“Mira, do you know where my locker is?” I asked while our tired and worn-out group ran away from the audible screams still coming from the cafeteria.

“Y-yes. I for sure know where your locker is, and not because of any previous nefarious plans to poison or sabotage the belongings you kept inside.” Mira replied ominously.

“Kay, a simple yes would’ve been good. I need you to go into my locker then and grab a small black rod out of the side pocket of my backpack.” I explained between labored breaths as we continued our run.

“Black rod? How is that supposed to help?” Beth asked, a single eyebrow raised in an expression of confusion.

“Seriously, is it like some kinda vibrator you’re hiding in your locker. Is your big plan to fuck Coach Philip to death?” Niki giggled at her own off-color joke while everyone else just gave her a look. “What?”

“N-no it’s not that. It's um, a weapon.” I admitted to them while purposefully avoiding eye contact.

“Are freaking kidding me?” Beth nearly shouted.

“Woah.” Niki said, her eyes growing into huge saucers as she looked at me.

“I always suspected.” Jackie muttered loud enough for us to hear.

“Oh, shut it you-” Beth tried to jump to my defense, but now wasn’t the time for arguing.

“Knock it off!” I yelled loud enough to get all of their attention back on me. “It’s just a baton alright, for uh, self-defense. After the uh, wild animal at the party, I still felt kinda vulnerable. This helps.”

“I get it.” Letitia said fairly quietly.

“Okay, it's a baton. How does one baton help us.” Jackie asked a good question, too good really.

“Uh…” I said, fumbling for an explanation.

“It probably has a built-in taser or something.” Beth guessed.

“Yeah… that.” I eagerly agreed. “Anyways, the combination to my locker is 42-” I started before Mira cut me off.

“I know it already.” She announced. “I’ll go get it, but where do we meet up after?”

“That’s the next part. Jackie, you were the one who came up with the hot oil thing right?” I said, making an educated guess.

“Yes, but I wouldn’t have been able to do it without Niki and Letitia’s help.” She said while looking back and forth between her two close friends.

“I helped to you know.” Beth added petulantly.

“Sure you did.” Jackie shot back.

“Okay, stop. Jackie, can you think of another spot where we can lead Coach Philip into a trap.”

“Hmm, well sure. The timing will be tricky, but it should definitely mess him up if it works.” She replied with her usual surety.

“Great, I’ll leave that to you.”

“We’re coming with obviously.” Niki declared.

“Actually, I want you and Letitia to go with Beth.” I said, prompting an almost immediate complaint to try and leave Niki’s mouth that I had to interrupt. “Jackie will manage fine, but I need your help with this part if we’re all going to get through this.”

“I’m not abandoning my friend.” Niki replied solemnly.

“It’s fine. I can handle myself, and if Beth can’t, well, it’s best she had some help then.” Jackie said with a small devilish smirk on her face.

“I really hate you.” Beth told her but without any real venom.

“Beth, Niki, and Letitia.” I said, growing more and more winded after having been running for my life for what felt like hours now. “Go around the school and find us whatever kind of weapons you can. Anything sharp or heavy, it doesn’t matter.”

“Got it.” Beth answered, a large smile appearing on her face. It seemed like she enjoyed being able to help and having some way to contribute.

“Okay, I’ll continue to lead this mons-, uh I mean Coach Philip on a wild goose chase while you guys get everything set up.” I said while turning to look at Jackie. “Where are we meeting up at?”

“The gym.” She said with an even bigger and more devilish smile than last time.

**********************************************************

Loping with slower and more pained movements, “Coach Philip” made his way out of the cafeteria and into the adjoining hallway. Standing a little straighter it carefully sniffed the air. It’s two unobscured nasal passages opening and contracting with each inhalation.

“You’re close, you tiresome little kitten.” It practically snarled.

“Closer than you think.” I announced after stepping out from around a corner and throwing the already prepared Eye Fog spell that I had been holding in my hand just for this moment.

The inky black cloud shot out from my hand and collided with the monster’s head despite its attempts to duck and evade it.

“Gahhh!” It bellowed while shaking its head back and forth.

After only a few seconds though, the small black clouds around its eyes dissipated into nothingness.

“Stupid girl. You should already have realized that your magic will do next to nothing to me.” It said with a toothy skinless sneer on its now very blistered face.

“Somehow you look even grosser and uglier than before.” I said with a derisive sneer of my own. “Kudos.”

“Let’s see how pretty you look after cutting you open and smearing your entrails all over the walls and ceiling.” It declared before lunging forward into a sprint in my direction.

Prepared for exactly this, I also dashed away with a burst of speed with a well-placed Dark Wind spell, and started leading the monster on another long circuitous run around the school.

Whereas before I focused on trying to find obstacles and difficult paths, this time I had another plan.

“So why are you even after me huh?” I asked loud enough that it could still hear me despite the distance and loud noise our running was making.

“None of your concern. The dead have no need for answers.” It replied, still refusing to offer any additional insights.

“Come on big guy. Tell me something. What do you like for breakfast? Do you prefer the summer or winter? What’s your opinion on what kind of car I should get once I have my license?” I kept barraging it with more and more questions, hoping to somehow distract it long enough for the others to do their thing.

“Stop with your inane babble you stupid girl, but fine I’ll give you some answers.” It said ominously. “I’ll tell you all about how your dear Coach Philip met his sad, pathetic and very, very painful end.”

So he really was dead then…

I’d hope that this creature had only copied his appearance, but from what it just said, that was probably not at all what happened.

I can’t let it see me weak though.

“Pff.” I said blowing a loud and obnoxious raspberry with my tongue. “I’m sure it’s all just bluster meant to try and scare me or something.”

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“Oh, it’s very real, and you should be scared. You’ve bitten off way more than handle kitty cat.” It said while making odd hissing sounds that I assumed were laughter.

“Yes, you’re very scary.” It totally was, but I was desperately trying to act like it wasn’t. “So finish the story and stop doing your asthmatic snake impersonation.”

Even if the story of Coach Philip’s end was terrifying, it might yield some kind of clues or information that will help me out later.

“Oh so eager to hear how another suffered. My oh my, I hadn’t realized you were such a sadistic young lady.” It hiss-laughed again. “Very well, it all started when a group of thugs and degenerates broke into your Coach’s home one night and overpowered him with little effort.”

God, I really hope he didn’t have a wife or kid…

“After pinning him to the wall and restraining him, we poured a very special concoction down his throat. Me.” It said happily between loping gaits as it continued chasing after me. “After that, it was a deliciously slow process of me eating away at his insides and his mind simultaneously. As he became less, I became more, until eventually there was only me. The pain and terror continued to build and build until only nothingness was left for him.”

Pushing down any feeling of guilt or sadness, I focused my mind only on the present and my immediate needs.

“Yes, you do seem quite full of yourself.” I responded while doing a quick mental check to determine if I’d given the others enough time.

“Oh, I’m full of many things… and people.” It said while hissing in amusement at itself again.

Getting more and more annoyed with this monster now, I decided that enough time had passed and changed our course to take us to the gym where hopefully the others were ready for us.

I just had to get there in one piece first…

**********************************************************

Arriving at a screeching halt on the waxy floor, I stopped to see just one person waiting for me in the center of the gymnasium. Mira.

“Just you? Is everything good?” I asked while trying not to go into specifics.

“Yep.” She said simply before letting out a loud whistle that echoed throughout the large space we were in.

Apparently taking that as a cue, the large sets of wooden bleachers that were lining the wall all started opening up at the same time.

*Clack**Clack**Clack*

The sound was slightly deafening with all of them going at once.

Not wanting to be ambushed I did a quick peek behind me and saw that the tireless hunter that had been chasing still had no intention of giving up and was only a few seconds from reaching me.

“Frick.” I muttered involuntarily.

“Here.” Mira said, turning my attention back to her as she tossed me the small inconspicuous weapon I had been hoping for. “ Go that way.”

She said while pointing to her left at one set of open bleachers

Not 100% sure of their plan, I asked. “Under?”

“Under.” She confirmed before sprinting off in another direction. Probably to meet up with the others.

Gripping the unopened baton in my hand, I waited a few more moments until the monster was close enough, and sprinted with all I had left towards the side of one of the bleachers.

“Always running, Never accepting the inevitable.” The Alchemical Horror mocked. “Your dear Coach Philip was much the same right up til the end as well, not that it saved him. It won’t save you either.”

“I’m really regretting trying to get you to talk more at this point.” I freely admitted as ducked under the side and made my way into the dark and cramped confines underneath the opened bleachers.

“We all have to find ways to entertain ourselves. If you’d simply give up and let me cut you into little pieces, I give you my word I’ll never talk to you again.”

“I’m gonna have to decline.”

“Shame.” It said, sounding almost genuinely sad at my rejection as it crawled and squeezed its way underneath the bleachers

Its large bulky body had a harder time moving between the metal struts and pieces holding the bleacher open. Clearly, this was part of Jackie’s plan, but hopefully, it wasn’t the whole plan or I’d probably die pretty soon.

After I made it almost to the end, the loud mechanism operating the bleachers came to life again.

“Oh frick.” I shouted before quickly jumping out from underneath the bleachers.

“Stupid girl. You think I’d be trapped by this. All I need to do is…” It said before putting on a burst of speed and trying to leap right for me and out of the way of the closing mechanical trap it was in.

Prepared and armed for it this time, I whipped out my baton, activated it, and thrust the tip right at the oncoming form of the creature as it tried to land on top of me.

*Kthwmp*

“Gah.” It exclaimed in surprise that the weapon did what it was supposed to and pushed its meaty form back into the maze of closing metal and wood.

I worried a bit that the repulsor wouldn’t have any effect on the creature with its resistances, but setting it to max power was still enough oomph to do what I needed it to do.

“Gah, stupid, Gahhh!” I screamed in pain as the metal pinched and squeezed around its body more and more as the mechanism somehow started to accelerate the process of closing. “Grrhaaah!”

It screamed in more and more pain until finally the metal and wood around also began to give way.

Fortunately though, that only served to tangle it up more as it thrashed and twisted around into an even bigger knot of meat, wood, and metal.

Backing away I watched to see if it would break free, or ideally die.

Hearing a group of loud footsteps come up behind me I saw the others rushing out to meet me.

I couldn’t help but smile at seeing what each of them was carrying.

Mira was carrying more bottles, this time filled with some kind of green liquid. Beth was holding a crowbar, Jackie had what looked like a fire axe, and finally, Niki and Letitia had what looked like the broken handles off some wooden mops or something.

“This is all we could find.” Beth declared, seeming a bit embarrassed at what they had brought with them.

“It’s amazing Beth. You did amazing.” I told her sincerely, enjoying the sight of seeing her shoulders sag in relief.

“Grrah…” Was the sound that we heard coming from the messy tangle where the monster still was.

“It’s still not dead?” Letitia asked, clearly still feeling very afraid.

“Not yet.” I said while walking towards the still-trapped creature. “Let’s make sure it gets there.”

With that I took the first strike at the helpless form of the once terrifying, now worn out, restrained, and temporarily helpless creature. I needed to finish it off before it could manage to free itself.

“Come on!” Beth shouted as she rushed over stabbing at it with her crowbar in the process.

Jackie, Niki, and Letitia each joined in then. Each of our hits wasn’t really doing much to it, but together, doing it over and over again, the damage was slowly starting to add up.

“Grraahhh!” It shouted angrily and made a desperate attempt to break free from its imprisonment.

“Back up a second!” Mira ordered.

Not sure of her plan, but trusting her I did as she asked. The others joined me after only another moment.

Mira tossed one of the containers of green liquid onto the monster's writhing form. The glass shattered and the green liquid rapidly turned into some kind of white foam that spread and then hardened around the creature and the pile of debris it was in.

"It's an adhesive. It won’t work forever, but hopefully it’s enough.” She explained.

“Let’s make sure it is.” I said before going back to wailing on the creature with more and more blows from my baton, the other eagerly joining me.

The monster's screams grew weaker and weaker as this went on.

Mira had to use two more bottles, before finally, it seemed like the monster stopped struggling.

Even then we didn’t let up, blow after blow, stab after stab. We kept at it until I finally told the others to back up a step.

“If this works like I was told, it might get messy.” I warned. Stepping forward, I gripped the baton tightly in my hands and stabbed it with all my strength into the still-open eye of the monster. Only then did I flick the switch on its handle to the maximum setting.

To say Gunderson was underselling the effects of this particular move would not be doing justice to how messy the aftermath was. Gore, blood, and other unidentifiable messiness erupted and sprayed everywhere from the point of impact of my baton.

I was absolutely covered by it. Regretting all my life choices I turned around to look at the others.

“I uh, think we got it.” I said awkwardly to them while dripping viscera from my clothes and hair.

New Quest!

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Level Up!

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Level Up!

Warning!

Veil Breach!

Warning!

Veil Breach!

“Oh frick. Now what?” I muttered helplessly before immediately doubling over in pain.