Despite the lockdown, Dexter could feel the excitement in the air from his fellow students as the chaotic crowd headed in the direction of the school auditorium. Everyone was talking, and judging by their outlandish hair and eye colors, several students had not only entered their names into the system, but found whatever it was Matt had used to adjust his appearance. Reese Reed, the mayor’s son, who before today couldn’t even grow peach fuzz, now had a long gray beard that went to his waist.

A girl Dexter didn’t know had shining purple eyes and electric blue hair that wavered around her head in defiance of gravity.

And they weren’t the only ones. Several other students had altered their appearances in similarly implausible fashions.

“Look,” Zoe said, holding up her phone. It featured a video of a girl with hair that looked to be on fire, her eyes bright white orbs, her skin a glowing blue, bouncing around in too-small, too-tight clothing. A caption over the clip read: With aliens like you, who needs plastic surgeons?

“I wonder if those are real,” Zoe said contemplatively.

“Don’t even,” Leah said.

“Chill, I’m not crazy like Matt.”

“But you are hot,” he said.

“So are you. Now.”

He grinned. With his new appearance, it looked less goofy than usual.

“Anything else on the internet about it?” Leah asked. “Anything useful, I mean.”

“You have a phone,” Zoe said, attention back on hers. “Give those thumbs a workout.”

The auditorium, by the time they finally reached it, was packed to the brim. There were so many people that over half were sitting on the floor. Most had their heads buried in their phones, others were talking. Some seemed scared, others excited, others simply in shock. Several students were doing nothing but staring off into space. A few were on the phone with their parents, but not as many as Dexter would have expected.

His class was among the last to arrive, and so had to sit on the floor, squeezing in where they could.

He ended up at the edge of the crowd, with Leah, Zoe, and Matt sitting in front of him, a girl he didn’t know to his right, and empty space and one of the auditorium’s doors to his left.

The principal, Ms White, was standing on the stage, looking frazzled. But her voice when she spoke was calm and full of authority.

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“That’s everyone then?” she asked. “Is anyone unaccounted for?” Several moments of silence. “Okay then. Cal, doors.”

Cal, their school police officer, went around the auditorium, locking the doors.

“Here is what we know,” Ms White began as he worked. “Less than half an hour ago everyone on the planet received a message that…”

Dexter had trouble paying attention to what she was saying. The girl beside him briefly lost her clothes as she messed with the interface, and a boy next to Matt suddenly grew horns. Bright, banana-yellow horns. They seemed to be made of light rather than bone.

The principal was saying something about not messing with the system, but clearly several students weren’t listening.

Most though, like Dexter, seemed cautious, and for the most part everyone looked normal. As normal as a group of high school students could, in any case.

A moment later an administrator Dexter didn’t recognize came on stage, and Ms White covered the microphone as the woman whispered something in her ear.

“Okay students, we’re going to play a broadcast for you. Though I’m sure some of you are already watching it on your phones.”

“…no indication of the source. Authorities are requesting that no one enter their name until more information is gathered. We do not yet know how dangerous…”

“See,” Leah said in front of him to Matt as the broadcast continued.

“They just don’t want us to have fun,” Matt said, now sporting his own pair of horns. His were black, but somehow still appeared to be made of light. “This is awesome. Still haven’t figured out kung fu yet…”

“Do you feel normal?” Dexter asked him.

Matt turned around and raised an eyebrow. “Are you kidding? I feel awesome. Look at me!” He frowned. “You know, that’s a good idea.” He pulled out his phone and began taking selfies.

Leah shook her head. “What about you?” she asked Dexter. “What do you think this is? Real? Hoax? Other?”

He shrugged. “I have no idea. But I’m not entering my name.”

She smiled at him. “Me either.”

“You’re missing out,” the girl beside him, the one whose clothes had briefly vanished, said. She also had her cell phone out and was looking at herself in it. Her hair was now a bright red, and her eyes like that of a cat’s. “This will save me a fortune on hair dye. And I can stop bugging my mom to buy me color contacts. This is way better.”

“Until you go blind,” Leah said.

The girl looked up at her, blinked her cat eyes. “You… you think that’s possible?”

“No one knows. Literally, no one knows anything about any of this. That’s the problem.”

The girl gnawed her lip for several moments, then came to a decision. She shrugged. “Meh. I’m sure it’ll be fine.” She went back to examining herself in her phone.

Leah shook her head, looking at Dexter. “This is crazy. How are people so ignorant?”

“Remember Tide Pods?” he said. “Vodka eye-shots?”

“Hey,” Zoe protested. “Don’t knock eye-shots.”

“That will make you go blind,” Leah said.

“Will it though?” Zoe asked.

“Don’t act like you’ve ever tried it,” Leah said. “You can’t even stand the smell of vodka.”

“Exactly. That’s why you put it in your eye.”

A sudden noise erupted from the auditorium door to Dexter’s left.

In its wake, the only sound was that of the news broadcast.

It seemed unbearably loud.

Another bang, and this time Dexter saw the door shudder in its frame.

Ms White rushed to turn the volume down, but it didn’t matter. Several students were screaming now, and despite the principal’s and other teachers’ efforts to calm everyone down, the scene soon devolved into chaos once more, students rushing the doors at the right of the auditorium, staff trying futilely to keep them from exiting.

And then with a final slam, the door to Dexter’s left burst open, and the true chaos began.