As she struggled to her feet, her athletic form now slightly less visible underneath the T-shirt he'd given her, she shook her head.

"We were... we were going to run and we'd only just gotten out into the hallway, when... we were trying to find somewhere to go... to get to, you know, somewhere that was... well... safer, I guess." Her words came out stammering. "Lucy... Lucy... was crying a lot, you know... after you sent us out of that room... you know?"

"Yeah, I know. You guys ran. I remember."

"Well," Sarah replied. "Well... she was... just freaking out a lot, and I... I just wanted to try to calm her down. She's so fragile and... I just... she needed to be, like... away from the monsters. So Katie and me, we thought that the cafeteria would be the best place. There's food here, you know... and stuff, and..."

Sarah started to shake and shudder again. Michael could only assume it was from the thought of what could have happened to her.

"And... well," she said. "Lucy didn't want to come here because... because there are windows in the canteen. She said it would be too easy for monsters to break in and get us here." Sarah was shaking slightly and her eyes began to water a little, though he knew she wasn't the crying sort. Michael was about to say something to try to reassure her that she was OK, that it was all going to be alright, but Sarah started talking again before he had a chance. "But we had to try. Katie and me convinced her that... well, we needed somewhere safe. We couldn't go back to the library and you know... the canteen seemed the safest place. Anyway... I was in front and Katie was helping Lucy. We were rushing and..."

Michael tried to picture it in his mind; Sarah was at the head of their little party. Katie had her hand around the shoulder of the still-crying Lucy, helping her walk and navigate through the hallways of the building. He noticed, looking over at the blonde, that she was far more talkative than she'd ever been before. He put this down to shock. "So what happened next?" He asked after her latest pause.

"So we were... well, we got here to the canteen and I ran up to the doors to push them open and as I did, the doors sort of pushed back and they slammed into Katie and Lucy behind me... and then this thing," she said, gesturing towards the corpse of the bat monster lying in the centre of the floor. "...It just came flying out. Its claws, they... well, they were like knives and I... Katie, Lucy... and me, well, we just got split up."

Sarah shook her head, her blonde hair now unkempt, dirty and frizzing. Her expression showed worry. She continued, "It came for me. I think Katie and Lucy got away. But I fell back on the floor and the doors to the hall shut and it just attacked. I didn't know what to do and... and then you came and I thought... well, it's silly. I thought for a minute that it was the end of me, you know, and... I guess that I'd never get to... I'd never get to be what I always wanted and, well... it just felt... well, I felt so..."

She started sobbing, and her body slumped down to her knees once more. "I can't do this..." Michael heard through panicked breaths, "I can't do this anymore."

Michael himself was a whirlwind of emotions. Adrenaline, pain, light-headedness from the injuries he'd incurred, and now worry for both Sarah and the two other girls that were out there somewhere. "It'll be alright," he said, trying to sound confident, "But we need you to get up and follow me."

"We're all going to die. I'm going to die. Katie and Lucy are probably already dead," Sarah sobbed, the shock of what had just happened hitting her hard.

"Hey," he said. Michael looked around, kneeling so that his eye-line would be lower, closer to hers, and more comfortable to speak with her. "Hey, I know... well, it looks really, really bad right now." His hands started to shake, the words in his head and on his lips coming from his own mind, the words sounding as though he were talking to himself rather than Sarah, even though she was right next to him.

He wanted to tell her that everything would be alright, but the world was spinning and frankly, the world has also ended a few days ago and ever since, he'd been set upon by monsters and demonesses and who else knew what was coming next. So instead, he simply reiterated his earlier words, just trying to take on a more authoritative tone as he stood up. "We'll find the others. Come with me."

He pulled the belt on his makeshift tourniquet tight. He wasn't going to die tonight, he decided. He would save Sarah. And he'd find the others and bring them to safety.

He offered his hand and pulled her up. Sarah followed him to the doorway, though she seemed reluctant.

As she walked with him out into the hallway and down towards where he'd first come up from the basement and towards where they were planning on staying. She looked over her shoulder several times and seemed to want to turn and go the other way. "What's the matter, Sarah?"

"I..." She stopped. "Nothing." Her tone had returned to its normal brusque self, and she pulled her hair into a ponytail, knotting it together. She took a deep breath. "Let's just go." She'd changed completely in the space of a minute.

"Right." He turned and continued on the path. She followed him without hesitation, and he was grateful that whatever emotional episode had taken her was now over, for now. As he glanced over at the athletic girl at his shoulder, he saw a glint of the baseball bat she was carrying once more and he was grateful for that too, as he felt a little weak to fight alone again. He could barely hold up the black sword he'd taken from his fallen foe earlier.

After they had been walking through the building for about five or ten minutes, Michael's mind wandered again, though he had no vision or sudden doppelganger episode to tell him that something had changed.

Sarah, however, had something to say. "Hey," she whispered. Her voice sounded soft again, almost worried and concerned. He stopped, turning to look at her.

"Yeah?" he asked, waiting to hear her response.

"It's... just..." she started. Michael was again worried she might burst into tears. But instead, she just continued on, "Thank you," she said.

"You're... welcome? For what?"

Sarah shook her head at him. "You know what? For coming and... saving my life and stuff, you idiot." Her voice sounded like it was half-joking. "If it wasn't for you then, well, I'd probably have been ripped apart, you know."

"Yeah..." Michael replied. "It's OK."

The silence that followed was awkward, but only lasted a couple of minutes until, as they got to a fork in the corridor which led to the indoor basketball court, Sarah poked Michael's injured shoulder. As he winced in pain, he looked backward at her, and she had a sharp look in her eye. Putting a finger to her lips as if to tell him to be quiet and stop moving, she whispered, "Did you hear that?"

He listened. At first he could hear nothing but then he started to pick up a sound that sounded a bit like footsteps. Or shuffling. Michael and Sarah shared a worried glance as they crept towards the door. The door to the indoor sports centre was half open, but as he got close, Michael heard the unmistakable sound of one of the bat monsters scrambling across the linoleum floor on the other side of the double doors, followed by a high pitch yelp.

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It took Michael a couple of seconds to engage his brain.

"Get off! Help!" They heard the young woman scream from inside the room. Katie.

Michael didn't know what was about to happen. But Sarah wasn't the sort to just wait for the situation to get worse and she didn't need any time to react, moving instinctively while Michael was frozen.

As Sarah burst through the door into the indoor gymnasium, Michael heard a clanging, banging noise, and a shout of fear. As he followed her in, Michael looked up, seeing one of the black bat-like creatures that he'd already fought off in the cafeteria.

Katie was on the ground and there was no sign of Lucy anywhere. It looked like the bat-creatures had found Katie hiding among the fitness equipment and dragged her out into the open basketball court. Sarah had run over and had the baseball bat in both hands as she started whacking at the thing, shouting at it and hitting its wings. But this creature wasn't alone.

Another two bat-monsters appeared, their huge leathery wings beating the air, the sound deafening and Michael, seeing the scene before him, had no choice. The one creature was focused on trying to get its claws on Katie who was curled in a ball on the ground, crying out in panic. Michael figured that between Sarah and Katie, they'd need to deal with that one monster while he took on the others.

The two others circled around and then flew towards him, Michael stood and readied himself to attack. They both had huge sets of razor sharp claws that glinted in the light from the windows. And their jaws, full of teeth that gnashed together as their huge black eyes glared down at Michael. They seemed almost ravenous as their faces were twisted and deformed, though still with some vague features of humanity, Michael noted.

Michael was still carrying his huge, heavy blade. As the two bat-things flew at him, he held it in his right hand, letting the tip rest against the ground and waited, just watching, timing his swing so it'd slice the monster's body in half. The huge wings beat loudly, but as it came down close enough for him to strike, he took his chance.

He was a fraction of a second late as he swiped with the blade, his left arm giving off a painful spasm, but it did connect. However, the sharp metal sliced across the leathery body and Michael was knocked back as it flew straight into him and then crashed into the ground, tumbling over and rolling a bit.

But he hadn't dealt it a mortal wound, and it stood up and then shuffled towards Michael. His blade had been dropped on the floor, his arms flailing. It looked at him, a low snarl and its large black eyes glared into Michael's. He felt the world spin as his blood thumped around his body and as his arms came to bare, Michael guessed there was only one thing he could do to survive as the thing launched itself into him, so he ducked out of its way, leaping towards the floored sword that he needed to fight it.

His hands reached for it, grabbing at the blade, though he struggled with its weight.

And he could see, from the corner of his vision that Sarah and Katie had gotten to their feet and had the other creature between them.

Michael saw the other, uninjured bat as it launched from its perch towards him. His left arm was shaking as he barely managed to hold the sword out to stop it, and he couldn't lift his arm above shoulder level with the blade in his hands.

As it swooped in, Michael, feeling his whole body start to shake as his arms tried to move, managed to slash the black sword across its leathery wings and watched with some satisfaction as the beast crashed down into the ground like the other had once more, this time, the cut had taken out some of the hide that kept it aloft and Michael could see its huge black eyes look up at him as the creature gave off another hissing noise.

Michael's small sense of triumph was soon replaced by a woozy attempt at tactical thinking. He had one bat monster in front of him, and another behind him, and he stepped around in small circles. Both were injured, and he suspected neither could fly, but he didn't know what to do. As the creatures clicked messages to each other, Michael felt the weight of the battles hit his body, but mentally pushed through it, trying to keep his eyes open, his hands holding onto the weapon and his mind concentrated.

One of them tried to jump at him but missed, and the two collided into each other. Michael, realising this might be the chance he'd needed, swung the sword down hard on one of their heads. The sharp edge connected with a crack that was a little sickening to hear. Michael lifted his weapon once more, the body below him twitching, the thing's limbs still trying to fight him off.

As Michael went to finish off the second beast, it managed to scramble out of his reach. He looked over at Sarah and Katie, who were struggling to fight their creature off. Michael shook his head, told himself, "Concentrate," and turned his attention to the remaining creature he'd resolved to kill.

Luckily, Michael thought, its wounds were severe and it wouldn't last long.

The second monster seemed to have lost the will to fight and, perhaps having seen the fate of its companion, had started to drag itself towards one of the doors in an attempt to flee, perhaps to recover and regain strength. But it didn't manage to make its way very far. And as it flailed about in an attempt to get out of the hall and fly off to wherever the beasts went to recuperate. But its injuries were too severe, and the hide that let it soar into the air had been ripped open, so it wasn't going to make it out alive.

Michael, weakened himself, staggered towards it, confident he could kill it with the blade he carried, but also worried that if it got away, it might be able to communicate with others like it, so they could come back and kill him or the girls later on. Michael knew he was out of his mind with fear, exhaustion, pain and the rush of fighting, but as the creature dragged itself along, its large, clawed, black wings still scrabbling at the door, Michael saw it, in that moment, as if it was his mortal enemy. A creature of hate and malice. Its existence was offensive to him, and he imagined all of that negative energy reaching out from inside him and striking the monster where it now scampered to get away.

He was shocked when he saw black tendrils flicker in and out of his eyesight, forming a hand like he'd seen a few times before. In an instant, it shot towards the beast.

The black hand hit the creature in the side, causing the beast to roll onto its side. Its sharp, jagged claws tried to fight back, but couldn't find an adversary, the black mist wrapping itself around the thing, squeezing it until the bones snapped.

It made no sound as the thing was at once choked and crushed to death.

Then he looked back, just to make sure that the girls had been able to kill their own beast. He looked at Katie and Sarah and was a bit shocked by the scene.

They had retreated to the far corner of the court. Sarah stood between Katie and the final bat monster. She was poised, ready to strike with her weapon, but Michael thought that it was probably an ineffective one.

As the bat-creature made ready to strike at the two girls, Michael realised that he was too far away from them physically to get to them in time. But, thinking about how the black magic had just dispatched the last monster, he had another idea.

The black fog started to flow around him, his fingers twitching as he imagined the black smoke flying from his hand, towards the monster, forming into a thick rope that he would control, his fingers moving to pull and manipulate it.

The smoke started to move around his body and as his left arm shook and twitched in pain and discomfort, the smoke seemed to be pouring from the wound, or maybe from the palm of his hand, Michael thought. The fog had turned to black, writhing snakes, his hand now completely hidden from view. But his concentration on the scene before him did not falter, and he felt the magic working through his will.

His fingers tensed, his arm feeling numb, but his will concentrated on what he wanted to happen, and he commanded the black cloud of tendrils to once again burst forth from him, shooting across the hall, a dark cloud that was at once amorphous and smoke-like but then formed into a huge, dark hand or claw, and then wrapped itself around the body of the creature, and Michael willed it to crush the thing.

The bat creature was now frozen, mid-lunge, though Michael wasn't certain that it would work.

It let out a hiss as the black smoke began to twist and squeeze, crushing its hide, the dark vapours then entering the thing's mouth and pouring into it, making its eyes go black before finally letting out a death squeal as the smoke-like tendrils played executioner to the wretched creature.

He felt his arm shake as his body and brain came back to the reality he was standing in. Michael watched the two women who were in the corner. Sarah and Katie both had a look of horror in their eyes, staring at Michael, as if he himself had been a monster.

"What... the hell was that, Michael?" Sarah said. Her tone was one of wonderment or shock, but was also cold. And her face was hard, though he thought there was still an element of the scared young woman that she was before they'd entered the court to save Katie.

"I..." Michael stammered, his arm feeling a little numb but the rest of his body was shaking and a bit exhausted. "I'm sorry..." He couldn't really think what to say.