Sheila clasped her soap-covered hands together with the running water under the faucet. The liquid immediately cooled her skin from the hot air inside the mall. It was like putting her raw skin in the pure Valoria Mountain spring water, only less cold, of course
Nate was waiting near the water fountains since she asked him to stand by the entrance as she did her business. She felt bad that she had made him come with her while leaving the others behind. Sheila believed that it was like pulling him away from his true friends and leaving with a total stranger instead.
Yes, for anyone else, they could probably go to the bathroom by themselves, but with the large number of visitors the Honoway Mall receives, it could attract dangerous individuals.
Sheila looked into the mirror, and her yellow hair looked drier than usual.
"It's okay," Sheila said to herself, "It's just hair after all. Think about what you had to do to make it like this, not just the stress. You'll clean this up in case something goes really wrong."
She then dried her hands in the air dryer and left the bathroom.
She expected Nate to be there because of his way of handling most problems, as he had a way of doing things. Instead, Sheila was met with a large group of people huddling around something, with their gaze staring straight down with fear and worry.
Careful not to disturb anyone or catch their attention, she pranced beside each of the onlookers like gracefully putting on a dance for herself. Her shoes, when stepping on the terrazzo floor, practically made no noise, basically the floor obeying her wish for quietness.
Upon seeing the area surrounded by bystanders, she could undeniably see the whole situation. People were lying unconscious as police officers were standing by. One of the officers with blonde hair stood in front of the crowd, herding them like cattle and preventing any of them from reaching the middle area. The other officer with a large build tended to the people unconscious, checking their pulses to see if life still flowed in their bodies.
Sheila surveyed the other people present to check for anything else that might seem odd, and familiarity with certain people was established.
Jed's friends, Marlo Chen and Tyraun Duve, appeared deep in the crowd with them, attempting to see over the waves of multi-colored heads to see what was going on. And to the confusion of Sheila, Jed was nowhere to be found. She theorized that he must have gone to the bathroom, the same one as the one she used.
"Okay, people! Get back and let Officer Grudge handle this. Give us some space," the blonde officer loudly announced.
Sheila went to the front of the crowd, just a few feet across from the police officers and the people on the floor. Focusing on the situation instead of the crowd behind her, she listened to the words of the police officers.
"Well, looks like they're knocked out cold, Bluefield..." Officer Grudge begrudgingly said.
"You think a fight was in the bathroom or something?" Bluefield asked.
"Could be. When I checked inside the men's restroom, it looked like a raging bull had messed the whole place up. Tell Officer Janey to report this incident because somehow, this feels off. Not at least ordinary in this city for one bit."
"You got it, pal."
Officer Grudge continued to inspect the people nearby, his eyes lasering on the details that might be eye-catching to him and potentially reveal something.
"This conflict between people, did it really involve everyone here? If so, then it was a shared punishment fo—"
"Hey, move out of the way, people! This is important!"
A loud but familiar voice suddenly caught the attention of everyone present. Another voice, gentler this time, followed up. "Sorry, excuse me—sorry, coming through here, we know someone on the floor..."
Sheila saw that it was Marlo and Tyraun again as they made their way to the front, causing those who were pushed to the side by the former to glare at them.
"Watch where you're pushin', kid!"
"Uh—excuse me?!"
"Hey, stop shoving me!"
A melody of angry complaints had made its way to the ears of the two, but they were still preoccupied with making their way to the front. Noticing the inconvenience, Officer Bluefield went towards the two kids marching their way like they owned the place.
"Hey, you two, what do you think you are doing? Let the adults handle this."
Marlo was about to lunge based on the way he was about to use his feet to go forward, but Tyraun stopped him from escalating the situation getting escalated.
"Sorry, Officer, but as you can see, that person on the floor, he is one of our friends, and we're here to make sure that he is okay. Since... we are the best of buds, right, Marlo? And also, I think one of our acquaintances is there too..."
"Yeah, that's right!"
The officer did not budge and continued to block their movement.
"Sorry, you brats, but we have to check them thoroughly. Make sure that they don't have weapons and tell them apart who is the victim and who is the perpetrator. So I suggest you stand down or else I—"
"AAAAUUGGHHH!"
The sudden shout of fear made everyone stop their chattering. They were motionless and silent, Sheila included, as they saw one of the unconscious people rise from the ground, using their hands to prop themselves up. It was like a vampire rising from its coffin, but instead it was one on the dirty Honowal Mall floor. Officer Grudge instantly backed off, interpreting it as an attack as he went into his defensive stance.
The person who was awake was Jed Sampson. But instead of the normal-looking appearance that typically went with his foolish personality, it was the bloodshot eyes that sent chills down Sheila's spine; it was the eyes of a monster who preyed on the weak species.
His hands were covered in blood, and his other limbs were constantly erratic. It might be correct to say that he looked like Pallnem the homeless man, but more unhinged and seriously unkempt on his bad day.
"Where is it?! Where is the monster?! RAAAUUGGHHH!"
Jed roared and pulled out a knife. A green glint shone as he mindlessly waved it around. Some gooey substance was also covering his limbs, but Sheila theorized it was probably from the dim lights overhead and the distance between her as factors.
"Oh my god! He has a knife! Run for your lives! Aaaaahhh!"
The simple view of the bloody knife caused all those who witnessed Jed to scream and flee. The crowded group of people busted out of the area as some toppled over each other. A roadblock of people that might hinder her path caused Sheila to dance around the terrified people. She dodged until no one was left on her side but a few individuals.
She looked over to the other side and saw that Tyraun and Marlo were literally getting carried away by the incoming torrent of panic. Both of them tried to swim through an ocean of people before fading out of view.
"Jed! No... get off... Je...!"
"Excuse me... excus...!"
Those two sentences were the last words that Sheila managed to hear. She decided to look over the unconscious group and saw that two police officers surrounded them, where they unholstered their taser guns and pointed them at the crazed knife-wielding Jed.
Officer Bluefield was standing behind, and Officer Grudge was in the front.
"Drop the knife, son! I said drop it!" Officer Grudge attempted to say.
"Do it, you brat, or else you'll get it for sure!" Officer Bluefield shouted.
Jed looked at his knife with a smile, carefully caressing it as he whispered to it like a pet. He then pointed it at the police officers. Fear finally swept through his face, replacing the initial confusion from before.
"More of these monsters?! No, not anymore; with this pocket knife I can defend myself. So get away from me, I can't take it anymore from being in that sac ever again. You must be working for the monster inside the bathroom. I won't let you take me again!"
Officer Grudge remained still with his weapon still pointed at his chest. "I won't say this again. Put the knife on the ground gently and place yourself on the floor, real nice and easy. Maybe I would give you less of a beating for punishment."
"Let me take the shot first," the other police officer said, his hands visibly shaking.
"No. No. NO. NO! NO! I won't fall for it next time, I won't die in some dirty bathroom, and I won't get killed in Honoway Mall, so I gotta take first strike! RAAAHHH!"
Jed roared and speedily went up to the police officer, with the intention of bringing his knife down into the living flesh of a man.
"Screw you, kid! I'm gonna do it, let's tase his ass so much he'll be fried bread!"
Without a second to spare, Officer Bluefield fired his taser gun; black lines whipped up from the front of the tip and connected to Jed's back. Upon contact, Sheila could see that convulsions had started, adding even more shaking to his movements.
His knife dropped to the floor with an audible ring as it made contact with the hard floor. The sound caused the other people who were still unconscious to wake up. In their view, they must have seen what an enraged beast Jed must have been before he was knocked out.
Sheila looked over to the final person at the end of the line and saw Nate Elfirm still knocked out despite the situation being more
They screamed as they huddled in a corner like scared puppies during a thunderstorm.
"Conflict must be judged for this!" Officer Grudge said as he jumped in the air and landed on Jed's back. He quickly got his handcuffs from his belt and attached them to the boy's wrist. His partner followed up by holding down his legs in case he moved.
"Now stay down, or else you get another wrestling move I learned from television," Officer Bluefield said in Jed's ear.
Jed tried to scramble out of the two officers' grip, thrashing wildly to stand back up with his knife, but he held no knife and was forcefully pinned down even further to the ground, making every body surface in his front completely stuck to the ground.
Officer Grudge pointed to his partner, his eyes still on Jed's. "Bluefield! The knife! Where is the knife?!"
"Alright, I'll find it."
The partner looked around the ground, sweeping through each tile. He stood up, still surveying the area.
"Well?! Where's the weapon?!" Officer Grudge asked.
"It is nowhere to be found! I can't find it at all!"
Officer Grudge stared at Jed with fury, his fist shaking like a broken blender.
"You! Now someone else will use that knife that you somehow discarded without us knowing. And if someone used that knife, it would lead to more conflict. You'll pay for this, you know!"
Not holding back his anger anymore, Officer Grudge balled up his fist and struck Jed's face, making Sheila gasp in shock. She froze as Jed let out a pained groan before he finally went unconscious from the single strike.
Officer Bluefield had his taser once again, holding it up at Jed's chest. "Want me to take him again, just in case he wakes back up?"
The other officer shook his head. He pointed towards the other people lying down.
"Not right now. There are still other people here, and we need to get testimonies on who started the fight in the bathroom first."
By hearing his partner say those instructions, Officer Bluefield lowered his taser gun. "Alright then, I'll call the others to let them know that we have potentially injured people at Honoway Mall."
Sheila glanced at the people in the corner and noticed that Nate wasn't there. No person with black hair and green-gray clothes was around the area.
She walked over, intending to see if he had somehow been injured again.
"Hey, little miss, watch it! This is a crime scene, be careful! You might be roped into this if you try to get involved!" Officer Bluefield told her as he scanned the floor for anything that might seem dangerous.
She backed off, but the question still lingered in her mind.
Where is Nate Elfirm? Did he run away? If so, why would he?
***
The men's bathroom on the first floor of Honoway Mall remained in ruins thanks to the work of the Slimestuck Faden. Nate's vision was still blurry and darkened, but he could still see through the shaded outline that it was the place where he fought it, and just between the walls next to the farther corner, he could see an opening that led to an abandoned-looking utility closet with the people trapped in the slime sacs.
He could not let the other members of his friend group, the Quad Four, get in the way, or else they would be seriously hurt.
Back when he first woke up on the floor outside the bathroom, his vision was noticeably blurry, and he could only hear the muffles from a lot of people, but he wasn't able to discern who was who.
His limbs still ached all over, with Nate hearing the begging coming from his arms especially. And even more "especially" with his arm that held his sword.
He crawled silently to the blurry image of the entrance of the bathroom as he made his way in. Nate tried not to let him get attention to himself in case there were still threats around him, like additional Fadens.
Now that he thought of it, Nate felt something click despite his sword, Rupture, not fully materializing. It was something new that caused him to burst with a surplus of surprising energy.
With how different it was, it was like he achieved something new, something that he unlocked from an emotional state or the amount of stress.
It was like a new stage had been powering up. A stage that allowed him to go over his limits.
With a thought about it, he tried to summon his sword despite his exhausted limit.
As expected, not even a wisp of the energy or green light appeared.
"I guess I used too much of my energy from before. I'll rest after I check if the bathrooms are still dangerous to go in."
Nate maintained his balance as he limped towards the room, where he could see that the mess made by the fight against the Slimestuck Faden was still there, and the blue slime really disappeared along with the monster's corpse.
He glanced towards the floor and saw his phone, or rather... it used to be a functional phone. The screen was all cracked up, and the interior was fully exposed. He was sure that the bathroom water really fried up its circuits.
Looks like Nate would have to save up enough pocket money to get a new phone. Perhaps the latest model to make his sister, Nallie, jealous.
He went to the opening of the wall and expected to see the slime pods still there with the scattered tools all over the floor.
But that wasn't the case.
"Wh-what...?" he let out.
Those pod sacs from the Faden were nowhere to be found.