---

Hillview High – Mason Square

---

Scott was dead.

Tuyen tried to ignore that guilt that washed over her at that, his last words chilling her. Whatever it was she didn’t want to meet this master. She just wanted to get out of here. The shadow had shrunk back down to her side, clinging to her but still visible to everyone else. It was tiring, all of it.

“I think I agree with Kimberley, let’s-” the words died on Rien’s lips, half way through standing when everything was illuminated with orange light. Everything about the thing that appeared was wrong, the way it shifted and constantly changed. It shouldn’t exist.

It hurt their eyes but they couldn’t look away from it.

Caelea took a step away as whatever the mass appeared, given the name the glutton by Sharon. Her breathing was increasing and everything was screaming at her to run. But how? She couldn’t look away and she doubted she could turn and run even though she wanted to. It shouldn’t be able to exist. But when had anything been normal recently.

“We should leave,” Tuyen’s voice was barely more than a whisper, quiet and panicked as it was spoken after Rita’s question to the glutton. She didn’t want to find out the answer… something told her it wasn’t going to end well.

---

Hillview High - Mason Square.


A light appeared from within the orb - an orange light - started out as a mere dot but grew and expanded in size with each passing second. The being vibrated as it took a different shape altogether. Appendages grew from the top and bottom as it took a vaguely humanoid shape... almost similar in shape to Rita herself. While still being a black mass and shaped... wrong. It was still constantly shifting in shapes with each movement. The air blurred around it, and the static that surrounded appeared and disappeared with the heartbeat. It stood at least twelve feet tall, with Rita barely coming to it's "waist". It gazed down at her, before swiping it's hand at her in a wide arc.

"Duck!" Kimberly shouted as she tackled Rita, prepared to do so. They both hit the ground, but fortunately, Rita still has a head on her shoulders. She didn't know what Rita was planning on accomplishing, but she got the idea that the being didn't understand her... or simply didn't want to answer the question.

"Alright asshole, I don't know what the fuck you are!" Claire shouted as she pulled off a door off a locker and held it over her shoulder. "But you're followin' Reese right into hell!" Claire shouted as she threw the door at the Glutton, only for a tendril to appear from the eldritch thing and slice it in half. Only the most perceptive of eyes could have caught it, but when the tendril made contact with the door, a orange light appeared and "ate" it.

The being moved towards the group, it had a walking motion as if it was taking a casual stroll, but it moved much faster than it's movements would even suggest. Suddenly, it stuck it's arm out and it extended right towards the group - but a transparent barrier appeared between it and the group. It stopped the being in it's tracks, but Hagan noticed the glow that was coming from beneath his clothes. However, the being merely fell through the floor... rather abruptly.

"The hell is this thing?!" Justin said as he took steps back. It's out of sight, and most likely going to come back up through the floor. He was desperately looking around for it, so he can at least react. The only idea that came to mind was burning this thing to a crisp with his abstraction... but can it even burn?

"It's an ancient God-like being that- I'll explain later!" Britney shouted as she also looked around, but she noticed an orange light coming from the wall in the shape of a orb. Suddenly, the being burst through the walls as it devoured the matter, and forced the group to dodge as it rammed it's way through. It stood in the middle.

"Fuckin..." Britney hissed underneath her breath, before she was taking deep breaths. Her heart was pounding, "I want everyone to listen, and listen carefully... I know I told ya'll a lot of lies, but you have to listen..." She trailed off as sweat trickled down her cheeks, there were shivers going down her spine and her legs were shaking.

"... We cannot fight this thing, we will die... We have to get out of here fast as we can, if anyone gets caught by it; do not try to save them."

"Screw that!" Justin and Claire said in unison, before Claire ran over to Reese dead body and pulled the blade out of him. Might as well use this.

"If this thing's the cause of all our problems, then let's end this here and now!" Claire triumphantly roared as she raised her weapon in the air. "If ya'll want to leave, then get the fuck out now - I'll buy time!"

"Clair-" Britney tried to say before the being hunched over unnaturally, stretching as if it had no solid body. Tendrils came out of it's body in all directions, wiggling as they grew in length. There was one tendril for everyone there, aiming at them. However, they just stood there on standby.

Which was concerning because nobody knew what would come next.

---

Shadows. A blade. More fighting that moved at a blur, too fast for Nate to follow, or perhaps it was the incomprehensible sight which followed that left him with a sense of disorientation. We should leave. It was a sentiment a few of them shared for real, with good reason - the shifting mass which had seeped out of the orb was taking on a form which seemed more human, in spite of it being anything but. That Rita got a lucky break when Kimberly brought her down was one thing, Claire's open challenge to it with the knife that had belonged to Reece pushed their luck too far and began forcing through the environment.

"Ancient bullshi-" he almost remarked, but in the heat of the moment quickly shut up and began focusing on walking out of this one alive, backing away from the fiasco as the writhing mass of shadows and oily black substance closed the distance between them. Nate felt the sensation of water and found the colour bleeding out of his vision for a just a few seconds, something sweeping at him from behind. One glance, one brief view of that shadow-tendril trailing after him was enough motivation to keep moving. Even though he was supposed to be untouchable, he knew that he'd felt something when it brushed clean through him, moreso noticable than the time he'd nearly got brained hiding behind the dumpster at Grand Ridge. Was this it? Was he fucked now?

Could he outrun it? He wasn't a runner - he wasn't a fighter, either, assuming any of them were even able to fight this thing. No, he rationalised, he'd have to take a shortcut. But where? What about the others? An almost suicidal thought came to mind - maybe it would work, but at the same time perhaps not. Right now, it seemed worth the risk. "Grab my fucking hand!" He blurted it out, gaze searching for the imminent exit route that hadn't been decided upon yet. Anywhere that didn't lead him towards this eldritch horror.

While Madeline was a bit happy that she managed to wound Reese, that little victory didn't last long as she was grabbed by the neck and used as a shield against the others. She scratched at the beast's hands as she tried to free herself from his grip, but she was too weak to fight back. Maddie was angry. At Scott for killing Dexter, and herself for giving Reese the upper hand. The other awakened tried to help her out, but nothing was working. Atleast till Scott decided to throw her at Jasmine. Miraculously, she managed to move out of the way, but Madeline wasn't so lucky. The impact against the wall managed to knock her out.

She couldn't help but think for a moment before losing consciousness, 'I should've went with the hound...'

Disillusion. That was all she felt. Nothing but disillusion and regret.

---

Hillview High
_{@Zombiedude101}

---

Paige was surprised at how effectively the group seemed to be dealing with Scott. At the cafe, he'd seemed unbeatable, indestructible, but now they had a shot at victory. But just because he was on the back foot didn't mean he wasn't still dangerous. He seemed to identify and focus on her, and a moment later he was running, looking to disembowel her with that wicked blade. And Grant was by her side, now adding his strength to her assault. The motion was appreciated, but it also seemed stupid - he, too, was now rooted in place with a monster charging towards him. That was, until Jasmine froze said monster in place, just in time for some sort of shadow-creature to impact him.

Paige watched as Penny and Claire dealt the finishing blow to Scott. Her face was stone as she watched the pathetic, crying creature in front her. He deserved what he got, and more. He had done and intended to do so much worse, and would have had he not been defeated here. However he looked, man or monster, Paige could have no pity for him, nor could she forgive him or regret playing a hand in his death.

The only noticeable shift in Paige's expression came when Scott spoke about his 'master'. Whatever it was, it didn't sound like something she wanted to meet; something that was capable of driving an otherwise stable person (whatever Paige thought of him, it was clear enough that Scott regretted his actions) to murder multiple people would extraordinarily dangerous, and while she thought that it had no place being anywhere but the spot in Hell next to Scott that it had earned for itself, she also doubted that she would be able to send it there, even with the others.

And then she saw it, and she saw that she was right.

Nothing that the group could do seemed able to hurt it. Paige certainly didn't need Britney to tell her to run, but the part about not saving people bothered her, not only because Paige was probably the one who would need saving, but also because the thought of leaving someone behind to die just seemed wrong.

Of course, Justin and Claire thought they could win this fight. While Paige didn't like the idea of running, either, she knew it was the only choice they had in which anyone would survive. She called out to them, even as she was turning, "What the fuck do you think you're doing? Run or die!"

As quickly as she could manage, Paige moved away from the creature. She heard Nate and, though she didn't know what he was going to try, remembered his ingenuity in the battle against Scott, and decided to trust him, taking his hand as she was told. She looked back in time to see Maddie behind her. Paige wanted to go back and help her, but Britney was right; it was too dangerous to go back now. Hopefully someone else would find a chance to rescue her.

---

---

Billy watched in horror as Rita did not back away from the nightmare, her voice growing louder and become more and more of an animalistic shriek as she continued asking her question. He didn’t know the girl very well, but he had her pegged as the running-and-hiding type. Her Abstraction, whatever it was, didn’t seem to be the kind of thing that would be able to protect her from a giant, creepy, tentacular monster. He was still feeling a little drowsy from the fight with Scott, but he took a few tentative steps forward—and then reconsidered. What the hell could he do against something like this? It would be smarter to listen to Tuyen’s advice. He would’ve begun creeping away slowly if it weren't for Penny. He wasn’t going to leave her behind.

Penny had yet to fully recover from what she was witnessing, but enough of her will was capable of pushing back the horror to muster up the courage needed to try and get Rita away from the Glutton. She had barely taken half a step forward when her knees buckled and she dropped to the floor, the exhaustion from the day overcoming her desire to pull the stupid girl away from certain death. Her eyes grew wide in horror and she tried to produce a warning that would come too late as she watched the thing’s arm swipe at Rita, Kimberly tackling the mousy girl out of the way just in time.

Rita had entered into some kind of trance. Tiny, little fists fell harmlessly on Kimberly as Rita tried to breakaway from the woman who was saving her life, determined to get the truth out of the Glutton. She was sick of the secrets and of the surprises. The sharp pain that shot through her elbow when she collided with the ground pulled her out of her stupor. She looked around the hallway with the wide, confused eyes of a hunted animal that had just heard a shot, uncertain as to what was happening but completely aware of how much danger she was truly in.

So much was happening. The barrier blocking the Glutton’s assault before it dissolved into the floor gave Penny enough time to stumble back up to her feet. She stepped towards the two girls on the ground, uncertain of her balance as she reached down to help them up. The entire time, she was cursing out Rita: “You’re a fucking idiot. You’re the biggest, dumbest, most fuckingest idiot I have ever seen in my entire life, and I’ve known Billy for all of it. If you ever do some shit like that again I’ll…”

Rita was silently mouthing “I’m sorry” over and over again in response, her eyes tightly squeezed shut. She didn’t know what she would say if she looked into Penny’s eyes. Already, even after all of this, the compulsion to draw forth the dirty little secrets of someone she hardly knew was growing.

“Are you o—” was all Billy could get out of his mouth as he rushed to his sister’s side before the Glutton showed back up, busting through the wall like some kind of horrific Kool-Aid Man. He pushed the group of girls away before diving to the side, just barely missing one of the Glutton’s tendrils as it crashed past them. He stumbled into a locker a few feet from where Maddie was lying and slumped down. Was she dead? She had been thrown pretty hard by Reese during the fight. Billy slowly slid over towards her, keeping one eye on the Glutton as it began to level its tendrils at everyone, and grabbed her wrist to check for a pulse.

A light bulb went off in Penny’s head the moment Nate yelled for someone to hold his hand. It was an absolutely insane idea, and they might all end up getting stuck fistfuck-deep into a wall, but it was better way to go than by being consumed by something called the Glutton. Penny had seen what had happened to the locker door Claire had thrown at it—it had been completely erased, as if the being had devoured it simply by touching it.

“Take her goddamn hand,” said Penny, her anger at Rita’s stupidity still flowing through as she guided the girls towards Paige. Rita did as she was told, and then Penny held her hand. She reached out behind her, expecting Billy to latch on, and whipped her head back when she felt nothing. He was several feet away from them, quietly trying to get Maddie moving. A crushing wave of expletives poured from her mouth as Penny tried to stretch closer to them. A few more people and they’d make it. Penny’s eyes burned as she watched the tendrils dance around the Glutton. She didn’t know why it wasn’t striking, but she’d take every second it gave them.

“Grab on you dumbasses!” she shouted to the group of people that still hadn’t linked up. Running might’ve been an option earlier, but as of right now the Nate Express seemed to be the only way out of this hellscape. She slipped her hand from Rita’s, allowing room for others to step in; she was determined not to grab on until she could get ahold of Maddie and her brother.

---

_{@Surtr Inc@Zombiedude101@Majoras End@Ciaran@Atrophy}
Hillview High – Mason Square

---

Caelea did not sign up for this bullshit. And she certainly wasn’t signing up to Claire and Jason’s death wish of attacking something her eyes couldn’t explain. If they wanted to die attacking it, sure thing. Even better if it gave them a bit of time to get out. But there was no way in hell she would.

The tentacle aiming at her did not give her hope that it would be easy to leave. Not when it had gone through the fucking floor after a barrier had appeared (she wasn’t quite sure from where). The tentacles could probably do the same.

Tuyen backed away from the creature, shaking her head at the tentacle that followed her – not wanting to believe any of this is real. She only got a few steps before falling down to one knee, each step taking more energy than she had as exhaustion hit her. The shadow remained visible and her size, draining what little energy she had as it did so.

“Tuyen, we need to leave,” Min hurried over to her, voice a rushed whisper, wanting to get him and his cousin out while Justin and the girl as idiotic as him ran some kind of suicide mission. He didn’t know what was going on with her, or why her shadow could move so unnaturally, be he wasn’t letting him intimidate him. He would ask later. “Come on.”

He crouched down in front of her, between her and the being, to try and help her up. Tuyen let him, forcing herself back to her feet even as she wanted nothing more just to go to sleep. It would be easier that way.

“Maybe between us we can carry her,” Rien had moved over to Maddie, not liking the idea of leaving someone behind but also unsure how exactly to help. With Billy checking her pulse, and two of them, there was a chance they could do it. “We just need to get her over so we can grab someone’s hand, right?”

Not liking this one bit, but realising it was the only idea to get out they had, Caelea hurried over to grab Rita’s hand.
 

---

Hillview High - Mason Square.

---

Justin immediately stuck both of his hands out, and his Soul-Self - taking the shape of a phoenix - let out a victorious screech as it flew through the air. It moved faster than sight, as it spit burning flames at the Glutton's tendrils. The flames merely caused some of them to shrivel up and retract, but were never destroyed. The Soul-Self cycled around the Glutton barraging it with so much flames that it was engulfed. However, the heat could be felt from quite a distance, and it was setting the school ablaze. The school was hardly the most stable place to begin with, and Justin was inadvertently making their escape harder.

Though, the soul-self represented his emotions, that just left all the logic behind. He stood there blankly as he watched the scene, he took a few moments to observe the situation before making a decision. I should leave the area. He turned his head to the right before noting that they were helping Maddie, and Nathan had a way to escape. Penny was desperately calling them to come along and Justin followed. Though, he came to a stop when he felt a twinge of pain surge through him as the Glutton's hand extended through the flames and pinned the Phoenix to the wall. He fell to his knees, but then he felt two arms lift him up - Kimberly and Jordan.

He smiled as the Soul-Self faded away, but he got the idea that what he had wasn't good enough. "Oh fuck!" He shouted. He took Penny's hand while Jordan and Kimberly took his, then each others. Lynette on the other hand was desperately trying her best to give the group an opening. She drew a giant glyph on the ground of ice, and ran over to the group and took one's hand as Britney approached from the rear.

The Glutton sent all of it's remaining tentacles at the group - however, he mainly hit their previous position. But, plenty of the tendrils hit dangerously close. Lynette activated her ice glyph and icicle spikes rose from the ground to shield the group... however it did little to stop the tentacles as they were consumed by the being pretty much effortlessly.

They were creeping through about to pierce the group.

---

Hillview High - Mason Square

---

Scott Reese was dead. It was finally over. Jasmine took the time to finally catch her breath and allowed the others to deal the finishing blow as she watched on in morbid disgust. The monster before them had reverted back to his previous form, and he looked absolutely pathetic. A tinge of remorse and guilt pulled at her heart, and she had to remind herself that she'd been unfairly dragged into this mess because of this now-mutilated kid. Reese had tried to kill her, and only because she'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the end...it was payback. Whether he wanted to kill any of those people or not, he still did it, and would have continued to do so had he not been stopped. And for that, Jasmine had no regrets. She was safe, her brother was safe. It was over.

But of course, it wasn't actually over. Supernatural bullshit appeared right in front of everyone and began to do things she couldn't even comprehend, and even as she looked at the strange orange light and a form solidified, she still couldn't figure out what it actually was. Everyone had vaguely grouped up as this went on, and for whatever reason it seemed that none of them could force themselves to look away.

"Grant...get behind me and run," Jasmine told her brother as apprehension and fear built within her. Britney was telling them all to run, and while it was hard to trust her she felt that she didn't really have much of a choice. So she wanted to at least buy Grant some time and have him get away first. But he didn't run, of course he wasn't going to leave without her. She was about to start yelling for him to just get away when things went from crazy to absolutely insane. Tendrils grew from the supernatural figure's body, and were poised to attack everyone all at once. There...wasn't anything anyone could do to deal with that. Sweat dripped down Jasmine's forhead, she couldn't deal with that! With this Glutton!

She felt Grant grab her hand, a terrified expression on his face but one that nonetheless said he was ready to do whatever it took to get out of there alive. He in turn was also holding onto Paige's arm, having decided to follow the current plan everyone was screaming about and linking everyone together through touch. He nodded at her, having accepted that this plan was all or nothing, and after a moment of hesitation she nodded back in return as she tightened her grip. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the tendrils were closing in fast. This was it, there wasn't any time left, this plan needed to work, whatever it was.

"Hey, I don't know what your plan is but we need to do it now!" Jasmine called out to Nate in a panic, "I figured out my power, and I can either send that thing flying or us flying out of here! But I've only got one shot, so we need to make it count! Give me the word when and I'll do it!"

---

Relentless, the eldritch mass pressed on towards them. Nate felt his stomach lurch, his mind battling his body just to stop it from locking up, when he felt Paige's hand clasping against his, followed by a second against his other hand, then felt the weight of someone else tugging on that second hand's, forming a human daisy chain one by one. "Please work, please work," he mouthed, aware of the closing abomination which seemed unphased by anything they'd tried to throw at it, undeterred by the intensifying glow and heat from the smouldering interior of the building that Justin had managed to set alight.

A glance at either side showed just how many people had linked hands, arms - whatever it took to join themselves to him. Please work. It had to - it was only like the phasing he'd managed before, right? Like making sure his clothes phased with him, or the stuff in his pockets. Just... bigger clothes, bigger pockets. The tendrils were closing - he tugged at either side to signal he was closing with a solid surface, so the others would know to follow, then concentrated... and for a moment, the human daisy chained connected to Nate collectively felt the sensation of water rushing through their bodies, colour bleeding out of vision as they each sank into the wall, passing through like murky water.

Each step felt like he was carrying a weight of several times his own with them, in a sense - he'd never tried something so massive a scale before, he'd barely even got his head around his abstraction when this had all gone to shit. Nate's heart smashed against the interior of his chest, pounding with each movement, halfway out of the sheer chaos of the situation and halfway out of physical exertion, refusing to rest. Light spilled back into view, colours too as they emerged on the other side of a wall, some of the group still halfway across. He didn't dare break concentration for fear of leaving one of them behind, he just kept moving. "Don't stop, keep going..."

Another solid wall. Or was it a door? He didn't care - he led them through that, too, colour seeping away in the brief transitionary period between surfaces. It was behind them. The Glutton was still tailing them, ebbing forward at a steady but definitive pace. Was this the way out? He kept going, kept leading them. Silhouettes spilled into his view as they crossed between the planes and, just for a brief, fleeting moment in their escape, the others could see them too. Like the silhouette that had been stalking them outside John Reid's house, like the other silhouette that he'd briefly seen in the hallway - what had been a sight exclusive to him was shared among the rest.

If nothing else, they were the closest they'd get to the memories of the dead without joining them.

---

---

“Sounds like a plan, bro,” said Billy to Rien, attempting to adjust Maddie so that he could support her from the shoulder. She wasn’t necessarily heavy, but with her being unconscious there was something difficult about shifting the dead weight around—although perhaps it was his lack of muscle mass to blame. After what felt like an entirety of struggling (but less than a few seconds, really) he had her in a position where Rien could help him carry her, Maddie propped awkwardly between their shoulders while Billy hunched his back to match their height.

They had barely gotten settled when a wall of ice jutted up from the ground, blocking off the attack from the Glutton that he had witnessed out of the corner of his eye. Billy let out a sigh of relief that was quickly cut short as he saw the ice sculpture begin to collapse in on itself, the middle part glowing the same awful orange light as if the tip of one of the creature’s tendrils was a welder’s torch precisely burning a hole through the ice. It broke through and Billy closed his eyes, bracing for whatever unfathomable pain he was about to experience. However, instead of impossible agony he only felt a mild tightness as a hand wrapped around his shirt and pulled. He opened his eyes in time to see Penny, and within moments the color vanished from the world as she pulled him, Maddie, and Rien through the wall.

It felt weird travelling through solid matter, like he had fallen asleep on his arm funny and woke up to it feeling as if it was crawling with ants—except, in this case, it was his entire body. However, Billy thought that he was also possibly imagining it; he felt like he should feel something, so his mind was convincing him that he was. It was a trippy, bizarre thought to have, especially when he considered that they were very much likely being chased by a cosmic horror with a horrible case of the munchies. He felt like he should be more afraid than he actually was at that very moment; even the ghost-like apparitions that appeared as they phased through another wall did little to set him off ease.

Maybe they would make it after all, he thought.

---

Hillview High - Mason Square.

---

Wall after wall...

The spirits didn't bother Claire, as much as the abomination that was in hot pursuit of them was bothering her. She looked back, but could only vaguely sense it's presence. How it burned through the walls as if it was nothing - and it was catching up. Claire wanted to fight the fucker, but everything she threw at it merely bounced off, or was destroyed. She could only wonder how the so called "God" Child expected them to defeat it.

Not another thought passed through her head before they finally made it outside. The night sky was all that was above them, and the woods that surrounded the school were illuminated by the otherworldly orange light that emanated from somewhere. Claire couldn't care less, if they couldn't beat this thing with what they got, then they'll fucking find something that can kill the Glutton. She hated her words earlier, in the meeting, now she fully understands that this was her fight through and through...

With that, Claire broke off into a sprint. She noticed a bright shining light behind her, and curiosity overtook her for just a moment as she couldn't help but glance behind her. The Glutton had walked through the wall... and was just standing there. It stared at the group, but Claire wondered if they escaped it's range, or whatever. She couldn't help but feel sweet, sweet, relief...

... A bright orange light appeared from above them.

The orb of orange light that appeared at the camp. Massive, and sun-like, with tendrils like spider legs that stretch for miles. It emanated a light so bright that it could probably be seen from all ends of the town. The Glutton, in all of it's unholy glory had decided to show up in person in it's true form... "Fuck!" Claire shouted as she came to a stop. It hurt to stare at it... like it gave her a pounding headache.

Kimberly was supporting Jordan as they ran regardless of the thing above them. That was when hundreds of freakish tendrils came downwards that formed a net that surrounded the school... like a sick, fucked up, bird cage. Everyone stopped in their tracks... as the Glutton's "avatar" became moving yet again.

"What do we do?!" Kimberly shouted that question at... nobody in particular.

"I don't know, I ain't sign up for all this shit!" Jordan shouted, regretting even letting herself get dragged into this. She should had just laid low in Grand Ridge, not this shit!

"Okay, we got no choice!" Hagan said as he crossed his arms in a triumphant pose. "We gotta fight!"

"I keep telling you morons; we can't fig-" Britney tried to loudly yelled, but she was cut off. The Glutton's "Avatar" hand had stretched hellishly as if it wasn't made of anything at all. It went from it's current position all the way over to the group... some dodged, but it had one target in mind.

Hagan.

The arm hit him a lot faster than he could possibly react and impacted him right in the chest. Immediately, it's dark form wrapped around Hagan in an unbreakable net... and it carried him from his current position straight into the cage that the Glutton had formed for the group.

It happened in an instant, Hagan screamed as he made contact with the net and was "devoured" by the eldritch monstrosity. Parts of him vanished into thin air, what didn't vanish was long pieces of his bifurcated body that was a bloody mess. It wasn't long until it leaked what little blood it contained.

"Hagan, no!" Claire shouted at the top of her longs. The group couldn't really hold their grudges against Hagan because of how horrific his death was. Kimberly loudly screamed non-stop, while Justin vomited everything that he could. He looked up, horrified, but...

... The Glutton's proxy form moved towards them, gliding along the ground as it took steps that deceived it's true speed.

"Fuck this!" Jordan shouted as she tried her damn best to run off with Kimberly at her side, while Lynette found herself sprinting in another direction without even thinking. Fighting this thing doesn't seem like an option... they had to run. Claire took off into a random direction. Fuck it.

It's every man for themselves when it comes to this thing.

---

Hillview High

---

It was a bizarre feeling, entering this world of faded colours and murky shapes. Paige had had no idea what to expect - in fact, she'd not even known what Nate's plan was - and the whole effect was frightening and disorienting. But she knew she was in danger, and so she needed little enouragement from Nate to get a move on towards and then into the wall. So this was what it was like for Nate whenever he used his Abstraction? Shadows flickered at the edges of Paige's view, shapes that looked vaguely humanoid, but impossible to identify, at least for her. No one had died who she ever had really known, and so the spirits weren't anyone she would have recognised anyway.

Through each wall, then out the other side and suddenly in the open air again. Paige released Nate's hand and stumbled forwards slightly, before regaining her footing. Then she looked behind her, in time to see that they were still being chased by the Glutton. It seemed as if nothing they could do would work, and she almost cried out in frustration. She watched Hagan rush forwards, stupidly. Then die. Apparently, he hadn't got the message that both she and Britney had relayed. Not that she was unaffected by his death, of course it was a horrific thing to watch. It just felt as though she could do everything right and still fail because people didn't have the sense to make the right decision.

And so Paige was left in the same situation again. It would be comical if it weren't so terrifying. Limping away at her pathetic top speed, Paige made her best attempt at escaping the Glutton, which, as usual, meant that she was relying on someone else's compassion to save her. Well, that, or just the Glutton somehow not noticing her or some other miracle. Her situation was severely fucked and she knew it.

---

Hillview High – Mason Square

---

Being pulled through the walls was like a dream, or probably closer to a nightmare. It didn’t seem real at all. The vaguely humanoid shapes, like shadows in the corner of their eyes, barely bothered Tuyen. She was all too used to seeing something like that. But the feeling, as if the walls were water pushing against her, was weird. Not pleasant to say the least.

But they made it outside. And so did it.

“Hagan!” Caelea stepped forward with an arm reached out, but she knew there was no chance she could him. She joined Justin in emptying the contents of her stomach. It was just too much to watch her friend was brutally murdered. He was an idiot for going for it, but that didn’t make his death any less harrowing. She wanted to be sick all over again just thinking about it.

Everyone started running, and really it was the only thing to do. Caelea noticed Paige limped away at a pace that wouldn’t escape the glutton and, against her more logical thoughts, went over to her. She wasn’t exactly the helping people type but she didn’t want to see anyone else die.

“Let me help,” Caelea spoke through gritted teeth, going to wrap an arm around the taller girl.

“Shit, we better leg it,” Rien turned away from the stomach turning death to Billy. They were still carrying Maddie between them so they already had a disadvantage to getting away. They started moving, hoping Billy would join them so they could drag Maddie between them. “Can’t say dying top of my list of things to do.”

Tuyen just stared as Hagan was killed, screaming in her head but unable to vocalise it. She stood frozen, drained even now that her shadow had gone back to only been visible to her. It was all too much. Still, when Min grabbed her the fear set in and she ran as fast as him to get away.

---

---

Billy hated being wrong. He had lost friends over innocuous arguments such as which was the better Terminator movie or who was hotter between MJ and Gwen Stacy. Hours of shouting matches over stupid little bullshit, all to just prove that his opinions were vastly superior than those of his peers. Billy prided himself on always being able to come out right in the end, in having his opponent secede in their opinion due to being convinced or, more likely, worn down. He hadn’t realized that he had a finite amount of times he could be right. If he had known, he would’ve saved one of those moments for now, because the second the Glutton caught up with their escape he knew that he had been wrong about them making it. In the politest way of putting it, they were fucked.

Still, he wasn’t just gonna stand there and get juiced like Hagan. It’d take all of the bleach in the world to clear that image from his head, but for now he forced it out of his mind. He heard Rien say something next to him, but the words had no meaning. He had to get out of there. He had to live. Then Billy did something he never would’ve done in a sound mind. However, when he was horrified, panicked, and feared for his life, morality no longer mattered. A decision wasn’t even made. It just happened. He let go of Maddie and left her and Rien behind, sprinting as quickly as he could away from what was certain to become a massacre. It didn’t even cross his mind that he was also leaving his sister behind, even as she screamed after him.

“FUCK!” yelled Penny, although her voice could hardly be heard over the chaos.

Penny replaced Billy in carrying Maddie. She had been hurling curses at Hagan seconds before he died, all the while pulling people away from the Glutton. Penny had been making her way to help give Caelea a hand with Paige when she saw her own goddamn brother abandon two people to certain doom. Helping Rien support the unconscious girl, they began to rush away from the Glutton as quickly as they could. Penny would shoot glances behind her, letting her Abstraction sense the world moving around her to prep to dodge any rogue tentacles that came their way even as the migraine threatened to split her head in two. She would’ve rather downed an entire bottle of Ibuprofen than be eviscerated like Hagan.

If they got out of this alive, she was going to kick Billy’s ass.

Rita had taken off after Claire, self-preservation finally kicking in and pulling her out of her nearly catatonic state. She didn’t quite know where she was going beyond way the hell away from the Glutton, but years of cardio gave her the speed she needed to get there quickly. She ran and she ran and she ran, not knowing if the thing was far behind her or right on her feet. She wouldn’t stop until her lungs were on fire and her feet could no longer carry here. Limbs of trees swiped at her face and tugged at her sweater, and a few times she stumbled over some roots, but the girl did not stop.

Penny continued to swear under her breath as she stomped away from the school with Maddie and Rien. Above, the sky was orange as the actual Glutton loomed over them all. She wondered if it could see them from up there, scattering like bugs from a toddler that lifted up the rock they were living under.? What chance did any of them have against something like that, if they so quickly abandoned one another? She felt herself swell up with anger, an anger she used to fuel herself with the energy needed to push forward. She’d get out of this, she’d find a way to kill this thing, get the answers regarding her younger brother, and then she’ll get out of this goddamn town for the rest of her life.

---

Hillview High - Mason Square.

---

The situation was so beyond fucked that Britney didn't even know what to make of it.

All she fucking wanted them to do was get a lead. That's all she wanted. So she could make this easy as she possibly could. Instead, all she got was exposed in the worst way possible, and the Glutton was personally killing them. Britney didn't even realize that she was running back into the school. Honestly, it didn't matter where she ran, because the thing got's them caged up. There was nothing they could do to fight it, and there was no escape. At least as it stood. Best idea that Britney could come up with was running. The thing wasn't chasing her, so she took breather. Keeling over and panting, because she was perturbed beyond all belief. She heard footsteps running up.

"Wiiliams!" Claire shouted as her aura turned red. She moved faster than what Britney could accomplish at the moment and pinned her up against the wall. Britney let out a sharp gasp as she felt a surge of wind escape her lungs. That hurt just a little bit.

"Look at what you fuckin' did! Look at what fuckin' happens when you play games!?" Claire screamed at the top of her lungs. "Hagan... Hagan is fucking dead because of your bullshit!" She pushed Britney against the wall, and looked her dead in the eyes as her aura glistened brightly as it could. A shining, monstrous sight.

"... And the same's about to happen to the rest of us! I ought to break your lyin' little neck for gettin' us all into this!"

All Britney did was cry, "I'm-I'm sorry! I didn't think any of this would happen!"

"You didn't because you didn't think about us! You just thought about using us in your sick li-" Claire shouted.

"Claire! Take it easy!" Justin shouted as he ran up to them, knowing how strong Claire's had gotten. "You'll kill her!"

Other had formed to see the sight, and Claire couldn't care less. For all Claire believed, it was all Britney's fault that Hagan was killed and that they got dragged into this. They can try and stop for. For all she cares, they're just as complicit in Britney's bullshit.

---

Hillview High - Mason Square.

---

An unimaginable horror indeed...

Kimberly thought that Reese was horrible enough, but it was true, he was the tip of the iceberg. Something far, far, far worse was out there. And it reared its ugly head and nobody was even close to being prepared for it. Hagan was the first to die, Kimberly knew that more were going to die at this rate.... she just needed to make sure that she wasn't one of them. It wasn't hard to catch up to the panicking Jordan, but she was just running where ever that fucking thing wasn't. However, when she nearly tumbles over, Kimberly picked up her pace and got to her side at a surprising speed.

"I gotchu'," Kimberly said as she caught Jordan. Holding her up, but Jordan couldn't help but breakdown. She fell over on her ass and curled up.

"Oh my God..." Jordan cried into her legs. "This shit's too crazy... it must be some kind of punishment for what I did..." She trailed off.

"I..." Kimberly was in a similar spot as Jordan, and thus, could not even offer the slightest reassurance that they'll make it out of this. Because it'd be so half-hearted that only a fool would be convinced by it. She could only groan in anger because of how hopeless their situation had become. She looked around, and saw all the people that had followed them in the lobby of this fucking highschool that should had been torn down forty fucking years ago. She could only...

... A bright orange ball of light appeared in the lobby not too far away from them. It vibrated as it made an un-holy black speech-like sound before... the floor that was directly under it was sucked into it's gaping maw like it was a liquid. Everything else around it was sucked inside as if it was a black hole... but Kimberly could only wish it was a black hole.

She could only look on in awe... before she noticed it was coming towards her. "Jordan!" Kimberly shouted as she got under her shoulder and tried to help her run off as the Glutton approached them at a steady - but noticeable pace.

This school wasn't going to last much longer at this rate.

---

---

Penny knew it was pointless to try and run. The school was surrounded by the unimaginable, and she doubted that there would be anyway to break through the curtain of black, shifting tendrils. She knew that dragging Maddie around with Rien was only exhausting them and that, eventually, the Glutton’s avatar would hunt them down and catch them. The only reason they weren’t being devoured now was because it was off after someone else. She stopped near a tree and looked at Rien. She didn’t know about them, but she was exhausted after hauling Maddie away from the school. She hated the idea, but maybe it’d be better to just try and hide the unconscious girl. If they were all doomed anyway it didn’t really matter, anyway.

“This isn’t working,” said Penny, and she slipped her arm out from underneath Maddie’s shoulder before dropping her bag, shrugging off her jacket, and letting it fall to the ground. “Cover her up with this and hide her with some leaves or something,” she continued, her voice strained and defeated. “I’m going to...I’m going to try and do...something. I don’t know. I don’t know. I’m not going out like this.”

Penny picked her bag back up, as little good as her improvisational artillery would do, and headed back towards the school building proper. She heard some familiar voices as she stepped closer to the building, and her pace went from broken march to a stumbling run as she saw Claire’s aura through the brush. She burst out of the woods in time to see Claire slam Britney up against the wall of the school and accuse her of things that were, well, mostly true. Penny was as mad at Britney as Claire was, but the fact that Claire was stupid enough to start up the infighting again at a moment like this forced Penny’s anger to swell up and laser sight itself on her. It took all of her willpower to resist grabbing a handful of pens from her bag, instead letting her nails cut into the skin of her palms as she stepped up beside Justin.

“He’s right, you stupid idiot!” shouted Penny. “Do you really think this is what Hagan would’ve wanted!? He tried to protect us, so stop being such a dumb bitch for once and use your goddamn brain! I hate her as much as you do, but Britney is the only one that knows about this shit. Let her go, please Claire, let her go, and maybe we can figure out some way to get out of this.”

She had slowly moved forward as she spoke. Penny could feel the energy burning off of Claire as she approached. Cautiously, Penny reached off with her hand to grab Claire’s shoulder and guide her away from Britney. She was close enough that she no longer needed to shout, her voice a whisper as she begged Claire, “Please, this won’t solve anything.”

---

Hillview High
_{@FernStone@Surtr Inc}

---

Thankfully, the now-typical scenario that Paige had found herself in also progressed how it usually did. That was, her hauling ass as best she could in her condition, while someone else put their life on the line to save her. This was Caelea: the same girl who had rescued her from the bugs in the tunnel at John Reid's place. Another life debt; that made three since she was in the cafe earlier on the same day. Not a good habit to get into, but apparently just another day in the office for a disabled Awakened. Paige's thoughts briefly went to the mornings she'd spent on the edge of town, trying and trying again to walk without her crutch, but always failing to keep her balance. If she valued her continued existence, she'd have to work on that, a lot.

Paige figured they made quite the sight, the two girls fleeing from unimaginable horror, her dressed in her typical all-white getup alongside an actual literal albino. Not that looking strange had ever really been something that made her uncomfortable; if it had, well, she'd have had a lot of issues by now to say the least. Either way, there were more important problems taking place right now.

"Thank you," Paige said sincerely, as she and Caelea ran onwards. "I promise I won't forget this."

She meant it. It truly meant a lot to her that someone else would be willing to risk their own life for hers, especially when they'd met the same day. No matter how 'typical' it might have become, it remained incredibly meaningful for her, and she would repay that debt if she ever got the chance. The same went for Penny. It didn't especially matter when or where, but Paige had to repay the people that had saved her life.

And that was a serious problem right now. Paige hadn't seen where Penny went; she could be in serious danger, or even dead. As frustrating as it was for her, there wasn't anything she could do to help Penny. She'd have to get out on her own. Paige told herself that she'd only have been a hindrance anyway and kept going.

It wasn't much longer before they came across two of the others: Kimberly and Jordan. She saw Jordan getting up off the floor and wondered what had convinced her she should get down in the first place. "What are you doing?" she asked, as close to yelling as she could really be while this out of breath. "We need to get away, right now!" Assuming Caelea was with her, Paige then picked up the pace again, probably moving at a similar speed to what the other pair could manage, given the similarity of their circumstances.

The Glutton was dealing with the Awakened easily, as if they were nothing. Which sparked the thought: if it wanted them dead, why hadn't it just killed them all itself in the first place? Paige pushed the thought aside for the time being. Right now, she had to focus on just surviving.

---

Hillview High - Mason Square.

---

The mere voice of Penny grated on Claire's ears. After all of all of the shit talking she just had the nerve to preach peace. Claire already massive frown somehow managed to droop even further as she crooked her neck back to look at the bitch. "Stay outta this, Lawson," Claire hissed at her through her teeth. "You want to act all nice now that you realize you ain't the one holdin' the cards. That you're real powerless." She kept Britney up against the wall, as she shook her head at Penny.

"If we're all fucked, then I'm going to make sure that she goes down fir-"

"Claire, stop being such a moron!" Britney screamed at the top of her lungs and caught everyone's attention. "It loves this, this is just what it wants! It feeds off our emotions, and the fact that it's got us all turning on each other! F-fuck!" Britney hissed as Claire released her and she fell to her hands and knees, but she stared at her with a look of contempt.

"... Start talking, what is that thing?" Claire said, and everyone in sight signed. "And how do we get out of here?"

"Like I said, it's a God-like that eats emotions to gain strength. Which is the only thing keeping us alive right now." Britney explained, to the incredulity of everyone else. "It has the power to kill us over a hundred times over, but it chooses to make us scared of it. Taking it's time picking us off, one by one."

Britney said as she picked herself up to her feet. "Our best bet of getting out of this is hoping that it gets too cocky and makes a mistake."

Justin sighed as he just put a cigarette in his mouth, and lit it with a fire on his thumb. He growled, "... Those don't sound like good odds."

"Of course not," Britney flatly said as she turned to Justin. "That's how bad the situation is... I honestly can't say everyone here will make it out alive."

"What a fuckin' motiviation!" Claire said.

"Fuck that," Justin hissed, "I'm not going to let everyone die."

"We have to move, before it decides to..." Britney tried to say... before it ended their respite. The being's avatar form ate the wall as it came through. Pausing for one instant to gaze upon the group. To say the least, they didn't know what to do at this point.

"... We will live." Justin said, as the fire covered him from head to toe. "I will make sure of that!"