Sara's POV

Now, when your evil substitute teacher just vanishes in a heartbeat, how do you react?

There are several options.

If you're a guy from the big-city who thinks he's tough, like Jerry, you swear. And you don't stop, even when Emma smacks you with a textbook from across the desk, her red hair flying out behind her.

If you're the smart, philosophical guy, like Ben, you start ranting about how that is physically impossible. Something about physics.

If you've read the book series "Gone", like Ally, Paula and I, you realize with horror how creepily similar your life has suddenly become.

And when you're me, you go pretty much insane.

Since I like organizing things, I stand up shakily, and turn to face the blackboard.

With my typical messy writing, I print:

Our ex-evil-substitute-teacher is not human.

I close my eyes and breathe deeply. I had been training in martial arts for nearly two years now, and I knew plenty of defenses to use when someone grabbed you by the wrist, or any other body part. All these had been taught to me by a really, really strong instructor. And when I had tested them on him, they had worked.

So why the heck could I not make a short, 30-something year old woman let go of me?

"Sara?" Ally asks from behind me. I glance over my shoulder.

"Hey" I whisper.

"You're still bleeding." Paula says gently, reaching out to see my arm.

"Oh." I reply in a rather detached way.

Then I realize something very, very important.

"Aw crap!" I yell, making Renpei, a very loud Asian, jump. "We've got to get to George Street, quick!"

Let me tell you, all the kids in my class are really, really smart. However, they didn't look very intelligent at that moment, dazed and confused. Understanding first dawned in Ally's dark brown eyes.

"Oh god, all the little kids are alone!" she frets. Brain cells in the rest of the classroom finally began to wake up and function. Exclamations soon followed from everyone's lips. The sudden noise made me notice how quiet it was in the hallway….

The rest of the school was completely empty. Wasn't everyone under fifteen supposed to stick around for the party?

As it turned out, no.

…

I grimace as a cramp makes itself known in my side. I'm not quite as athletic as my friends, being about a head and a half shorter than most of them. Ray and Tim, however, are very athletic (and tall), and they went gone ahead to check the back field. They now headed towards us, looking grim.

"The playground's empty too. From your expressions, it seems like the little kids aren't inside either."

Emma nods, glancing towards the entrance of George Street Public School. We got all worked up about our "sister school", because Aurora Senior goes from grades 4 to 8, and George Street from Kindergarten to 3, which should mean that no teachers or kids from older grades + little kids left unattended = chaos.

However, like the rest of our little town, George Street is completely void of life. I think we had all known the answer as we sprinted down three streets to get to our school's other half, but refused to really admit. Now, the answer was agonizingly clear.

Aurora's 21 inhabitants gather on the path outside the brick school. I plop down on the grass beside Evgeiny (who is otherwise known as Evellie, a name he hates), and realize that we are really screwed.

"On the plus side, there are no zombies." he says, elbowing me. That's what you think.

"Don't jinx it, stupid." I tell him. On any other day, I would have laughed, punched him in the head, and maybe given him a hug.

But, we're screwed.

And I'm still bleeding.

XoXoTH44

Well, since Allers is a HUGE procrastinator, I get to write this chapter! =D

Or rather, I WROTE this chapter. Review review review!

Oh, and, anybody else out there LOVE Riku, from kingdom hearts?