Aboard the scooter, Alyson and Connor -wearing her helmet- sped into the residence’s parking lot and stopped with a skid. In front of them was a crowd of students, the small team of Resident Advisors, and a partly collapsed building.
The college residence was a six-story, European-style, brick building that was very old. Old enough that it was slated to be demolished and replaced with a more modern building for the start of the next fall semester. It’d be a residence that the school could be proud of because, as it stood, Rhinestone wasn’t known for their student hospitality, but it was at least cheap. However, right then it looked as though demolition day had been scheduled much earlier. The back corner section of the east side was mostly in pieces on the ground, while the top-front section still seemed somewhat intact. The same section of the building Brendan’s dorm room was located.
Alyson stared at that section in awe and terror before jumping off her scooter, leaving Connor to hold the vehicle steady before it fell over, and rushed into the crowd. She shoved and pushed past people, ignoring the “heys” and the “watch its,” as she desperately tried to get to the west entrance. But right before she breached the front of the crowd, a hand firmly grabbed her arm and stopped her.
“Alyson! Where ya goin’?” Dwayne asked, accompanied by Julian and a mastiff dog.
Dwayne’s tone wasn’t as gentle as she was used to. It was stern and, for a moment, threw Alyson off before she quickly resumed her previous demeanor.
“I have to get Vicky and Brendan! They’re still in there!” Alyson strained as she tried to pull away.
“What? How d’ya know? Did ya finally get through to ‘em?” Dwayne’s voice softened and he let go of Alyson, who stopped struggling.
“No…” Her eyes began to waver as though she tried to find the answer to the second question. “I just know that they’re in there. Terrified…”
Julian’s eyes thinned and he coldly interjected into the conversation. “So, essentially, you were just about to go running into a collapsing building based on an assumption.”
Alyson opened her mouth to reply, but immediately gave up after realising she couldn’t defend herself. Deep down, in the pit of her stomach, she knew her friends were in trouble but she couldn’t explain why. And saying it was just a feeling wasn’t going to satisfy Julian. Thus, Alyson began to doubt herself and feel dumb.
“Julian, stop it,” Dwayne said and abruptly turned to him. Dwayne knew all too well where the conversation would lead if Julian kept talking. “It ain’t unreasonable to think they’re inside. She hasn’t heard from ‘em, and we haven’t found ‘em. So try not to be a dick right now.”
Julian clammed up like a scolded child.
Alyson was wide-eyed. Dwayne had always been the happy-go-lucky type; too nice for his own good, so she had never witnessed him be so serious. Even the dog whimpered a bit at his change in temperament, which made Alyson finally acknowledged the large dog next to Dwayne with its tongue hanging out. The dog’s size stunned her because it almost reached her hip, but considering the current situation, she didn’t feel like it was the appropriate time to ask about the reason it was there.
Dwayne turned back to Alyson and noticed her surprised expression. “Sorry ‘bout that,” he sighed, relaxing his serious expression and awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. “Didn’t mean to scare ya,” he continued. “But… And I hate t’admit it, but Julian did have a point. Ya can’t just run in there, Alyson…”
Despite being the same age as Dwayne, Alyson felt as though he was much older by the way he was lecturing her.
“Firefighters should be here soon, so if Victoria and Brendan are really inside, they’ll get to ‘em, okay?”
Alyson nodded. She was visibly still upset, but she didn’t argue because she knew he was right.
“I… I should go back and get Connor. I left him by my scooter,” she said, trying to find a way out of her self-proclaimed awkward situation.
“Connor Vitel?” Julian asked after finding a moment to speak.
“Yeah, I ran into him while on my way here… Not literally, though!” Alyson quickly corrected after realising the way it could’ve been interpreted.
“Okay? Well, I guess I’ll go with you then. See how he’s doing.” Julian placed his hands in his pockets and walked up next to Alyson. “Come on, move it…”
“Uhm yeah, okay…”
“Wait, before ya go, take her with ya?” Dwayne asked and pointed to the dog. “I’m gonna keep askin’ ‘round, and I don’t want ‘er to keep bumpin’ into people.”
Julian shrugged, not really caring either way, but Alyson was unsure whether she wanted such a massive house animal next to her.
“I dunno, Dwayne… Not that I’m scared of dogs or anything but…”
Dwayne looked from Alyson to the dog and back, then understood why she was so apprehensive. “Oh! I gotcha, but it’s easy enough to solve.” Dwayne took Alyson’s hand and brought it closer to the dog’s nose. “She ain’t gonna go with ya either if she doesn’t know ya, so lettin’ ‘er smell ya should help.”
Alyson was a little uncomfortable as the dog sniffed her hand, but after a few seconds she was petting the dog’s head, albeit in an awkward fashion, and the dog was licking her hand.
“There we go!” Dwayne exclaimed and rubbed the dog’s face with vigor. “Alrighty, ya got another new friend now, so go on with ‘em, okay? They’ll take care of ya ‘til I get back.” He said and pointed to the duo. It took the dog a moment, but soon enough it limped towards Alyson and Julian, placing itself next to the former rather than the latter. Julian let out a huff.
The trio then headed off into the crowd, towards the parking lot.
Dwayne watched them leave with something of a smirk on his face before walking away in the opposite direction.
Alyson and Julian emerged from the crowd and easily found Connor. He still nervously remained by the scooter, but was standing and hugging Alyson’s helmet.
“A-Alyson! Did you find your friends?” Connor asked as soon as he spotted her. “Why’s Julian with you? And w-w-why’s there such a big dog?”
“Nice to see you too, Connor…” Julian said, half-sarcastically.
“S-Sorry! I didn’t mean to sound rude, I’ve just never seen you two together and…”
“Connor, chill… I’m kidding, and the dog’s Dwayne’s.”
“Oh… Sorry…Okay…”
Julian sighed while Alyson couldn’t help but lightly glare at him. Would it kill you to be a little gentler with him? She thought, but didn’t have the confidence to say it out loud. Besides, she knew more about Connor’s situation than Julian, so it wouldn’t have been fair to say. So, Alyson shook her head and carried on.
“Sorry for leaving you like I did, Connor, but thanks for keeping an eye on my scooter,” she smiled and noted that her scooter was on its kickstand and the gas was turned off. “Unfortunately, though, I haven’t found them yet.” Alyson gave a quick glance to Julian, half-expecting an insensitive remark, but he said nothing. “But we’ll wait here until help—“
An almost deafening bellow viciously shot through the air, interrupting Alyson and grabbing the attention of every person in the crowded front lot of the residence. No one said a word, though, as they looked around for its source. They saw nothing, but could feel a low rumble on the ground, and hear enclosing sounds. One sounded like the skidding of a vehicle while the other resembled the sound of loud, hurried scuttling. It was then that a minivan suddenly dangerously sped down the road but… Following directly behind, almost as fast, was a creature the likes of which no one had ever seen.
It was double the height of the minivan and half its size in width; white as fresh snow with deep red coursing through what resembled veins. Its limbs were long with half crab-like pincers for hands, and a broad shoulder area. Its torso was wide but with little depth, and its legs seemed as though it shouldn’t support it, but they did. However, before anyone could react to this monstrosity, it caught up to the fleeing minivan and wiped it from the road like it was swatting a fly from the air.
The car spun through the air as it was hurled directly at the crowd, taking a stop sign with it. Very few people had time to process what was happening before it landed and bounced along the asphalt, crushing students and staff alike. Blood stained the ground, cries of pain engulfed the October air, and screams of terror shook everyone to their core. And so every able body bolted from the residence in every conceivable direction. They scattered like ants being sprayed by insecticide. It was mass hysteria.
Alyson quickly pushed herself upright from off the ground. In a fit of fear, the dog had dashed away but had knocked Alyson off her feet in the process. She immediately looked for it, and found it huddled under a nearby pickup truck. She then darted her head from side to side, checking for the whereabouts of Connor and Julian. Everything had happened so fast that she had barely taken note of how they had reacted. Luckily, some of her worries were put at ease once she saw Connor next to her, but he was pinned underneath her scooter. He was hyperventilating and struggling to get it off him. Alyson jumped up and swiftly went to his aid. She easily pulled it off of him and propped it up. She then helped the cowering Connor to his knees and hugged him in an attempt to comfort him. As she did so, she searched for Julian at the same time. He had been standing with them just a moment ago, and she couldn’t believe that he’d just run off and leave them. So where was he? Alyson’s eyes shifted towards the car wreck and carnage, and she felt her heart sink.
“No no no… He couldn’t be…” She whispered in dread. She may not have known Julian all that well, nor were they even close enough to be deemed acquaintances, but despite all that she prayed that he wasn’t part of the wreck. However, something deep down told her to look towards a different direction. Not a sense of disbelief, or searching for a different option, but something vaguely told her to turn away and look somewhere else. And she listened. Behind Alyson, far behind her, near a clump of thin birch trees, laid Julian face-down on the grass. How the hell did he— Alyson’s thought was then brutally interrupted by several ground rumbling thuds… The creature towered over her and Connor.
Chapter 6 will continue...
Comments (0)
See all