The Unseen

Chapter 21

Students were woken from their slumber as an alarm blared through the school. Shae slammed open his door, barely missing some quick responders.

"Everyone up!" Shae yelled, producing a megaphone from his black dust, "Some crazy s***'s about to go down! Follow Indy and Julia to the shelters!" The students obliged, sprinting after the two senior members.

Dylan, Sarah, Ema and Cody ran from their dorm in time to see Shae's megaphone become a glowing submachine gun in his hand. He stood with his brows furrowed in the chaos before moving in the opposite direction of the crowd.

"Where the heck is he-" Dylan began, only to be pushed aside by Cody running after Shae.

"Hey! The bunkers are this way!" Dylan ran after Cody.

"What?" Sarah practically screamed, "What are you doing?" she followed Dylan, struggling through the crowd. Ema started after them, then stopped. She knew she wouldn't be able to help. What good had she been when her friends and she had gone to capture Cody and Shae? She'd been trying to train, of course, but no one truly understood what was happening. She followed the crowd, and cried silently as the bunker door sealed shut over her head.

---

Shae had gotten past the crowd, as no dorm rooms were near the prison holdings. Gun still in hand, small parts of armor formed on his arms and legs. He preferred speed over protection.

He realized his speed wouldn't matter as something unbelievably fast knocked him off his feet. It was a boy, not much physically older than himself. The boy rolled his shoulders and grinned at Shae.

"So they sent you to take care of us, hmm?" he asked, "Shae, is it?"

"Yes, but I came of my own accord."

"Ooh, a brave one!" the boy cracked his knuckles, "This should be fun!" He lashed out again, sending Shae sliding across the floor.

"I'm Lance, by the way," the boy added, "You gonna fight back, or what?" Shae had planted a hand on the floor, and stared intently at it. He had thrown the gun down, and didn't seem to notice when Lance picked it up and began to fumble with it.

Then, without warning, the gun exploded in a blast of blue light. Fragments of the gun disintegrated to black dust as they collided with the walls, the ceiling, the floor, and the two opponents. Lance let out a cry, falling to the ground, and shook uncontrollably. Shae stood up, dusting himself off, and formed a sword in his hand. The gun, he decided, didn't suit him.

He walked further down the hallway, standing within eyeshot of the stairway to the prisons. Shae watched as the face of a woman peeked through the doorframe, and then revealed her snake-like body.

"Lance was always quick to get into altercations," the woman sighed, a forked tongue flicking out between her lips, "He never understood how to be subtle."

"You better stay right there," Shae warned, "Or I'll cut you down to size. I've been wanting to try rattlesnake." Her brows furrowed in anger as she slithered closer to him.

"Do you know who you're dealing with?" she asked, coming face-to-face with Shae, "What are these things behind your... feathers?" she chuckled, "I eat birds, little one." Her jaws unhinged, revealing fangs as she hissed at him.

Then she struck at his face, only to be stopped by black dust that had formed near his head. She gasped in surprise, and instead tried to suffocate him like an anaconda.

Suddenly, spikes of black dust sprouted from beneath the floor, gouging the snake-woman's body. She cried out as her very person became the dust that impaled her, until she was no more.

Her cries sent Roger barreling into the hallway. He stopped as he saw Shae. The teenager shook his head.

"Roger, what've they done to you?" The wolf-man lunged at Shae, and Shae disintegrated the man into dust.

Lance came to as Cody entered the hallway. He bared a grin as he knocked Cody to the ground, his head hitting the floor. Suddenly, Cody began to howl as he changed into his cat-man form before sprawling on the floor in a heap. He pinned Shae to the wall.

"Whaddaya gonna do now?" Lance slurred, "Huh? Huh?" Shae merely scoffed.

Without warning, the armor on his legs sprouted blades that cut Lance's legs clean off. Lance screamed, falling to the ground in agony. Shae walked toward his injured friend, with Lance stammering as he crawled behind him.

"Oh man. Ooooooh man. I'm gonna get ya. Fast. Oh, s***. Oooooh man." Shae ignored Lance, and began to heal his friend.