The semester had just started a week ago and it was my first official year as a professor. I finally finished my PhD in biology and was now teaching intro courses and genetics and it felt nice to be settled, even if it wasn't my ideal location. I completed grad school and was now teaching at the same university, and in an ideal world, I would have gotten out of the state, but when are things ever ideal? And the easy transition was too good to pass up. At 32, I wasn't trying to change the world with any groundbreaking research, I just wanted a nice, simple, job where I could go home and read and not worry about anything, I'd had enough of that already. Being 32, I had a life before college, and that life was two wars. I served for nearly 10 years before finally getting chewed up and spit out enough times to stop going back for more and was ready for a quieter life teaching.

This morning was like most others, it was a Friday and students and professors alike were looking forward to the weekend. I went to the gym bright and early, then had two sections, one from 10:00 to 11:15 and then another 11:40 to 12:55 then I was free to go home, open a bottle of wine, and watch crappy horror movies till my eyes bled. Oh what a wonderful weekend it was going to be. I had prepared a test for the class and it was supposed to be easy, just a check of whether they were doing the bare minimum or not and I figured most would be out by 10:30, and while the majority had, it was nearing 11 and six students still remained. I didn't know most of them but one, Amelia, worked with me the semester prior doing undergraduate research when I was still working on my PhD, and I definitely thought she should have been finished at least but maybe this was just my group of nervous testers. As the clock ticked 11:02, the power went out.

"Alright, everyone stay where you are for now." I announced to the six that remained as I reached for my phone, only to find it was dead too and I knew I'd charged it the morning prior.

We were on the lower level so it had become pitch black in the room without any windows or electronics whatsoever.

"Stay here, I'm going to go check outside and I'll be right back." I said to them, but most were chatting amongst themselves already and didn't hear anything I'd said.

"Want me to come with you, just in case?" Amelia asked from nearby.

"Thanks, but just try and make sure nobody freaks out, hopefully the power will be back soon." I said, but my phone being off made me worry a bit.

As I reached the door, a scream rang out from down the hall, toward the elevators, and everyone in the room went quiet.

"Stay here. Don't open this door for anyone until I return." I said in as loud a whisper as I dared before I made my way down the hallway.

I walked slowly, and there was still the sound of struggle but no more screams to be heard. Hopefully someone had just been startled and is now shambling around in the dark. As I reached the corner that branched to the elevators and the bathrooms, red emergency lights turned on.

I didn't even know we had these... I thought

"Help..." I heard someone eek out, coming from the women's restroom, along with more scuffling as though someone was trying to get into a closed stall. I didn't want to just barge in but clearly someone asked for help.

I knocked on the door, "Hey! Whatever you're doing, she clearly said stop. I'm coming in." I announced clearly so nobody would be surprised, except when I opened the door, I was tackled to the ground by... something? Even in the din of the emergency lights I could tell it was... wrong somehow. I'd say "he" but I'm not really sure that applied anymore. Its eyes were pure black, its hair patchy and falling out, its skin looked weird somehow too. Oh, and it was missing an arm.

"What the fuck are you?!" I said trying to wrestle it off of me. It kept biting at me and tried to grab me with its one hand but it wasn't terribly strong and after the initial shock of it all wore off, I rolled it off of me, quickly stood up, and backed away.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Hey, stay back, I just got this job and really don't want to get fired because some kid doesn't know when to end a prank." I shook out my arms and reset myself in case it charged me again. Sure enough, it did. This time, I was able to push it past me as though it were the worlds worst Toro Bravo, and the push sent it head first into the brick wall behind me where it fell down, unmoving.

At that, my phone turned back on, but a weird boot-screen came up.

"System loading..." flashed on the screen. This was definitely not another untimely update from my service provider.

I ignored it for now and went back into the bathroom to find a student I didn't know peaking out from one of the stalls.

"Is it gone?" she asked, still shaken up from the whole ordeal.

"It is, look, I'm Dr. Baumer, let's get back to my classroom and wait it out there for now, sound good?" I stood in the doorway, hoping she would come with me till we figured out what was going on. She nodded and scurried out of the stall and fell in behind me, holding my shirt so as not to lose track of me. I don't know if she didn't see the thing lying unmoving nearby or didn't care anymore, but she made no indication it still bothered her, so we walked a bit more hurriedly in the emergency lighting, back to my classroom.

To my surprise, everyone was still actually there. I definitely thought some would leave once the emergency lights came on. The student I had brought, whose name I realized I still didn't know, quickly took a seat.

"So, what was out there?" Ben asked. He was a senior and I'm fairly certain he just watches sports while in class. That's all I knew about him, well, and that he was probably not gonna pass. Those two things may or may not be related.

"Well, I'm not quite sure. For now, we should stay put. Something... Someone" I corrected, " attacked our new friend here, but they aren't a problem anymore. We don't know if there are more or what is really going on though." I thought for a moment, "Oh, did anyone else's phone turn on?" I asked, remembering and pulling mine back out now as the others checked theirs, though it looked like their screens remained off.

"System loading..." it flashed once more before suddenly it updated "System Start!"

A bunch of code reminiscent of bad sci-fi movies started running across the screen before finally switching to a screen that was understandable at least, "Congratulations Traveler! You have defeated an other within the window for skill assessment. Would you like to play?" A simple, if not ambiguous, question with a simple "Yes" and "No" box below it. I didn't like that it somehow knew I had killed the thing, and honestly I was still hoping they were just unconscious. Looking closer, at the bottom in small print was another message "Note: Refusal to play will constitute consent to remove you from this world. Those who know must play. Those who do not play may not remain."

What a great fucking bunch of options those are! This thing couldn't be serious.

Might as well find out more information at least, sure I'll play your game, I thought as I pressed 'Yes'.

"Welcome Traveler! You are Traveler #32482...

Scanning...

Connection found!

Processing...

Connection approved!

Preparing connection for system acclimatization!"

I looked up, shaking my head, "My phone is being weird but I'm hoping..." I cut off as I noticed Amelia had disappeared. I closed the room door behind me when I came back in and it was still closed, so where was she? "Hey, anyone see where Amelia went?"

Everyone began to look around and shook their heads but nobody had seen where she'd gone. What the fuck was happening. I was starting to lose it here. I should take them all outside the building...

"Dr. Baumer! Mark! Can you hear me?" it was Amelia! I could hear her but couldn't see her, and it sounded like it was coming from... my phone?

None of the other students seemed to have heard anything and I was definitely about to look as if I'd gone crazy... maybe I had I shook the thought from my mind. I held my phone closer to my face and whispered, "Amelia?" looking insane I'm sure.

"YES! IT WORKS!" she shouted and my ears rang before my screen flashed once more.

"Connection established.

Unit designated Amelia Wylder linked to Traveler #32482.

Processing...

Safe World #32482 established.

Initiating Transfer...

Transfer complete!

Safe World population: 5.

Save those you can Traveler, your world demands it!"

Then the screen blinked out again. Safe World? Population 5? "Amelia, where are you? What's going on?" I asked into the phone before I looked up once more, only to see that the room was now empty. It was a medium lecture hall, generally for about 60 students, but it's not like there were places to hide five students, six if Amelia was still here somewhere.

I could practically hear her nerves from wherever she was, "Well, this is where things get a little complicated..."