Ed mashed in the buttons for a taxi as he jogged down the walkway. None of this made sense, were these other system users? He glanced back at the classroom. There were no thumps from the top of the walkway and while he couldn’t actually see through the roof, the red dots on the map hadn’t budged even an inch. Well, that did confirm one thing Ed thought to himself as he made it around to the front. He pushed his way through the crowds as they poured out of the buildings. No matter their status, npc's didn’t actually show on the map.
“Ed! What the fuck!” Kim all but barreled into him from the side. “You just leave me there like that? Then just jump out the window? Leaving me with little Ms. evil eye and super sparkle boy? What the fuck man!”
Ed gripped her shoulders, in part to stop himself from falling over and the crowds parted around them. “Wait, you could see that?”
Kim glanced back, as if they were still on her tail or something. Ed knew they were still in the classroom though. Much like it had before, his map had sort of split into two again. Man, he really needed to figure out a way to control that.
“Uh yeah? Those were your friends? They were… they were…” Kim frowned. Ed quickly removed his hands but she didn’t seem to notice. “I can’t remember their faces.”
Ed hesitated for a moment, eyes darting to the sides. Then he sighed, pulling her off the walkway.
“Look, we gotta get moving.” He checked his phone, “I got a cab coming in five, I’m gonna meet these guys at the northbound. But on my terms.”
Kim appeared in a daze. “The entire class just froze… She just… looked at them? Is that, is that a thing? Was that hypnosis or something?”
“No, I’m pretty sure it’s magic.”
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Kim blinked, finally seeming to realize she was trailing behind him. She stopped. “No, this is crazy. This is like Rivervale abridged or something.”
Huh, that was a surprisingly good description. “Yeah, no.” Ed nodded, turning away. “Yerr a lizard Garry,” Ed said in his best gruff giant impression. Then a bit more pointedly. “And all that jazz, except your completely ordinary, these weirdo’s probably aren’t friendly, and—”
“Wait, hold up.” She ran a hand through her hair. Stopping again. “You have a taxi coming? You’re going to the cross? Class is like, in a minute now!”
“Can you remember their faces?”
“Who?” A sudden look of realization crossed over her face.
“You saw them freeze the entire class.” Ed hedged. “We’re talking area fifty one, men in super black suits rules. You think they're just going to leave you alone after you saw that?”
“No, this is crazy.” Kim stopped again, pulling out her phone. “I’m calling the police.”
Yeah, no. Ed left her there. There was just no curing stupid. If he was a mysterious secret shadow world that would’ve probably been one of the very first things to have under his thumb.
He checked his map again. He’d been moving at a steady pace to the bus drop and while he suspected it was approximately the same distance, the mini mini map of Ms. Addison’s room had disappeared after he’d moved some unspecified distance away from them, much like the Mr. Garry one had. This was definitely something he had to experiment with.
He ducked into an overhang. It was the furthest one from the school and the only one next to the street, it didn’t hurt to be careful after all. There was maybe half a minute left before the taxi would arrive and while he’d gotten a few looks at first, the walkways had very quickly cleared and he was back by himself. Unfortunately, and just as he was perhaps thinking about using the time to check on his supposed status screen thing, a loud very out of breath panting seemed to gradually approach him from behind and then suddenly Kim was all but crashing into the spot next to him. Hands on her knees, gasping for air.