Broken: the Ultimate Crossover

Chapter 12

Kavinsky's POV

As I pass through the halls after school, my heart races with anticipation. What is this thing? What's it made of? More importantly, how can we defeat it?

I walk to my locker and look around me before opening it.

The door swings back, but I immediately slam it again with a gasp. A girl a couple lockers away gives me a glare, and I just smile weakly at her.

I grab the knob again with shaking hands as my heart pounds inside of my chest. As the door opens wider, my eyes widen and my heart drops, almost pulling me down with it.

The death mass has somehow escaped the backpack and attached itself to the sides of my locker with multiple, almost octopus like arms. The heart of the mass is glowing a deep, ominous red. The light from the center comes in and out, almost like it's breathing. I stare at the death mass and feel like it's almost drawing me closer to it. It's like it's beckoning me to a better place, filled with a better life where my mom's still alive and I'm still in New York.

The temptation is strong, the mass is inches away from my face. I can hear my mother's voice beckoning me on the other side, like a far away echo.

"Mom," I whisper, my shaky hand reaching toward the mass.

But then I stop.

I pull myself away and shake my head, slamming the door on my locker.

I have to tell the others.

°•°•°•°
Betty's POV

Just when I think that my anxiety can't get any higher, Kavinsky comes rushing toward me and Peter at a thousand miles per hour.

"What's wrong?" Peter asks his brother with worried eyes.

"It grew," he says.

I make eye contact with Peter and the three of us set out down the hallway. My head is racing with thoughts about the death mass and when we reach Peter's locker, I'm on the point of a panic attack.

"Be careful," Kavinsky warns us as he grabs the knob of his light red locker. "Don't get too close, it will lure you in."

"What are you talking about?" Peter asks in disbelief.

Kavinsky looks at him for a second, like he's remembering what happened to him just minutes before.

"Just trust me," he finally says in a quiet tone before sliding up the knob and throwing the door open.

It bounces against the locker next door and Peter catches it before it slams again.

I stare wide eyed at the death mass inside, covering my mouth with my hand.

"How?" I ask, looking up at Kavinsky.

He shakes his head, raising his shoulders in a shrug.

"How do we get it out?" Peter asks.

"Beats me," Kavinsky mumbles. "Does anyone have a knife?"

"Yeah, I definitely brought a knife to school," Peter sarcastically replies with an eyeroll.

"I bet Archie has one," I say and Kavinsky takes down the hallway in search of Archie.

A few minutes later he returns with the redhead and a knife.

"Holy shit," Archie mumbles when he sees the octopus like figure.

He snaps his switchblade open and slides it along side of the metal locker, one eye squinted for accuracy, his tongue sticking slightly out the side of his mouth. The blade hits the long tentacle of the death mass and stops.

Archie presses the sharp blade harder, but it doesn't budge. He presses all of his might, trying desperately to shove the knife between the death mass and the wall.

The blade snaps, throwing the sharp edge to the floor and leaving the plastic handle in Archie's hand.

The four of us stare at the death mass, then back at each other.

"What do we do now?" Kavinsky asks quietly.

"I....I don't know," Peter replies, staring at the blade on the floor.

"We have to figure out something," I say. "We can't just leave it there."

Peter reaches his hand out and touches the death mass, ignoring our cautions. Both Peter and the death mass flinch at the touch.

"It's cold," he states.

"So?" Archie asks him as Peter pulls his hand away.

"No living thing should be that cold," he responds, still staring at the mass. "But it's breathing and moving."

"What the hell is he talking about?" Archie asks Kavinsky, who responds with a confused shrug.

But I get it. I know what he's talking about.

"It's not from this Earth," I mumble as I stare in confusion and horror at the death mass, breathing and glowing before my eyes.

"Guys?" A voice echoes from behind us.

We all jump and spin around at the sound. My heart leaps and then settles down when I see that it's Veronica.

"What's going on?" She asks, arms crossed with her dark eyebrow raised.

"We can't get it out," I tell her as the four of us move away from the locker to reveal the mass.

Veronica stares at it, and multiple emotions go through her eyes. She stares blankly for a minute before coming back to reality.

"Kill it," she says quietly.

"What?" Peter asks in shock.

"Kill it!" She yells, stalking toward the locker, her heels clicking angrily on the tile floor.

Kavinsky and Archie grab her and hold her back.

"That thing killed her!" She shouts, tears streaming down her face. "Kill it!"

"We can't kill it we can't even get it out of the locker," Peter tells her.

"Kill it!" She shouts again, tears streaming down her made-up face.

Peter slams the door of the locker and Veronica goes quiet, silent tears falling down her face.

Kavinsky and Archie set her down and she stumbled into the wall, falling down and clutching her head.

I rush to her and kneel down in front of her.

"Kill it," she mumbles over and over again, rocking back and forth.

"Veronica," I try to knock sense into her, grabbing her shoulders.

She still mutters the same two words.

I look back at the three boys, standing beside each other. Each of them are wearing the same face, filled with fright and anxiety.

And the same thought is racing through our heads:

Something is wrong with Veronica.