["Well, I think we'll spend the rest of the night there."]
The shopping mall appears at the end of the avenue, dark, its glass facade cracked and its signs still half-glowing. I decide to stop.
["Are you sure? We've only been walking for an hour."]
["I wanted to get further away, but the risk increases. The closer we get to the house, the more likely we are to run into the little white guys. Besides, with that group that insists on following us, I'm not so sure I can take advantage of the night anymore."]
In the end, saving the rats ended up working against me, because these morons also escaped and have been following me like shadows.
It's one thing to attract the attention of cats and rats, but if they end up attracting those low-budget Slender Men, we're dead.
Besides, I had to take a detour on the way back, and I don't know what's around here.
But it was either that or a new round of "run, run, or I'll eat you" with those damn subway wolves.
The point is, I don't have stealth mode available, and I'm far enough from the school… I hope…
["It's closed… Will there be people inside?"]
CRACK. PLACK. PLACK.
["Pardon the intrusion."]
I break a nearby window with my rifle. As the glass falls with a shatter that echoes through the dark building, I enter with elegant politeness.
The girls follow me with bitter smiles.
["Hey, and how are we supposed to keep the monsters out now?"]
["I'm leaving tomorrow, I don't care."]
Milia grumbles, but I don't stop. Is fragile glass supposed to be a barrier against what's walking around out there?
Such an argument isn't even worth a sarcastic remark.
["What if this place is someone else's shelter?"]
["As long as they don't mess with me, I won't mess with them."]
["You're such a…"]
I don't finish hearing the complaint. Everyone's footsteps follow behind me. If they hate how I do things so much, why don't they just get lost?
["Milia's house is only two hours away. We could get there tonight."]
["Good idea, if Milia agrees to host us."]
["Of course."]
I glance at Franco, four-eyes, and Milia herself, who seem to have self-proclaimed themselves the leaders of the group. What happened to democracy? Not that I care.
["Now that I think about it… this started early in the morning. The malls hadn't even opened yet."]
Was it really in the morning? I could have sworn it all started at night. Bah, useless detail.
The important thing now: all the stores have padlocks. No easy windows for my "polite entry."
It would be great if we could spend the night in that supermarket.
["Leave it to me."]
["You can pick locks?"]
["I'm a genius, after all."]
["In my day, people with that skill were known as thieves."]
["Times change."]
I can't argue with that logic.
The girl takes something from her pocket and starts struggling with the padlock.
["You could have said so sooner. I wasted three rounds in vain."]
["Shut up. You didn't even give me time to suggest anything. What's with this absurdly quick ease of decision-making when it comes to destroying private property? What will you do if everything goes back to normal and they see you broke into a store?"]
I'll stop by to say hello, I guess.
My aunt is a cop, after all, kekekeke.
["Astrad, we want to keep moving."] –Franco
["Have a nice trip."]
Music to the rat kid's ears. Goodbye, obstacles.
["…What I mean is, since you're the only one with a weapon and we've followed your plan, the least you could do is take some responsibility."]
["I don't recall telling you to follow me. On the contrary, I've been telling you to get lost for a while."]
["There's definitely no negotiating with you…"]
["Yes, you can. Just get something worthwhile. Come back when you have tits."]
["You won't survive with that individualistic mentality."]
["And if I do survive? What will you do to me?"]
["So brave with that weapon. How does it feel to inflate your ego with a piece of metal?"]
["Wonderful. It's an experience I'll never get tired of, GYAJAJAJA."]
The echo of my laughter crashes against the silence of the hallway. The students frown. Hatred, frustration, fear. Everything that feeds the rat kid.
Go on, hate me more, GYAHAHAHA.
["I did iiiiiiiiiiiit!"]
The padlock falls.
["Brat, you were worth every second invested."]
["Hahaha, as long as you understand."]
The girls lift the security gate and run inside. I also enter and lower the metal gate behind me.
["If I put the padlock back on tomorrow, can you take it off again?"]
["Of course. It'll be safer that way."]
Isn't this kid great? I'm a lucky rat kid.
["Wait… let us in too."]
Four-eyes pleads from the outside, with Franco and the others behind him.
["And how does that benefit the rat kid?"]
The rat kid sees no benefit.
..............
------- A Student's Point of View ------------
The roar shot through my bones before I could understand what was happening.
The air vibrated as if someone had beaten a giant drum next to my head. It wasn't a sound: it was a shockwave.
Then I saw it.
A huge shadow fell from above and crushed the asphalt with a sharp thud. Dust rose like a sneeze from the earth itself. Between the smoke, two yellow eyes shone like ignited blades.
A cat… no, a monster.
A feline too big to be real. Its body was black, oily, impossible to follow with the eyes. The silence was total: no birds, no rats, nothing. Just that roar that was still echoing in my ears.
I froze, we all froze… Well… Almost all of us… Not Astrad.
He raised the rifle and fired.
Decisive, direct, like someone taking a drink of water.
The first impact burst one of the monster's eyes. The roar turned into an unbearable shriek, like twisting metal. The second shot pierced the other eye, and then it became pure rage: it struck walls, clawed at the air, thrashing blindly like a wounded god.
I thought that would be our end.
The rats were surrounding us, licking their teeth at the smell of fresh blood. The cat was howling, crazed and blind. We were in the middle, not knowing if we would be crushed, devoured, or simply ignored.
And there he was.
Astrad, the damn legend of our school in the worst possible sense, laughing as if he were a video game hero. Not a tremor in his voice, not a hesitation in his hands.
For us, it was terror.
For him, it was entertainment.
------------- A Student's Point of view ------------
I don't understand how we ended up here, following that moron.
I mean, yes, he has a weapon, and yes, he fired it without trembling against a monster that looked like it was from a nightmare. But that doesn't make him a leader… it makes him a crazy armed guy.
We walk behind him as if he knows where he's going. In reality, we're only following him because no one else dared to argue with him. Every word of his is a poison: sarcasm, insults, mockery. The worst part is that it works: he manages to shut us all up.
When he broke the shopping mall window with his rifle, the crash echoed throughout the whole place. I held my breath, waiting for something to attack us from the darkness. He, on the other hand, walked in as if he were opening the door to his own house.
The girls follow him without a word of protest. Sometimes I think they're just as disturbed as he is, or maybe they just don't have another choice.
["Astrad, we want to keep moving,"] —Franco dared to say.
I look at him, directly, hoping he would at least feign some responsibility.
Nothing.
Just sarcasm, insults, cackles.
When he laughed, loud in the middle of the empty hallway, the echo felt worse than the roar of the giant cat from a while ago.
The worst moment was when Kiti opened the padlock. He went inside and then lowered the gate as if it were nothing, smiling proudly. We begged to be let in, dragging what little dignity we had left on the floor.
His answer was a cruel joke.
["And how does that benefit the rat kid?"]
I don't know how long we'll survive, but I know this: if we follow that bastard, we'll do it as shadows behind him, never at his side.