“Darnell just texted me saying ‘Go outside,’” said Teemo.

“Uh oh,” Makayla muttered. They all knew too well what that meant.

They stood outside of the cafeteria exit in the glare of the sun. Moments later, a roaring YEEE-HAWW bursted through the air. Teemo, Ryan, and Makayla turned to face the direction it came from. Lo and behold, Darnell and Alicia were running towards them smiling and laughing. They could make out two skinny legs wrapped around Darnell’s waist. Two small hands reached to the sky behind Darnell. Of course, it was Illyana. She was full of color now as she enjoyed the breeze gently running across her face. Her smile revealed a set of pearly whites that nearly outshined the sun. She giggled as she flicked her golden hair back, encouraging it to fly in the wind. For a moment, Ryan couldn’t tell if Darnell was carrying Illyana or an angel.

Darnell and Alicia skidded to a stop just in front of their friends. Illyana hopped down and fixed her hair.

“Wow, Bonnie and Clyde actually succeeded,” Teemo joked.

“Did you expect any less?” Darnell smirked, popping his shirt up by the collar.

“I expected y’all to get suspended,” Makayla said as they began walking down the sidewalk.

“If you saw what we did you’d think the teacher was gonna suspend herself,” Darnell laughed.

Illyana jumped in, “Did you guys have that whole thing rehearsed?”

“Nope!” Darnell and Alicia said in unison, Darnell continued, “Imma keep it a hun’ed, I’m surprised it went that well.”

Illyana giggled, “Oh my god… y’all are crazy!”

“If crazy gets us to Chess’s faster then Imma go loco,” Darnell bobbled his head and spun his fingers around his temples as he finished his sentence.

“Alright man, I’m ready to eat!” Ryan shouted, jumping ahead of the group.

“Yes sir!” Teemo chanted.

After about ten minutes of walking, two crosswalks, a territorial squirrel, and five more minutes of walking, Darnell, Teemo, Ryan, Makayla, Illyana, and Alicia finally arrived at their long awaited destination: Chess’s. A small fast food restaurant famous for their chili cheese fries. They hadn’t planned on ordering much, but the anticipation from waiting to eat for so long attacked them right in their stomachs. Accompanied by the silent assailant of the aroma of freshly cooked buns and bacon, they just couldn’t resist gorging. Just making it to the table was a challenge for the fries.

Eventually they were all seated at their booth, the boys on one side, the girls on the other. Darnell and Alicia sat on the outside and Teemo and Illyana on the inside.

“I think your best bet would be running away Illyana,” was Teemo’s response to Illyana’s remark about self-defense from knives.

“No no look you’re supposed to go for the knife,” Illyana said, gesturing with her arms, “then like twist the wrist or something…”

“What?!” Teemo said in disbelief, “Are you tryna die!?”

“No, that’s what I saw in a video before!” cried Illyana, “I think?”

Ryan sucked on his straw as loud as possible. Alicia looked at Ryan. “Hey... why don’t y’all ask Ryan?” she said, motioning at him.

Ryan dropped his soda, “Oh no no, I don’t know much.”

Darnell fed into it without even looking up from his burger, “But you know the most of all of us.” he added.

Ryan sighed with a grin stretching from ear-to-ear, “well if you insist…” he said.

The others chuckled. “First off,” Ryan began, “Illyana, you would be better off running away-”

“Hey-” Illyana interrupted but Ryan quickly stopped her with a finger wave and a “but!”

Ryan continued, “Everyone is better off running away from a knife. But let’s say you didn’t have a choice to run away.”

Illyana interjected, “You grab his knife arm and spin him around and twist it really hard right?” she signified the action with random and uncorrelated movements of her arms.

“Well you’re… you’re half-right.”

“Hah!” Illyana shouted at Teemo, “I’m half-right!”

“Yeah you hear that Teemo?” Darnell joined in, “She’s only half-dead.”

“It’s a bit complicated to explain,” Ryan said, “a number of things can go right and wrong, but ultimately, you want to stop the knife from reaching you. Some say you should pin the knife hand, or if you grab something like a chair to keep the attacker away, that works.”

Makayla turned to Illyana with her fist up, “They’ll regret bringing a knife to a chair fight,” she said.

“What if they have two knives?” Alicia tossed in.

“Hmm,” Ryan went.

“I think you’re just screwed aren’t you?” Darnell laughed.

“Yeah,” Makayla laughed.

“If you literally have absolutely nothing to fight back with or even keep your distance, yeah,” said Ryan.

“If they have two knives then I just drop kick them! Hiyah!” Illyana shouted, imitating a kung-fu pose.

“You assume you’re heavy enough to drop kick someone,” Teemo joked.

“You won’t know until you try…” Illyana pouted.

“Let’s hope you’re never in a situation where you have to try,” said Darnell.

Makayla wrapped her arms around Illyana, “Yes let’s hope our sweet Illyana never has to drop kick anyone.”

“If someone messes with Illyana they’ve got another thing coming!” Alicia went, flexing her arms, revealing nothing.

Darnell couldn’t help but chuckle. Makayla pointed at the boys, “Yall. Yall are what’s coming.”

“How’d I get signed up to fight a double knife wielding maniac,” Teemo said, “That should be Ryan’s job.”

Ryan quickly turned to Teemo, “Yeah, true. Counter-argument: Darnell could handle it.” He pointed back at him.

Everyone looked at Darnell who’d opened the top of his soda cup and flipped the cup over his mouth to get the ice. Darnell crunched the ice that fell out and set his cup down. Finally, he looked around at everyone and said, “I wouldn’t let anyone get away with hurting yall.”

“Wow.” said Ryan, “I got your back too bro.”

“Me too!” Alicia chimed in.

The rest followed suit.

“Darnell, you know how to fight right?” asked Ryan.

“Depends on the type of fight.” he answered.

“What about a street fight?”

Darnell’s thought for a minute, then responded, “I know what not to do in a street fight.”

“Like what?” Alicia said.

“Like assume there are rules.” Darnell took a bite of his burger.

“Oh yeah,” Makayla muttered.

Teemo leaned over to look at Darnell, “You sound like you ready to toss sand in somebody eye.”

“There’s no rule against it.” Darnell said, covering his mouth.

“Ok what if there were rules?” Ryan said.

“Then there’s no telling what would happen.”

“Hmm,” Ryan paused, “are you ever gonna tryout for boxing?”

“Nope.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

“Man you’d probably be unstoppable in the ring.”

“You’re probably right.” Darnell chucked more ice into his mouth.

“If he doesn’t wanna do it, he won’t do it,” Makayla said.

Alicia noticed something odd about the food on the table. Darnell had ordered triple the amount of everyone else, but he was closer to finishing than anyone else. “Geez, I can’t believe you eat so fast.”

Darnell picked up his trash, “I gotta go to Vanessa’s later, remember?”

“Oh yeah,” she said.

“Why didn’t she come with us again?” asked Ryan.

“You know she doesn’t like group stuff,” said Makayla.

“Well anyway, Imma go ‘head and head out,” Darnell said as he came back from throwing away his trash.

“Alright man take care,” Teemo went.

Darnell dabbed up Teemo, responded, “Aight yall too,” fistbumped Ryan and Alicia, picked up his bag and exited Chess’s. Darnell pulled out his phone to text Vanessa that he was on his way.

“I guess I should get going too,” said Alicia, standing up, “I’m helping Michael study today.”

“Aw here we go,” Ryan sighed. He could feel the chain reaction emerging.

“Oh that reminds me,” Makayla began with her thumb and index fingers on her chin, “Raj is coming over to my house later today.”

Illyana chimed in, “Oh my dad can drop you guys off there! I’m going to the mall later so he’s already coming to pick me up from here.”

“What the-” Ryan exclaimed, he turned to Teemo, “You see this? It’s like a domino effect, one person leaves then suddenly everybody gotta be somewhere.”

Teemo just shrugged his shoulders.

“Oh, you guys didn’t have anything to do after this?” Illyana said concerningly.

“I was actually gonna go to the music store later,” Teemo responded, “Guess I’m going sooner than expected.”

“Wh- wow.” Ryan groaned.

Makayla feigned tears with an overdramatic look of sadness, she taunted Ryan, “Aw, poor baby Ryan is gonna be lonely.”

“Get outta here!” Ryan shooed her away as she laughed, “I’ll just go to the gym or something.”

“Are you sure? You could come to the mall with me and my friends!” Illyana innocently suggested.

Ryan stared at her for a moment and said, “I’m flattered, but I’ll do better at the gym.”

“Okay then, bye!” she sang the last part of her farewell and skipped to the exit.

“We’ll see you guys later,” said Makayla, as she and Alicia waved goodbye and followed Illyana.

Teemo stuffed the last couple of fries into his mouth, balled up his trash, and rose from his seat. “Guess we better get going too,” he said, almost muffled from the food in his mouth.

“Yep, let’s get out of here,” Ryan agreed, and stood up too.

About 20 minutes after a certain group at Chess’s disbands, Vanessa’s phone buzzes, alerting her of a text message. The alert interrupted the music from her bluetooth speaker, which she loved to play her lofi playlist from while she was in the garage. Her parents weren’t home so the garage was empty, and she was utilizing the open space to build her miniature helicopter. It frequently got hot in the garage so Vanessa left the door open to let in the cool breeze that only came between Winter and Spring. She normally didn’t go out much, so naturally her rosy-pale skin was sensitive to the sunlight, which wasn’t helped by her Korean heritage. But she willed through it, it balanced well with the wind. Nuts, bolts, batteries, and other various metal and plastic pieces were neatly organized in a half-circle, waiting to be a part of more makeshift objects lying in the center. Vanessa’s brown hair was roughly tied into a ponytail like a scruffy hamster. She had been kneeling down, screwing together two other pieces in her soft hands. Her silver eyes darted up at the sound of the alert on her phone. She was only expecting a message from one person so she immediately knew who it was. She stood up and brushed off her knees right before they buckled under her. It was apparent that she should at least stretch her legs every now and then while on the floor but she never cared. All that mattered now was responding to Darnell. She patted her cargo pants again and power walked to her phone. As she expected, it was Darnell, letting her know he was about five minutes away. Her thumb hovered over the keyboard, but right before she could type anything a blaring Emergency Alert took over her screen.

EMERGENCY ALERT

TERRORIST ACTIVITY. REPORT ANY SUSPICIOUS INDIVIDUALS TO YOUR LOCAL POLICE

Vanessa skimmed through it, ignored it, and tried to text Darnell again. Right before she could type anything, another alert interrupted her.

EMERGENCY ALERT

MULTIPLE REPORTS IN YOUR AREA. SHELTER-IN-PLACE. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

Almost instinctively, Vanessa was going to ignore the alert, but her eyes read the text faster than her thumb could close it. Her thumb retreated back to the bottom of the screen. She read those words again. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. She stared at the screen, trying to process what exactly was going on. Her stomach twisted. What is this? What does it mean? She had to will herself from the screen. She turned around to look outside her garage. Nothing had changed outside. It was still peaceful around her house. But how long would that last? Or was anything even going to happen at all? She pondered closing the door, but she stood still. She kept telling her legs to walk to the button, but it was like her feet were glued to the floor. She looked at her phone, this time it was Makayla asking everyone in the group chat if they’d gotten the alert too. Alicia and Michael were the next to respond, “Yeah we got it too.”

Illyana messaged next, “Me 2, are you guys ok???”

Tristan typed as formal as ever, “Yes, I’m fine. We shouldn’t leave our houses.”

Vanessa started typing that Darnell was on his way to her house when a screeching HELP startled her. She turned around to face the street again and this time a woman was running towards her garage from down the street. The woman was holding an object close to her chest. Vanessa could make out that the woman was frantically waving towards her. Vanessa’s mind raced. What was this woman running from? Should she help her? Should she leave her? Every moment Vanessa hesitated, the woman only got closer. She was only a couple of seconds from reaching Vanessa’s garage, and now Vanessa could make out two figures behind the woman.

They weren’t… normal.

They were nearly hunched over. Their arms flailed all over the place. BA-DUM. Vanessa felt a pounding in her chest. “Don’t come here!” she said in her head, but the words were lodged in her throat. BA-DUM. They drew even nearer. Thoughts and questions spiraled in her head. BA-DUM. What do I do? What are they doing? BA-DUM. Vanessa grabbed her chest. BA-DUM. Her breathing turned into rasping. BA-DUM. The strangers were just across the street now. BA-DUM BA-DUM. Stop! She shouted in her head. BA-DUM BA-DUM. Her vision blurred. Her head ached. BA-DUM BA-DUM.

“Close the door!” Vanessa heard.

Vanessa’s eyes opened. She was crouching on the floor with her hands covering her head. “What?” She uttered to herself, “When did I-” She looked up and the woman was running into her garage. She hit the button for the garage door and grabbed Vanessa by her arm. “C’mon!” she shouted.

The woman dragged Vanessa into the house. As they ran inside, Vanessa could make out the two figures much more clearly now. There were crimson red splotches on their faces. Their faces were demented, chomping at the air as they ran. One of them managed to trap their arm under the door just as it was closing.

Vanessa and the woman made it inside the house. The first room they entered was the kitchen. It was small, floored by white tile, only had a few cabinets and a sink. To the left was the dining room, and to the left again was the living room. There was a two step descent from the outer ring of the living room to the center. There was a single couch and two recliners on each side that faced a television on the left side. Across the living room from the dining room was the staircase to the second floor which started a few paces from the house’s front entrance.

The woman locked the door and the two almost rushed deeper into the house until the woman doubled-back when she realized she was inside a kitchen. Now that Vanessa was closer, and her mind was starting to defog, she identified the object in the woman’s hands as a baby. Vanessa wasn’t sure how, but the woman had gotten the baby to stay quiet. The woman scavenged the kitchen, randomly opening cabinets and drawers. Vanessa spoke up, “Um, what’s going on-” She was cut off by a “HA” from the woman as she held up a large knife. “What’s going on?” Vanessa finished.

The woman spoke as she handed Vanessa a knife, looked at her and said, “I have no clue, but-”

BANG! The two jumped at the sound of the entrance into the garage being banged on. The woman looked back at Vanessa, “I’m not going to let them take my child.” She grabbed another knife. She rushed into the dining room and then into the living room and Vanessa followed her. The woman looked around, and decided to hide her child behind the recliner closest to the staircase. More banging came from the garage. The woman stood in the middle of the living room with the knife in front of her. Vanessa just stood next to her watching. There was more banging. Neither of them couldn’t help but jump every time.

The woman looked at Vanessa, “What are you doing? Get ready.” She commanded. Vanessa could hear the shakiness in her voice. B-CRACK. The door broke open. Vanessa’s heart began pounding again. She’d hoped that the two people outside would just give up. That they’d just walk away. But they were coming. And every bang on the door could be the last one before they ran inside. Vanessa followed the lady’s lead. She held her knife in two hands and faced the kitchen door. Vanessa could make out the sounds coming from the garage as abnormal. She expected yelling. And screaming. And shouting. But it was just snarls. Hisses. Whatever other beastly noise a human could form. The door banged more, and she could hear the pieces of wood flying off and hitting the floor. Every second that passed, Vanessa could feel a shiver down her spine. Every crack of the door, her knees trembled. She looked over at the woman to her right. Her knife was shaking. Vanessa looked at hers. What was she even going to do with this? She couldn’t even picture herself using it. She- BOOM.

The crashing turned into stomping. Vanessa’s eyes flicked up and in a moment, one of the snarling men crashed into the dining table. It’s head spun to look directly at Vanessa. The two made eye contact. It’s teeth showed. Even more red stains. Vanessa couldn’t fool herself. It was blood.

“C’mon!” the woman to her right shouted, trying to summon all of her courage. She was met with a blood-curdling screech that echoed throughout the entire house. Vanessa’s body understood one thing.

Run.

Without even thinking twice, Vanessa’s knife fell from her hands and her legs carried her to the staircase. She bolted faster than she could even blink. She ran up the staircase as she heard the woman cursing at her. Out of her peripheral, the second assailant had charged into the living room. Then, everything was out of sight. Vanessa reached the second floor, pivoted to her left and ran into her bedroom, slamming the door shut.

Vanessa dropped to her knees the moment the door was closed. She could hear everything happening downstairs. Her screams. The crashing. The baby's crying. More screams of fighting. Then screams of agony. Helpless cries. The baby cried out even louder. Vanessa tried not to imagine what was happening. Suddenly the woman stopped. The baby persisted, but it's mother didn't. It wailed louder and louder, hopelessly awaiting an answer. Then silence.

Tears streamed down Vanessa’s face. She was next. Nothing would change this. They knew she was up there. She curled into a ball as she sat in front of the door. Waiting. Expecting. Her face half-hidden behind her knees giving her an illusion of cover.

She heard the creak of the stairs. It was slow, with seconds between each creak. And those seconds felt like hours as the creaking gradually got louder. Louder. And louder. Until it stopped with a stomp that Vanessa could tell was on her level. She clutched herself even tighter. Wishing she’d just wake up and it would all be over. That she’d be in her garage with Darnell building the helicopter she’d told him so much about. That he’d make her laugh like he always did. BANG.

Vanessa clutched even tighter. “Please.” she thought to herself. “Please stop.” But the banging continued. “Please!” Then, silence. A few moments passed. Vanessa shook as she lifted her head up to look at the door.

There was a small crack in the center. On the other side, a bloodshot eyeball stared directly at her. It hissed and snarled and the very sight made her lose her breath. Her arms squeezed so tightly that her nails were practically digging into her legs. The eye moved up and out of sight then there was one massive BANG and the door swung open. It swung so fast that it collided with the wall behind it. Vanessa screamed at the top of her lungs, hopelessly putting her hand between her and the ragged and bloodstain aggressor lurking in her doorway. The crimson stains now covered a majority of it’s clothes. It stood there for a moment, then suddenly its eyes rolled into the back of its head. Vanessa scooted back as it’s body just plummeted onto the floor.

Vanessa’s mind whirled trying to process the sight before her eyes. She stared at it’s motionless body until a pool of the blood started forming. The dark liquid seeped into the carpet around it’s stomach area. Vanessa remembered the woman from earlier. “She must’ve managed to stab him.” she thought to herself. She looked up at the hallway outside her room, there was nothing else there. “Is that it?” she thought to herself again. Everything seemed fine. She wanted to believe everything was fine, but her heart couldn’t stop racing. She clutched her chest, attempting to mentally control it. As she sat there, more footstomps started up the stairs. Vanessa’s eyes shot up. It was like an animal. A wild, blood-thirsty, humanoid animal. It’s face was stained with even more blood than the first one. It came up the stairs howling and targeted her as soon as it made eye contact. Her heart plummeted for the final time. This one was definitely making it. She screamed as she tried to crawl away, but her back hit the wall. The intruder ran at her hunched all the way over with it’s arms extended out to her. “No!” Vanessa shouted at it. In the blink of an eye, it closed the distance between them. Her eyes shut, not wanting to see what was next for her.

The howling pierced her ears as it was only inches away and she could feel it’s breath just before- THWACK. Just before… nothing. Was it that quick? No, it couldn’t have been. She didn’t want to open her eyes again, not after last time. Nothing could help her.

“Vanessa?” she heard a deep familiar voice.

Her eyes slowly opened. Her vision was blurry with tears, but she could make out a tall, dark figure carrying a wrench. It had grey sweatpants and a plaid shirt wide open revealing a black undershirt. Her vision cleared and she came face-to-face with a panting, wrench-wielding Darnell. She looked down and to her right was the same monster that had been pursuing her, with its head split wide open.

Darnell kneeled down in front of her, “You okay?” he softly mumbled.

Vanessa’s head spun back to Darnell to look directly into the lustrous vortex of his gaze. To anyone else, he would've been more intimidating than the monsters sprawled out on her floor. But to Vanessa, there was a warmth like no other.

Her mouth quivered, trying to force out words but she didn’t have to. Her body spoke for her. Her arms wrapped around Darnell and tears continued to flow from her eyes. Darnell embraced her, whispering, “It’s okay, I’ve got you now.” And Vanessa cried out.