3-4: Out of Control

ZAP! Odd has seen the light.

(((-4-)))

Odd recoiled from the stabbing glare, covering his eyes. They were burning! He was laying on his back and kicked the door shut with his foot. Kiwi brushed up against his legs. He must have come out when Odd had fallen down. The small dog nosed his best friend's cell phone, yipping. The blonde boy kept his arm over his eyes. Man, they hurt!

He groped for the phone. Ulrich was shouting almost incoherently, "Odd! Where are you, man? Answer me! Odd! Odd!"

"I'm here, Ulrich. I think the light in the room blinded me. I have a major headache and your shouting isn't helping." It felt like someone was driving nails into his eyeballs.

"Sorry. You freaked me out. Can you see at all?"

"Look, right now I don't feel like even attempting to open my eyes. If I do, I want some sunglasses. The only pair I have is in my room." Kiwi licked his friend's hand. "I'll find Janika and meet you guys outside."

"I'll buy some sunglasses for you right now, buddy. Bye!"

He heard someone walk over to him. "You okay?" It was Nicholas. He actually sounded concerned.

Odd gritted his teeth. He was willing to swallow his pride just this once. "No. I can't see. Could you get me down a floor?"

Nicholas led Odd and Kiwi to the third floor where more kids than ever had congregated to jeer at Janika. They talked loudly and Odd swore his skull was cracking in half. He shouted Janika's name over the noise and she opened the door, trying to usher him inside.

"Hurry up and get in before that rabble tries to hurl more spitwads! Odd, what's wrong?"

"We have to leave! The lights in my room nearly blinded me. Haven't yours?"

"I never turn on my lights during the day. I can't get out safely, so you just go without me. Those creeps will tear me to shreds." She peered around her friend and saw a snarling face two feet away.

With one fumbling hand he managed to grip her shoulder. "You don't seem to be grasping the point: our mutual friend is trying to blind us! We have to get out, and I can't see!"

Reluctantly Janika stepped outside. She put her arm around Odd and guided him back toward the stairwell with a crowd of people blocking the way.

"Look, I need to get him to the infirmary!" she screamed.

No one seemed to believe her and they all tried to slow her down. Hands grappled to lay hold of her pale orange shirt or braid and one particular girl tried to trip Janika. She barely kept Odd upright. At one point she punched a boy in the face, but the other kids decided if she could do that, they could too. The only reason she got away at all was because someone realized she had left her room unlocked and everyone tried to flood inside to wreck it.

"I sure hope you're happy, Odd!" she moaned. "I'll never get my Final Fantasy soundtracks back from that mob. And what about my DNAngel posters?!"

Ulrich and Jeremy met her halfway down the stairs. "Here's your sunglasses. Oh, and we got a couple extra pairs just in case, so everyone put them on. Hey, how did you escape the people on your floor? I would have thought they'd be after you."

Janika turned to Jeremy. "Don't ask. You know we're going to look like a bunch of FBI wannabes in these things, right?" She put the glasses on and picked up Kiwi. "He doesn't seem to be blind, but I'm sure he is. Look at his eyes."

Jeremy glanced at Kiwi and patted the dog on his head. "Dogs use their ears and noses more than their eyes. It would be like if you lost your sense of smell, Janika. It's not your primary faculty, but it's still useful and you'd definitely notice the loss."

When they got outside Odd groaned and hid his face. "It's too bright! I feel like somebody hit me in the head with a sledgehammer!"

"Where's Yumi? Didn't you call her?" Ulrich demanded.

"I thought she'd be with you. She usually is after school. Where else would she be?"

Janika looked over. "I asked her to get me something to eat since I didn't think I'd be leaving my room. She might be over at the cafeteria."

Someone inside the dorms started screaming. More screams followed. Lights came on all over the building; bright, searing lights. Jeremy watched vaguely.

"At least we're in the sun. If we happened to be inside when the lights intensified we might have lost our sight even with sunglasses."

"The cafeteria!" Ulrich took off like a bullet, speeding toward the lunchroom.

The building was blazing, just like every other place on campus. The gang followed him, Janika leading Odd, and saw chaos erupting before them. People were stumbling over each other to reach the door and everyone was clamoring for help. They tried to help by pulling people to sunlit safety, but there had been so many kids in the cafeteria that the job was nearly impossible.

Jeremy found Yumi huddled in a ball under a table. She hardly moved and he couldn't put the sunglasses over her eyes. He and Ulrich had to drag her out between them. She had been stricken completely blind.

Great googly-moogly! How on earth can our heros continue on without Yumi or Panther-boy?