Chapter Ten~ Act One: The Shadows Will Not Harm You
The month of October had arrived much faster than anyone had expected. Even during the week marking the final few days of the month, many students were rather enamored with the promise a Spore Celebration/Halloween Festival/"Elite Students Always Throw the Coolest Parties" Party taking place within the auditorium and spreading through each corner of the academy.
Even if people preferred to stay in their dorm rooms, glow sticks, hanging lights, or maybe some sort of coloring book was available for a toned down method of entertainment.
Bass and drums and rhythms pounding from each speaker vibrated walls and floors like tectonic shifts. The air was sickly sweet with some sort of harmless Utopian powder and normally went unnoticed amongst the partygoers already sweating, grinding, and gyrating to their own choreography.
The deluxe snack table covered in Utopia's finest junk food and soda (liquor was discussed but quickly denied by the Headmaster) filled the waiting rooms with their enriching aroma and made for the perfect way to relax.
But who needed time to rest when the Spores kept every up and moving from hours at a time? The Spore was the perfect accessory for late night cramming, exercise, and of course all night partying. Couples made out in corners, fallen streamers were worn as scarves, a few cold bottles of diet Coke and Mentos made for a much better alternative to some rinky-dink air conditioning.
Frida smiled to herself, pleased with the preparation that had turned out beautifully. Utopia may have been classy, but they certainly knew a thing or two about festivities. With the student discount and fellow Elite assistance, the party had turned out to be a success far beyond Frida's previous masterpieces in Miracle City.
"Pretty cool, huh?" Frida admired the view from the largest balcony overlooking the light speckled crowd. "This'll make a good start for all of us."
"I'm surprised we could do all this done without blowing the budget." Manny said.
"Psh, like we even had a budget. We practically got everything free with the discount," Frida took a quick drink of apple cider and pointed out to the window right across from them. "That includes the festival arrangements. All the games are set up, right?"
Manny smirked. "Duh, I had it fixed up hours ago. Come on, I here Dib really hooked up the Haunted House."
Unlike the sleekness of inside, the garden and forestry of outdoors was adorned with jack-o-lanterns of varying sizes, plastic skeletons hanging from candied ropes, a dunking chamber, an obstacle course, and the classic display of apple bobbing.
But the real centerpiece was a haunted house gathering the attention of all those brave enough to enter its decrepit walls. There turned out to be the perfect section of empty space in the darkest area of the woods for that purpose.
A few hours of architecture within the Build system later and the display was finally up and running.
"I can't say I'm into this gimmicky horror stuff, but this did turn out nicely." Dib leaned against one of the many oak trees as he watched multiple students entering the wooden, chamber doors clinking with chains.
The haunted house had the usual: ghosts, zombies, mummies, a couple vampire and some guts and gore filled with cherry-caramel fillings. Those who couldn't test the Spore were more than willing to deck themselves in fake blood and pale make up for the occasion.
They were scary and humoring enough to lead those who entered into a swirling path lined with candy. Dib couldn't help but be impressed with his work, even if derived most of his inspiration from some old episodes of Mysterious Mysteries.
"I knew you were best for the job," Yin said. "So, I take it Yang wanted to be part of it too?"
Dib shrugged. "He figured he would dress as a mummy and be the main act towards the end of the path. According to responses, I can't tell if he's being scary or hilarious."
"My brother has a strange talent of being both."
"Yo, Witchy and Dracula!" Manny shouted, waving at both of them and the crowd of costumed students greeting him and Frida.
"Hey Manny," Yin replied. "A cowboy this year?"
Manny proudly adjusted the brim of his hat. "I felt like going a little western."
"I couldn't choose between being a cat or a deceased rock star, so I'm both." Frida said as she pushed up the spiky leather straps layered over the ripped fishnets covering her arms.
"Oh really? I thought you were some sort of BDSM harlot." A satisfied laugh followed up the remark.
Frida narrowed her eyes as she looked over her shoulder. "Of course you would know what that is, Aves."
Zoe smirked as she twirled a candied apple in between her claw like fingernails. "I just wanted to drop by and say the Elite Halloween party is a killer. The decorations look so genuine. Really brings me back to kindergarten."
Manny sighed, "Zoe, we worked really hard on this thing. The least you can do is pretend you like it."
Zoe batted her eyelashes. "Oh Manny, I'm sure you worked your fingers to the bone on this. I bet your poor little hands are aching. Need a massage?"
"What he needs is you out of here," Frida stepped closer until she was in Zoe's face. "Why don't you go sulk in a corner like you always do?"
"For your information, I actually kinda like Halloween. So I may as well fathom what you guys spat out." Zoe took a big bite of her apple before turning away. "Happy Halloween!"
"Ugh, I can't stand her." Frida snarled.
"Let's forget about her," Yin said, pointing towards the haunted house's entrance. "I figure we go see Yang in his mummy get up."
"Such a charmer, Miss Aves. Really amped up that natural class of yours back there."
Zoe ignored Yuck's comment as she walked into an abandoned section of the woods. The back of the school covered in forestry was the only unattended area not covered in Elite publicity or any of their loyal subjects.
Conjuring the spell would require an empty and spacious area with minimal light and no onlookers. The hosts still harboring the shadow's unborn children were chained to different trees, still shaking and snarling violently. Their uniforms had been reduced to ragged strips of cloth baring the wounds swarming with a ghostly black.
The weeks spent practicing the spell would come to use that night and mark the first step of taking down Utopia and taking over the Universe.
Since Zoe's link to the demons still remained, Yuck would be marked as prey in their eyes. He didn't mind of course and now sat on the thickest tree branch, sword in hand and a grin on his face. Zoe swept back the sheer wedding veil from her shoulders as she scanned over the large patch of grass.
"How convenient," Zoe said. "I thought this whole area would be swarmed in trees."
"They're all cut up and burned thanks to yours truly," Yuck said. "But of course we needed some seats for our guests."
"I take it you're eager for our little assignment? As far as I know, the shields only apply to Utopians and students so you'll be free to hack away at the shadows all you want."
"It's the only excitement I'll be getting in a while. Now cut the chatting and whip up that spell. I want this shadow buffet started before the sun rises."
"How polite," Zoe stood in the center of the forest and held her arms out to the sky.
Palms bare, head up, eyes closed…
She could already feel the air growing thin against her skin and sending mixed colors beneath her eyelids. There were whispers and howling winds building up around her until the trees left standing curved in response.
The words came to her instantly and were spoken without a minute of hesitation. The shadow's foreign language was a complex one but wasn't impossible to master.
With each uttered phrase, she could feel tangents of her own magic mixing with that of the shadows. Hoarse screams and songs of piercing volumes ripped through the trees and into what remained of the human hosts.
Zoe felt herself easing into the summoning and let her own memory carry her on through the rest. Soon enough, she was swinging her arms and hips and every which motion, letting the breeze billow her dress and ruffle her hair.
The shadow's screams became louder until they outweighed those of the tormented hosts. There was a guttural howl and something wet ripping open through maimed flesh.
Zoe opened her eyes and rested her hands to observe her work. The clouds above were rushing rapidly as shadowy limbs clawed their way within, behind, and beneath the trees.
The chained hosts no longer barred human bodies.
Their souls had been fully consumed, leaving behind a proper nesting place for more demons to sprout. Bulging heads grew along bent and bloody appendages. Gaping holes still swarming with unborn demons spread along their bodies until they appeared entirely hollow.
Their eyes had been reduced to dull, dreary shapes glaring in search of their first meal.
"Holy-"
"Pretty cool," Zoe said as she sauntered around her work.
"I'll say." Yuck jumped down from the tree and didn't hesitate as the crunch of leaves left the newly born creatures drooling and snarling.
Their bodies were paper thin with rarely any skin or meat left to support their yellow eyed, gray forms. Their oversized fangs far too big for their mouths seemed to be the only thing with some sort of weight. Yuck smirked with his sword already pointed out to a crowd inching towards him.
"I figure you'll be having fun tonight?" Zoe said as Yuck coated his sword's blade in jade tinted fire.
"Of course," he said. "I hope the others will enjoy our little surprise."
"The hallway is crawling with them. Those children in their plastic and bloody masks, shoving down anything they get their hands on."
Zim grumbled towards his dorm window as he watched the students partaking in the festival arrangements. He rarely took part in organizing the Halloween party but his status as an Elites still remained, making him a target for questions and comments from whoever walked by his dorm.
Nearly each second there was an insufferable knocking at his door along with giggles and whispers that all sounded the same to him. He wanted to avoid anything having to do with Halloween or the Elite's propaganda. But no matter what, he always found himself reeled back in.
He thought isolating himself to go over his collected information on the school would be a few moments of peace. But the music vibrating the walls and the insipid laughter behind his door only frustrated him further.
Gir had left earlier after being so easily reeled in from the candy and other confections plaguing the party. At most, Gir would eat until he was ten times his own weight, break a few things and then fall asleep. It was much better to have him causing whatever havoc he wanted instead of being trapped in the same room.
"Zim! Can my friend get a Spore in pink?"
"Do you know how long I can use it without getting exhausted?"
"How do you breathe without a nose?"
Zim curled his fingers into the violet red device in his hands until he could hear the glass breaking. Barring his teeth, he ejected a much unused PAK leg and jammed it through the door's metal structure.
The dreadful screeching and dangerously pointed device was enough to have those near his door screaming or requesting to ask him questions later. Zim retracted the leg, displeased that there were only remains of the metal instead of any trace of blood.
If he had managed to destroy anyone or anything would be his only achievement over the past month. Utopia's infrastructure was one entirely protected in design and spirit.
There were shields only visible after attacks, architecture rebuilding minutes later after receiving damage, and any form of information that could be used to crack it open was left hidden. His original goal of destroying the city would be pointless.
He couldn't possibly fathom another lone month, going about his days as an idle student. Zim would communicate to the Tallest or see if there was any way to contact resources, but all attempts were blocked.
Simply leaving was another obstacle that Utopia seemed to construct simply to annoy him. Access to the jets were closed off in their unbreakable glass domes and protected with elaborate passwords. Without his ship, going back to Earth to continue his real work would be impossible.
Useless. Useless.
"Useless…"
Another vibration shook his bed as the next song on Frida's mile long playlist started up. It was always the beginnings that irked him. But not nearly as bad as the so called "bass dropping" the students seemed so found of.
After several minutes of no results worth testing, Zim placed the scanner back in his PAK. The song hadn't reached the bass dropping yet and there were no students at his door which gave him a few minutes to his own thoughts.
From what he knew, Utopia was not entirely indestructible, simply well prepared. They had technology that didn't measure up to his own and were passed out like toys to their people. There was a school with no real purpose covered with creatures as empty and hideous as their mentors. And for whatever reason, dawning a Technicolor sash and passing out paper thin metal that avoided sleep deemed you worthy of praise.
Zim was amongst that group and knew that his PAK's coordinates would be a form of base for new developments until the waste filling the Resources class learned the simplest of instructions. This was all he knew and it was only enough to make him infuriated.
"No data, nothing to build on. How inefficient."
A screeching along his door caught his attention.
It had be another admirer with questions but clearly not knowing the proper way to knock.
Zim readied his PAK leg to strike again but the screeching continued. Zim waited to hear the familiar sound of knocking but the screech only rose in volumes and mixed with the wet squish and sickening crunch of something being ripped and broken. Zim shuddered as his PAK leg returned and he stood up from his bed. His steps were slow and quiet as he walked backwards towards the window.
His door dented until large fractions of metal were busted open to reveal pieces of shadowy black swerving out of it and eventually consuming the door entirely. From where he stood, he could see blood and large, fanged teeth biting into something pink.
He didn't know what it was and wouldn't wait to learn.
Zim opened his window and prepared to jump but stopped himself when he saw crowds of black clogging the grass. Each one varied in size and shape but were all gray, drooling, and savagely attacked whatever body they came across.
Students that weren't pinned down and losing limbs were fighting off hoards of the creatures with whatever magical or physical ability they had. But soon they would grow tiered or get swarmed only to be devoured themselves.
A pair of dull yellow eyes peered up at him. Feeling his organs tightening inside him, he shut the window closed and turned around to see the door was mostly intact but now had a girl lying within a large hole. A sizable chunk was gone from her scalp and blood fell in thin lines down her agape mouth. What remained of her eyes were now an unhealthy pink and running with tears.
"Gah!" Zim hastily searched the room for an exit but realized to his horror that he'd have to exit through that unnamed girl's grave. The window was now being crowded in the misty black and slowly cracking open. He held his breath and stepped carefully through the hole, his boots squelching against the girl's dead body already beginning to defecate.
When he got into the hallway, a gray body already devouring another student was seen in the corner but much too occupied with his meal to notice Zim walking away. The hall was rather clear with only a few of the shadow like beasts seen inside of dorm rooms. Wherever they appeared, scattered limbs and blood followed.
Zim was finally down a path to the elevator but something inside him told him not to enter. He had remembered something from one of Gir's beloved shows about avoiding elevators during disasters.
Or was it vending machines?
Zim headed down the closest flight of stairs and turned into his watch.
"Gir, where are you?"
The sound of fuzzing mixed with the same piercing noise came from the device until Gir finally responded.
"Hiya, master! This party's reeeally fun!"
"What's happening?"
"Everyone's filled with candy, master! Candy!"
"Candy?"
"And strawberries," Gir said and added on a sadder note, "But they're all smushed up before I can have any."