"You've certainly been a nuisance to me tonight, Burke," Carl tosses his well coiffed hair in a dismissive gesture, "but its time to bring this farce to an end."

Burke's hit squad cowers at Carl's declaration, desperately reloading their weapons for a hopeless last stand. Against an Awakened Soul, assault rifles and bombs are hardly enough. Carl can literally kill with a thought without needing to go through the trouble of actually using his muscles. His soul weapon auto aims itself as fast as Carl can draw a visual bead on his opponents.

Even the vulgar magic Burke knows pales in comparison to the strength Carl wields. No matter how proficient Burke is at casting on the fly or being creative with his spell usage, there's no way the fat man catch match the sheer might of someone with direct access to their soul. By all standards, Burke and the goon squad a completely screwed. Burke doesn't care about any of that though.

He's too busy staring in disbelief at me.

Maus continues creeping toward the exit, unaware that Burke has spotted us. For some reason, the "position" doesn't work on the fat man. I inch forward as well, hoping that Burke catching sight of me was a fluke and the position's invisibility will kick in again. But Burke's eyes unwaveringly track me as I scoot my way low across the canteen.

"Uh, sir? What are we going to do now?" one of the heavies nervously asks Burke.

"You all die, of course." Carl's refreshing voice utters the most unspeakable things. All the more reason for Maus and I to get the hell out of here right fast. I'm not keen on dying a pointless death tonight in the crossfire as predicted by Maus.

"What's wrong, Burke?" Carl laughs humorlessly, "Life flashing before your eyes?"

There's uneasy shuffling from the hit squad. Burke has gone worryingly quiet and to everyone else in the canteen, he might as well be spacing out from the stress and impending death. I know that's not the real reason for his silence though. Burke's just too busy ogling the delinquent squat crouching his way toward the exit.

If Burke wants to stare, I'm cool with that. I give Burke a tiny waive before going back to scooting across the floor. His expression abruptly changes from befuddlement to a strange sense of determination. Not something I was expecting.

"Everyone, fall back." Burke announces, "I'll keep the target occupied."

The hit squad immediately begins rushing for the exit, leaving Maus and I in the dust. Burke places his free hand on the bandoliers he wears across his tubby chest, his entire body tensed and ready for action.

"Hoh?" Carl sneers in disdain, "Someone is feeling confident."

"Can you fight what you can't see?" Burke snorts, "Let's find out."

The fat man's arm swings out, tossing several bombs in an arc. With dawning horror, I realize that Burke had aimed one of those projectiles right in my direction. As the bomb clatters to a stop right behind me, I begin cursing Burke in my heart. So much for giving me false hope asshole. Go die in a fire.

There's a click as the bomb goes off and I reflexively clench my teeth together, bracing for the agony of fiery annihilation. Instead, grey clouds spray out of the metal cannister nearly choking me.

"Smoke?" Carl coughs out in surprise. Before he can say anything further, there's a meaty thump of Burke's cane scoring a direct hit on pretty boy.

The fog gradually swallows up the entire canteen and the only thing I can hear is the ferocious clashing of weapons. Burke is holding up to his promise. I don't know why, but he's chosen to help Maus and I escape.

"What're you waiting for?" Maus squeaks and gets back on all fours, straight up sprinting for the building's exit.

"No need to ask me twice." I agree and break into a run as well. I can barely see Maus's figure just ahead of me, good thing too, since the smoke has grown too thick for me to navigate out of the canteen. Apart from the dim outlines of trashed furniture and broken tiles, the only thing I can see is a churning, impenetrable wall of grey. Maus's senses must be incredibly sharp, or more likely she's finding her way through the smoke using more than her sight.

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The same can't be said for pretty boy. I might not be able to see how the fight between Carl and Burke is going, though the noise tells me that Burke is at the very least hanging in there. For now. Taking out Carl's ability to see was a smart move, but I'm not betting on Burke being able to actually defeat Carl this way. The difference in their respective strength is simply too huge. And Burke's smoke bombs will only buy him so much time.

"I smell fresh air! This way!" Maus directs and I doggedly follow the dim shade scampering in front me, my sight almost fully gone by this point. A series of earth shaking explosions nearly send me flying off my feet, followed by horrid screaming coming from Carl's normally composed voice.

Burke must have used the rest of his bombs all at once. And it still wasn't enough. Carl's still on his feet and swinging away from the sound of things.

"Having an Awakened Soul is such bullshit." I complain to no one in particular.

A cleansing chill wind hits me, driving away the stifling heat of the canteen along with the claustrophobic fog. The stars shine bright in the night sky and in the distance I can see the goon squad fleeing back to their SUVs.

"We made it." I sigh in sheer relief, taking in the sights and sounds of the great outdoors. Who knew that being let out of school would feel so great?

"Don't relax just yet." Maus pants tiredly next to me, "Still need to escape the campus before we're safe."

"Aren't you a, well, rodent who likes living dangerously?" both Maus and I begin moving at the pace of a light jog to regain our breath, "You're the one who was lurking about to watch the show, as you put it."

"I'm more than capable of taking care of myself." Maus scoffs, "If you must know, all this trouble is mainly for your sake."

"Really?" I give the rodent side eye at this ridiculous claim., "And what would you do if you were caught in the crossfire?"

"Act like a mouse?" my rodent companion says as if its obvious, "No one's going to bother with me when they're busy trying to kill each other."

"That's one way of handling the problem I suppose." I shake my head. I can't deny that Maus has a point, but it is a fairly pathetic way of handling the matter.

"Guile will always trump brute strength, Robert." Maus lectures in a hectoring tone, "That's a lesson life has hammered into me."

"What a very mouse like thing to say." I droll back, "You're sure that you're not actually a rat?"

"We can have this argument later." Maus says, "Look ahead. You see that?"

"The goon squad has piled into one of the SUVs. What about it?" I shrug.

"The only way to escape from the campus grounds is through the main gate." Maus explains, "Meaning we need to follow the driveway out."

Well, that's obvious. Rutger's might have a large campus, but it had only one gate for security and aesthetic reasons. It was easy to impress visitors if the only way in and out of the campus was a broad driveway flanked by towering trees and incredibly well landscaped grounds. There was decorative rocks, lush shrubbery and even an artificial lake. No expense was spared in setting the place up.

"Couldn't we wait for the police to arrive?" I point out to Maus, "We're out of the danger zone and some of the staff must still be on the campus. At the very least the security guards."

"You want to wait for the police to arrive?" Maus hums.

"Yeah. That's the safest course of action right?" I nod in affirmation, "Rather than try to sneak past the rattled team of hitmen. The campus guards would have called for help by now."

"The police will not come in time." Maus flatly refutes, "If you wish to survive tonight, you must flee the campus itself."

"And how would you know that?" I'm thrown off at how cock sure Maus is in her prediction.

"You don't need to believe me, Robert." Maus shrugs, "It makes no difference to me whether or not you wish to survive."

"Wow, you're really pulling that card on me?" I snort, "Not giving me a lot of confidence here."

"I'm waiting here in the campus. It was my original plan for tonight anyway." Maus eases back on her hindlegs, "Just don't expect me to help you after you've made your choice."

Maus falls silent, waiting for me to make my decision. I badly want to call her out for feeding me a tall tale, but she's already been proven right about something bad going down at the school tonight. The whole problem is that I'm swimming in unknown territory right now. I've no idea whether or not Maus is acting in good faith toward me.

So, what will it be?

A loud crash coming from the school building nearly causes me to wet myself as one of the windows shatters. As I gather my wits, Burke is sent flying out of the window like a cannonball and slams face first into the empty SUV. The fat man hits the car's bonnet so hard that the impact flattens the engine block. Burke slides bonelessly off the SUV while the hit squad stares wordlessly from their own vehicle. Burke's hand grips his cane, now broken and reduced to a measly nub.

"Oh look," Maus smirks to herself, "the fight has moved right in front of us. I wonder if Robert is still feeling quite so safe right now?"

"Carl's not going to hurt me though, right?" I begin to sweat profusely.

"No one's out to hurt you, Robert." Maus squeaks, "Take that however you like."

My knees start to shake as Maus's words sink in. No one is out to hurt me. But no one cares whether I become collateral damage from this battle. Carl bursts out of the building like a conquering hero, his soul weapon blazing with golden radiance.

I have to make my decision soon.

"So what's your plan?" I sigh.

I'm already deep in the shit. The only way out of it is to keep wading through.