Croix burst out the main school door and shot straight towards the bike racks. He could see Landen standing passively by his bike, apparently waiting for him to arrive.

"Landen!" He yelled, nearly knocking his unsuspecting friend over with his small frame. "We need to get out of here! Now!"

"Woah, woah, woah," the human said with his hands raised for calm. "What's going on, dude? Is something wrong?"

"It's Aamodt!" He blurted. "He's after me and-AHHH! Look out!" He pointed frantically at the front doors, just as a group of four other students dressed in black came charging out.

He could see the equal look of panic on Landen's face as he realized what was going on. "Oh, crap!" He hollered, jumping on his bike in a flash. "Get on!"

Croix did as he was told, gripping nervously against the handlebars while his friend evened the bike out of the racks and brought his foot down on the engine's starter. To their horror, the chain sputtered.

"Oh my God!" He moaned. "Why now?!"

"Keep trying!" Croix urged. "They're getting closer!"

Landen gave the starter another stiff kick but got the same result.

"It's not working!"

"Keep trying!"

"I am!"

"They're almost…" Croix voice trailed, "...here…"

And at that moment they were surrounded, a student in black to each side of them, closing in wordlessly with eyes full of forced cruelty. They moved like specters toward them with hunched bodies that seemed to graze and slither over the numerous racks dividing them. Their gaze was unwavering from where the two boys sat on the stalled bike, the enthralled spreading themselves like clawed predators.

There was no way the boys could take all of them at once and there was no telling what Aamodt had instructed to do with them once they were caught. Considering what the twisted child in black had alluded to weeks earlier, they'd be lucky if he let them live.

Then Landen brought a sharp, splintering heel against the starter, the engine rumbling to life like the fine oiled machine it wasn't.

"That got it!" He hollered excitedly as the engine roared. "Now let's get the heck outta here!"

Revving the engine, they shot forwards, nearly running over one of the enthralled students who stumbled over by result. They zipped down the street at a pace faster than that of their first day on the motorized wonder, not looking back for even an instant.

They kept on speeding away from school until they were sure they'd reached a safe distance, their hearts still beating in stunned unison.

"It was Aamodt!" Croix said once again, Landen slowing the bike slightly so they could hear each other. "He's going to do something on the opening night of the play."

"What exactly?"

"He's going speak to the entire crowd at the end of the show while the big projector screen instead of the red curtain is lowered. They also mentioned something about a video projector and a transceiver but I couldn't tell what that meant."

Landen gasped. "He's gonna enthrall the entire audience!"

"What?! How?"

"Aamodt using his voice alone wouldn't be enough to control everyone in the crowd. He needs people's attention to be centered when he does...whatever he does. The projector and the screen are probably so he could have an image of his face to as well hold the people's minds."

"What about the transceiver then?"

"Well, don't they broadcast big school events on the public access channel? He's trying to get anybody watching it on TV also under his control and who knows how many people that might be."

"Oh my gosh…" Croix remarked in horror. "So many adults, so many people, all under his control. They'll be at least five hundred in the audience, even more watching it on TV."

Landen bit his lip anxiously. "Dang it, dang it, dang it! Why didn't we see this coming? If we'd only known about this sooner, we could've stopped him by now."

"Landen, just be thankful we are aware of this at all. We're lucky as it is."

His friend sighed. "You're right. We just need to keep a cool head about this and plan out our next attack."

"What's the first step?"

"Well, obviously we need to get to a safe place and lie low for awhile. There's no telling how many other people he has out looking for us."

"Umm...Landen?"

"Yes?"

Croix pointed shakily to the road beside them. "I think they're ahead of us on that."

Landen briefly turned his head around to see what he was referring to and nearly shattered entirely. Just a hundred few yards away from them on the street, speeding up to intercept them, was a plain looking white sedan. As if realizing it'd been spotted, the car zoomed forwards suddenly.

"No…" Croix murmured, "that's Ms. Velltri's car."

Landen's face hardened. "Then I guess we know who she's with."

He revved the bike's engine to try and compensate a distance between the approaching car. Noticing this, the car as well increased pace, getting closer and closer to being parallel with them. They looped around a bend on the path with their pursuers still close behind them.

"Can you make it go faster?!" Croix had to shout once again over the wind.

"I can't! If we go past 40 mph, the engine will overheat and we'll be sitting ducks!"

"So what're we going to do?!"

"Nothing! We just stay on the sidewalk until we find some side street to lose them on! Right now they'd have to go over the curb to get us!"

True to what Landen had said, the sedan had reached almost a horizontal equilibrium to them, keeping an identical pace but helpless to stop them. He could make out the outline of Aamodt's head through the passenger-side window and felt a righteous smile cross his lips.

"Havin' some trouble, little man?!" He called with a cupped hand. "Maybe you should get out and run! C'mon, put that fake track career of yours to use!"

The car remained unyielding at its pace but did nothing.

"What's the matter?! Things not easy enough for ya'?! We're right here! Why don't you try something?!"

"Landen, maybe we shouldn't try to make him mad."

The human raised an eyebrow. "Why? It's not like he doesn't have it coming. And besides, he can't do anything to us from where he is."

As if on cue, the car suddenly served up against the concrete curb, its front wheels bouncing over the raised divider while its other two closely followed. The boys screamed as the sedan slipped and slid against the grass of lawns, eventually steadying itself and rumbling towards them down the sidewalk."

"They're going to hit us!" Croix hollered. "What do we do?!"

Landen pressed savagely against handlebars. "We make a detour!"

He careened the bike across an open driveway and onto the thankfully vacant street. The pursuing sedan followed likewise but was far less agile in the maneuver, taking more than a few dings in its front hood and bumper as bounced back onto the pavement.

It was once again a game of speed. The car was closing in behind them while Landen gave the motorized bicycle everything he had. They could feel the heat of the car getting closer, the growl of its engine, the scraping of broken metal against the road.

Croix could see Landen turn the handlebars gruffly, repositioning the bike into a slight curve back towards the sidewalk...and a lamppost beside it.

They skidded, skidded, skidded. Tires squealed as the car behind them followed suit, ready to go with them to the curb and back onto the sidewalk. Croix braced himself for smack of the bike's front wheel against the concrete slab and the vaulting air they'd be granted.

Except, the smack never came, Landen instead twisting the bike away at the last second, his back tire just grazing against the divider. The sedan was unprepared for this and attempted to turn along with them, instead crashing over the curb and straight into the lamppost, nearly ripping it from its steel base.

The two boys didn't stop, not even for a second. Not a glance was given to them, not a word of regret or remorse. They just kept riding. Putting as much distance as possible from the horror that was no doubt still alive.