Chapter 2

Rod's POV

"You need to tell us exactly what happened," The police man said. We were in a small room with a table in the center and a chair on either side.

"I've told you a million times. All I saw was a flash of blue light and the man hitting the ground. That's all." I said, rolling my hand into a fist, and clenching my teeth. They had been asking the same question over and over, in different ways.

"What did he say to you?"

"He said that death is here and we're all going to die. He must have smashed his head pretty hard." I said. Not truly considering it. There was a window to the left of us which two other people were standing at, looking in on us. "May I leave now?"

The policeman sighed. "Very well."

He got up and showed me to the door. I went out to the elevator, to which we came in, and pressed the first floor button. The door opened and I went straight to the exit sign. I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Passing a desk with some old dude standing behind it, I tripped on a recycling bin and fell face first into the throw rug. What a total retard. I stood up, looked at the old man, smiled and went on my way. His astonished eyes burned into my back.

Great, how the crap am I going to get home. Ugh! Kicking a rock made it go spiraling down the walk way. I hate myself! Blast, where's a phone when you need it. I stopped at the corner of a street as a car went blowing passed. Suddenly an idea sprung to my mind.

"I got it," I said.

Another car came whizzing down the asphalt. I jumped in the way and yelled "Stop."

The car came to a screeching stop.

"What the crap!" came a voice from the car.

"I need a ride," I said, which I regretted saying moments later. A very big fat guy, with a spiked leather jacket, a sash and saggy pants suddenly came out of the car with a gun. Oh dear. I thought

"Get out of my way," he said pointing the gun at me. Not even a second later I took off running as fast as I could. He was cussing and shouting things I couldn't hear.

I finally stopped after a couple blocks panting. Great where am I now. Anger, fear, and sadness surged through my head. I started heading in what I thought was the right direction. There were many turns, intersections, and other unfamiliar houses. Nothing was identifiable.

But there was one thing that I did recognize, a local phone! Yes! I thought. Finally. I ran up to the phone booth, excitement flooding through me. I picked it up and immediately dialed Nicky's cell phone. Nothing.

"Oh no," I said, slamming my head against the glass, I forgot I needed money. I left my wallet at the university. "Ugh."

"Need some help?" someone asked. I jumped, and swung around. My heart skipped a beat. I began to sweat. It was the red head.

"Ah, well I'm doing fine," I said trying to sound manly and cool. "What about yourself?"

"Oh me, my house is just around the corner," She said smiling, "Well, I better go."

"No wait. What's your name? Mine's Rod."

"Kenya. Oh and here's fifty cents for the phone. See yah at the university."

"Bye," I said in stunned silence.

I called Nicky and he came and picked me up. So now we are back at the school in our room.

"Ya know Nicky. We should get an apartment instead of having to sleep in the dorm," I said chewing a piece of bread.

"It's about time you started thinking about using our money properly." Nicky said reading a book.

"Hey, wait a second, you were the one about to buy a room full of candy."

"That was once Rod. Not like you who goes out and buys worthless video games and perfume."

"It's cologne, smart one." I said throwing a piece of bread at him. "What do you think about this old guy falling from the sky?"

"I don't know Rod. I mean think about the possibility of it being a coincidence."

"Not very likely," I said, putting the empty plate on the ground and lying back on the bed, "When does a guy just appear out of no where and say that some swarm is coming to kill everyone. That's not everyday something like that happens."

We sat for a moment in silence staring at the ceiling. I looked out the window and realized how dark it was. It was nine o'clock according to the clock across from me. So we watched a couple movies that we brought with us and when we were done it was around one o'clock in the morning.

"Good night, Nicky," I said, getting into bed in my clothes.

"Night Rod."

Precisely the next morning

Beep beep, beep beep.

"Ugh," I groaned pushing the alarm button.

"Get up Rod. If we don't get down to the cafeteria in time there won't be any food left." Nicky said as he put on his shoes.

"I don't see why we have to live in this place when school hasn't even started yet." I said getting up. "I mean we still have another week to go."

"Oh stop complaining Rod. It isn't that bad. I know an apartment would be better but—" Rod shut the bathroom door blocking out Nicky's last words. "And maybe if you would get a JOB!

"Ugh," I moaned, "Another day of torture."

I threw some water on my face and grabbed my tooth brush. I began to let my mind wonder. I had gotten fired from my last job, a couple months ago, because I had constantly argued with my boss. And now on every single stupid application I had to put why I had been fired. It drove me crazy!

It didn't take long to finish brushing my teeth. I turned on the water to the shower expecting warm water. I felt an unexpected rush of freezing liquid scorch my back. I let out a howl and lunged out of the shower.

"Aaah!" I screamed. The water was freezing! Anger flashed in my mind. "Stupid school water"

There was a bang on the door.

"Hey Rod I'll go grab us some food, okay," Nicky said.

"Yeah, thanks, Nicky," I said as I turned off the faucet. I'll just skip the shower. I thought. I grabbed a towel and dried myself off. The towel had a rough texture to it, which aggravated me. I put the cloth around my waist. Then out of nowhere the lights flickered and went out. At first I thought Oh great, naked and there's a power surge. But it didn't look like there was a storm outside. Oh well. It is probably some janitor jacking with the electricity in the school. Leaving the bathroom I started looking for the dresser. Feeling around the room was actually kind of creepy. Being alone and all. I finally found the dumb thing and pulled out some shorts, underwear, and a T-shirt.

While I was putting on the undershorts I heard a low growl. It was sort of like a dinosaur from Jurassic Park. Is that the TV? No it can't be, the power is off. Fear seemed to strike my soul. Looking around I was able to see some figure in the darkness. My heart began to pound. If only there was more light from the sun. Wait a second. There should be more light. Were there clouds outside?

Another growl interrupted my thoughts. Then a roar split the air. I dropped my shirt and shorts, a chill went up my spine and I my body shook uncontrollably.

"Gaah!" I screamed. A thrashing pain hit my arm. I screamed again, the agony was excruciating. I lunged for what I thought was the door, and luckily it was. I yanked it open and hurtled down the stairs. There were signs of pursuit. I could here slithering behind me. A blood thirsty shriek of Death rippled through the air as I stumbled on the last step. Falling face first on the ground, I rolled up and took off down a hall, still just in my underwear, I swerved around a right corner. My eyes slowly adjusted to the dark.

I slammed into a door and thrust it open. I barreled down the stairs as fast as I could. A roar of rage hung in the air. I had to slow down because there were no light and I couldn't see at all. Ready for the next door I smashed into it and the thick piece of wood crashed open.

"Nicky!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

Something grabbed me and pulled me a side. I seemed to have been thrown into a closet because I was pressed up against someone or something. On the other side of me I felt the door. Please don't be a girl. A light beamed through the darkness and low behold, it was that nerd I saw at the cafeteria.

"Sorry," she whispered. She reeked gold fish.

"Gold fish. Really?" I asked. I couldn't stand this anymore. I was in my underwear next to a crazy girl. I'd rather be eaten by the monster. I twisted the door knob.

"No don't, you'll get us killed!" She half whispered. Too late. The door shoved open.

Ah man, does that feel good, I thought, studying the situation around me. I was sprawled out on the floor; the girl had fallen beside me, and no scary monster in sight. Good. Now the only real thing I wanted to do right then was get some clothes on.

Getting up I ran down the short hallway, opened the door to the first set of stairs, went up them, rounded the corner, flew up the next flight off stairs, down another hall until I got to my room. I slid my room card down the slot and plunged inside. There was my shirt and shorts sitting on the ground, next to the dresser. As I walked over to them I noticed blood running down my arm, then I remembered the pain that had I had felt earlier. Now that I remembered it, stinging was surging through my arm. I started wailing like a baby. It was light enough to inspect what was causing me this discomfort. A thorn about half a foot was sticking out my arm. The place it came in contact to the skin was dark red and blood was still oozing out everywhere; along with some light green oozy stuff. The pain came in waves. From what I learned in boy scouts, I knew that it was poisonous.

All I wanted to do was yank it out, but if I so much as touched the stupid thing it ached. Tears welled up in my eyes and started poring down my face. I was able to get my shorts on with one hand but left my shirt off. The stench of blood was almost unbearable. I went to the sink in the bathroom and ran water on it. The non hardened blood rippled away. The wound hurt if I put any water on it. I knew I had to get that thorn off or the venom would spread faster. So I grabbed the thorn and yanked. Screaming the whole time, it finally slid out.

Again the pain ached, and all I could do was tie a cloth around my arm to try to stop the bleeding. I then heard the door open and knew it was Nicky. Thank heavens he was alright.

"Rod? You in here?" Nicky's voice asked.

"Nicky call 911," I said as he entered the bathroom.

"Oh," He said and hurriedly left. I heard his phone beep the three numbers. Looking through the cupboards and drawers I couldn't find any bandages; only toilet paper. That's all I could use, so I wrapped it around the cloth, hopping that it would help.

"Yes, if you could send an ambulance now that would be great. Yes, Charles Canyon University. Thank you." Nicky said and hung up. "Rod an ambulance is coming along with a couple police officers. I'm guessing we'll all be questioned… huh... again."

"Yay, I'm so excited." I moaned. I hate being interviewed. "You know what, screw it. Let's just drive over to the hospital instead."

"Too late," Nicky said looking out the window. "Their cars are here, which means there should be a knock at the door, right about-."

Clonk, clonk, clonk.

Nicky went and opened the door. I could hear the paramedics run to the bathroom where I waited. Cool, Nicky must have told them it was urgent, because they brought their stuff with them. They took me out to the ambulance and started working. Giving me a shot that would make me fall asleep. Just a moment before I dozed off I thought what of our budget?

Moments later I woke up in the back of the ambulance. We were moving so I guessed that we were heading to the hospital. One of the paramedics must have noticed I woke up because he looked at me and started talking.

"Oh, you're awake. We are taking you to the hospital to check and make sure all the venom is out of your system." The man said.

"The thing that poisoned me, what was it?" I asked feeling a little drowsy. He hesitated before answering, when another paramedic nodded.

"We do not know. The object will be handed over to the police who will most likely give it to the scientists to be studied." He said.

"How much money are you taking out of my account?"

"Insurance will cover it."

"Phew. That scared me for a second."

We parked in the hospital parking lot, and I was taken into a room.

The nurse took my temperature, checked my heart rate and my pulse, and then said. "Wait one moment here and I will get the doctor."

Well why wasn't he with us anyways? This is absurd. The thing she checked my heart rate with, was on the wall. I grabbed the squishy part and started squeezing it. Ha this is fun. My arm started hurting and I let go. I waited for what seamed like an hour, until the doctor finally came in. He kind of looked like some actor I had seen on a comedy. I held in a laugh and made sort of a puffing noise. The doctor looked at me funny.

"We're going to do some tests and scans on your arm. Then we will take you back to the school. It should only take about a half an hour, unless there is still more of that strange poison in your arm," He said looking through some papers. When he finally stopped he took me to a room about the size of a gymnasium. I laid my arm across a surface to which a big machine was towering over. The device scanned a long red light across my arm.

After that we went into another room and I put my arm into a hole in the wall which barely fit my arm. A couple flashes came from the hole. They then took me to a waiting room. After a couple of minutes, a nurse came in and took me to a computer residence. A picture was displayed on the computer. It showed an arm muscle with a brown growth on it. The picture was gross. The growth had tentacle things coming out of it. The thing was wavering back and forth.

"What is that?" I asked. The doctor and three nurses turned to me with concerned looks on their faces.