Hell in a New World

by Escachick357

Shanks has dealt with a lot in his life, but now it's time for his biggest challenge yet...teaching a class of High School Hellraisers. Can he do it? Or will he quit like everyone else has? Not an AU.

12. The Storm of the Century

Ch. 12- The Storm of the Century

"Okay, guys. Hand me your math papers so I can see how smart or dumb you guys are." Shanks announced after he finally got Victoria to remove her arms from his body.

At almost the same time, every student, even Lynn, placed their papers on Shanks' desk before making it back to their own desks, which were still in the same circle that they were in yesterday.

Shanks placed the book Victoria handed him next to the papers and took a very quick look at all the papers. All of the problems were answered what looked like correctly even though half of the papers were written in horrible handwriting or had little drawings on them. It was official; they all did know how to do addition. "Good. You were right, Maura. You do know how to do addition. Later on today, I will teach you guys subtraction." Shanks announced.

The rest of the class groaned like most of them had done yesterday.

"That's second grade work." Johnny groaned, "We're in high school now. Maura and Elie are the youngest and they are in the ninth grade. Can't we do at least ninth graders work?"

Shanks shook his head, "You will learn and do what I teach you. Things will get harder, trust me. I just have to make sure that you are all good enough to learn handle this stuff."

Again the class groaned, but this time Shanks just simply ignored them. "Before we get to the math, I want to continue on with the fighting lesson yesterday. Everyone except for Maura and Victoria take another empty desk, whether it be the same one you used yesterday or a brand new desk."

Kurt, Elie, Kyler, Johnny, and Larry took the same desks they used yesterday. Lynn, however, did not move from her desk and instead looked at Shanks with a confused look on her face. "What are we doing exactly?" she asked.

"You are learning how to fight with your body, so take a free desk." Shanks explained.

Lynn shook her head, "I'm not beating up on a desk. I'll break a nail or damage my body."

Shanks sighed and said, "Alright, you can practice dodging with Maura. Just get out of the way of the fighters." Lynn nodded and stood by the door of the classroom. "Okay, I want you guys to again shut up, close your eyes, and channel your anger into one part of your body…and for God's sake, do not use your head Kyler. Your fists or legs will be fine." Kyler rolled his eyes and closed his eyes like the other fighters had.

After it looked like everyone was ready, it was time for Shanks to continue. "Okay, now open your eyes." They did. "Before you fight the desk, I want you to take a look at the desk. The best place to hit it is in the exact middle of the desk. It may seem like the side or the very back or even the front will do the most damage, but trust me, it won't. You are better off hitting the middle because that way all parts of the desk will feel the wrath. If you hit it from the back, the front will not feel any wrath. The same goes for if you hit the front, the back will not feel any and if you attack a desk from one side, the other will not feel it. Now, go and hit the desk in the middle with every bit of anger you have in your body."

In unison, the five that chose to fight the desks released their anger onto their chosen desks. Kurt and Elie kept to their fists, Johnny and Larry kept to their legs, and Kyler joined Kurt and Elie by using his right fist. They all aimed at the exact middle of the desks. A series of large cracks erupted as the five attacked desks broke with large cracks going right down the middle…and it all only took one move.

"That's good." Shanks said calmly, "But remember, you got off easy. There will be times where you have to fight a moving person that could easily kill you and at those times, you will not have the option of closing your mind and taking all the time you need to gather your anger and pick the best spot to attack. You will have to make a quick decision without taking a whole lot of time. Got that?"

A series of "yeah"s came, some enthusiastically and some not.

"Okay, then. Maura, like I told you before I want to test you again on your dodging skills and I want to test Lynn on this, too."

"What, are you going to make us fight each other?" Maura asked.

Shanks shook his head and answered, "No, I think you and Lynn get enough of that when you fight each other during lunch and on your free time. I got somebody else to fight you." He turned to the five that attacked the desks and asked loudly, "Kurt and Elie, you guys wanna test your skills on actual moving targets?"

Kurt and Elie looked at each other, smirked, and nodded. They walked over to Maura and Lynn and stood in front of the two. Kurt stood in front of Maura while Elie stood in front of Lynn.

"Okay, I want to do this separately, so Lynn and Elie will watch as Kurt and Maura fights. Kurt, show me your fighting skills and Maura, show me your dodging skills." Shanks shouted before backing away from Kurt and Maura. Elie and Lynn got the same idea and backed away.

Kurt clenched his hands into tight fists and aimed heavy punches at Maura. With her swift dancing moves, she dodged every single one of them. She even dodged his kicks that he aimed at her. His attacks were faster and more frequent than Shanks' and she still dodged them. All the punches that were aimed at her head was dodged by Maura ducking gracefully. All the punches that were aimed at her middle was dodged by a simple dance move that involved her turning to the side. Every time Kurt kicked her, she leapt up in the air and sometimes did a little twirl. She dodged all the moves by simply dancing.

Shanks decided, after ten minutes, that it was time for him to intervene. "Okay, okay. Good job. Kurt, you did great, but you have to realize that you will have to learn when to use your great strength at a fast enemy. Maura, you have to learn to fight back while dodging. You are probably not as strong as you think you are or look, but you missed so many chances at attacking Kurt after you dodged his punches. You need to work on that."

After a nod from Kurt and Maura, it was time for Elie and Lynn's turn. "Lynn, you will dodge the attacks Elie will aim at you. You don't have to dance like Maura did, but I don't want you hiding your face because you are afraid of Elie. Just dodge her attacks. Elie, don't kill her and if she's down, stop attacking her." Shanks ordered.

Elie smirked and tightened her left hand into a fist. She was technically right handed and she just wanted to see if Lynn could last with her weaker left hand. She even moved slower than Kurt did. Her first punch hit Lynn on the right arm, her second got Lynn on the left, and her third got Lynn in the gut, which caused Lynn to fall to the ground gasping. She didn't dodge one punch.

"Pathetic Lynn. You didn't even try dodging. From where I was standing, I could tell that Elie was going easy on you and you only lasted one minute. If this was any normal battle, you would have already been dead." Shanks said in a disgusted voice.

"It's not my fault!" Lynn argued, "Elie was just being brutal. She didn't even give me a chance!"

"She gave you lots of chances!" Shanks shouted back at her, "You just didn't try and take them." He took a deep breath and calmed his voice down and turned to the windows. The rain had gotten worse and so had the wind. The rain was now coming down so hard that it was almost impossible to see what the weather was like outside. The wind was so strong that the school building started to shake. The tape that was covering the hole in the window Lynn made was torn off by the wind. The lights were starting to flicker. "Victoria, we're going to have to put off your fighting for another day. The weather is even worse than yesterday and I can't risk you injuring everyone else here."

Victoria shook her head and said calmly, "It's alright, Mr. Shanks. I can wait."

"So, what's next for today?" Kyler asked.

Shanks thought for a moment. He really didn't feel like teaching math until later and didn't really have any other plans. "I don't know. Just draw or something with art supplies."

"Can we watch TV before the power goes out?"

"Yeah, I guess. Sure."

As the others went to grab art supplies, Kyler turned on the TV and grabbed the remote. Almost immediately, he started flipping channels after one of the class members said "Change it." In the first five minutes of channel surfing, it sounded like nothing but mixed voices coming from the little box:

"Kiss my fat ass…"

"Welcome to The View…"

"It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood…"

"I'm leaving you, Stephan…"

"BAM!..."

"¿Gabriella, cómo SE QUE este bebé ES mío??..."

"Bob the Builder…"

"President Bush…"

It kept going on like that until finally Kyler stopped on one channel with a girl screaming while being carried into a closet by another woman by her hair.

"Hey, it's Carrie!" Johnny shouted.

All of the students stopped what they were doing and watched the tortured girl. Finally, it came up to a part where the girl was standing in front of a bathroom mirror with her hands on her cheeks. As she stared into the mirror at her reflection, the mirror began to shake until it finally shattered. At the exact second the mirror shattered, the wind knocked the power out, darkening the room and causing all the girls in the classroom to scream and the boys to jump. Shanks couldn't blame them. He jumped, too.

"What's going on, what's happening?!" Lynn started crying.

"It was a power outage, Lynn." Larry answered simply.

"The building is shaking! It's a hurricane!"

"It's not a hurricane. Hurricanes happen in the south. We live in Washington, that's the north. We don't get hurricanes here." Johnny explained.

"Then it's a tornado!"

"Tornadoes happen on the east. We live in the Northwest. We don't get tornadoes here."

"Then it has to be either a cyclone or a typhoon!"

"It's not any of those. We would have heard about them if it was. It's only a wind storm."

"Okay, are there any candles or something for light?" Shanks shouted over Lynn's crying that did not cease after Johnny tried to explain that nothing very bad was happening.

"In the art cupboard!" Larry shouted back.

By using the sense of touch, Shanks made his way to the art cupboard and took out two large candles and placed them on the closest desk that was nowhere near the windows. "Anybody got a light? Possibly Maura?" Shanks shouted.

Maura made her way to her desk and pulled out a lighter she used to light cigarettes and lit both candles. Now the room had a little bit of light. Everyone was standing where they last were. Everyone that is, except for Lynn. She was hiding in a corner by the door at the other side of the room than everyone else, crying her eyes out.

Shanks turned to the rest of his class and asked, "Anybody want to calm her down?"

The rest didn't say anything. In fact, all they really did was stare at him with their eyes clearly saying, "No way in hell."

Shanks let out an annoyed sigh, "Okay, fine. I'll take care of her."

"I'll see if the radio works. It's battery powered so maybe a connection can get through." Kyler said. He walked over to the radio on the shelf and messed around with the little knobs on the sides. At first, nothing but a bunch of static came through. Finally, a young woman's voice came over the radio:

"Attention citizens of Starlight Island and Whidbey Island, this is an update on the weather and what you can expect later. The temperature at the moment is 28 degrees Fahrenheit. Heavy rain and thundershowers are being accompanied by gusts of wind up to 70 mph. Most power is lost on both islands. It does not look like the weather is going to calm down any time soon, so our advice to you is to stay put in any building you are in and stay away from windows. Do not go outside for your own safety. So far the damage has moderately heavy. Trees have fallen in the roads and power lines have been snapped. Do not leave where you are. We will update you later… I repeat…"

"Okay, you guys heard the lady. Get away from the window." Shanks announced.

Johnny turned his head towards the window and, thanks to a flash of lightening, he saw something out the window. "Hey, guys! The recycling bin is flying in the air!" he shouted.

"Johnny, get away from the window!" Shanks shouted.

"Okay, okay. I'm going." Johnny said calmly, joining the rest of the class at the other side of the room.

"We're all going to die here, you know. All of us are going to be crammed into this one room when the school collapses and crushes us all…" Lynn cried.

Johnny rolled his eyes and rather than explain again that it was just a windstorm, he headed to a nearby broken desk and took out the toolbox that was sitting on that same shelf. By using the tools, he started repairing the broken desk.

"And the repairman is in…" Kyler said sarcastically.

Maura and Victoria giggled. Johnny muttered something at Kyler and continued his work with a smirk on his face.

"So, what are we supposed to do now?" Maura asked in between giggles.

Shanks shrugged and simply answered, "I have no idea. Just wait for a while until lunch or until the weather clears up enough for us to go home. Anybody know any good jokes?"

The jokes came pouring in from most of the students, but they weren't exactly all pleasant. In fact, they were mostly funny but disturbing. One joke was about a man, a donkey, and the donkey's private parts. Another joke was about a man and two unexpected presants from a hooker. The list kept going on. All, or at least most, of them had to deal with somebody's private parts or a stripper. Strangely enough, most of those jokes didn't even come from Larry. They came from Kyler and Johnny.

"Whoa. Those are good jokes, but where the hell did you learn things like that?" Shanks asked.

"We live in the generation where almost anything on TV is dirty, so we mostly get our jokes from that…we also got some of them from Victoria's older brother, Keith." Kyler answered.

Before Shanks or anybody could respond, the door opened, causing Lynn to jump. Standing in the doorway was Brenda with a flashlight. "Lunch is ready. You can all head down to the cafeteria." She said. After that, she walked out of the doorway and down the stairs.

"Okay, guys. Lunch time. Victoria, grab the candle and Maura light up your lighter. We're going to use those as a guidance for our trip down the stairs." Shanks ordered. Both girls did what they were told and grabbed the items they were ordered to grab. They slowly started to walk down the stairs with the rest of the class following them.

Going down the stairs was not an easy or pleasance task. The building continued to shake as the nine headed down the dark stairs aided by the candle and Maura's lighter. Things were going downhill quickly. Lynn was still in hysterics, Victoria nearly dropped the candle, and after Maura's lighter ran out of oil Kyler thought it would be funny to place his hands on Johnny's shoulders and give him a little push while still holding on. After that happened, Johnny let out a shout of surprise before shouting, "You bastard!"

"Hey, whoever that was, knock it off!" Shanks shouted from the back of the line of the nine.

"We're all going to die here." Lynn cried.

"Shut the hell up, Lynn. We are not going to die." Maura shouted in an annoyed voice.

"Yeah, we're at the bottom now." Victoria answered from behind Maura.

It was true. The group was already at the bottom and thankfully a line of lit candles lead the way to the cafeteria. Victoria blew out her candle and the eight students, even the still crying Lynn, ran towards the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was unusually empty. It appeared that only fifty students were around, much much less than there were when Shanks first got to the building. Most of the tables were empty. Only three girls from Lynn's group were still around and they were all in hysterics, too. Kurt and Elie's table was empty. Only two of Kyler's friends were still around.

The food being served was not hot, but then again, Shanks didn't really expect it to be with this weather. Lunch was ham sandwiches with lettuce, mayonnaise, cheese, and mustard served on cold white bread. Juice and water was served as a drink. Dessert was a little cup of strawberries.

There was so much space and so little noise in the large cafeteria that Shanks decided just to eat there, at an empty table. A few of the other teachers (there weren't that many) followed his lead, but instead took some of the empty seats at the table Shanks sat at. As they sat, they explained why there were so few students left in the school. Back when the wind started getting bad, most of the students just packed up and went home. One of the fifty that stayed left about ten minutes after the larger group of students left, but instead of driving, the boy walked. He walked one block before turning back and coming to the school. The wind was so bad that his backpack, which was stuffed with books and a walkman, was blown off his back and away from the boy. The wind blocked most of his vision that he could not see the crosswalk when it came for him to cross the street so he had to turn back to be safe.

A bunch of mumbling was heard at the table next to Shanks. He turned his head and spotted Kyler saying something with his mouth stuffed with what probably was his sandwich.

"Kyler, swallow your food before talking. It's gross." Maura said loudly.

As a response to what Maura told him, Kyler leaned forward and, with his mouth still full of his food, gave Maura a kiss while she started saying something to Victoria.

Shanks raised an eyebrow as he watched Maura's eyes widen and Victoria and Johnny began to laugh.

Kyler removed his mouth, swallowed the remaining food, and asked, "Can I have your strawberries?"

Maura smirked, grabbed her cup, and smashed the strawberries into Kyler's face saying, "Take 'em." That got Johnny and Victoria to laugh even harder. Even Kyler was laughing.

Kyler's face turned into a smirk and he began to open his mouth. Apparently Maura, Johnny, Victoria, and the friends that stayed knew what he was going to do because they immediately said, "Kyler, no. Don't do it…" but it was too late. As he opened his mouth, Kyler shouted, "Food fight!"

All the others, being high school students, immediately started taking apart their sandwiches and throwing them across the lunch room at others, squealing and laughing when either their targets were met or they were hit themselves. The noise quickly escalated to an almost unbearable point, and it wasn't just the students that were making the noise either. The teachers were making just as much, if not more, noise as the students as they screamed for them to stop throwing their food and to be quiet. They were unsuccessful and gave up after five minutes.

The noise and fights continued for another good ten minutes before a loud whistle covered up the noise. Almost immediately food stopped being thrown and students stopped making any noise. Everyone in the cafeteria turned in the direction of the whistle and spotted a very angry Brenda with a whistle in her mouth.

Brenda's lips released themselves from the whistle, causing it to fall onto her chest with a little rope around her neck. She really was pissed. Her hair was almost poking through her hairnet and her face was turning completely red. She took a deep breath and screamed a loud speech about how long it took her to make those sandwiches and how much work it was going to be for the janitor to pick up all the pieces of food on the floor and walls.

After her speech ended, a very heavy gust of wind entered the cafeteria. Shanks turned his head towards the wind and saw the doors wide open. In an instant, two of the teachers at his table rushed forward and slammed the doors shut. Shanks took a look around the room. So far it looked like nobody moved and everyone was still in their spots, until he took a closer look.

"Where are Maura and Elie?" Shanks shouted.

Kurt, Kyler, Johnny, Larry, and Victoria immediately started turning their heads around the room before frantically shrugging.

"They went outside." Lynn answered.

"What?!" Shanks shouted.

"They told us that it was safe outside…" One of Lynn's friends started.

"So we told them that they should go outside to prove it…" Another friend continued.

"So they did." The third friend finished.

"Fuck." Shanks almost shouted. He ran to the door with Kyler, Larry, Kurt, Johnny, and Victoria behind him. Larry and Johnny opened the doors again. Immediately, the wind hit the six in the face. "The wind looks really bad! I can hardly see a thing!" Victoria shouted over the wind.

"Like I give a fuck. I'm going out there!" Kurt shouted.

"So am I." Kyler agreed.

"I'm going out there, too." Shanks agreed. He did not say why he was out loud, but he knew why. He wanted to go out there to make sure that Kurt wouldn't try fighting with Kyler. He turned to Victoria and shouted over the wind, "When we find them Maura and Elie, I want you to whistle so we can follow the sound. You can whistle, right?"

Victoria placed her fingers in her mouth and gave a loud, sharp whistle. Shanks nodded and ran through the open doors with Kurt and Kyler.

The wind was even worse than it looked. The wind almost blocked their vision and made it very difficult to walk, but the three managed to walk a few steps. It seemed hopeless, though. The wind was so strong and if the three, who were heavier than Maura and Elie, were having problems walking, then the two girls could have already been floating in the air far beyond their reach.

Finally, Shanks had a little idea of how to find one of the girls. If he called her a name she hated, then she might respond so he would have an idea of where to look…if she was even around. "Maura Beth!"

His plan was a success. From his left, a loud voice screamed back, "I told you not to call me Maura Beth!"

"I see her!" Kyler shouted, running in the direction of Maura's voice.

Maura was not floating up in the air. Instead, she was seated on the ground with the wind blowing back her hair, making it look like a huge flame was growing on top of her head. She started to stand up, but as soon as she was halfway up, the wind knocked her back onto her behind. Kyler had to pull her up and place her into his arms so she wouldn't go back down.

Elie, being lighter than Maura, was already about two or three inches off the ground, being carried away by the wind. The look on her face showed that she was only moderately scared at what was happening to her. Kurt had to reach forward and pull her back onto the ground and keep a tight grip on her so she wouldn't fly any farther than she already had.

"Hey, bastard! Whistle so we can get the hell out of this wind." Kyler shouted over the wind.

Shanks stuck his fingers in his mouth and let out a loud, sharp whistle. A second later, Victoria answered with another whistle.

Immediately, Kurt, Kyler, and Shanks ran to Victoria with Elie and Maura in their arms. As soon as they made it through the doors, Johnny and Larry slammed the doors shut.

Maura and Elie were placed on the ground and both started to wince as they saw Shanks, Kurt, and Kyler glaring at them.

"What the hell were you girls thinking on going out there in that weather?! You could have been carried off and probably killed!" Shanks shouted.

Kyler didn't say or do anything other than glare at Maura, but Kurt did.

No words came out of his mouth, but he did have another way to show he was ticked off. He clenched his left hand into a tight fist and gave Elie a quick, clean punch on her already bruised face. The blow wasn't really very hard. It was strong enough to knock Elie in the same position Maura had been in when both girls walked out into the wind, but not entirely strong enough to cause any more damage than a bruise.

The only thing the girls could say was, "Sorry."

After their little apology, Kyler's angry face turned into the complete opposite. His frown turned into a grin and he asked in a laid back voice, "Well, it was kinda fun out there, wasn't it?"

Maura grinned back and answered, "Totally."

Before anybody in the cafeteria could say anything, Brenda's loud voice echoed throughout the cafeteria, ordering all students, especially the students from the classroom on top of the building, and the teachers to go back to their classes so the janitors and the lunch ladies could get to work on cleaning up the mess the students made. Help was offered from multiple students and teachers, but they were turned down in case another little fight happened and caused more damage than there already was.

Manson placed a little machine that looked like a plastic white pipe and a light bulb inside in Shanks' hands, which Larry quickly confiscated and flipped it on with a switch. Now there was more light for the students that had to climb stairs instead of a dim candle and a burned out lighter.

The trip back up the stairs was a little better than it was going down. Although Lynn was starting to freak out again, nobody was playing any jokes on the others and there was more light so everyone could see the steps and the people in front of them.

"So, what are we supposed to do now?" Johnny asked as soon as everyone got through the door.

More rain had gotten through the broken window and entered the class along with the freezing wind. Everything was cold.

"Warming up the room I guess." Shanks answered.

Johnny nodded and led Kyler and Victoria back to the window and, with their help, began to tape up the hole again, but using more tape and parts of the white lab suit Shanks was placed in the first day he started teaching and the students took his clothes, which Kyler sliced up with the knife. The patch stayed on the window and the rain was kept out. The only problem now was how to warm up the room with now power on.

"Why don't we make a little fire by using the garbage cans?" Kyler asked.

"Because we got smoke detectors." Maura answered.

"But they never go off when you smoke." Kyler answered back.

"And we have sprinklers from the ceiling that go off when they sense smoke." Victoria answered.

"Kurt and Elie can just disable them. They've done it before…or at least Kurt has. Last year he disabled all the fire alarms and most of the school's sprinklers before he got caught."

"We don't have anything to burn." Larry added.

"Books and paper."

"We don't have anything to make a fire." Johnny said. He was telling the truth. The wind in the room blew out the flames from both candles.

"Maura has two more lighters and about three boxes of matches in her desk."

"Okay, okay. Fine. Go ahead. Kurt and Elie, disable the smoke detectors and sprinklers. You can keep whatever you take out of them." Shanks ordered.

This was an order that Kurt and Elie liked. They weren't good at repairing, but if there was something that involved stealing, they were up for it. Swiftly and silently, they took apart everything they could from the two smoke detectors and two sprinklers after they completely disabled them.

Kyler took the garbage can from next to Shanks' desk and placed in paper and wood from a few of the broken desks. Maura took her two lighters from her desk and used them to light the paper and wood aflame to get a fire started.

The garbage can fire was not a big one, but it wasn't expected to be since it was in a garbage can. At least it was starting to warm the room up even if a few of the students were not satisfied with the little warmth that was in there.

After the fire was made, Kyler moved back to the radio and started to mess with the knobs, trying to get a connection through. After the first few minutes, it was nothing but static. It seemed that no radio station was working until finally a faint connection went through. The only problem was that the woman's voice over the radio was so soft that it was difficult to hear over the static that was also coming through:

"Attention citizens of Starlight Island and Whidbey Island, this is an update on our storm. The temperature has dropped down to 26 degrees Fahrenheit and the winds have sped up to 80mph. This is NOT a tornado nor a hurricane, but that does not mean that we are safe. Do not, under ANY circumstances, go outside. Stay inside wherever you are. We expect the storm to go through the night and possibly last a few days. During this time, we advise you to stay away from any windows, do whatever you can do keep warm, and most importantly…"

That's all that came out of the radio station. Static covered the rest of it, completely blocking out the most important piece of advice. Kyler tried messing with the knobs again, but no luck. All that came out of the radio was static so there was nothing to do but turn it off.

After the radio turned off, Lynn started crying even harder than she had before, "We're all going to die here. I don't want to die! I'm only seventeen and there's so many things I haven't done yet. The school is going to collapse and kill me…I don't want to die!"

Shanks had finally had enough. He turned to Larry, who still held the flashlight, and asked, "Would you please take her out of this room and to her little friends so she'll stop crying around me. She's giving me a headache."

Larry nodded, "Sure. I think she's giving us all a headache." He opened the door and motioned for Lynn to follow him. Thankfully she did and soon she was away from the room.

Everyone else let out a breath of relief. The whole room was silent except for the small fire and the occasional tearing of paper to toss into the fire. Larry returned a few minutes later with the flashlight and without Lynn.

Nobody said anything after he got back. It was mostly because nobody really knew what to do since the students were trapped in the one place they really didn't want to hang around probably for a few days because of this storm.

"Hey, guys. The radio was talking about some place called Whidbey Island. Where is that exactly?" Shanks asked.

"It's the island to the left of us. It's bigger than Starlight Island and has more than four towns on it while we only have one. It has a way to get to the mainland and that's a huge green bridge. Our only way to the mainland is by ferryboat. My cousins Nicole and Chelsea live on Whidbey Island. It's pretty nice, but I like Starlight Island better." Victoria explained.

"Hey, why don't we tell some scary stories to pass the time?" Larry asked out of the blue.

At the same time, everyone else shrugged. Nothing better to do. They all took seats either on the floor around the fire or in desks behind the fire. It was time for the stories to begin.

AN HOUR LATER

"And so the young man handed the woman the sweater he got from the girl, and the woman looked at him and said 'That's impossible. My daughter was killed twenty years ago wearing this exact same sweater.'" Larry said. Nobody looked scared.

"…so?" Maura asked.

"So, the man helped the girl and she was dead! Oh, come on. Don't tell me you don't think that's scary." Larry almost shouted.

"Larry, when I was six, the mayor of my hometown was hung from the gallows in front of the women and children. Your story was not scary." Shanks said.

"Yeah, come on. You can't do any better than that?" Johnny asked.

Larry decided to start on another story, "So Ichabod Crane lived in the village of Sleepy Hollow…"

"Let me guess…he forgot his sweater." Kyler interrupted. Everybody but Larry laughed.

"Okay, fine then Kyler. If you think you can do better, you tell a story." Larry said to Kyler.

"Okay, so there was this guy that lived in New York that never told anybody his name. He was known as the mystery man. Nobody knew where he lived or if he had any family. All they knew was that he went bowling every Saturday…" Kyler started.

FIVE MINUTES LATER

"And then he came snuck up behind the old lady…did I mention she was dead?" Kyler asked.

"No." Victoria answered.

"Well, she was. Anyway, he snuck up behind the old lady and bashed her face in with a golf club. You know, because he went golfing every Saturday."

"You said he went bowling." Johnny said.

"Dammit!" Kyler muttered.

"Kyler, I've beaten the crap out of things scarier than that." Kurt shouted.

"Fine, you tell a story, then." Kyler shouted back.

A FEW HOURS LATER

Kurt did tell his story, a story about a man burned alive by a group of people and came back to kill them off by tearing out their insides and torturing them for revenge. Elie went after him and her story wasn't any better. It was just as gruesome as Kurt's if not more. Hers was about a woman haunted by a child, who hurt or killed anyone that got near the woman. Both Kurt and Elie's stories were long and very explanatory about what was happening to the people as they were killed, that the others had a hard time not throwing up.

Unfortunately, after Kurt and Elie's stories, Brenda walked up the stairs with a plastic bag with eight little boxes in them. In the boxes were sandwiches, sliced oranges, and a blue can with the word "Pepsi" written on it. This was their dinner and the only reason it was delivered to every class was because the cafeteria was still being cleaned up and Brenda didn't want to have to overlook the students to make sure they didn't cause another food fight in the cafeteria. By the time the food came, it was five o'clock.

The stories kept going on after the food and drinks were finished. Maura continued next. She, like Kyler and Larry, was not very good at telling scary stories. It wasn't because her story was boring or confusing. It wasn't. Her problem was that she meant to be scary, but her story ended up being more humorous than it was scary. Every time Maura mentioned the parts where the little girl in her story killed someone, she made it sound funny, like that of a comedy. By the end, everybody but Kurt and Elie were laughing. Apparently they didn't find it funny.

Johnny went next, telling a story called The Tell Tale Heart by someone named Edgar Allan Poe. Everyone, even Johnny, agreed that it wasn't scary, but Johnny explained that it was the only thing he could come up with at the moment. "Besides, it's a good story considering it was made by a madman." Johnny said.

Shanks went next, telling a story about a pirate ship that went out at sea and after sailing for months, the ship began to sink so the only surviving pirates had to swim to a close cave, which was haunted by spirits that tortured them to death. His students thought that was about as scary as Johnny and Larry's stories.

As soon as Shanks finished his story, something from outside was carried by the wind and crashed into one of the windows, breaking it beyond patching repair. Immediately, more wind and rain entered the room, but since the fire was away from the rain and there were so many people guarding it, the wind did not blow it out.

"Okay, Victoria, you're up." Maura said to Victoria, "Give us the scariest thing you can come up with."

"Well, I do have something, but I don't think anybody will like it." Victoria started.

"Come on, tell it." Johnny said.

"Yeah, it's gotta be better than all the other stories we heard." Kyler added.

"Well, okay. In the year 1998, a group of prominent police officers, a special group that did both police and detective work, went into a mansion in the woods outside of their town. When they did not come back or contact any of the other members of their group that stayed behind to watch over things by the next day, the rest of the group went to find out what happened. After their helicopter landed, the group found the body of one of their team members that went the day before, mauled by what looked like a dog. One of the living members was searching around when he heard a noise in the bushes. He turned around and saw nothing and just as he took a breath of relief, a group of Dobermans ran up behind him. The man turned around, but before he could run, the dogs got him. The man screamed for help, but his teammates could not help him. The dogs chewed his flesh and ripped out his throat. One lone dog ran towards the others and it was then that they got a good look at the dog. It had little fur and its flesh was rotting off its body, but it was still moving as if it was still alive and healthy. All the other living officers could do was run to the mansion ahead of them as their teammate, who was flying the helicopter, flew away in fright…" Victoria started.

ABOUT AN HOUR LATER

"Jill released the signal flares to contact Brad to come get her, Barry, and Chris. After the flares went off, the big monster came through the open door, ready for more action. She tried to fire more bullets from her handgun at the monster, but it wouldn't work. She was out of bullets. Suddenly, Barry came up behind the monster and began firing. Jill knew she had to work fast if she wanted to save, Chris, Barry, and herself. Then, she heard the sound of a helicopter. Brad came back and to help her, he threw down a rocket launcher, ordering Jill to kill the monster and quickly. Jill knew she had to do it because the building would blow up in less than a minute. She fired a rocket at the monster and blew it up. Quickly, Chris, Barry, and Jill made it onto the helicopter just before the mansion blew up. Although they were lucky to escape with their lives, Jill knew that she and the others would be haunted by the images of all their friends and partners that were killed for many years to come." Victoria finished.

At first the room was completely silent. Finally, Shanks broke the silence, "Damn Victoria. How did you come up with something like that?"

"I actually just retold the game Resident Evil. A few months ago I slept over at my cousins' house on Whidbey Island and one night, my cousin Nicole had her best friend, Kristina, over and they were playing Resident Evil, so I watched them. It was really scary, so I just decided to put the game into the story." Victoria explained with an embarrassed look on her face.

"Well, I think that's either the scariest story we had tonight or it was tied equally with Kurt and Elie's…graphic stories." Shanks told her. He looked behind him at the clock and noticed that the clock stated that it was 5:46 and none of the hands were moving. "Anybody got a watch or something?"

Larry turned over his wrist and said loudly, "It's 8:50."

It was already 8:50pm. The wind was not letting up and neither was the rain and both showed no signs that they were planning on calming down.

"So, what are we supposed to do now?" Kyler asked.

Shanks shrugged, "Nothing except for telling more stories or jokes around the fire…or sleep if that's what you guys want to do."

"Do you think the storm is going to get worse?" Victoria asked timidly.

Shanks looked at her. She was scared. Her eyes and her shaking body said she was. The building was shaking even harder than it was before and the rain was coming down harder. The room was still freezing cold and it was extremely likely that things were going to get a whole lot worse.

"I don't know."

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A/N: Whew. That was a long one. This idea for the storm was originally going to happen later on in the chapters after something big I have planned for the later chapters was going to happen, but I decided just to make it happen now. Just to let you guys know, there is no such place (that I know about) called Starlight Island, thus it does not exist. There is, however, a place called Whidbey Island in Washington State (not D.C.) and everything described about Whidbey Island is true.

The storm that I mentioned in a way, sort of happened. In December 2006, a really bad windstorm came through Washington and Oregon. If any readers are from Washington or Oregon, they might remember this, but the winds got really high. My sister thinks it got as bad as 80 mph. My dad said it was 70 mph. Some news articles agreed with my sister, some agreed with my dad, one said the wind got up to 90 mph and another said it got as bad as 114 mph. It was recorded as the worst storm ever on Whidbey Island. It was worse in Seattle and Oregon. Some people died in the storm, mostly due to carbon monoxide poisoning when they brought grills into their houses to keep warm. Some places only had two days without power and heat while some other places had to survive with two weeks with no power and heat. It didn't happen in March, but I decided just to make up a thing with the storm that happened in December.

The thing with Carrie did happen with me back in January. We had a small windstorm that knocked out power for a few hours. I started watching the movie Carrie on TV, which I honestly don't really like, and right when the mirror broke, the power went off. Freaky, huh?

Okay, now to explain what each TV show is supposed to be:

"Kiss my fat ass…" –Tyra Banks show

"Welcome to The View…" -The View

"It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood…"-Mr. Roger's Neighborhood

"I'm leaving you, Stephan…"-soap opera

"BAM!..."-Emeril

"¿Gabriella, cómo SE QUE este bebé ES mío?..."-Spanish soap opera (translation: "Gabriella, how do I know this baby is mine?")

"Bob the Builder…"-Bob the Builder

"President Bush…"-news

This chapter was mainly made for humor purposes, but I tried to get some other stuff in here like some fighting and stuff. R/R please.

Oh, and a big thank you to Krow Blood for giving me the correct Spanish way for saying "Gabriella, how do I know this baby is mine?".