CHAPTER 3: HORROR IN THE CAMPUS
Just when she thought everything was done for, she suddenly heard a sound of distant crashing, like a broken-in window, and a loud ear-piercing screech. She opened her eyes and saw that it was Blade jabbing a long metal spear into the creature's jugular, sending it crashing to the ground. How did he get out of the room and knew that she was in trouble, she was yet to discover. Blade swiftly jumped from one desk to another, stabbing at those shrieking creatures and throwing a disc-like weapon, slashing their heads off one by one. The creatures' blood splattered all over the place and made a hissing sound onto whatever it hit. Somere didn't quite comprehend at first, but when one huge drop fell onto her shoes, she got the idea. The blood was acidic and it ate through her footwear. She hastily took them off before it eats through her toes. By then, she was fully recovered from the shock. Any incoming creatures soon felt the wrath of a chair she used as her weapon. She hit her way towards Blade.
"What the hell is going on here, Blade?! What are these things? Friends of yours??"
Blade made a frantic clicking sound, which Somere has yet to comprehend. Soon, more and more creatures climbed—or more like flowed—out of the hole in numerous numbers. There was too much for Blade and Somere to fight alone. As Somere tried using heavier objects like the projector and the lecturer's chair to ward them off, Blade clicked on something tied to his left wrist and undid the clasp. He threw it into the hole where the creatures came out of, grabbed Somere by the waist and dashed their way to the door, slashing more creatures in the process. He used his spear to bar the door to keep them from getting out and continued dashing his way out of the campus.
"Hey, Blade, what was it you just threw?"
A huge, loud explosion answered Somere's question. It was obvious that Blade hadn't ran far enough from range because that explosion sent them flying out in the mid air and made them land unceremoniously on the ground; hard. After dozens of falling tiny rubble and debri and clusters of dust later, Somere tried to get back on her feet.
"Do you realize what you're doing here?!" Somere exclaimed loudly. "I can understand why you wanna blast the place down into oblivion, but can't you at least wait until every single human is out of the campus?? You killed them!! My friend could be still in there!! You killed him!!"
"Somere? Somere, you OK?!"
Somere spun round in relief to see Eric hobbling towards her with a slightly bleeding shoulder. Never mind that everyone else has been reduced to dust; she's just glad her best friend was alive.
"I'm cool," Somere replied. "Your shoulder's bleeding! You gotta get it treated!"
"I'm fine. I'm...Who the heck is that?"
Somere was so worried about her friend that she forgot about Blade's presence. She was about to explain when Blade got up in a thrice, seized Eric by the throat and brandished his jagged blades at his chest. Somere almost screamed her head off in horror.
"Blade!! Blade, no!! He's my friend!! Put him down, Blade, PUT HIM DOWN!!!"
Blade turned to stare at Somere who glared back at him, making it clear that she meant business. He then turned back to Eric ad let out a mixture of clicking and growling deep down his throat before letting him go, deliberately letting him drop hard onto the ground. He went past Somere and jerked his head, getsturing her to come with him. Somere was slightly torn between two sides.
"Somere…Who..." Eric tried to get up, coughing and almost choking. "What is that thing?! Is he one of those huge monsters back there??"
"I...uh...No, he's actually a nice guy, really..." Somere stammered, not sure how to explain this predicament and not sure where to even start. By this time, some surviving students and lecturers were coming out of the crumbling campus, coughing and spluttering and patting dust off themselves.
"There is something you're not telling me, Somere! What is it? Tell me now! You know something about this attack, don't you? Speak to me!"
"I...I don't know...I don't exactly know what's going on here..."
Blade snorted and grabbed Somere, dragging her away. Eric tried to grab hold of her too, but his aching body stopped him. He hollered after her, "Wait! Where are you taking her?! Somere, what's going on here?!"
"I'll...I'll get back to you, Eric! I promise!" Somere replied as she struggled to keep up with Blade's speed. Little did she know that the further she was taken away from Eric, the smaller the chances she would ever see him again.
As they rushed out of the campus compound, Somere struggled to pry herself loose from Blade's grip. Blade didn't seem to acknowledge the fact that human speed is not as fast as his. Finally Somere had enough. She pulled herself by force off his grip and yelled exasperatedly at him, "What the fucking hell is your problem, Blade?! What are those things out there exactly?! You gotta tell me something!!!"
Blade stopped in his tracks and looked at her with those glaring eyes on his mask. Somere could tell that behind it, Blade was feeling quizzical about her outburst. She tried to calm down.
"How did you get out? How did you know I was in trouble?"
Blade held out his hand and touched Somere's nape. Somere, after waiting for Blade to put down his hand, touched it too and felt a slight bump on it. Blade then fit in another gadget onto his wrist and clicked on a few buttons. Within seconds, a hologram shot out and showed a scene where she and Eric were sitting peacefully in the lecture theatre before the full force attack of the creatures.
"You...You put a spy cam in me? When did you...You put it during my sleep, didn't you?"
Blade looked away, not replying.
"You...put it to...keep watch of me, to look out for me, is that right?"
Blade still didn't reply, but turned off the hologram and clicked on some more buttons on the gadget he had on his wrist.
"You care about me, don't you?" Somere asked, her heart slightly moved.
Whatever Somere had said, either Blade didn't hear a thing or he pretended not to, because he was talking intently to someone else on line with his ever familiar clicking and numbing language. After the same language replied him, he shut it off and continued walking towards the direction of Somere's off-campus home. Somere noticed and ran after him.
"Hey, Blade! Where are you going? Wait up!"
She kept onto Blade's tail on and on until they've reached her home. But he didn't stop at her home. Instead, they went all the way down the road going down to town. From there, he started moving with stealth, climbing up people's roofs and walls and buildings, shifting occasionally from his invisible self to visible. Somere noticed that there were a lot of people in town and he sure didn't want to risk being seen, but he was moving so fast that she couldn't keep up with him just by running after him. She had to 'borrow' someone else's bike and keep him well in sight.
After long miles of chasing Blade, he finally led her to an abandoned construction site. Somere remembered that site—Eric took her there before—to be a so-called cursed place, sort of like a modern-age version of Babylon, because no matter how they tried to finish the top, there is always something that would go wrong and make it collapse, killing thousands of workers in the process. She noticed now that the sky is rather dark and the moon was rising. She had followed Blade almost all day!
Blade made himself visible again and jumped off from the crumbled warehouse he leapt on, hitting a few more buttons on his wrist. Somere got off the bike she 'borrowed' and ran towards Blade, asking, "Yo, what's the rush, Blade? What exactly are you doing here?"
He didn't reply, but looked at the dark star-lit sky. She tried to see what he was looking at but couldn't figure out what it was. She was about to ask when suddenly she heard a loud sound, like a landing aircraft. The bare sky was suddenly covered by something huge and metallic. She then realized that she was actually staring at a really, really huge spaceship (like the one in the AVP movie) that was lit with brilliant lights. It landed slowly onto the ground and Somere struggled to hold her flailing hair. She felt as if the blowing wind from the landing ship was tearing her hair off her scalp, like a wig flying off her head. As soon as the ship landed, a door with streaming bright light lowered itself down. Two figures were standing at the door as if waiting for Blade to go in. He didn't wait to be asked twice. Completely ignoring Somere, he stepped in. She took hold of his arm but was flung off harshly. Somere stood her ground.
"Where are you going, Blade? Are you leaving me now? Blade, I want to come with you, you hear me?"
Blade turned to look at her.
"I want you to take me with you. I want to understand all this, Blade. I wanna find out what's going on, who you are, where you come from, everything. I want to know everything, Blade. I want to come with you."
Blade seemed hesitant but Somere held his wrist again.
"I'm not safe here anyway. You might have missed a few of those creatures. I don't want to die here. You don't want that too, do you? Please, let me follow you."
For a few long moments, Blade stared long and hard at her. Questions he yet has answers to could be lingering in his mind: What's her problem? What's she saying? What does she want? She seemed like she wanted to follow me, but why? Why would she want to leave her planet to come with me? He looked at their direction when his friends made a clicking sound, maybe to usher him to get in quick before they're seen. He looked back again at a longing Somere and finally, after long contemplation, took Somere by the wrist and brought her along with him.
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