[[Ignore. Annoying double post. Sworweh!]]

"I, uh, changed a lightbulb last weekend...that's science, right?" Val laughed; at least someone else was managing to maintain a sense of humour in the face of this madness and she glanced up at tall figure she was walking alongside, as he continued "I dunno. I'm not big into school. I'm already twenty and I'm still finishing twelfth grade. They say I don't apply myself, but I don't see the point. I just want to get my diploma and go." Twenty? She tried to mask her surprise under nonchalance, but suddenly, she became painfully aware of how out of her depth she was, with this guy she barely knew, in this shadowed hallway where she couldn't even see ten paces ahead of herself. She knew they were approaching the cafeteria by the change in corridor deco and the whoops emanating from the wide doorway ahead. When Cecil mentioned about liking PE, she opened her mouth to supply that she, herself, liked jogging in her spare time. However, as they were about to reach the source of the sound, she decided against it and shut up swiftly.

Instead of the confused, tentative group of kids she'd expected to stumble across, she found herself caught in the glare of an intense, white light of half a dozen phone screens combined. The sickly stench of smoke hung thick in the air and she resisted the urge to sneeze, slowly edging closer to Cecil. The stark glow ploughed towards them, accompanied by low, rough voices and barks of laughter, and Val felt the icy grip of fear seize her limbs. Given that the voices were not entirely unfamiliar - though she couldn't identify any one of them by name - she guessed that this particular event wasn't a direct product of the freak eclipse. No - she recognized the smell, that hung in the shadier parts of school, where people like her steered clear.

"Oh, it's just CC! What's up, Cec? Wanna smoke up with us?"

The advancing party seemed to relax, at this announcement but Val felt as though she'd been kicked square in the gut. Cecil was part of this group - of course; why else hadn't she seen him around her part of school? It had been Cecil's suggestion that they come to the cafeteria - what if he had planned this all along? And now she was trapped, caught in the thick of it. Her heart rate rocketed, as the sickening shock begun to override the paralysis the initial panic had induced in her body. She'd thought...well, she didn't know what she'd quite thought of him, but for some reason, it wasn't this. Stupid, naïve kid, Val admonished herself.

The only glimmer of reassurance that Val received was the detachment in both Cecil's tone and posture. When he refused the loud-mouthed one's offer of - well, Val wasn't exactly well versed in street culture, but she guessed that whatever it was, wasn't of the medicinal variety - Cecil seemed unfazed at the guy's annoyance. As they spoke, Val edged back silently until her back hit the wall next to the doorway. She considered making a dash for exit but Cecil hadn't yet given her reason to doubt him, and so she found herself glued in place.

"Where do you think you're going?" a voice sneered to her left and jumped, as a hand clamped around her upper arm. She shook it off violently and scurried back into Cecil's shadow. Running seemed out of the question. Her only hope was that Cecil wasn't too deep in - and by the way he turned to search for an answer in her, she grimaced. If Cecil didn't know how to convince these guys - his friends - to back down, what hope did she have?...But her three elder brothers hadn't taught her to give up. She pushed up the sleeves of Cecil's jacket, in a bid to look a little less ridiculous and stepped forward, before the doubts took over. She hoped she looked significantly more confident than she felt.

"Look, guys," she said, with as much volume as she could muster "We'd really like to stay, really...but actually, we just dropped by to warn you. You know how everyone's gathering in the auditorium to figure this freaky shit out? Well - news just in - some nerds have just about calculated the origin of this weird blackout and they've worked out what those creatures are, and trust me; it isn't pretty. I'm guessing you heard...the screams."

She paused for dramatic effect, high of her own adrenaline - never mind the joint - and when they didn't outright shoot her down or laugh in her face, she continued. After seeing the effect those wails had had on various students (which seemed as much mental torture, as physical), she was counting on the fact that these people seemed like they had more mental demons than most. In all honesty, she was lying through her teeth and surprised by how easily the untruths wove their way into her speech.

"It's not an eclipse, like they've been saying. The military-" the slightly more believable of the wacky theories she'd just been recounting to Cecil was the first thing that came into her mind "- have been using this area for nuclear weapons testing. You remember the eye tests they made us all do last week?" A routine check, as part of 'Love your Retinas' week, as Val recalled correctly "Well, it was to check that no eye damage had been recorded in the local population, due to the radioactive testing they'd been conducting at night. You know, in that abandoned warehouse a block down from this school? It's a top secret trial that they've been running - I mean, war's more important than us civilians, of course. But there's been an explosion - a leak. They've locked this area down and they're sending SWAT teams in, as soon as they can. It's messed up local wildlife pretty bad and it's causing hallucinations in some people, which will only get worse. But the main concern is that radioactive waste has been found in another cafeteria's food supply, and that it's all contaminated. So if you want to stick around, be my guest. But don't blame us when the government descend and lock all three of your glowing, green, skeleton arms into specialised handcuffs. We're out of here."

She let what she had said sink in, her heart still pounding like a moth trapped in a jar, hoping that the mix of scientific jargon and blunt words would be enough to make them pay attention and listen. Her second eldest, sports-star brother regularly brought his teammates home, where they drowned themselves in alcohol until the early hours of morning. If she wanted any sleep whatsoever, she had learned that the best way to convince them shut up was to not hesitate, not even for a second, look them straight in the eye and shout. Of course, she'd interjected a slight bit more subtly into the current situation but stuck to the basics. If it worked though, it was a freaking miracle. And she said so.

"If this works," she hissed to Cecil, once again seeking comfort in his shadow and tugging him away slightly as the gang exchanged glances among themselves "I'm dropping out of school and pursuing a career in Hollywood. But if not...I've no idea what I just said but I'm sorry if I just destroyed your street cred, there..."

Aria flinched at Jack’s yelling, shaking her head when he asked if she’d been hit. He startled a laugh out of her with his comment about the screwdriver instruction manual. She gave him a rather watery grin. “I’m going to just go find a Kleenex or something or I’m going to bleed to death.” She said, pointing at her bloody nose.

She picked her way through the crowd and went into the bathroom, grabbing a wad of paper towels and plugging her nose with them. As she was in there her phone flickered and died, and suddenly she was left without any sense of direction.

She gasped, for she hated the dark… hated the dark… And curled into a ball, clenching her eyes tightly shut. If she had her eyes closed she couldn’t tell it was dark.
A pounding on the door, and she flinched. But then the person spoke. “Aria, are you alright?” The sound was muffled.
“N-no…” she choked out. In a second the door was open and a flashlight shined on her; her eyes watering in the sudden light, she looked up to see the twins, each with their pocket flashlights out. She lunged to her feet, trying to calm her shaky breathing, the terror of being in the darkness.
“You’re alright, Aria. What happened?” Connor asked. He put his arm around her shoulder in a comforting way.
“We heard you crying from all the way in the auditorium. The Monkeys are about ready to head for whatever Jack’s crazy plan is. And being we’re the least likely of all of them to trigger a panic attack from you, we came to find you. Phone die?” Adam said.
“Yeah… It was full battery this morning, I don’t know how it drained so fast.” Aria took a shaky breath and coughed, thankfully not spitting any blood out. Her nose had stopped bleeding, finally.
“Come on, let’s get you out of here. Use my flashlight; I’ve got another one in my backpack.” Connor handed her the light, bracing her upright until she got her feet under her. She gave him a watery grin and mentally re-organized herself.
“Don’t tell anyone I’m scared of the dark, okay?” she asked softly. Both boys chuckled.

Aria forced a smile onto her face and led the way out of the bathroom, re-entering the auditorium. She came up beside Jack and Braden, smiling apologetically. “Sorry guys. It’s hard to think when your nose is bleeding.” she said. “Are all the tutors going too? And what’s our project, anyway?”

The girl, Vanessa, hadn't done much more than wipe the blood off of Maki's face and expected her to follow. Maki complied of course, what else could she do? She did her best to keep pace with Vanessa until they arrrived at the school's auditorium where she was waved off and left to her own devices. It appeared that she was expected to somehow make her own way into this group despite her lack of language ability or knowledge of what was going on. Maki's first impression of Vanessa wasn't a good one and she would remember that, despite having escorted her Vanessa was mostly unhelpful.

Maki wandered through the busy crowd trying her best not to be in the way. Everyone was doing something and Maki started to feel awfully useless. If she could find the Gym showers she could use her handsoap to disinfect her cuts and rinse off all the blood. There was certailny a lot of it. The feeling of being soaked in it was terrible, as if the shame of being forced to kill your best friend wasn't enough she was walking around soaked in the proof that this whole day wasn't just a bad dream. It was depressing and nauseating at the same time. Maki tried to be as small as possible as she hurried through the crowd.

Just as she was about to disappear into the locker room to shower and change when she was confronted by a student. Maki tried to skirt around him but he persisted. He was trying to stop her for some reason. Soon She was surrounded by a few more students. As they approached she recognized them as her classmates. Most of them were asking what happened and if she was okay but then one asked a question that made her heart skip a beat. "Where's Hana?" Maki couldn't think of, or didn't know, the words she needed to answer. The students all started to repeat the question until one of them spoke out to everyone. The student speaking presented Maki's phone to them. It was stained with blood on it's screen. "...Japanese girl's phone...Hana...dead..." She couldn't understand all of it but she caught the important parts. Someone had discovered Hana's body and they were blaming her for what happened. A large male student moved closer and grabbed at her shoulders shouting for an answer. Maki released herself from his grip and pushed him away. He called her a name she didn't know and before she realised what was happening she recieved a slap across the face.

At that moment she stopped thinking about what was going on, she just moved. The student tried to grab her again. This time she took the initiative, pulling him off balance and letting him fall to the ground. Two of his friends moved in to assist, grabbing her arm on either side. Maki drew herself back and twisted her body causing the two of them to bash heads. By this time the other students had started chanting 'fight' and pointing their phones at the makeshift arena made of students. The first student got back up and started swinging at her. It was obvious that none of them ever had any formal training. Maki dodged their attacks easily and moved about the arena dancing between them with ease. She took one student and pulled him into another then trapped the third in a wrist lock bringing him down to his knees before tossing him across the floor. She kept them at bay but eventually she was going to get tired. Something needed to change but she was trapped in the circle of students with no way out. Something needed to happen soon or they would get the better of her.

Ro blinked at the sound of the collective gasps of the classmates around him, accompanied by an... unearthly shiver. A rare occurrence for them to be so synchronized, even with preparation. But they hadn't prepared- that usually consisted of lots of whispered words and 'sneaky' giggling. It prompted enough curiosity for him to look up, suddenly aware that the history teacher's constant droning had stopped. He knew every bit of what she was talking about- it was a waste of time to have to stay in the class when he could just go ahead and take the test and be done with it all. But now, looking around, she didn't even exist. She was not in the room- and based on what the panicked voices around him said, she had, quite literally, disappeared.

That wasn't normal, of course. It shouldn't even be possible. There was no known technology- not even a real rumor- of any kind of device that makes anything or something invisible, or to instantly move someone from one place to another. In other words, human technology did not have the ability to make someone disappear before someone's eyes. And yet a grown adult had disappeared right in the middle of a lecture, in front of twenty students.

The light shining through the window darkened; the lights dimmed and went out, as if an overcast sky had knocked out the power. Half the kids got up and started moving about, aimlessly, collecting into groups and then moving to a different spot to just collect again, all asking each other the same things, all getting the same answers. He just put his head back down and continued doodling- someone who thought they were in charge or had an idea as to what was happening would come by in the next ten minutes or so. If not, he'll head out to look.

Minutes pass, and finally, the door rattles and there is the sound of footsteps outside- an increasing number of them. Ro was reassured- people were still alive and going, and someone was likely to be organizing them, if they were as not-panicked as they sounded from here. The door opened- half the class (mainly the girls, not the guys who were trying to be macho-nacho) screamed, eliciting a wince from Ro. He hated loud, sharp noises, like screams or the sound of chalk against a chalkboard, or loud music, or really anything that prevented him from hearing everything around him. His class filed out of the room, moving in both a panicked and a reassured, relieved way. He stayed sitting down, at least until everyone else was out of class, bookwork, papers and pencils forgotten.

Standing, he emptied his backpack of everything useful, minus his phone, iPod, and laptop (with their assorted chargers), and started grabbing pencils and pens from around the room, stuffing them into one of the side pockets. Once he was satisfied he had plenty, he started searching for empty notebooks or the like- after finding three, and another of his own that he had just been doodling in, he was satisfied he had all the paper and drawing utensils he needed. He pocketed any little items- he found a little flashlight that someone had, and a couple unopened water bottles (out of half a dozen). He kept the water and the flashlight- they might be useful, after all.

Then he felt the hair on the back of his neck rise, and he was seized by sudden discomfort- just like the cheesy lines about oneself being watched. He turned, towards the one thing he had yet to approach- the window. Cautiously, aware that he had no idea what was going on and what could be happening, he stepped towards the window. Four steps was all that was needed for his long legs to carry him there, and he peered outside.

A wall of gray met him. Odd, that he hadn't noticed it before, and where did it come from? Why could he, when he took a look to both sides and to the ground below, see the school and the grounds immediately next to its walls, just for everything to disappear into impenetrable fog, mist, whatever? He looked about, trying to find the source of his discomfort, before he found a coloration in the fog. After a moment, that ground-level coloration resolved into the face of a grotesque creature.

He stared at it, recoiling in revulsion and horror, in fear, even, before curiosity overwhelming even that. He studied it as carefully as he felt he was- his creature was not normal, and anything he may think it may be in right now could be completely off. This was alien; this did not belong in the natural world. It did not belong at all. He sensed a not-so-friendly intelligence within it, although not cold or calculating. It studied, but it was not seeking best advantage, he thought. It was not testing him, it was not teasing him. It was simply studying him, looking for anything of note. He studied it right back, before taking several quick glances around the room he was in, making sure he was still alone. When he turned back to the window, it was gone.

Shaken from the sight of the unearthly, wrong creature, he left the room with jacket on his back, backpack slung on both shoulders, half-full. He headed to the closest janitor's closet, opening it to check its contents. He glanced inside, closed the door and moved on to the next, finding what he wanted there. Pulling out a dusty, old steel mop- the kind with a real wood shaft, with two strips of steel to reinforce, plus the steel pieces at the end that was supposed to have the cloth crap clutched in its grip- he spun it about, taking it in, before nodding, satisfied. For now, until he could get something real, the long-handled, light mop would do. He could push things away, whack them with the sides, and clean up their blood after he's done with them. Neat!

He searched around a bit more before finding something else that's a must-have in any apocalyptic situation- duct tape. Two rolls stacked next to each other was all he'd need- retrieved the flashlight from his pocket, with its handy on/off toggle button on the bottom, he took a strip of duct tape and wrapped the flashlight's main body around his right hand wrist. Satisfied, now, he felt a bit more comfortable exploring the dim or nearly dark hallways. After all, he once said: He wasn't afraid of the dark- he was afraid of what was in it. He took out his notebook a moment later, and wrote a note for future reference:

FIND THESE THINGS:
-DUCT TAPE
-FLASHLIGHT
-BTTRY
-HNDHLD CHRGR
-KNIFE/SWORD/SHARP
-GUN/MUNITION (pref. SA hg/sg)
-GRNLA BARS
-MBLE GNRATR (For electrenonics) (Slr or gas)
-WTR
-MTCHES

He rubbed his chin, trying to think of anything else. Other people would probably find his way of abbrievating things insanely aggravating- sometimes writing full worlds, sometimes just abbrievating them into something that would only make sense to him, sometimes just taking out the in-between sounds/letters, so that sounding it out will still reveal the word. Matches... mah-ches. Mtchs... Mmm-tches. Works for him- and if someone else was looking through his stuff and had trouble, all the better.

He stretched after putting the notebook and pencil away, before deciding that a bit more cloth wouldn't hurt to keep him warm. Already, the chills were starting to set in, since the heaters had obviously stopped working, and there were no longer hundreds of warm bodies to keep the hallways warm again. Speaking of which, all those kids are going to have to... most of them are going to die, he figured. If whatever that thing was outside was anything close to what he was thinking, people were most certainly going to die. And besides, he figured that if one got him, it'd just give him what he had been hoping for years- to end this life without taking it himself. And if he survived to find something better, then he won too. In a way, he had set himself for a win-win situation- he either failed to survive and died somehow, and he got what he wanted, or he succeeded in surviving and had yet to die, in which he also wins.

He shrugged. Shit happens- unfortunately, everyone's neck-deep in this shit. Only the quick thinkers with a bit of luck will get out of this one, he figured.

---

His feet matched a strange cadence from a distant memory in his head, as he pounded down the stairs. Being on the second floor was a bit of advantage- whatever those creatures were, they were just as limited as other creatures, so climbing walls are a lot harder than pushing doors open. With this thought came an icy chill of fear- they may be studying them... but what if they came in? The doors wouldn't be locked right now- none of the obvious ones, at least. They could literally walk in and just... kill someone. Kill him. But what if they didn't want to kill him? A similar thought like innocent-until-proven-guilty came to mind. Friendly-until-proven-hostile, right? But no, the world didn't work like that. Treat everything cautiously if you don't know it- keep on your guard and prepare for the worst, and be relieved when it doesn't happen.

In that case, he fully expected one of those things to be on the other side of the corner, as he stepped off the stairs and darted forward. Indeed, he was half right- a kid yelped, turned, and ran down the empty hall, startled half to death by the way he stumbled and faceplanted. A momentary smirk flashed across Ro's face for a moment, before he turned in the opposite direction. Now that he was downstairs, he could hear- and see- the presence of the rest of teh kids. Quiet, yet loud, conversation and phone screens made it obvious that they were gathering towards the middle of the school. Smart.

But he wasn't interested in where everyone else was right now. Any sane person would've followed the running kid- but he wasn't completely sane, now was he?

---

Ro froze. He had peeked around the corner to the doorway that he had used every day of school since he had moved here. One of those things was at the outside of the door, looking in, fiddling with it. Learning. He could see it- pushing against it, pulling against it, then its... hand? slipped, pushing the handle down. It started as the door jerked slightly open, from its weight pressed against it, before it took a cautious step forward pushing the door open. It stared at it, moving it back and forth, getting an idea on how it worked, before it looked up.

Immediately, despite the dark, it saw him- and he was nearly paralyzed. Either way, he didn't dare move, and nor did the creature. Again, they stared each other. Again, nothing happened. He decided to test a blossoming theory in mind... and glanced away for a moment before returning to the door. The effect was just as he had hopefully predicted- the creature had already turned and let go of the door, clearly meaning to run. Once his eyes settled back on it, its own snapped back to his. They stared at each other again. Then, without quite realizing it, the creature was gone, and the door silently clicked shut.

He took a step out behind cover, steel-and-wood mop in hand, holding it at the ready like a spear. He inched forward, before carefully locking the door, and placing the steel pole, dotted with little pegs, into the door. A security measure- to keep the door from being opened. He sighed as soon as it was in place, and leaned against the wall. Shuddering, he had the sudden sense he had narrowly avoided death- a gruesome one. He closed his eyes, feeling a sudden urge to cry.

On the outside, nothing changed- on the inside, he felt the familiar bolt of loneliness and helplessness. He was isolated, an outcast, all alone, with no one to help him. It wasn't surprising, it wasn't new, he'd had the same thing for years. Even broken down several times. More than anything, he wanted to be comforted- hugged, told that everything would be okay. Not in the mocking, teasing way his mom did, or his father's version of a hug- a good lecture to get you up and going, right? What a bastard, he thought. He hated his father. All it was were lectures, about how this person is this way and should really learn this or that. Well, thank the One Above- whoever the hell it may be, if they even existed- that he was nothing more than finely dispersed particles right about now. At least, he hoped. His mom was slightly more of a loss, but he generally didn't care about his parents.

So he leaned against the hard, unforgiving wall, sitting on the unyielding cold floor, silently struggling to take firm control of his emotions again. Ten minutes, it took, to reign them in, and to get himself back under control. When he finally opened his eyes, he let out a shuddering, deep breath, calming himself. This was a moment that he would be sure no one saw- and indeed, no one did.

He stood up, using the mop to help him up, and he took another cautious look at the door- and the mist beyond, through the small window- before backing away. Once he felt he was safe enough behind the corner he had originally come from, he turned and started jogging back towards the rest of the humanity.

---

A stop at coach’s offices and another, more general supply closet saw him with a few extra supplies- some bandages and basic meds, plus a couple more small flashlights- and feeling better prepared to deal with other people. He wrapped another flashlight to his other wrist, and, once satisfied he had everything down reasonably well, he started back towards the rest of the students, no longer delaying.

He clicked on his right wrist flashlight, using his hand to both shine his way through the increasing number of students, and to push through the ones that didn’t move. In short, he was heading to the center of the crowd, right where he didn’t want to be, so he could figure out what anyone else knew, and tell someone in charge what he knew. For example, the creatures outside now knew how to get in. They may not come in, or they may burst it- it was yet unknown. Either way, someone who had some kind of influence had to be informed. And, no doubt, someone was.

People would begin cursing before they saw who they were looking at, and their anger turned to disbelief. He was one of the quietest kids in school, who paid attention to no one- not even teachers or bullies- and yet smoothly dealt with them all. He was a somewhat known figure, for being so quiet, since he was one of the top students. His downturned eyes- high enough to see ahead of him, low enough to keep away from people’s faces- avoided all attempts to contact others, instead opting for flashing them with his flashlight if they tried to stand in his way. His reputation was that of the quietest, smartest, and unstoppable. People have tried to bully him- he dealt with them each and every time in a way that forced them to stop. When finally one bully tried to block his path, going so far as to shoving his shoulder to force him to stop, he simply flashed him in the eyes, and darted around him, shoving a knee into his crouch as he went. The kid went down; he went onwards.

The shouts of adrenaline- and fear-pumped students reached him from the edges, and was growing steadily louder. Before, he had been quiet- now, he almost wanted to just snap at anyone in his way. It was most unusual, feeling so aggressive. Either way, he shoved his way through to a ring of students, where several kids were getting their asses kicked by the... Japanese girl.

Yes, now that she turned to face him, she was unmistakably the foreign student. He spread his hands in front of him, showing he didn’t mean any harm. He impassively took in the several kids on the ground, admiring her handiwork. Then he turned back to her, tilting his head, wondering why she had to beat up these kids. Based on the way other kids were edging forward, she was being attacked; indeed, she wasn’t aggressive, rather passive, defensive. Tensed, ready to defend and eliminate threats, not make new ones.

So he asked, vaguely, to anyone, “So what’s the problem here?” Several kids gasped behind him, another called out, “He ain’t mute!” He just snorted in response, and waited for a couple seconds, before one of the closer kids- some kid who liked calculus- spoke. “People been sayin’ she killed someone or deh other- yanno, some kid named Hana or somethin. A best bud of hers or somethin’ er the other.” He nodded his thanks to him, turning to him for a brief moment, before looking at... “What’s her name, again?” “Maki.”

He took a step forward, hands still raised. “Hey Maki. You can’t speak English can you? Not very well? Either way, herm...” He tapped his chin with his left hand, trying to recall a bit of Japanese he had learned once- he once had a friend from there, over the internet. “((Peace)),” he said, in rough Japanese. Then he shrugged; that was all he could recall. Placing a hand over his chest, his right hand, so his hoodie-covered chest was lit up, he said, “Ro.” Then he pointed at her, said, “Maki,” and then gestured vaguely to the kids lying on the floor, “Assholes.”

Then he took in her, well, very bloody form, and reached into his pack- leaning his mop against his shoulder- and pulled out some bandages. He gestured them towards her, in a way that asked if she needed any medical attention. When a kid protested, he rounded on them, and snapped, “The [GARBLE GARBLE GARBLE HERM GARGLE GURGLE HUM URGH No one really remembers what was said here]- and because Maki here cannot speak for herself on account of being Japanese. It may very well be that her best friend tried to kill her and she defended herself, or she did, in fact, kill her and was simply the winner of the duel. Or, someone framed her, or, something else happened.”

When the kid started to protest- angrily- he cut him off once again. “Yes, the world may have gone to shit as far as we know, but we are still human and we are still Americans, even if we may be the last people left on Earth.” He paused for a breath and for effect, glaring at anyone who looked like they might speak up. Apparently ruining his own reputation for something might be worth it.

So he continued, finger jabbing at anyone who looked belligerent or disagreeable, “If we don’t hold ourselves to the standards we had before, at least on some level, then we might as well drop all of them and go to squabbling over whatever resources are left like wild fucking animals. Meanwhile, there are the fuck knows what outside- and unless you’re deaf, you certainly know they’re there- who I bet would just loooove for us to kill each other off so they can come in and pick out what they want to have for breakfast. Now shut up, and do something useful like grabbing a towel. And someone find someone who speaks Japanese, yeah?”

And with that, he stomped over to the kids laying on the floor, checked to make sure they were still alive before ordering someone to drag them off to recover. And surprisingly someone did for each one, though he didn’t pay attention to who. When the kid he had kneed earlier suddenly showed up, looking as if he wanted to pick another fight, Ro just looked at him and waited. After a moment, the kid- probably some football jock- stomped forward, muttering something about teaching him a lesson. Ro didn’t bother with as much action as he did before, and brought up the top of the mop handle into the kid’s nose, the rounded end smashing into his face with more force than he realized he had put into it, knocking the kid back.

Snapping, he said, “Threaten me with force and I will return it to end the disagreement quickly. Threaten me with words and I will return it to end the disagreement quickly. I am not your enemy, dumbass. I’m your buddy- cause right now, there’s just a whole lot of us and something you do not want to see waiting outside. Now would you quit seeking to prove yourself, and be useful?” He waited, as the jock glared at him, eyes watering from the painful hit, before he turned and stomped away, back stiff and hands holding his hopefully-broken nose.

Then, again, he turned back to Maki. His grave, grim, annoyed face softened slightly, recognizing her as nothing but someone caught in unfortunate circumstance- for now. She may very well have actually murdered someone, but it was more likely to be selfdefense. While a girl like her obviously knew how to beat someone up- evidence of that was just dragged away- she didn’t seem violent or mean enough to do so. He had her in several classes- she just wasn’t that way, from what he’s seen.

So he held out his hand for a handshake, saying, “I’m Ro. And I’m your friend, got it, Maki?”

Street cred? Cecil thought amusingly. Val's speech was impeccable, and he started to believe it until he realized what she was doing. Playing their drug-induced paranoia against them. Awesome. He turned back to Cameron just in time to witness his eyes widen, and nervously flicker to the kitchen and then back to him.

"Cec? Can you believe this bitch?" Cameron said, but the usual arrogant roughness was gone from his voice. A nervous silence shrouded the rest of Cameron's group, but Cecil realized he had to follow suit to topple the pin that Val had knocked off-balance.

"Yeah," Cecil said, drawing himself up. Cameron was nearly as tall as he was, but as Cecil approached, raising his voice, the other man seemed to shrink back towards the floor. Intimidating. If nothing else, I can do that. "I do believe her. And if you fuckwits don't want to be shitting your cancerous guts out in an hour, I wouldn't touch that food." He made his eyes stern and bared his teeth, trying not to think about the trembling in his knees. If things came to blows, he was not certain he and Val could take on seven other students - especially students with the violent instinct of wild predators.

Cameron froze for several long moments before a cocky grin grew on his face. Cecil relaxed his shoulders when he realized the grin didn't touch the other man's eyes.

"You better watch your fucking mouth next time I see you," Cameron said, gathering the other boys with a twirl of his finger and beginning to walk from the room. "And keep your bitch on a leash." He nodded at Val. "You can keep this shitty foo-"

Cecil stopped the man mid-stride with a heavy hand on his collar. "The keys. Unless you want SWAT taking you down for theft. Aren't you on probation or something?"

Cameron glared back defiantly before turning his pockets out. Several jingles told of the keys falling to the floor. He knocked Cecil back two steps with a heavy shove, then departed behind his friends.

Cecil waited until he could no longer hear their steps in the hall before moving a muscle. He turned to Val, uncomfortably aware of the sweat that had built on his body, but couldn't help a short laugh.

"You're a genius," Cecil said. "But I really hope they figure this thing out before Cameron finds out everyone else is eating the food, and not dying." He swept down, gathering the fallen keys into his palm. I guess the basement is next. With the pair of them suddenly alone once more, the large windows before him struck him with an ominous anxiety. They were pregnant with insurmountable darkness, like peering into death itself, threatening to shatter the thin veil and swallow them whole. Despite his efforts, he was beginning to truly believe that his life was never going back to the way it was.

@Andromeda

She had been doing her best to keep them at bay. If she really wanted to hurt them she would have used much more aggresive tactics but it was bad enough that they probably already assumed she was a murderer so hurting more people wasn't going to help her case. Then seemingly out of nowhere a giant of a man emerges from the crowd and spoke with a very demamding tone. Maki stood ready, unsure of what the giant might do. She recognized him calling her by name. It was a bit annoying to be called by her first name by someone she barely knew but it was common here so she couldn't really be angry. Despite his inadvertant rudeness he seemed to be trying to help and even handed her some bandages before having the hostile students carted away.

He made it clear that his name was 'Ro' and she repeated, "Ro-san." Ro-san also pointed out that the hostile students were called something a bit more difficult to repeat, "Asuhoruzu?" Regardless of whatever that meant, Ro-san had effectively saved from a bad situation. A few other students tried to speak up but Ro-san quickly shut them up as well. While she and Ro-san had a few classes together she rarely ever spoke to anyone other than Hana but she was glad to have someone looking out for her.

The crowd had started to disperse, meaning that the worst of it was over. Maki, still in her bloody clothes, was desperate for a shower at this point. All she wanted was to rinse off the gore and change her clothes yet she had been caught up in a mess. Her own smell was starting to get to her. She had never felt so filthy in her life, even after hours of training she didn't feel anything like this. Looking at her own hands, stained with blood as they were, she could understand why they considered her a threat. Ro-san was her only ally at this point so she was wanted to make sure he knew it. Just as she was coming out of her thoughts Ro-san turned to her again and held out his hand. Of course Maki knew what a handshake was but she had never been comfortable doing it. Despite that she reached for his hand. Just as she was about to take his hand the sight of her own bloodstained hand caught her attention. It made her hesitate and instead she drew her hand back and bowed to Ro-san. "Sankyu belli machu!"

"But I really hope they figure this thing out before Cameron finds out everyone else is eating the food, and not dying."

Ahh, yes well, Val thought, still dazed and amazed that they'd gotten away with it - she hadn't quite thought this far ahead. Her one and only goal had been to eliminate the immediate threat that was 'Cameron', as Cecil referred to him, and now that it had been, she was a little lost. The darkness had grown stifling once again as the glow of several smartphones' had retreated along with the cafeteria gang and hers was now one of the only sources of light, creating a wealth of creepy shadows on the walls and benches. It suddenly seemed painfully feeble and a moment or so later, her worse nightmare manifested as reality.

The 'very low battery' icon flashed up, on the homescreen. She winced audibly as her eyes confirmed that charge was flooding from the device fast and with 10%, it had ten minutes of life, maximum. She dimmed the resolution in a desperate attempt to extend the life of the precious object but she knew it wouldn't be enough.

"Somebody had better fix this mess quick," she muttered in exasperation, "Or ship in a batch of chargers, or something; I'm going to end up going crazy."

She stepped over the litter the group of undesirables had scattered across the cafeteria floor - trying not to dwell too hard on what, exactly, it consisted of - and peeked around the doorway into the main kitchen, which was eerily empty with abandoned cooking utensils strewn across the surface, as if thrown down mid-meal creation. Which she supposed they had been. She couldn't think of a time when she'd seen the area devoid of bad-tempered, hair-netted dinner ladies, who appeared to exist exclusively in this environment. It was a sobering thought. Giving the food stores a quick check, she saw that the group of guys (she'd managed to scare away) had left it untouched. Which was good...for now. As long as they remained away. She hoped they wouldn't catch up with her and Cecil. She was fairly sure she couldn't talk herself out of a round two with them.

Sighing, she returned to main cafeteria room. She threw Cecil a small smile, glancing down at the keys he had retrieved. Focus on the little victories, she reminded herself.

"I guess next stop is the basement," she said, with a quick gesture in the basement's general direction and she headed into the corridor outside, double checking that the gang had evaporated which, thankfully, they had, "Funny - I'm beginning to remember every horror movie I've ever seen, in vivid and excruciating detail. Let's just hope that fiction doesn't merge into real life. Well; I mean, more than it had already."

She shook her head, rubbing her forehead as they walked on.