Shattered

-Chapter 1-

Marina couldn't understand it. Everything was fine yesterday. No panic, no tension in the air, only the feeling that something was going to change. She didn't know that a feeling of change would mean global panic the very next day. At 2 in the morning, word spread that Russia had been soaked in a tar-smelling black ooze. By the time Marina got to school, her town was slowly being flooded by the very same substance. All the staff members and students had locked themselves up in the classrooms closest to them, in fear that their small, minuscule high school would meet Russia's gooey, black fate. Marina gazed out the window, watching the nearby skyscraper get swallowed up by the black goo. Unlike water, the goo climbed up the skyscraper with ease, like it was a small hill. Suddenly, she realized that the floor beneath the counter she was sitting on was turning black in the cracks. She knew that since no-one could recognize this...Thing-nobody was sure if it was safe to do experiments on it. 

"Whatcha lookin at?" A voice interrupted her thoughts. It was Britney, her best friend (not her ONLY best friend) that just got to her city at the beginning of the school year. 

"Not much, just watching the world get destroyed." 

"Oh come on Mar, you can't be THAT pessimistic. Have you been watching the news? They say that 99% of the population in Russia is still thriving." 

"More like still trapped. Besides, in a place as populated as Russia, 1% of people dead is a lot." 

"Oh come on, Mar-" 

"Do you want me to start calling you another stupid nickname again?"Britney laughed at her friends joke, then continued the conversation.

"Ms. Saw says that based on it's behavior, we should be able to wa-" 

"Look at that Brit." Marina pointed out the window, where Britney could barely make out a misty silhouette of a blob in the distance. There appeared to be something glowing on the blob, and when it turned around, Britney could see it clearly:A face. "What IS that?" 

"I don't know, but it looks like it's gone." Sure enough, the mist had dissipated in front of their eyes. During one of their many headcounts, Britney said "Where's Elisa?"  Panic surged through Marina's heart, and her stomach began to drop. Elisa was the glue that held everyone together. She was Britney and Marina's best friend. Ever.  Ms. Saw began to head to the door, but Marina stopped her. 

"Ms. Saw, you can't possibly expect us to let you go alone. None of us want to lose an amazing teacher." Ms. Saw's brows started to furrow. 

"Marina, you and all of the other students have far more potential to fulfill than an adult like me. Stay here no matter what, okay?" Before the teacher could head out the door, Marina murmured a silent "I'm sorry" and sprinted out the doorway. She could barely hear the teacher desperately call out her name, but it was too late. She had to get to the stairs before Elisa would drown in the tar. The ooze was already flooding the halls, so she had to make it, and FAST.  As she looked back, she felt something cold on her leg...ooze. She snapped her head forward, trying to ignore the thought of a massive wave of darkness behind her. Marina didn't stop until she got to the roof. There, outside the doors, lying unconscious, was Elisa.  Marina, struggling, picked up her unconscious friend.  Marina and Britney had been best friends with Elisa since the beginning of the year. Since Britney was the most incapable of running out of them all (to Britney's unwilling admission), Marina figured that she should find her friend and help her if she was injured. How she planned to go back to her class, Marina hadn't figured out. She plopped her comrade onto a nearby bench, and looked into the stairwell. A black ocean was rising up to her level in little to no time. It was soon rising above her, engulfing her entire body, first a wave, and then...Black. She woke to find a unbearable pain in her head. She found that she was on the floor, lying on the rooftop of her school. She held her head tightly, writhing in pain on the hard, cold floor.  She got back to her feet, only to be greeted with another jolt of pain. She doubled over in pain, but didn't fall to the floor once more. She felt a presence next to her, and it didn't feel human.  She looked up, and right across from her was her unconscious friend, and beside her....Was that the mist that Britney saw earlier? She felt very light-headed, and was considering that she was hallucinating. This HAD to be a dream or something explainable. But she was mistaken, for as another jolt of pain coursed into her head, she heard a voice.