The creature hobbled towards the residence building; the sheared stop sign still through its knee and it sliced at its other leg as it walked. Step by step, it moved forward without being in any particular rush despite all the panicked people. In fact, it almost seemed lost until it was caught off guard by the proximity alarm of a pickup truck. The creature snapped its head towards the noisy vehicle in question and, from underneath the pickup truck, it saw the mastiff crawl out and make a limped dash towards the building Dwayne had been so viciously thrown into. The creature watched for a few seconds as the dog began scratching at the pile of debris from the fitness center and whining. It then let out another ferocious bellow and began to quickly move towards the dog.
Julian, who was close by, watched as the creature turned its body back around and go towards the dog. What’s that stupid dog doing? He thought. It’s going to get itself killed just like… Like… Dwayne. Shit! Dwayne… No… He clenched the grass and dirt beneath his hands as he struggled to decide on what action to take. His choices boiled down to three: stay where he was, take the chance to run away, or somehow lead the mastiff away. His hands began to shake again, and his heartbeat quickened. Then all of a sudden, he got up and let out a loud whistle. The mastiff paused and abruptly looked at Julian. The creature turned towards him, as well, a second after.
“Julian!” Alyson shouted as she instinctively jumped down from the pile of rubble. It felt as though her body wanted to move on its own as she was about to run towards Julian, but Sky held her back.
“Alyson, what’re you doing? Stop!”
“But she’s going to be killed!”
“She?” Sky questioned, but she wasn’t about to get an answer as her focus shifted back to the immediate situation.
Julian ran as fast as he consciously could.
“C-c’mon, boy! O-over here!” He yelled and waved to the mastiff, but the dog didn’t move. However, the creature did. Julian stumbled back, but kept standing. “F-for Christ’s sake, get over here!” But the dog still refused to move and resumed scratching at the debris.
Julian stumbled back again as the creature took a step towards him. He gave a panicked look around his surroundings and saw Alyson and the others by the pile of rubble, then he looked back at the desperate mastiff. Finally, he looked at the creature currently approaching him… And without giving it too much thought, Julian made a mad dash towards where the others stood.
Unfortunately, that only enticed the creature and, despite the stop sign in its leg, it dug its half-pincers into the ground and lowered its body. It resembled a competitive sprinter at the starting line.
As Julian ran, he took a glance behind himself and felt his heart sink.
The creature’s feet pulled up chunks of earth as it chased after Julian and, with each step, it made the ground rumble.
Julian’s heart raced; pounding at his chest as if it wanted to escape; adrenaline pumping throughout his body like fuel to an engine. No… No way! I don’t want to die! He hysterically thought. But midway through his next step, right when the creature was neck and neck with him, with its half-pincer in the air, everything blurred.
Back near the pile of rubble, Alyson and the others watched in horror as the creature chased after Julian, but their sentiments quickly turned to confusion when he was replaced with a blurry stream that passed them by. The creature had also brutally crashed onto the ground after throwing its body into a failed attack.
Julian slid on the ground, collecting grass stains and dirt, and stopped halfway between Alyson and Sky, and Brendan and invisible Vicky. Everyone took a short pause to look at him, not quite sure what to make of what had just occurred. But they didn’t have the privilege of standing idly by for long since the creature was working on getting back up. Fortunately, its worsened injuries were buying them some time.
The creature’s fall had caused the stop sign in its forward facing knee to snap in half, but in doing so it severed that leg apart. Meanwhile, its other leg was only hanging on by mere strips of skin due to the intense slicing that it had endured. The creature was forced to use its half-pincers to crawl along the ground. It bellowed in pain and anger.
Brendan ran to help up a half-unconscious Julian. He could feel Julian’s heart beating at an abnormally rapid pace; faster than even Vicky’s. In any normal circumstance this would have been cause for concern, and technically it was, but considering the events that had unfolded it wasn’t that pressing of a concern to Brendan. But, as he was about to move with Julian, he heard something familiar: shifting and crackling, like something breaking. Brendan’s eyes widened and he quickly looked at the residence building. The section he had predicted would give away in the near future had begun to do just that, and if they didn’t leave now their families wouldn’t have to worry about a burial.
Everyone ran to get over the pile of rubble. Sky was up and over first, followed by Alyson, then Vicky, Brendan and Julian. Connor was nowhere to be seen as he was the first one to climb over the rubble and get away. As they all headed onto the path towards the main building, they heard fast-paced thuds and right behind them the creature emerged, towering atop the rubble on its half-pincers. Panicked, everyone began to run towards the main building as the creature began to pull itself over the rubble to follow.
However, as the creature crawled, one of its half-pincers fell through a narrow opening in the pile and became stuck, stopping it in its tracks. The creature violently wrenched its appendage and bellowed to dislodge itself, but the uncontrolled force caused the creature to propel backwards and slam into the residence. The building cracked and crunched upon impact and, before the creature could understand what was about to happen, that section of the building completely gave away. It crumbled on top of the creature -brick, dry wall, furniture and all- forcing a muffled wail out of the creature’s grilled mouth.
Alyson took a brief pause to bear witness to the event, but she was quickly pulled back along by the feeling of a hand forcefully grabbing her wrist.
As they all entered the main building, they discovered that they weren’t the only ones seeking refuge. Quite a few people from the residence were there, as well as Connor who whimpered in a corner far from the doorway.
Alyson immediately went to comfort him while Sky and the others took in the sight of students and staff crying; some huddled together out of trauma; some trying to figure out if what they had seen was real or just part of their high; some just in plain old hysteria. One guy in particular was being held back by some of his friends as he fought to get to the entrance.
“Let me go! You left Cherise out there! You selfish bastards!”
Sky watched him the closest, an air of sadness beginning to wash over her until Vicky’s voice snapped her back, and she turned back towards the rest of the group.
“H-hey, so what do we do now?”
Sky raised an eyebrow as she looked around for Vicky, but as she didn’t see her Sky began to panic a little.
“Wait… Where’s Vicky? I swore I saw her earlier and I thought I just heard her, but she’s not—Oh my god…” Sky said then abruptly looked towards the entrance with a sickening feeling that they may have left her behind.
“I’m… I’m right here…” Vicky’s voice sheepishly reassured.
Sky turned to the vacant space beside Brendan. “Uhh… Where?” Sky asked, scanning that general area.
Brendan then raised his hand and seemingly let it rest in mid-air. “Here.”
With her mouth slightly ajar, Sky’s gaze moved from the empty space to Brendan, then to Julian –who was still half-unconscious- and after a moment, she donned an earnest frown. She briskly walked up to Alyson and Connor, grabbing them both by the arm once again, and tugged them toward a corridor.
Unsure of what Sky was doing, but figured it’d be best to stay together, Brendan –still helping Julian- and Vicky followed close behind.
“S-Sky, where’re we going?” Alyson asked.
“To the multimedia wing,” Sky replied, then said something under her breath resembling “If it’s still standing...”
They walked for a few minutes, toward the back of the building, passing by the clean science wing, the dreary business wing, and the isolated broadcasting wing. And once they finally arrived at the multimedia wing, Sky slapped her program’s key card against the square, gray scanner on the wall and pulled the door open as soon as she heard a beep. She entered the area with Alyson and Connor in toe, whilst everyone else followed suit. Once inside, Sky closed the door behind them, but didn’t turn to face everyone else until after a few seconds. Once she did, however, she intently looked from person to person, including Vicky who had become semi-visible before everyone’s eyes. A silence filled the air before she spoke.
“Now… I’m going to ask this once and only once… What is going on?” She said with as much determination as she could muster.
'Insight' will return........
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