Familiar Hauntings

Chapter Seven

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The reptilian creature licked the blood off its claws, cleaning the weapons to their former charcoal-black sheen. It smirked as it scanned the man it had just killed. The head was lopped clean of his body, and his panic was still thick in the air. It curled its face into a prehistoric grin, an instinctive and primal satisfaction enveloping its features. It growled in triumph over its prey. After losing interest in its trophy, it began to clean off its translucent green skin, its tongue lashing rapidly, much like a cat drinking milk from a saucer. In the process of purging the blood from its appearance, it heard a sound. The head of the creature snapped up again as a metal door opened then closed. The sounds of footsteps echoed up the staircase. The monster cut its eyes, sensing new prey. With little sound, it bounded down the hallway, searching for a hiding spot to ambush the sport. It tilted its head upward, and jumped into a ceiling panel, breaking it in half as its head slammed into it with surprising force. Its entire body disappeared above the ceiling, as it effortlessly began to make its way around the small dark crawlspaces it had been provided with. It heard the sounds of the prey moving directly under it, yet it decided to wait until they crossed back through. Then it would attack. The hunter was about to claim a new victim.

****

Devon and Demi descended the staircase together; his arm still wrapped around her shoulders in a protective manner. At least, he intended it to originally be in a protective manner, but he liked the feeling of being so close to her, to feel her body warmth on his. Their footsteps echoed down the dimly lit staircase, as the basement floor hallway came into view. Directly in front of them, to the east, was a long corridor, maybe sixty feet long, with glass double doors at the end. Between those doors and the survivors were five to six rooms reserved for student functions and fraternity and sorority conference rooms. They stepped of the staircase and turned behind it, moving at a very slow pace along the way. Devon peered around the corners, positioning himself so that Demi never left his peripheral vision. At the west end of the corridor, there was a large, shady game room and a bowling alley. This was the student center. The corridor took a ninety-degree turn to the left to reveal the student recreations room. There was an old foosball table, along with a Ping-Pong table and a couple of vending machines. The corridor continued through the recreation center, and it ended with a small computer lab to the right, an elevator on the left, and directly at the end of the hall was a small stainless steel door with a handlebar doorknob. There was a plaque on the door, simply labeled "FAC. MNT. --AUTHROIZED PERSONNEL ONLY."

Devon made a small motion with his bat, indicating the latter. "That's what we're looking for. He cocked his head to Demi. "Be ready for anything okay?"

She nodded weakly, as she began to look around the dimly lit recreation center. Just a few short days ago, she was beating Devon at table tennis fifteen to three. The entire place was filled with noise and commotion. The rattling of the foosball table being jerked around by two rowdy boys, yelling out obscenities to one another as they tried to position their pieces strategically to beat his opponent. The nearby game room behind them had crackled with the electronic beeping of video games, and the cracking break of a billiards game. The student attendant behind the counter was in the process of doing her homework, talking to her best friend over the phone, and handing out bowling shoes and pool balls as she did so. Loud punk music played over the loudspeakers, as passers-by walking to the computer lab silently sang their favorite songs. Devon said something to her and left her side to go behind the glass booth to find the maintenance key, and began rummaging through a drawer. She hadn't completely noticed; she was lost in her thoughts. Just a few days ago, this place had been filled with the commotion and noise of a living, breathing community. Now this place was quiet, unfamiliar. The soul of the building had been taken with the students, and in its emptiness stood a reflection of Demi's very being. Even the familiar sounds of the bowling balls thundering down the lane was absent. As she stared at the lifeless alleys, something caught her eye.

"Devon," she said quietly. He grabbed the key out of the booth and pocketed it before returning to her. He stood back at her side and said nothing, only glanced in her direction as he looked around the rest of the student rec. center for any type of threat. "Devon, that panel of glass is broken out of the bowling alley."

He looked over in the direction she was pointing at. Sure enough, one of the large six-foot panes of glass was shattered from the outside of the bowling alleys.

Devon frowned, not quite sure what to make of it. "Huh, that's odd."

In reply, the two heard a low, rasping cry, unlike the familiar moan of the zombies. Devon's eyes widened in fear, as the hairs on the back of his neck stood straight on end. The two listened, frozen in time, as the unidentified source emitted another throaty sound. Then slowly, the clicking of claws was audible on the hardwood floor. A rhythmic, enchanting beat that seemed to stop Devon in his tracks. The unseen presence voiced another low growl, and Devon frowned and clenched his teeth as he pulled out his weapon from the holster. With a gun in one hand and his bat in the other, he seemed a bit more prepared.

He wasn't.

****

The three girls silently walked up the stairs, listening to their footprints reverberate off the walls of the second floor. Claire took in her surroundings, looking for someone who could help her, or something that could hurt her. Directly to the left was a glass conference room with a sleek black table with grey chairs of equal caliber. They reached the top of the stairs, which led to a luxurious lobby, with palm trees and beautiful dark red carpeting. One door led outside to the second floor patio, where a few tables and chairs were scattered around the area. In front of them, a hallway continued to the left and right, with the dean's office being the end door on the right. Everything seemed to be in order, and Claire wasn't too alarmed. Bethani, however, did not share those feelings. She had a strong grip on Bobbye's forearm, much to her annoyance. Bobbye shrugged her off for the third time in a minute.

"Will you stop doing that?"

"I'm sorry, I can't help it! It's not exactly like I fight dead people for a living, you know."

Bobbye frowned. "Please get off me, Beth!" Bobbye halfway pleaded with her. "I won't be able to get a clean shot with you grabbing my arm all the time."

Claire widened her stride to get past the bickering girls. She casually walked around the room, finding no signs of disturbance. She walked into the hallway, noticing a broken panel from the ceiling lying on the floor. Her muscles tensed instinctively.

"Get your gun out Bobbye," Claire whispered, "we're not alone in here."

"What do you mean?" Bobbye began to look wildly to her surroundings trying to find what it was to make Claire say such a thing. As she reached into her holster for her gun, Bethani grasped her arm once again.

"Please don't do that, Bethani…Please." Desperation was beginning to seep into Bobbye's voice.

Claire stood still, not daring to move a muscle. She wasn't looking at anything in particular, just listening. She stared at a patch of carpeting on the floor as she strained to hear what she expected was lurking around. She frowned. "This is so similar to what had happened before…Those other times." She closed her eyes tightly. "Why does this always come back to haunt me? Why can't I get away from all this? Is this going to keep happening until I die? Is that what is supposed to happen to me? Am I going to have to keep going through this until I die?" She clenched her teeth in bitter anger and sadness. She opened her eyes again, trying to concentrate on the task at hand instead.

"What's wrong, Claire?" Beth hoped that everything was okay. Images of her dying at the jaws of her dead friends screamed through her mind, scaring her worse with each relentless image.

"Nothing." Claire blinked away tear to the recesses of her eye once again, concealing it from view in the dim lighting of the room. "Let's find the dean, okay?" She began to walk down the other side of the hallway. As they got closer, they could see that the door was slightly cracked open. Swallowing hard, Claire fought back the adrenaline as she cautiously approached the door. She peered through the crack from a few feet away, and saw that the room was trashed. Claire held up a finger to Bobbye, intending it to tell her to be on guard.

Bobbye didn't have the slightest idea of what to expect. She didn't know what Claire thought was around, but she just couldn't bring herself around to asking her. She felt it was better that she didn't know, somehow. Even in circumstances like these, ignorance was bliss. "I work better under the element of surprise, anyway." She was slightly amused at this thought, as she bit her lip. She watched Claire slowly begin to open the door.

Bethani did everything she could think of to keep her from screaming. Her hands worked tirelessly at her sides. They wanted nothing more than to latch on to her friends arm once again. While her two friends were right next to her, they might as well have been a hundred miles away. She felt so alone, so helpless. She felt the throbbing pulse of her heart deep in her ears, and as Claire gradually opened the door, ready for whatever might be in there, her heart rate quickened to almost intolerable levels. She felt her body temperature increase, and her breathing grow harder. She knew something was on the other side of that door. She just knew it.

The secret the room held shocked Claire, but not quite in the way she had expected. After seeing enough to realize there was no direct danger in the room, she casually flung the door open. It banged loudly on the wall, causing both Bobbye and Bethani to jump. A shrill scream escaped Beth's lips before she quickly clasped her hand around her mouth, mortified at what her voice might bring to her. She stared at Claire, awaiting a confirmation. Upon seeing the softening of her facial features, she began to relax.

"Claire, what's going on?" Bobbye yelled from behind the veteran. "What's in there?"

"The dean." She sighed deeply with a hint of disappointment. "But he's dead already."

The other girls walked into the room, their jaws dropping in disgust at what their eyes had found. A body was slumped against one of the corners of the room, covered in streaming blood. The head of Dean Carson had been removed from his body, and was lying a few inches from his slumped figure. It was angled in a way that his glazed eyes stared at the bottom of his glass desk, which was spattered with blood. A large pool of blood lay beneath both the head and the body, his white shirt beneath his sports coat covered in red gore. The rest of the room was a complete mess. There were claw marks in the wall, apparently from the brute force of the one clean swipe that felled the important man. On closer inspection, Claire was shocked to see that the man was still bleeding, meaning that it hadn't been long ago since his grisly demise.

"What happened to him, Claire?" Bethani said as she crinkled her face in appall.

Claire shook her head. "I think a hunter got to him."

"A hunter?" Bobbye sounded almost over-interested at the words.

"Yeah, it seems so."

"Well," Bobbye said, slightly annoyed. She had expected more of an explanation. "What are those?"

"They look like lizards, but are muscular like a gorilla. They're green, they walk upright, and they have large claws on each limb that can do…well, this." Claire pointed to the victimized dean on the floor.

"My God."

Claire nodded. "The worst part is that Carson just recently died. Which means, the hunter is still in here, and in all probability, he probably knows exactly where we are."

Bethani stiffened in response. "You're kidding me."

"I wish I was."

Papers were scattered around the room, and Bobbye paced around the room, looking for anything that may be helpful to them. She wanted to get off the subject.

"Claire, maybe we can find what happened with this place without Carson. Help me look around for anything interesting."

The Claire and Bobbye wandered around the room, picking up papers and inspecting them in the near darkness, before setting them in a neat pile on one side of the room. Beth's job was to stay near the door, and if she saw anything move, she was to express it to the other two. Naturally, she felt she could handle something like that. The minutes passed, and still no signs of important documents.

"These are all financial papers and recordings of school conferences," Claire sighed. "There's nothing really worth taking." She walked over to the bookshelf and slightly tilted it forward, inspecting for any hidden documents behind it. Bobbye walked around to the front of the desk, stepping over the dismembered man with disgust. She fought sickness as the sound of her soles slapped the wet hardwood floor. Figuring the drawers were locked on the desk, she aimed her gun at it to break the mechanism. However, before she pulled the trigger, she stared around the somewhat tight space in the room, then at the two other girls wandering around, and thought it not to be the best idea. Instead, she tugged on it a bit, and was caught off balance when it opened freely. She was going to tell Claire about the new source, but decided to just start rummaging. She pulled everything out of the shallow drawer and set it on the desk. Then, one by one, she began to go through the disorganized papers.

"You got into the desk?" Claire asked rhetorically. "What'd you find?"

"Nothing yet. Just more financial papers. God, I didn't think the man had such a boring job. If the hunter didn't get him, the paperwork definitely would have."

Claire smiled slightly as she walked over to check the other desk drawers. Oddly enough, there was nothing in them.

"Nothing. It must have been full with all the papers we found around the room."

Bobbye didn't respond. She was lost in the papers she was reading, rhythmically moving over the words with her mouth for a few seconds before discarding the paper to the side. She kept the cycle going while Claire studied Bethani at the door. Beth was still looking intently down the hall, waiting for something to jump out at her. Bethani was certain the second something did happen, she'd die of shock or fright.

"Do you see anything Beth?" Claire noted Bethani's psychological state, and decided to use a more soothing voice.

"No, not yet. It's hard to see far away without a lot of light."

Claire looked up to see the inadequate electricity coursing through the florescent bulbs. They flickered weakly, but consistently, and she concluded that there was no real danger of a complete black out. At least not for a few more hours.

Bobbye reached into the drawer once more, and pushed her hand to the very back, making sure she didn't miss anything. In the process, an object stuck her underneath her fingernail. She grunted in pain, as she inspected the item that had poked her. She found a thin manila folder that was taped to the top of the drawer.

"Hey Claire, I might have found something." Claire raised her eyebrows at the prospect of a lead, and walked over to Bobbye. "This folder was taped to the top of his desk. He was hiding something, that's for sure."

Claire stood next to her as Bobbye opened the folder. Bethani glanced from the hallway to the folder as anticipation began to get the better of her.

"What'd you find, guys?"

Inside the folder was one paper, with a written note stapled to the front of it, and a small envelope. Bobbye and Claire began to read it, their eyes working in unison as they read the same thing at the same time.

To B. W. Carson,

Thank you for purchasing your most recent shipment. I can assure you that your satisfaction will be guaranteed. Due to security reasons of the material at hand, representatives of Umbrella Incorporated will periodically check on your progress. However, misuse of the material at hand will breach Contract 11-02A and will bring appropriate consequences against you and all personnel involved. As always, it has been an honor supplying your establishment with our best products, and we look forward to new business in the future.

Most respectfully,

K. R. Jansen

"You have got to be kidding me!" Claire nearly yelled her statement, once again making Bethani jump and scream.

"What?" Bethani said, "What's wrong?"

"This letter states that…Umbrella had a deal with Carson all along?" Bobbye was still in the process of putting everything together. Her mind raced as she began to fit the pieces together.

"So it's not completely all Umbrella's doing right?" Bethani added. "Carson had more to do with this than we thought, huh?"

"Well," Claire said, "he does have some sort of connection. He's been buying something from Umbrella. I'll bet you it's not lawn fertilizer, either."

"But it doesn't really say how much of the faculty knew about this," Bobbye mumbled, partly to herself. She began to read the smaller, hand-written note to herself.

"Wouldn't the faculty know something was up if they came up missing money?" Bethani asked, glancing back down the corridor.

"Not necessarily," Claire objected. "Carson was in charge of finances, so he and a couple of other people could have concealed it entirely, if they played their cards right."

"No way!" Bethani said. "So, our school's been working for Umbrella?!"

"I'm not sure," Claire shrugged, "more or less, I'd imagine. It wouldn't be that surprising. Umbrella infects everything it touches. A lot like the viruses they create. It just doesn't make that much sense, though. This is the Delta Virus we're dealing with here, and I thought it was still under development."

"So, now what Claire?" Bethani stared into the hallway as she said it.

"What did that note say, Bobbye?"

"It's time tables for a Biolab. Do they mean the Biology Building?"

"I'd imagine so." Claire reached into the envelope, and pulled out an unmarked ID card. "I'd be willing to bet this is how we get to what we want to find, too."

"But, according to these tables, the card will only work from 4:00 to 5:00 in the morning. It's some sort of security measure."

"Great." Claire sighed. "That's two hours from now."

"We'll just have to hide out somewhere, I guess."

"So," Bethani concluded, "if we go to the Biology Building, we'll find what Umbrella is after?"

Claire frowned once again, and bit her bottom lip, her mind growing more troubled at the complexities compounding in her mind. "Yeah. But now I wonder if this is Umbrella's doing, or if it's Carson's."

"Why would Carson try to kill off the entire campus?" Bobbye asked, pulling her hair back, and resetting her scrunchie.

"I'm not quite sure. Maybe it was an accident. At any rate, I'm beginning to wonder if the school was working as a development branch for Umbrella. That's the only reason the Delta Virus would be here, and it would explain why our Biology Building is the best in the country."

"Well," Bobbye sighed, as she checked the clip in her gun once again, "we won't be able to find out much more here. Let's go find Devon and Demi and…" she stopped herself before she could mention the third person of the other group. Lori was gone. "…Well, let's find the others and get going."

"Hold on," Claire said sternly, as she bent down to the unfortunate man slouched on the ground. She fished his wallet out of his pants. It too was covered in blood.

"Mugging the guy's not going to get much done for our situation, Claire." Bethani was half-serious with her comment, as she wasn't quite sure what Claire was doing. Claire ignored the girls semi-intended sarcasm as she continued to flip past the pictures of family, kids and various credit cards. She frowned in frustration as she found nothing she wanted to, then proceeded to tear out the leather lining. Her eyes lit up as she found what she was looking for.

"Ah-ha!"

"What is that, Claire?" Bobbye cocked her head to one side in a questioning manner.

"It's the pin number to the card, I'd imagine." She held up a paper no more than an inch wide with numbers written in red ink.

Not wanting to stay there any longer than necessary, Bethani pleaded with Claire to leave.

"Yeah," Claire nodded, "we're out of here."

They began to walk out the door, and back down the hallway, when Bethani stopped in her tracks.

"What's up, comrade?" Bobbye said in her usual flair. Shortly after she stopped, she knew why Bethani had.

"I hear…gunshots." Bethani said blankly.

"Devon and Demi…" Claire trailed off.

****

Devon pumped a few more rounds into the repulsive creature scrambling along the floor towards them. It twisted in pain for a second before regaining its composure once again. Demi fired wildly at the monster, some bullets breaking the other windows in the bowling alley, while others ricocheted off the solid brick walls. However, Devon was too wrapped up in his battle to notice. Once again, the mighty stimulant began to course through his veins, and soon enough his muscles ached with adrenaline. They burned to run, to attack, to simply move. However, he remained stationary as he shot two more rounds into the creature's exposed brain. A stream of blood spurted from one of the many wounds on the creature, and it screeched again, but its onslaught wasn't fazed. It smirked at Devon, showing rows of jagged teeth, and raised itself off the ground a bit, until it resembled a track runner's starting stance. It was about to pounce. Devon's eyes widened, has he pushed Demi hard out of the way while simultaneously jumping in the opposite direction. However, he wasn't quite quick enough, as the creatures left claws managed to cut into his right arm. He yelled in surprise as he stumbled a few steps back. Demi had hit the wall of the rec. center hard, and in the process had dropped her gun. The creature then turned to her, and began to scramble towards her in its awkward, disturbing motion. Her back was against the wall, yet still appeared to try to move away from the creature. She screamed in terror as it opened its mouth, spewing hot saliva from its jaws. Before it was close enough to do any harm to her, Devon hit it with his bat from behind in the middle of its back. It arched upward in pain and anger, and in one quick motion the beast swiveled its head around and flicked its tongue out at Devon's head. It happened so fast, Devon had no time to react. The muscle would have easily pierced his skin like a knife; however, it was off by about a foot, and Devon took the time to smash the side of its brain with the bat. It screamed in agony, and he hit it again and again. It unexpectedly flipped onto its back, and wildly flailed its limbs, the barrage of attacks finally beginning to take their toll on the skinless atrocity. Devon raised his handgun once again and fired two more rounds into the creature's softer chest. It screamed a wet cry, its lungs already beginning to fill with fluid. Its flailing began to slow, gradually, rhythmically, until it curled inward on itself, much like a dead spider. For many seconds, all was silent. The two didn't dare to speak, as it might reawaken the demonic beast once again. Demi was still positioned against the wall in the same way she had tried to escape, her palms gripping the cold brick, her left foot pressed against it. She stood still, wide-eyed and heaving. Her frightened eyes traveled from Devon to the creature, and back to Devon again. She finally gained the courage to speak.

"Is it dead?"

Devon shook his head, his eyes also wide with fear and excitement. "I don't know." He swallowed hard, and nudged the creature's head with the end of his bat, evoking a small whimper from Demi. However, the creature moved no more than Devon had made it. He was surprised with the resiliency of the monster. The brain, which he figured would be a weak spot, seemed to have the characteristics of a muscle more than an organ. It was hard and firm, much like a bodybuilder's bicep, and it made a sound similar to a dull thud when Devon hit it with the bat. It wasn't exactly what Devon had expected. He wiped the perspiration off his brow, and slowed his breathing to avoid the familiar shock of adrenaline thinning out in his system. We walked over to Demi, and grabbed her by the shoulders, and stared into her eyes.

"Are you okay?"

"I…I think so." Her expression changed from fear as he stared into her eyes. She looked away, embarrassed. "Thanks for saving me, Devon."

"Don't…don't mention it." He began to turn red himself at her gratitude. She looked back into his eyes, and she felt his warm hands pressed firmly against her shoulders. Her eyes turned to her long slender fingers, which touched his forearm, and traced their way up to the bicep, where there was a good-sized laceration cut into it. Blood meshed with the white shirt underneath his sleeveless sweater, and began to spread up towards the shoulder. Droplets fell from the soaked material, landing on the brown, thin carpeted floor.

"You're hurt."

"No, it's okay. Really…" Devon's face was still flushed with embarrassment from the intimacy as she gingerly touched the wound. As she did so, she looked into his eyes for a response. His grip had lessened on her shoulders, although he hadn't noticed.

"Are you sure…?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine…"

Her eyes sparkled as he began to lose himself in them. He wasn't sure how much time had passed. It wasn't important. His heart began to beat furiously again with the uncertainty of the situation, as she opened her mouth. No words were spoken however. Her hand drifted back down to his forearm, and she held it, as her eyes did the talking for her. She smiled at him. It was a small, thin, comforting smile, one that Devon had rarely seen her wear. Even though they didn't know it, they were both wondering what was going to happen next.

Devon was the first to break the moment.

"We'd…Better get going. Lori's waiting for us."

She smiled again, however it was different than the tender one she wore only a few seconds ago. "Yeah." Inside she thinking of a different answer. "You can be really dense, Devon." Yet, he seemed to know what he had passed up, as a forced smile on his lips did little to betray his true intentions. He stared down at the dead animal on the ground. He felt a strange sensation to laugh, due to the emotional overload. He followed the feeling, and began to chuckle to himself.

"Is something wrong?" Demi asked, confused and somewhat defensive. "Is he laughing at me?!"

"No, it's just…" he chuckled a bit before breaking into a strong laugh. Demi began to wonder if he had lost his mind. He finally began to recompose himself before continuing. "It's just that…what is that?"

Demi frowned, as he repeated himself.

"I mean really? What is that thing that I just killed?" He chuckled between his words. "I've never seen one of these things in my life! What's going on here? This is insane!"

"I think you're insane."

He cocked his head and raised his eyebrows in acceptance, nodded. "Could be. Could be."

"Well, let's just keep going, okay?" His most recent mood change had unnerved her somewhat.

"Yeah, okay." He shook his head and smiled to himself as he put his gun back in the holster. He reached to the ground and grabbed Demi's gun, returning it to her. "I think you lost this."

"Yeah…uh, thanks."

With that, they walked down the hallway to the maintenance room, passing the computer lab on the right as they went. It was a small little cove of computers; maybe only ten or so of them were present in the small glass room. Satisfied that nothing was lurking nearby, the two approached the metal door. He retrieved the key from his pocket and began to unlock the door.

"Where did you find that?"

"What?"

"The key."

"The counter. Demi, you watched me get it."

"Oh," She said, detached. "I must have been thinking of other stuff."

"Well, apparently," Devon halfway joked. He jiggled the key in the lock a bit, and the door creaked open. He looked back to her. "Well, shall we?"

They walked in and Devon turned on the light. It was a tight space, no wider than the hallway they had been walking down. It was simply a storage room, with numerous computer monitors and parts, a few power tools among other construction equipment, and a few replacement bowling pins. Devon walked towards the power tools, holding a "Sawzall" in his hands.

"Too bad these are the corded types. Man, where's a chainsaw when you need one?"

Demi walked back to the very back of the space and opened a small, crudely made wooden cabinet. Inside were hundreds of keys marked only by numbers.

"Dev, I found the keys, but I don't know which one is the medical room key."

He walked over to her, and showed her the key chart at the bottom of the cabinet. "See? That chart coordinates the numbers to the rooms." He looked at the typed chart, and ran his bloody finger down the list. Demi once again looked at his arm, and noticed the trickling blood running down it in paths, as if flowing through invisible veins.

"You know, when we get you back to the Doctor's office, you're going to have to find a bandage, okay?"

Devon didn't give full attention to her; he was still running over the list. "Yeah, I will." He was quiet for a few more seconds. "There it is! 0113-Medical Room." Demi moved her hands around the keys looking for the correct one, and pulled a small silver one off near the top of the cabinet.

"Here it is."

"Great." Devon stared at the list a few seconds longer. "Hey, let's take 'key 0000,' too. That's the master key." It was a somewhat plain brass key near the bottom left corner of the cabinet, and Demi handed it to him.

"Alright, let's get back to Lori, okay Demi?"

"Yeah." He frowned as he remembered her current state. Claire's words of how she was going to die any minute rang into his head over and over again. He silently walked out the door, once again his hand was resting on his gun, awaiting any danger. Demi was close behind with her gun already drawn. This time, she wasn't going to be taken off guard.

They walked back through the student rec. center, listening to the spring-loaded maintenance door shutting on its own not daring to take their eyes off the motionless creature they had encountered a few minutes ago. They rounded the corner under the staircase, and stopped dead in their tracks. At the other distant end of the hallway, they saw a huge humanoid figure, which Devon estimated to be almost nine feet tall. He could only see the middle part of its chest; the rest was too high and out of view. Demi clenched Devon's hand in fear as her heart dropped into her stomach. She hadn't expected to see something so large. All she could do was wait for Devon or the figure to make a move. It was an agonizing wait. For a while, neither of them moved. As far as Devon could tell, it hadn't seen them yet. He slowly began to walk towards the staircase, trembling in fear as he continued to eye the giant claw on the right hand. At rest, the claw nearly touched the ground. Devon snaked his way around the railing, and onto the first stair, shifting his grip from Demi's hand to her forearm, so he was able to keep hold of her better. Slowly, the giant lifted his left hand and made a fist. It was easily the size of a human's head, and Devon could only imagine the devastation it could do. Suddenly, shattering silence and glass was heard as a million crystals reflected in the dim lighting from the outside street lamps. The monstrosity ducked into the building, it's vacant white eyes staring down the two horrified students. With an expressionless face, it raised its curved weapon to the side of his chest, its arm outstretched at almost a ninety-degree angle. It held it there for a minute, before crouching further to move through the hallway. Suddenly, it opened up into a full out sprint towards Devon and Demi. The two screamed and scrambled up the stairs desperately as the tyrant widened its stride. Devon sprinted to the Waiting Room, letting go of Demi's arm as he fumbled for the key to the Medical Office. He could hear the strides of Goliath running towards them at a breakneck pace, the rhythmic panting getting louder and louder.

"Hurry Devon! Hurry!" Demi cried with all her heart.

"Please God, don't let us die." Devon shoved the key into the lock, and it opened with a dull click. "Get in there, Demi!"

She ran inside as Devon grabbed the unconscious Lori off the connected row of chairs, and barged into the door. He set her on the papered bench, as Demi quickly locked the door. She walked away from it, staring wide-eyed at what was going to happen next. Tears streamed freely down her face. She knew she was going to die in there. More tears came when she heard the Tyrant stop in front of the waiting room - and walk in.

Devon reached for his gun again, knowing very well that it would do nothing to the behemoth. If the ogre opened that door, they were all dead, and he'd have to accept it. He motioned Demi to come over by him, and together, they huddled in a corner of the room, between a cabinet shelf and a sink. She gripped his neck tightly, her warm tears traveling down his shirt. He rubbed her back rhythmically, yet said nothing. His eyes were closed as tight as he could manage. He didn't want to see it coming for them. He didn't want to see Demi die right in front of him. So he hid. It was all he could think of.

Demi watched the bottom of the door, as two distinct shadows appeared underneath it. It was standing right there. She held her breath, and gritted her teeth. She listened to the growling breaths of the large predator. They were slow and angry, and with each breath it took, it seemed to drive her closer to madness. She dared not to make a sound. She would only listen. Somewhere, she heard a sharp banging, but couldn't locate the source. She buried her face once again into Devon's chest, and remained here, silently racking with her sobs. And then, she did something she thought she'd never do again - She slept.

****

"Yeah, that was definitely gunshot!" Bethani cried, after the crackling of gunfire ceased.

"I hope those guys are okay…" Bobbye whispered.

Claire didn't even want to think about it. She had gone to her old tactics of mentally surviving these types of situations. She didn't think about what was happening to people, she only thought of accomplishing her objective. With that being the first thing on her mind, everything else didn't seem to hurt as much.

The girls turned around the corner, and began to walk to the stairs.

"But this time," Claire thought, "This time it's so much harder. This time I have to watch over the others. They're too close to me. What kind of person would I be if I shut them out of my heart? What kind of person am I anyway?"

Claire didn't have the time to finish her thoughts. In the fraction of a second, the ceiling fell down on top of them, showering them in a fine papery substance. With it came a large green object, piercing the air with its shrill war cry.

Mass confusion had set in. Claire dove away from the chaos and rolled across the floor, positioning herself to face what had tried to kill her. Her vision spun with the sudden attack, and as it began to come into focus, she had seen that one had not gotten away. The lizard-like hunter was perched on top of Bethani, its left claws plunged deep into her back. Beth gasped raspy breaths as the hunter dug its claws deeper into the back of her rib cage, clawing at the internal organs that brought her life.

Claire opened fire, quickly followed by Bobbye, and together, they had toppled the hunter, its bulk hitting the ground beside Bethani. Its arm was still lodged in her back, and with incredible speed, it tore its limb free from its prey and flipped back onto its hind legs. It grabbed Beth's leg and yanked her near the doorway of one of the rooms across the lobby. Bobbye stared straight ahead, looking at the area just above Bethani, waiting for the creature to show itself again. Her eyes began to turn to the helpless girl on the floor, lying in a pool of her own blood. Every once in a while, she struggled to fight the inevitable, her arms slowly dragging the rest of her body towards her friends. She looked at them with determined eyes. Bobbye shook her head at what she was witnessing. It could have just as easily been Claire lying on the floor. Or her. What did she do to deserve to watch her friends die one by one? Was this all she could do? Just watch one of her close friends die, without helping her? She had to do something.

"Bobbye," Claire whispered as the other girl slowly began to creep towards Bethani, "what are you doing? You'll get yourself killed!"

"I can't leave her there, comrade!" Bobbye's own tone was quiet but desperate and urgent. It had caught Claire off guard, and suddenly she felt very guilty for saying what she had said.

"She's going to die…" Claire did not stop Bobbye from approaching the injured girl, but instead she waited for the moment when the hunter would overtake her, too.

Bobbye crept forward in a stance much like a cat burglar, her slender arm outstretched, finger on the trigger. Slowly she made her way over to Bethani, and peered around the corner of the doorway somewhat. "It seems like it ran off."

Claire was thinking along the same topic. "It's not gone, Bobbye. It's still there. Don't drop your guard."

Not taking her eyes off the space in front of the door, Bobbye slowly began to drag Beth away from the door, her eyes working frantically to find the murderer. It was then that the hunter attacked. Not from Bobbye's front, but from Claire's flank.

"Claire! Look out!"

It had somehow managed to reach the outside patio, and it had burst through the glass door. In one swift motion it leapt into the air, claws spread out, ready to take off Claire's head. Claire turned only to see the smirking creature's face. She had no time to react. Mere inches from her, the creature was suddenly propelled backwards, and the cracking of gunshot was heard. Claire was still standing on weak knees, her body in complete shock. She had come a hair's breadth to dying, but she had somehow managed to survive yet again. She slowly turned to Bobbye, who still held the smoking gun in front of her. She had let go of Bethani, and began to walk over towards the hunter. It was flopping around on the ground, struggling to regain its balance, shrieking all the while. Bobbye stood a few feet away from it, and emptied a couple more rounds into its face, which eventually silenced it.

Claire took in the spectacle, wide-eyed that someone had saved her for a change. "Bobbye…Thank you."

Bobbye simply flipped her hair and smiled sternly. The two girls went over to their dying friend. There was a gaping hole in Beth's back, roughly three inches wide. Blood gushed from it at such a rate that it was useless to try to stop the flow. They both knew that she was going to die. Bethani's sweet, innocent eyes had already begun to glaze over. First came the shock, and then death soon would follow.

"I'm sorry, comrade. I'm sorry." Bobbye couldn't remember saying so many apologies in her life. It seemed like that was all she was capable of doing in the situation. She stroked Beth's beautiful brown wavy hair. "You're going to be okay, comrade. You're job's done." Bobbye's eyes began to sting once again, yet she fought against the welling of tears. Her voice was soothing, yet monotone. "Watch us from above, okay?" Bethani's head was tilted to the side, her mouth gaping like a fish on land, her slight twitching jerking her head. Bobbye couldn't watch anymore. "I'll miss you." She turned and faced the staircase leading back down to the main room.

Claire hated herself. She felt like she was the one killing her friends. Wherever she went, her past followed her, and it would attempt to take down as many close friends as possible along with her. It had already claimed two of them, with Lori soon joining as a third. For a while she just stared into Beth's eyes. She watched the life fade from them without moving. She simply stared into Beth's departing soul, her own glare one filled with regret, pain, and sadness. "Bobbye," She said, still staring at Beth. "Find Demi and Devon, and get out of here. I'll kill you too if you don't go."

The words frightened Bobbye, but it was also an indirect challenge, even though Claire had not intended it to be so. "No," she said half out of spite, "I'm in this until it's over." It was then that a new realization began to dawn on the athletic student. She had a duty to fulfill her, just like Claire. She had already lost so many of her friends from what had happened here, she wouldn't run away. Not yet. And if she died, at least she'd be dying with the people closest to her. "I'm not leaving, Claire." Her voice was resolute, final.

Claire nodded in a knowing manner. She was about to tell Bobbye that she was glad she had decided what she did, but she didn't get the chance. Her eye caught something at the bottom of the stairs. She walked over to the top of the staircase, and it was then that her worst fears were realized. The tyrant was loose. It was pacing around the main room of the Student Services building, waiting for something.

Bobbye had seen it too, and judging by the intense look on Claire's face, it was their biggest worry at the moment. "What do we do now, Claire?"

She stared onward for a few more seconds, the lump in her throat growing ever bigger. She looked to the patio. "Let's go there." Her voice was no more than a whisper. The two girls crawled over the body of the hunter, and didn't even bother opening the door. They just stepped right through the broken glass. The air was a bit chiller than Bobbye had remembered, and she looked to Claire for further instructions.

Claire remained silent for a few seconds, before looking back in the general direction of the staircase. "I don't think he'll come up here. We'll be safe for the time being."

"So, we just stay up here for a while?"

"Yeah. Around 3:30 or so, we'll hit that Biology building."

Bobbye dreaded her next words. "So, we wait." Waiting meant festering to her emotions. She felt this could be the worst thing to happen to her at the moment, next to falling victim to monsters like Bethani did.

"We wait."

With that, the two girls sat on the patio, and became lost into their own thoughts.

****

Roughly fifteen minutes had passed since they had escaped to the Medical Office, and Demi had already fallen asleep on Devon. Devon had tried the same thing, but he wasn't able to. He had to find a way to stop his bleeding arm. It was cut deeper than he had originally thought. He had managed to prop Demi against the cabinet as he got up to bandage his wound and check on Lori. He opened a red wood cabinet and rummaged around until he found a cloth brace and white gauze. As he wrapped his bicep, he couldn't help but noticed how pale she looked. Like a porcelain figurine. Her breathing was shallow; so shallow in fact, he couldn't tell she was breathing at all. He hadn't paid that much attention to it however; he was still wrapping his arm with gauze. He talked to her as he did it, but quietly, so as not to disturb the beautiful girl sleeping on the floor.

"I really let you down, didn't I, Lori." He shook his head bitterly, as he wrapped his arm tighter and tighter, the pain starting to flood his senses once again. "If I were able to watch out for you better, you'd still be okay. But now you're going to die, right here in front of me." He corrected himself. "No, I've sentenced you to something worse than death. You're going to become something that isn't even classified in your mind as human. Because of me. I'm so sorry Lori. I'm sorry." He thought it strange that he felt no urge to lament over the inevitable loss of his friend. He felt nothing but self-pity. "If I were only a little stronger, you'd be okay. If only I…"

He was cut off as Lori made a sound. It seemed as if she was having a bad dream to Devon, and he began to walk over to her. Devon hoped that she was coming out of her coma.

"Lori, are you okay?"

She didn't respond; just more short painful moans.

He stood above her, inspecting her. Her lips were almost blue; her eyelids were almost translucent. He was surprised to see them begin to twitch and spasm to life.

"Lori, are you okay?"

"Devon, what's going on?" Demi had awakened from her short-lived sleep.

"I think she's about to wake up," Devon said with hope in his voice. "I think she's going to…" He gasped in horror as her eyes fluttered open to reveal milky, clouded pools. Awkwardly, almost impossibly it seemed, she began to lift herself to an upright position.

"No…"

Lori stumbled off the doctor's bench, landing on weak knees. She then stared at Devon with lifeless eyes. Her jaw began to work, as she slowly began to stumble towards him.

"Lori, it…it's me."

It was no use. She walked around to the other side of the bench, and stopped roughly five feet in front of Devon. Demi watched in horror from her hiding spot as Devon slowly lifted his gun and pointed it at her head.

"Devon…"

Devon still felt nothing. He was completely emotionless and had no thoughts towards it, other than he didn't feel like himself anymore. He went over the trigger with his finger, feeling the smooth surfaces, and the angular corners. He set the sights of the gun on Lori's forehead, and waited for her to make the next move. For an eternity, he stared at the world through those sights, through that weapon of destruction. Behind it, he had the power to destroy anything that stood in his way. Lori was no different now. She was one of them, and that was all.

"Devon…" Demi had watched his face go from fright and surprise, to calmness and serenity, to chaos and destruction. It scared her. She slowly began to walk behind him. The deciding factor for Devon was Demi's gentle touch. It had pushed him over the edge that he had been walking the past few hours.

He closed his eyes as he pulled the trigger. While he felt the gun recoil in his hand, he heard no sound.

Lori dropped to the floor, as Demi covered her mouth in sheer horror.

Devon stared straight ahead, continuing to look at the blood-splattered brick wall through his sights. He slowly dropped his gun to his side, still staring at the dripping wall. He felt something in the distances of his heart. It was small at first, but slowly it gained momentum. By the time Devon realized what it was, it was too late.

The gun fell from his hands, landing against the hard floor.

Emotion flooded every nook of Devon's being. He had no way to control it. Anger surged into his hands, and he grabbed his bat he had propped against the cabinet. With a mighty yell, he slammed it into the cabinet doors, buckling them under the pressure. Demi screamed and covered her ears as he continued his onslaught. He grabbed the bench Lori had been resting upon, and with a pained growl, he tipped it over, the weight crushing the tiles beneath it. He threw his bat against the wall, not content with the destruction he had caused. Maybe if he felt some pain…He slammed his right fist against the brick wall, and pulled it away, a small droplet of red standing out against the white painted brick. It wasn't enough. He cocked back again, grinding his knuckles into the wall with extreme force. The audible crack of breaking knuckles was heard as trails of blood spat against the wall in all directions. It still wasn't enough. He pulled his arm back for another shot, but this time it was caught by the small petite girl with the copper-red hair. He turned to look at her with wild eyes, and they were met with hers. They were caring, hurting, sympathetic. Her bottom lip quivered as she spoke.

"Please stop this Devon. You're scaring me. Please don't give up like this. Please. I'm so scared right now, and I really need you. So please…Please…"

He stared at her with a look reminiscent of confusion. Demi couldn't hold back anymore, and she forced her way into his arms, much to his surprise. He felt the spasms of her small body caused by her sadness, and her fingertips on his back, moving, searching. It was then that Devon completely let go, and an unbridled wave of grief coated his soul. He wept bitterly with Demi in the middle of the now destroyed Medical Office. He had realized his despair had enslaved him, and he was ashamed of what he had done. He gripped her tighter, pulling her closer to him. In response, she did the same. A part of him had just died in the room with Lori, so he felt he had to hold on that much harder to the part that was still left. He didn't want to let go, for even in the midst of the despair and shame he was lost to, he felt that he had found the most secure place he could be in.

After a few more minutes, his tears began to subside, and he pulled Demi away enough to look into her red eyes with his own. He had wanted to tell her that he needed her, that she was the reason he could still keep going. He wanted to let her know that he'd gladly die for her, if it meant that she would be okay. He wanted to let her know that she was the dearest thing to his heart on this planet. He wanted to let her know that with them together, everything would be okay. But he just couldn't bring himself to say the words. They simply wouldn't come out.

So he kissed her instead.

___________________