Game-Lock

Chapter 14: Lurking in the School

My mouth grew dry as I stared at the red eyes looking in our direction. My heart was racing fast as I was pressed tightly against Austin, who himself did his hardest not to move. I glanced at him for a second, and he was staring at me with a frown. Obviously my expression was revealing how terrified I was. I looked again at the eyes and took a deep breath in and out as it turned and slowly began to walk away. We were well hidden. It worked.

I waited until the whistling had practically disappeared before I took a deep breath in and out. It had grown stuffy in the locker,and there was very little space to move. It was also growing warmer and warmer. I hadn't expected to share a locker with Austin.

"I think we're safe," I whispered to Austin.

"Ok," Austin responded. The locker door creaked and he stepped backwards. I stepped out and headed towards one of the desks. I grabbed onto it, steadying myself.

"What did you see?"

"Another vague monster, with red eyes," I said and turned to Austin. "That thing was terrifying –"

"Well, we can clearly hear it before it comes, we should be fine," Austin said. "We checked the whole classroom right?"

"Yeah, we've got a code –2877," I said. "It can be used to unlock something."

"A way out?"

"Doubtful, but something incredibly useful," I said as we both walked out of the classroom. Austin walked towards the one locker and slammed his hand against it. The door opened and Hayden fell out.

"Dude!? Seriously!?"

"My bad, we're in the clear, guys," Austin stated. Rey and Blake stepped out of the other locker. "We found a code."

"Just a code?" Rey asked.

"It's just one classroom," Austin stated, he motioned with his hand to walk deeper into the corridor, and I slowly followed. We all remained a little quieter than usual until we reached the next door. Austin slowly opened it and I peaked through. I frowned as it was a stair case.

"Uhhh, I'll sit this one out," I said.

"Me neither," Blake mumbled.

"Well, why the hell not? Let's travel down the spooky stairs," Hayden clapped his hands together.

Austin nodded. He stared at me, Blake and Rey. "You guys hang back."

"Don't need to tell me twice," Rey raised his hands.

I watched as Austin and Hayden slowly travelled down the deep dark spooky stairway, Austin was flashing the UV throughout the wall.

I turned and looked left and right. I frowned as I noticed a door with: Locker room plaque on it. Maybe that had something to do with the code I had found? I took note to investigate that next. I froze and stared at Rey. He heard it as well. The whistling.

I stared at the wall next to the door. There were three lockers. I ran to one and opened it. "Blake, get in!"

Blake quickly ran and climbed inside the locker. I closed it and opened the one next to him, climbing in and closing it, and I heard Rey opening his locker and closing it. I took a deep breath in and out. We were safe in the lockers. I only hoped that Austin and Hayden found a good hiding spot down those stairs, if that monster traveled down there that was.

I took a deep breath in and out as a shadow fell over the locker, and I could here the solid footsteps. The thud, thud thud, then the flash of the red eyes.

I wanted to close my eyes, but at the same time I refused to look away. It was just a risk I couldn't take.

It slowly walked past as, and I let out a small breath of air. But my eyes widened as someone sneezed.

Blake — Blake had just sneezed ...

The monster stormed towards the lockers. I heard a scream as it swung the door open of Blake's locker.

"NO!" I yelled as I opened my door. I glanced to see the monster's hand gripping Blake's arm, and it was starting to drag the boy. I reached towards Blake, but something struck my stomach. I gasped as I went flying, my back struck the back of the wall and I fell down, gasping for air.

"Vera! Vera are you ok?"

I looked up and saw Rey standing over me.

"What happened? Where's Blake!?" I heard Austin call out. They must've heard it.

I slowly stood up. "It took him." I said and looked up at Austin.

His eyes widened. "You were supposed to watch him, I trusted you!"

"He's not dead, it didn't kill him yet, we could –" I began.

"No, I'm going after him, clearly I was mistaken about you all,"

"Woah dude –" Rey started.

Austin stormed past us and ran down the hallway as I stumbled up and pressed myself against the wall. I slowly lifted my shirt and grunted as I noticed a deep gash, blood was slowly flowing down.

"Should we go after him?" Hayden asked.

"Austin's not taking that thing on with his bare hands, he won't beat it," I said. "Let's see what's in those lockers." I pointed to the door.

"What about Blake?"

"I'm wounded, I'm not dead. Something tells me we can actually fight this thing," I said and winced. I began to jog towards the locker room and opened it. Sure enough, there were many different lockers lined against the walls, but there was only one that had a lock. I immediately walked towards it, bent down and stared at it. Sure enough, it was a code combination.

"2877," I whispered. The lock clicked and opened, and I swung the door open.

"Hayden, you know how to handle this?" I asked as I took a step back. Hayden peaked in and grinned, as he stared at the shotgun.

"I can handle this baby just fine," Hayden reached for the shotgun, he loaded it and smiled. "Finally a time we can fight back!"