole behind him keeps kicking his chair. It causes his pen to shake with each vibration, making his notes a mere mess of letters and sharp lines. Suddenly, the intercom booms from the ceiling with its omnipotent voice. Attention students, there has been a slight problem. Please do not be alarmed. We will be putting the school on lockdown until the situation is handled. As if on cue, screams erupt from the hallway. Screams so loud and filled with terror an outsider would not be faulted for believing that Vesuvius was erupting. The students in the room look around with shock plastered on their faces. Mrs. Yardsborough went to close and lock the door, but backed away in horror when a moaning sound came from the other side of the door. When she leaps back, the door swings open.

A horrifying creature enters the room. The creature was human-esque, but any semblance of its humanity had been sucked away. The figures skin is shrunken and dry, contouring to the bones beneath. It is a greenish brown in tone, and all muscle had gone from its body. Its face is sunken and its eyes are red with murky pupils. Its nose and ears are decaying, and its hands are like the claws of an animal. It lunges at Mrs. Yardsborough with the ferocity of a rabid animal. It used its claws to impale and shred open her neck, and it gnarls at the guts pouring out. Brendon takes to the chance to sprint out of the room before the beast has the chance to make him its next meal. He ran as fast as he can to the only room he bothered to remember from the tour: the library.

He passed several more of those creatures who were too preoccupied with their screaming prey to care about him. His vision is blurred from the motion, but he could make out exos floating over the monsters as he whizzes by. When he gets to the library, he finds 5 other kids hiding under some tables. He was too frightened to worry about social awkwardness. He hid under the tables with them. The panic attack he had fought back earlier broke free from his restraints and was filling his whole body. The air fled from his lungs, and the shaking doesnt stop. He rocks himself trying to fend off the demons plaguing him, and a warm hand is cautiously placed on his shoulder. It manages to calm him slighty. He looks up to find a girl with beautiful almond eyes and tanned skin. Hi, are you okay? I know its very scary right now, but dont be afraid this room is safe. The walls are so thick that no sound sound can be heard from the outside vise versa, they wont come for us. Her smile melts away his fear, and she coaches him to breathe normally. Finally he is free from his demons again. A girl with short buzzed hair and evil looking green eyes barked, Its a good thing that these wall or so thick. I wouldnt to be killed because bitch boys wheezing attracted those monsters.

Roxxy! Dont be so insensitive. Its a scary situation were in, we all express our fear differently.

Yeah, not all of us can be blessed with being able to function without a heart. A boy quips behind them. Roxxy sends him a death glare. He responds by running a hand through his unkempt, yet somehow tidy hair and winking his jovial brown eyes. Her glare just deepens. The girl who had calmed Brendon turns her gaze back to him. Im Amy by the way. She outstretches her hand, but he just nods awkwardly, knowing fully well that his hands were way too sweaty for shaky. A flamboyant looking boy in a letterman jacket pipes up. Hey, so if this room is safe why are we bothering to hide? Lets just sit at these tables like normal people. Everyone got up from their positions and sat in the chairs there were once hiding under. Letterman Jacket boy speaks up first. So, what the fuck are those things? A girl with long raven hair responded. I dont know man. They had exos with them. I knew we never should have trusted those fucking things.

Well, I guess its our job to find out whats going on. Those idiots out there are just going to get themselves killed. We were smart enough to hide. Letterman Jacket boy seemed pretty proud at that as he brushed away his swooped hair that was covering one of his baby blue eyes. The other boy piped up, You guys seem pretty nonchalant about this whole thing, when Im pretty sure the apocalypse has just descended upon us. The whole group sat in silence for a moment. Amy breaks the silence. I think it would be smart to hide up in here until this blows over. Then we can check on our families. Sound like a plan? They all nodded , but none of them were sure of they believed that they would see their parents again.