Mature

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Jack stared down at his hands in shock.  His body trembled uncontrollably as he pulled his legs in close to his chest.  Blood dripped down inbetween his fingers, the warm, stickky feeling sending his mind into a state of nausea.  Slowly, Jack stared up above him.

A corpse stared back down at him, it's face frozen in horror while being smashed from going through the metal locker Jack was hiding in.  Blood dripped down slowly second after second, while Jack desperately tried to force himself to stay quiet.

(Growl)

The metal shook from footsteps in the room.  Jack reflexively covered his mouth and nose to hide his breathing, remembering too late the blood and guts on them.  He choked back the vomit that threatened to burst out as he heard a long sniff outside the door.

'How did it come to this?'

---------Earlier that day-----------

Jack woke up to the sound of his alarm going off next to him.  Yawning, he slammed the snooze button before rolling out of bed and onto his feet.  He noted the empty bed on the other side of the room.

"Guess my roommate isn't here yet." He groaned softly as he got up and stretched, "Well, guess the place is mine for awhile."

After checking the location for his first class, Jack walked over to the little closet and took out another polo to wear.  Slipping into a pair of brown blue jeans, he walked out of the room and headed for the bathroom, his hand idly scratching the back of his head as he slumped forward.

Upon entering, he found only Eric there, who was brushing his teeth.  He raised his hand in greeting.

"Hey Eric.  Have a good night?"

Eric looked over and took his toothbrush out, "Yeah man, it was alright.  I think we're the only ones here though."

Jack frowned, "I know Graves Hall isn't the most popular dorm, but there can't be only 3 people on this floor.  I saw Milly helping some freshmen out yesterday downstairs."

Eric shrugged, "Maybe they aren't on this floor.  All I know is we be playing playstation all night, and no one came up the stairs."

"Sounds like a wonderful way to spend the night before school starts." Jack rolled his eyes in sarcasm as he took a whizz.

"Whatever man, my first class isn't until noon anyway.  Only reason I'm up is because Roger tore out like the police was after him."

"The Brit was late then?  Ha, I can't wait to get him later with that." Jack laughed as he washed his hands.  He cursed a moment later.

"I forgot my bathroom things; see you later Eric."

"Cya." Eric walked back to his room as Jack ran the other direction.

Deciding to only wash his hair today, Jack quickly finished his morning rituals before heading down to the lobby area.  There, he found a bored Milly waiting around at the desk.

"Why are you here?" Jack asked, confused.

Milly sighed and shook her head, "Heck if I know.  None of the other RA's showed up, so when I called up the office they told me to take over and write it down as overtime.  Apparently, they were having similar problems at the other dorms too."

Jack folded his arms in concern, "Where is everyone?  This is the first day of class; but I've only seen about half of the normal number of students since I've gotten back.  I thought last night was slow because everyone was slepping or getting ready."

Milly shook her head, "Apparently, there have been some problems with sinkholes appearing in bad places like roads and airports.  It was on the news this morning; really strange if ya ask me.  I guess we got lucky since we're more local then the rest."

As he left the dorm, Jack frowned as he contemplated Milly's words. It was true he hadn't checked the news recently; he had no TV and his phone was being sent through the mail from home after being fixed.

"Potholes at airports and highways; why would they be appearing there?," he wondered thoughtfully as he made his way to his first class.

The ten-o-clock class was a biology class and being hosted in the bio building on the third floor. Seeing the line at the elevator, Jack rolled his eyes and took the stairs up, pausing at the landings so he wouldn't show up slightly sweaty to class.

The bio room was the standard setup: rows of chairs and tables in a small room in front of a board and desk. Jack took a seat at the back, thinking it better to check the teacher's attitude before commiting to the front.

As he sat down amoung the various students milling about, he heard a clatter on the floor next to him. Looking over, he reached down and picked up the pencil that had fallen to the floor.

"I'm sorry; thank you for getting my pencil." Jack heard above him.He looked up into the eyes of a pretty girl who was giving him a sweet smile.

"No problem." Jack assured her as he handed the pencil back, "This your first class of the day?"

She nodded, "Yes; I was really greatful to not having an eight am class this semester. I'll save so much on coffee now."

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Jack chuckled, "Yeah, coffee is definitely one vice all students need for those classed; teachers too really."

He held out his hand, "Name's Jack."

"Lilly.," The girl responded with a soft smile, "Do you know the teacher?"

Jack shook his head, "Haven't met Doctor De yet, but I hear he's an okay kind of guy."

"Yeah, on of my friends had him last year; said he was cool enough to allow snacks during on of the tests that got pushed to dinner time."

Jack winced, "Yikes, hope that doens't happen to us. I like having my meal times." He patted his belly.

Lilly giggled, "You're funny."

"Hey Lilly, come sit with us." A small group of girls called over to Lilly, who turned and called back, "Coming!"

She looked over at Jack and smiled, "I'll see you Jack."

"Cya." Jack mumbled quietly as he watched Lilly walk over to her friends. The group began laughing and talking a moment later. Jack sighed and pulled open a book to read.

Looks like this year would be the same as the others.

-------------------

After breezing through the morning classes, Jack grabbed a quick lunch at the cantina before running to his last class for the day, bio lab.

The lab was on the first floor of the bio building, and Jack wasn't sweating it since it was the first week and labs didn't officially start until the third week. Today was all about safety instructions and signing forms for insurance purposes.

Jack grabbed one of the last seats as the grad student in charge walked in.

"Okay guys, you all know the drill." He announced from the front, "Sign the forms, sign uo for a equipment drawer, and listen to me pradle along about the many ways to not die in here." He got a scattering of chuckles as everyone pulled out pens and began signing forms.

Jack barely paid attention as the grad student drowned on about safety precautions, life-saving equipment, and what was to be expected in future labs.

"Now, take the scavenger paper off your desk and write down the locations of all life saving equipment in the lab." The grad student said, to the groans of everyone in the lab. He rolled his eyes, "Yes yes, enough of that. Consider it the easiest A you'll get in this class; now come along."

Jack got up with the rest of the table as they wandered around the room, taking note to write the locations of things like fire blankets and the eye-wash station on the scavenger map.

"Do we need to write down about this locker?" Jack called out to the front, cocking his head around.

"No it's just the cleaning equipement locker." The grad called back, "Nothing useful in there except . . ."

He was interrupted when the room began to violently shake and shudder.

"Earthquake! Everyone, get down!"

The students shrieked and yelled as things began to fall off the shelves in the front. Jack, thinking quickly, ducked inside of the locker and shut the door behind him. The brooms and mops inside shuddered with him as he watched through the small openings at face level.

After a few minutes, the shaking stopped.

The World has ChangedWelcome to the new world. Before continuing, it is advised to get to a safe spot before you die. Once there, say 'Menu' and follow the instructions. Beware the new lifeforms

"What is this?" Jack muttered as he read the blue screen that had appeared in front of him. From the exclamations of surprise around him, he guessed the other students were also seeing similar things.

"Calm down everyone. Let's stay calm and . . ." Before the grad student could finish, he was smashed into the wall by a flying door. Everyone froze as they watchd the door fall away from the wall, revealing a mangled body and massive blood stain. The body slumped to the ground, and a girl screaming.

From the open doorway, a massive beast smashed it's way in, causing everyone to panice and run. The monster roared and ran in, swinging it's arms and horns around.

"Minotaur, what?" Jack whispered in shock. Such a creature did not exist in this world.

The minotaur, not knowing it couldn't exist, impaled student after student and threw the others with it's massive arms and legs. Bodies broke and dripped as they died in front of Jack. A few managed to squirt around the edge of the room and raced to door, only to find more minotaurs entering. Jack watched in horror as the lead man was lifted up and brought into the bull's mouth. With a sickening cruntch, the man screamed as the minotaur sank it's teeth into his stomach. He continued to scream as the other minotaurs joined in on chewing him, and soon said no more.

Jack ducked as a student smashed into the locker, his head a broken mess as he stared down at Jack with dead, frozen eyes.

"Oh my god." Jack whispered, "It's the end of the world."