The classroom no longer looked like a regular room but like a jail cell.
Gabriel had streaked blood inside the room from his shoes. The glow of the small orbs of light illuminated the room, but they didn't last very long. Gabriel like all the others was getting tired, and the shield itself was keeping them weak and trapped inside. Ace became more nervous as one of the little orbs faded away and told himself that he wasn't like Deceit.
He decided to at least try to trust Gabriel, because he had no other choice.
“Have you seen anyone else on our team other than me,” Ace asked.
“If I did, they would be with me,” Gabriel replied. “Most of the people I’ve met are dead and walking or too terrified to trust me if they’re alive.”
“Makes sense. Where are you going after this? I want to go find my dad. Come with me.”
“I’m heading for the armory,” Gabriel grinned. “It’s probably the safest part right now, but it's all the way on the other side of this giant campus, near the entrance to the train station.”
“Do you think we could just get on the train and leave instead? Why not just try?”
“There’s no electricity! Even if there was, that train couldn’t get past the wall!”
"Oh," Ace frowned. "I don't know what I'm doing, so I'll just follow you then."
With a heavy sigh, he went to the teacher's desk at the front and got out his bloody baseball bat. He took the napkins from the front of the desk and wiped down the handle so it wouldn't slip in his hands.
“I’m glad I found you,” Gabriel smiled. “Just tell me what happened later, okay? Promise me.”
“I don’t really want to talk about it,” Ace said.
It must have been truly terrible, Gabriel thought. He’s usually the loudest person in the room and now he’s so quiet.
Gabriel and Ace walked down the dimly lit hallway, past the cooked corpses, and tried to be as quiet as possible. Gabriel was still wary of Ace, and Ace was still afraid of him.
He’s taller than me now, Gabriel noticed. Before we were the same height.
Ace felt uncomfortable with Gabriel’s eyes on him. Gabriel did not even try to hide his suspicions about Ace. He refused to believe that he was telling the truth.
His face even looks a little different, and his hair is so long, Gabriel thought. It was barely past his ears before.
“Stop staring at me,” Ace said.
“Tell me where you’ve been,” Gabriel replied.
Ace ignored him and walked faster, regretting that he asked to go with him.
They were now at the center of the academic campus. They passed by the library and strangely the lights inside were all on.
“Let’s go in there,” Ace whispered. “We can meet more people that can help.”
They approached the door and when they tried to push it, it was locked.
"Break it open," Gabriel said, pointing at his bat. With a swift swing, Ace destroyed the door window, its colored glass flying everywhere.
The librarian jerked up in surprise. He approached them slowly, shoes crunching on top of the glass.
“Come inside,” he smiled.
Blood dripped down out of his mouth, and Gabriel noticed that he was strangely too pale.
“Me? Us? No, we're good,” Ace mumbled.
Gabriel and Ace ran away, fast as they could.
“Stay away from the talking ones,” Gabriel shouted. “They aren’t like the others!”
Indeed they were not.
The poor librarian, Ravi Singh was killed when he was putting away books in the historical fiction section early last morning. No one noticed when he didn’t return after his lunch break, and no one worried when he returned late in the evening.
No one could ask after that, because he had killed all the other employees inside the library, making easy sport of them.
He was possessed by the demon Betrayal, and he would no longer return.
Betrayal ran after them, excited that he had found who Deceit was searching for. She would be so pleased once he brought her Acheus's body, and best of all, he would have his own permanent host as a reward. He easily caught up with them. His new host was in good shape as a former soldier in the Defense Program.
“Let’s just fight,” Ace shouted. “It’s better than him getting us from behind!”
They ran outside, and finally stopped, able to see because of the moon and the few working street lamps outside.
"Come with me," Betrayal said. "She misses you, Acheus."
“How does it know your name,” Gabriel shouted “What have you been doing, Ace!?!”
“They must be here for me,” Ace whispered. “They might want my watch. They want my band.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Gabriel was even further confused by why anyone would kill people for simple things anyone could buy anywhere.
"Gabriel," Betrayal smiled. "Please save us time and kill yourself."
Gabriel's eyes glowed and he put his right hand in a fake gun position.
"You first," he said coolly.
The more Betrayal grinned, the more black blood pooled out of his mouth, onto his brown sweater. He was so happy, so delighted that by now the blood had reached the bottom of his shirt.
"Don't test me," Betrayal warned. "I only need Acheus."
He copied Gabriel and smirked. Ace instinctively put his hand on Gabriel's shoulder and he blinked a few feet away.
A large orange ball of energy released from Betrayal’s finger, through the street, and then exploded, destroying a section of the parking lot.
“I told you to avoid the ones that talk! I saw one easily kill someone as I turned a corner. I was lucky to get away.”
Ace was reconsidering staying to fight, but he knew that he had to find a way to win, or else he would repeat everything all over again, a victim to Infiniti’s cruel game.
Again Gabriel stuck out his hand like a fake gun, and little hot bullets spewed forth. Betrayal's eyes glowed and swiftly dodged them, easily outdoing him.
“I chose a good host,” Betrayal boasted. “This one has the power to simply mirror what you do. The more you fight, the more you lose.”
"We were better off running! He can just dodge with your ability and kill us with mine," Gabriel said
"Don't... we can make this out. We've come this far."
Betrayal leered at Ace, intent on winning his master’s favor. “Don’t make me ruin the meat,” he screamed. “Come quietly!”
I need your help Invictus, Ace thought. Please.
“You are weaker than Gabriel,” Invictus sighed. “You would not be invincible like before. You are only strong when there is someone weaker to protect.”
“Seriously,” Ace whispered. “Even your abilities have limits too?”
“I am a god, Ace, not a miracle worker!”
Ace was brought back to reality by the threat of death from the angry corpse mimicking their every move.
Betrayal again copied Gabriel, shooting out hot bullets of light from his finger, laughing like a maniac as Ace struggled to keep up, moving him and Gabriel around.
After some time, Betrayal stopped, and grunted in pain.
This stupid ability burns my body, he thought. Why do all of these have some kind of weakness?
Gabriel noticed and was quick to come up with a plan.
“Ace, I need you to not move until the last moment, when he hits us back,” Gabriel whispered. “Don’t do anything when I attack him.”
Ace nodded, unsure of what he would do.
“I trust you,” he whispered.
He didn't, but Ace had no idea what to do other than to just go along with whatever he was doing.
Gabriel cried in pain as his eyes glowed brightly. He shuddered and screamed as blood came out of his eyes. Two long giant beams shot out, and he quickly moved his eyes around rapidly, unable to see, hoping that he would get lucky and hit the target.
Betrayal dodged his attacks, teleporting around, slowly getting closer to the both of them.
Gabriel cried and leaned onto Ace once he closed his eyes and he tried to help him stand. Ace was still irrationally afraid of Gabriel, and his skin crawled in disgust even though he was weak, blind, and defenseless.
The only thing Gabriel had done was set the library on fire and gave Betrayal a new trick.
"Don't move until the last second," Gabriel gasped.
Ace was terrified seeing the burning building and the tears of blood streaming down his face. He worried if he could even move at all, the stress of it all keeping him grounded in place.
"You're so stupid," Betrayal taunted. "I'll vaporize you!"
His eyes glowed orange, and he grits through the pain. He wanted to create an even bigger blast, making sure to not miss his target. He was starting to panic once his vision faded.
“Slowly move away and don’t make a sound,” Gabriel whispered. “He can’t see while doing this.”
Ace gripped Gabriel’s wrist tight and they slowly moved to the right, ready to break out into a run once he released the blast. Gabriel shuddered, his eyes still closed, unable to properly see.
The pain was too intense for Betrayal to hold it for long and only held it for ten seconds longer than Gabriel did. The beams were much bigger and stronger, but he missed them entirely. They shot straight out and tore down trees, benches, food stalls, and game booths.
He groaned as he tried to aim for them, but Ace and Gabriel started running as he tried to aim while blind. Every few feet they ran, Ace blinked them a little bit farther. The fire spread to other buildings and the corpses in the street came out to greet Gabriel and Ace.
“Please don’t,” Ace pleaded. “I can’t die.”
He slowed down, unable to keep running, relieved he had dodged Betrayal but now wondering if he could win with a blind man as his partner.
“Don’t worry,” said a corpse. “We won’t hurt you if you just come with us.”
It was one of the janitors, and his nametag said R. SMITH. Gabriel grumbled something incoherently and stuck out his hand.
Hot balls of light shot out in front of them, and Ace shouted instructions.
“Higher, at the heads,” he screamed.
Gabriel aimed too high and missed entirely. Ace grabbed his arms and aimed them as Gabriel fried them. Quickly they sizzled and died twice, screaming in agony.
“Sorry Mr.Smith,” Ace mumbled.
He grabbed Gabriel’s wrist and they ran again, trying to escape Betrayal. He was not following them, as he was running blind in the wrong direction. He had burnt out his retinas, and could not see a thing. Without sight, he could not use Ravi Singh's ability if he could not see. He screamed as he accidentally ran into the burning building.
He couldn’t find his way out and burnt himself to a crisp.