Noon.
Social Science Faculty area.
Harry, a fresher in forensic science, was trekking from a tuck shop on the west end of their faculty building.
In his mind, he wondered about the case ongoing at the school concerning the missing lecturers.
Not that there were any conversational voices rampaging in his mind, yet, the emptiness in it made him uncomfortable.
At first, he didn't want to believe that the lecturers were gone, but after walking about the school for half an hour now, he could confirm it.
There was no staff, academic or non-academic, in sight.
Though, he refused to check the Senate building.
On his way back to the hall, he met a group of middle- aged men he knew as security officers that usually manned that area.
As they saw him coming, a light smile drew across their faces as they started hailing out to him.
"Ah, good afternoon sirs'." he greeted.
For some reason or the other, the police officers were still present the school premises.
"Oh, Hans!" The three officers jumped up on their seats as he came close by.
"Good afternoon o."
"Our able wrestler, so you remember us today?" the biggest man, with a rather soft facial demeanour said loudly.
That tag, he felt he could do without.
"How is everything now?" the youngest one with the straight moustache asked.
"I'm fine sir, how's work? This one you people look like you're enjoying your salaries today."
The officers laughed, they did so for a while, snickering at themselves.
He didn't really get why though.
"Don't start, Harry. Won't you go and join your fellow students in your war?" the oldest one, said with a voice that made him seem like he was joking.
"War…?"
What was he saying?
The 40-something year old pointed at a sight ahead.
It was Vic!
And a mob of raging students surrounded him.
"No, so you people can't do anything about this?" He snapped at the group, "I even thought you were clueless, but this is even worse!"
"…"
The one who pointed at Vic said nothing, but kept a serious face.
He looked annoyed, just a bit.
"That boy…" the oldest of them stared at Harry, also with a serious look.
Harry shifted his gaze to him, but he couldn't reply.
Looking at them only made him feel sick.
"That boy, he threatened us. He threatened us not to be involved." The officer continued.
"That- that doesn't mean you should sit around and do as he says." Harry shot back, but the officer only looked at the ground.
Their upbeat energy from before was no longer there.
"The matter is… complex-"
"Still!" he stomped his foot on the ground, "You guys have to fight for what's right."
They were at the workshop complex, which faced the Social science building.
Today, the place was as empty as a graveyard, so the officers decided to use it as a spot for their hangout, just one of the few things that got Harry agitated.
"He's possessed! A possessed maniac!" The biggest man said, as if sneaking it into the conversation, "He told us that he'll hunt down our families if we don't do as he says. Tell me, does that sound like what a normal person would do?"
Harry couldn't take it anymore, he spun around and began walking towards Vic's direction, an agitated frown painted on his face.
"cowards!"
They could only sigh as he walked away, throughout the conversation, none of them seemed eager to leave their seat.
"That boy… he's always been like that."
After all, officers are also human.
They, too, get frightened once in a while.
10 minutes earlier
Social Science faculty building.
Vic and Paul were at lecturer's office,
The one at their department.
Using his keen senses, he checked the papers, dust marks and footprints. Since no one was there, it was an opportunity to look for clues as to where the lecturers had gone.
Though they didn't find a 'staff room' or anything, each office they entered returned the same results.
The place always turned into a mess. He and Paul searched here and there for anything that could pique their interest.
The last office at the ground level floor was their last hope, it belonged to the philosophy lecturer, Mr Ike.
"This place is so disorganized!"
He said as he tossed the drawers out of the shelf cupboard.
KLA-NG!
"Paul, have you seen anything?"
Paul sat legs crossed on the rug near the door, a drawer labelled '100 level' sat in front of him.
"All I'm seeing are student complaints." He replies. "Nothing test-result like."
"Why won't they complain, what kind of student studies philosophy anyway?" Vic said as he stuck his arm into a large flower base at the corner, while Paul groaned as he rummaged through the drawer's papers, "Where's the test question at least? The answer scripts, something forge-able!"
"C'mon, let's ditch this place." He tried pulling out his hand, to no avail, "This is another blank slate."
Paul could only stare at Vic as he struggled with the vase.
"Your hand-" he said.
"Eh, it's fine, yeah!"
He swung around his hand and smashed it, the vase rather, on the desk.
The clay, jade coloured vase shattered into a million pieces and shot in every direction, liquid and all. Paul jumped to his feet and cowered in the corner of the door, "Lord of mercy!!"
The shards were accompanied by some foreign objects as well, something Vic noticed.
"Hey, hold on."
Vic said as he took a squat and picked up a small see-through ratchet, like the ones hospitals used for drugs, on closer inspection, he noticed it was housing a white, powdery substance.
He took it to his nose, and sniffed it loudly.
"What is this?" He asked, throwing the bag at Paul.
He caught the sachet, but unlike Vic, he opened the sachet and sniffed it.
It felt like his soul was being drawn out of this world, to a higher plane beyond himself.
It was… familiar.
"Smells like…" he sniffed it again, and again, "Cocaine. No doubt."
Vic looked at him, his eyes squinted, as he asked, "Cocaine, what's that?"
Paul… had a worried look, "That philo lecturer takes weed."
"Oh, yeah. I knew." He really didn't. "Hey, there's a note on the floor."
"Where?" Paul walked up to him, stuffing the sachet in his pocket, he looked around the carpet till he found the paper, "Oh." He picked it up and hissed, "It's just a list of reg numbers… and my own isn't on it."
"That isn't useful at all!" Vic said with a sigh, as he collapsed on the carpet, "This place is a dead end."
"And we've searched all the offices in this building…"
"So?"
"Let's give up!"
"No!" Vic shot back as he got up again, "Let's go check the Dean's office, yeah!"
"Are you mad? We can't do that! Let's just leave this place, guy."
"Give me the key."
"What? I Don't have the Dean's key."
Paul was looking scorned at that point, or so it seemed.
Well, for a place without artificial lighting and only a dusty window to brighten up the place, Paul's expression wasn't the only thing they couldn't see.
Vic didn't see anything wrong in looking for clues in such a dark place, and Paul didn't raise any objections.
Soon enough, Paul stretched out a hand with a bundle of keys on it to Vic, who snatched it from him.
"Thief!"
They left the office to a ring-like structure, a grassy courtyard in the middle. The offices that surrounded it had their doors busted open, Vic refused to lock them, but Paul tried to close them so they would look unscathed.
They walked on the corridor, towards the main exit of the building.
Paul, making faces at the floor, stuck his hands in his pockets.
Vic, with his arms behind his head, moved his eyes here and there.
"That newspaper… Why did it say it's only I and her that can stop all this?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I found this newspaper, no, I came across it rather. It can predict the future. And the future it's predicting now is happening as we speak."
"... Okay" he was bewildered, beyond comprehension.
"It has everything."
He stuck his hand in his bag and brought it out, then opened the newspaper to the section on the kidnap.
' Wait, he's serious?' Paul thought as he saw it, "So, even about Osas?"
"Hmm, no. I guess it's not really omnipresent as it is omniscient. Omniscient in time. Hey!" He stopped moving.
"You can just use it and find your clues-"
"You're slow, Paul. I realized that." He said, his grin as wide as ever, "Hehehe, I know how we can win!"
Paul, at his wits end, started meddling with his cell phone, "I wonder where Harry went." He said as he slowed down, "His line isn't going, I'm guessing the arcade."
Vic had gone up, far ahead than he was, so he jogged a bit to catch up to him.
"But, Vic," he said, sounding exhausted, "Personally, I think it'll be nice without lecturers, for a while."
"Well, your thinking is delusional, my guy, we need those guys as much as the next uni… I think."
Because it was the right thing to do.
"Be honest, do you care about the lecturers?" Paul asked, but his small, high pitched voice never sounded serious to Vic.
"Of course not, I just want to graduate, that's all. And I'm sure Bimbo knows what she's doing, she might even solve this case before I do, hm."
They got close to the stairwell when the sounds of distant chatter came into hearing.
Vic, by instinct, tossed the newspaper into his bag, "What's that?"
They get outside the building to meet a mob of students, with eyes and mouths packed to the centre of their faces. They were holding mop sticks and plaque cards with various quotes against lecturers and the current education system in the air and talking among themselves in loud sounds. The heat of their emotions blasted at Vic and Paul, it startled them.
At first he tried walking perpendicular to the crowd.
"KAI! WHERE ARE YOU GOING??"
"Uhm… away?"
Osas then raised his voice,
"Victor, hmm, VICTOR DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE DONE?"
"My name is Vic! get it right!" he was smiling, but not as exaggerated.
"Because of you Victor, one useless thing landed a hand on me." he said as he touched his face.
But Vic shook his head, and put his hands on his waist.
"Isn't that your fault though, I just stood there minding my business. Seriously though, guys nowadays are always looking for who to blame, no one's responsible anymore. 98 percent of you all are harlots in trousers, getting all those harlots in skirts pre-"
"Keep quiet!" One of the students called out,
"Men are victims!" Shouted another one.
"Your father's a victim!"
"SHUT UP, YOU TALK TOO MUCH!" Osas raised his voice again, but without the echo.
Seeing he had no choice, he rolled up the newspaper and glared at the crowd, "Okay, what do you want?"
"First of all, what were you doing in that building?" Osas, who had now come closer to him, asked.
It was an intimidating move.
And he couldn't sense Paul's presence anywhere around, just like the smallest one to seek away when least expected.
He could only sigh.
"Answer the question, you-"
"KIAA!!" Vic yelled, swinging his arms in the air, and without warning, he jumped off the side of the steps leading out of the building, and took to his heels towards the back of it.
Osas, taken aback for a moment, got his voice back, "AFTER HIM, AFTER THAT FREEDOM FIGHTER."
'GRAAAAAAAAHHH'
The mob stumbled and roused, they went at him, every single one of them, while shouting at the top of their lungs, their red rage took to the skies. The ones that were holding plaques threw theirs on the ground so they would be more efficient.
Now, Vic, being hyper athletic, was faster than the average 17-year-old. He could clock 60m/s if he was inclined to and outrun anyone who decides to chase after him, no matter what they used.
They had no chance of getting him.
In other words, he had the ability to run from trouble.
Dashing there, bouncing off that wall, shuffling through that alley, jumping over that fence, soon, he lost sight of the mob.
Although, their cries still echoed through the entire school.
His main goal right then was finding Paul, who was supposed to be by his side, while avoiding the numerous protests that had broken out between the students. Most places in the school were in chaos, the 'No lecturers' group had blocked all the roads to the front gate and tortured any security officer who tried to call for outside help, the 'Call the police' group were arguing with the opposing group bringing up points and reasons that fell on deaf ears, all while trying to foil the vandalizing efforts of the No lecturers group.
There were some among them trying to contact anyone who could be of help without being seen, but due to the mass blackout of the network, no one could reach anyone over the phone.
The Peace group (who just wanted a calm society), were vastly ignored so the members either joined the 'no lecturers' group to avoid being attacked or went to the hostels to ignore it all. All this took place without reaching the senate building to avoid the wrath of the unpredictable VC.
Not that the No lecturers group would allow anyway.
"Whoa!" Vic exclaimed as he kept jogging, "The campus has become hell on earth."
He balled his fists at the sight of it all.
"I'm going to fix this, all of it, yeah!"
(Late afternoon)
The distant sound of a small group of girls, screaming at the top of their lungs, followed by a hoarse voice, yelling something inaudible, reached the walls of the abandoned commercial district.
Vivid Vivian was at a small and empty cafeteria far from the lecture halls, far from the class area. As usual, it was just her in the place, always sitting at a corner table, either eating and drinking, or reading a book.
It was quiet, which gave it a feel of safety.
That day, she was reading an article on Amazonian history from a magazine, laughing to herself at the people who failed at their quests for exploration, something no one else would laugh at.
"Heehee, losers!"
She picked up a pen she kept on the table earlier, and began drawing on the white spaces, pictures of the men getting attacked by a bush baby -at least, what was supposed to be one.
There was a waitress, Mrs Helen, a middle-aged lady at the place.
Since she was always the only person there, Vivian assumed she was the owner of the place.
Mrs Helen was plum, average in height, her features told her that she was going on her early 40s.
Since Vivian was her only customer, most of the time, her business was dwindling.
Soon enough, she would close down the shop and move on, like everyone else around her.
It was depressing to think about.
But there was one thing she wanted to see before she left, and it concerned the girl who always sat at the corner of the place,
Alone,
It was a normal sight at that point.
"Madam!" She called out from where she sat, at the table near the entrance, "This one that you are laughing alone, when will you ever change?"
"Change what? I'm perfect…" Vivian said with a smile, but with uncertainty in her voice.
"Stop saying that thing please, I'm tired of hearing it."
She came over and sat on the chair opposite hers, "I see your mates passing by the shop and they're always around their friends – but you, you're just on your own, that's dangerous. How would you survive through school?" Mrs Helen reached out her hand, then lowered Vivian's hand, which was still holding the magazine.
Vivian didn't even look up.
Not to be rude,
But she couldn't face her.
"The same way I have for the past 17 years… and as far as I can tell, I'm not a ghost yet…. I guess."
Her voice was less optimistic than before.
"So, you want to die alone?" She raised her voice, just a little.
"Die alone?" she looked at her, for an instant, "Why would I want to share a coffin in the first place, sounds like work-"
"Ah!" She claps her hands and shakes her head, "That's not what I meant oh, I mean that you don't want people to be by your side throughout your life? Won't you get married?"
"Sounds… stressful."
"If, and God forbid, something happens to you, who will you rely on? Without people by your side, you wouldn't consider what you're doing to be living. And if you aren't on good terms with people, then people would betray you."
She sighed, and paused, as if searching for words.
"It's painful seeing you alone all the time, and I'm sure your parents wouldn't want this to be your lifestyle."
She was looking at the table, but Mrs Helen could tell by the vibration on the table, Vivian flinched at those words.
She looked up at her, Vivian's eyes were wide opened, downcast, but not on the magazine.
"Even if its one person-"
"It's fine… I have you don't I?"
The woman felt her heart skip a beat, Vivian smiled lightly, still downcast.
"That's all I need… to be normal…"
Mrs Helen smiled, and put her hand on Vivian's.
She opened her mouth, just a bit, but closed it with a smile.
"You're hopeless…"
She got up and walked back to the kitchen, she looked back at Vivian, who was shaking her head from left to right.
"Better find a friend, or you won't come back here, you hear?"
"You say that every week." Vivian said with a wry smile, still downcast.
Mrs Helen then went back into the kitchen, preparing the next round of meals for customers she may or may not get.
Vivian slouched on the table, resting on top of the book with her eyes closed.
'You wouldn't get it'
She sighed and looked at the beads that covered the entrance.
'No one would.'
A cold breeze blew into the room, disturbing the beads, causing them to ring through the air, and with it, Vic showed up at the entrance, jogging at a place and gasping out of breath.
"PAUL! W-where'd you go? PAUL!"
He was out of steam.
He jogged into the cafeteria and glanced about the place till their eyes met.
"Vivian! You're here? What a charming surprise.
Vivian laid face down on the table, "God! What is this?"
"I've been looking for you all over the school for hours now," he jogged up to her, a smile on his face, "Well I've been looking for mostly Paul, but you're good too, you're gloomy as always, what are you doing here yourself? Oh, by the way, have you seen Paul? Or just forget, I don't need him anymore. I found a clue to finding the lecturers, it's that newspaper! It would lead us to them, at least, that's what I think it would do, here, look at it, look at it, see it, see-"
He was shoving the newspaper into her face, till she got up and yelled,
"AH!! What? What?" She snatched the paper and placed it open on the table.
"It's a letter from the maniac that kidnapped the lecturers, I think if we can locate the owner of that handwriting, we'll be able to find and apprehend the abductor yeah?"
He wasn't making any sense.
She didn't see any letter.
But after he turned the pages a bit, she was met with the picture of one.
She looked at him, with clear disgust, "What? NO! That's…" she sighed, "This is just the same old news you showed me."
"Yeah?" he said down on the table next to her, "But get this, this info, that info, has everything we need for this case."
"… eh?"
'Who's we?'
"It's filled with clues."
"… sure"
She wanted either of them there to disappear, as long as she doesn't have to see him.
But Vic just thought she didn't get it.
"Ughhh, that story, it's from the future yeah? After everything, all this has happened. But in this present time, the events in this paper, they haven't been concluded, not yet, not unreal-time. So if we use the future as a reference–"
'We can save everyone!'
"We could solve the case of the missing lecturers!"
Their wavelengths varied - by a mile.
Vivian had her mind clouded with it since he brought it up.
'Save everyone'?
Easier said than done,
She couldn't do it,
Past events had taught her that she wasn't allowed to succeed.
Her mind was in a riot, and the distractions of thinking of something else (Like Amazonian exploration) didn't seem to work as they normally did.
Whatever was happening outside, she was aware of all of it on a lower level of consciousness.
And before Vic brought the reality back to her, she had been blocking it out with all she had.
She furrowed her brows and nested her elbow on the table.
Vic could see her frustration being channelled inwards, such things he noticed well.
"Hey! Vivian."
Vivian darted her eyes about, then looked at the guy's forehead.
"W-what?"
"What do you want to do now?"
What kind of question was that?
He was challenging her very reasoning.
"I-it won't… it doesn't matter-"
What was she supposed to say to him?
"Yes it does!"
"I can't do it, I don't know-"
She didn't know what to do.
Save everyone?
That was the moral thing to do.
But she couldn't do it
Somehow, she felt like she would mess it up, do more harm than good.
Normal people should better know their place.
That was what she felt.
Would she be normal, if she refused to go?
It was what everyone else would've done.
So why did she feel like it would be wrong to say no…?
'Wrong to… Say… no…'
"Then let's go, yeah?" Vic said, jamming a fist into his palm, "Where two or more are gathered, there's nothing they can't achieve!"
"That… is so corny." She said.
"No it's not, I heard it's from the Bible."
Vivian sighed, slouching her shoulders.
Vic, however, got up and looked at the girl with an outstretched hand.
"What's the plan, Amanda Waller?"
She looked at it, as expressionless as ever.
That was all she could do, before Vic grabbed her hand from the table and pulled her up to her feet.
"What do you want from me, guy? Just… go away." She wasn't audible, yet, she didn't try sitting back down.
"Hey!" He was still holding her hand, "You and I are gonna do the right thing, no matter the cost."
"Just because-"
"No matter the objections."
"I can't…"
"We're going to do it!"
She bit her lips, her eyes on the table.
'Just tell him no… just tell him no and this would all blow over.'
They stood there for a while, Vic only seeing the side of her face covered with hair.
A bit annoyed, Vic let go of his hand.
He went to the table and stuffed the newspaper into his bag, then started towards the door.
Though, he was dragging his legs.
"First, we need to find the location of this 'Dotu' guy."
He stopped on hearing her voice.
Then he turned around to look at her, a grin wider than ever drawn on his face,
Vivian put her hand on her chin, still looking downwards, and continued,
"I'm guessing the place will be heavily guarded, we don't need too much attention, so we have to sneak past them, draw their attention to something else," she shut her eyes, "Then the real trouble would be inside, we'd have to find the lecturers and sneak them out of the place… somehow. This guy, he's probably experienced in these sorts of things, so he might have a secret base somewhere far from his place, somewhere they'd never find kidnapped people. So we just need to buy enough time, if we look around his house for clues, then we might find something. A distraction… a huge distraction-"
"Or," Vic cut in, "We just wing it, yeah?"
'That's suicide!'
"Deal! Great plan, not, of course, better than mine." He said, spreading out his arms.
"What's yours?" Vivian looked up at him, still a blank expression.
"It's simple, we re-kidnap the lecturers." Vic said, laughing at the end.
'This guy simply doesn't think' she thought.
"Yeah, we'll do that, eventually." She said while walking towards him.
"Ha-ha! Perfect!"
"Osas is still out there, doing whatever he wants, and simply getting back the lecturers will not be sufficient. One way or the other, we're going to have to confront him. It doesn't have to be directly, but with the way things are going… it is inevitable." she said, looking up at him.
"I'm cool with that." she said, looking at the blank half of her face.
"Of course you are." she looked at the strap of his bag, "That paper is our guide, and there's more to it than we know, but we'll rely on it, for now."
She felt like she could could talk to him now.
Though, she still didn't like it very much.
When the two walked past the string of beads, they were greeted by the thick humid air along with the stench of smoke.
It wasn't too thick, but the surprise made her cough and choke.
"I smell… tire." She commented.
Vic sniffed around and shook his head,
"They probably burnt another one."
Vivian looked at him, then squinted her eyes.
"Another-"
Tak tak
tak tak
Footsteps.
Vic and Vivian looked behind them to see it was Harry. He was breathing hard, sweat dropping down his face, he looked tense.
On his back, hands around his neck, was a student.
An unconscious girl bleeding from mouth, lying on his back.
Vic walked up to him, smiling as usual.
"Oh, Harry!"
Harry smiled back, but only a bit.
His shoulder's seemed to be shaking.
"Vic, can't talk right now," he kept walking, "Something came up."
He was going to collapse any minute.
After a short exchange, Vic got that Harry was heading towards the school hospital, the girl on his back was in a bad accident and needed urgent attention.
Vic confirmed that, she reeked of burnt tire.
Harry had found her lying unconscious next to a large fire, before running after her.
"Alright. Hey, don't worry yeah? Vivian and I are going to fix all this." Vic called out, pointing at his chest.
"Good luck. It's bloody out there," Harry said.
His deep voice was fading as he spoke.
"Just, don't get hurt..."
His figure was that of a selfless hero, never hesitating to lend a hand to even strangers.
Vic could only imagine what went on in his head, thinking about helping everyone and anyone.
He couldn't phantom it.
"Sucks to be him."
"Tell that to a mirror."
Vic ignored that.
"So how did Harry not notice you? That was weird." Vic laughed at her silence.
He thought her practically invisible to others.
Then, his mind bounced back to Bimbo.
Last he heard from her, she was out looking for information.
"That's true! We should let Bimbo know this." he started walking, till he reached an open space, to which Vivian followed behind.
Vivian, getting tired of staring at him, looked at the environment of the alley, "We should?"
He brought out his cell phone, right before he could get into the dialler app, a bullet from above whizzed through his ear, and piercing through the device, knocking it out of his hand.
Whoever shot it must've used a silencer.
He looked in the direction of the gunshot and frowned at the guy he saw standing on top the roof of a nearby building, staring down at them.
With a pebble in one hand and a catapult in the other, he glared at then like they were pieces of filth.
He wore all black and covered up his face with black clothes leaving only his eyes, as if he was a cosplay ninja with trouble-making tendencies.
Vic's face swelled with pressure.
"You have MURDERED my PHONE!!" he pointed at the guy, his legs spread apart.
Vivian, looked at the person, but with less enthusiasm.
The man, upon seeing her, stepped back a bit. He tilted his head and blinked twice.
'Oh no, it's her' he thought, "No phone calls allowed." he stuttered as he dashed away.
"What? Hey, come back here!!" Vic was about the give chase, but decided against it and sighed.
Vivian only looked at the phone and smiled.
"Bah, he thought I was calling the police." Vic slouched his shoulders and turned around, putting his hands on his head.
"Gah, Now I need a new phone." He picked up the remnants of the phone, the top had been blown off the hinges, smoke oozed out of the keypads.
The phone was gone.
"And these things are crazy expensive, my mom is going to kill me." He threw the phone on the ground.
"... Sorry." was all she could manage.
The phone that once attempted to save them from the scrubs a while back, was now in rubble. She felt sorry for him.
She thought to say more, but-
"Do you have a phone? Maybe can still call Bimee."
There was nothing she could say.
"No, I don't ha… Bimee?" She shook her head.
"Bimbo." He corrected.
That was one nickname name she wish she didn't hear.
She just ignored him, and glanced at the environment around her, while Vic put the pieces of the phone in his bag.
The crooked, torn environment around her.
She cringed at it.
People really are stupid, she thought, none of what they were doing was necessary.
People can solve their problems without any chaos if they think about it.
She didn't understand them.
Vic put his hands on his waist.
"We need to find Bimbo, yeah? I have a feeling it would be troublesome if we don't."
"You know that's impossible, she could be anywhere." She shrugged, "And we can't even call her now."
No, it's just that the very idea of looking for Bimbo felt like a chore for her.
"What about the Senate building?" She asked, like a suggestion.
"I'm not going there." Vic said like he was pouting.
"What about the hostel?" She suggested again, but less enthusiastically.
"Bimbo is never there during the day. She leaves before dawn and goes back after sunset. Though, I wouldn't know about it now.
"Wow," she said while clapping, "You are so competent for this thing."
"Shut up," he shot back, "I knew what I was doing."
"Did you? You planned to find someone despite it being hopeless and-"
"ALRIGHT FINE," he said, slouching his back, "We can go rescue them ourselves! Don't just come crying about the end results later."
She beamed.
"Okay! This way," She started towards the west, "Let's follow the 2nd gate."
Vic followed her behind - for once.
"The front gate is closer… and safer - take that from me." He said.
"Which is exactly why we should take the long route, to avoid attention from weirdos like, phone sniper." She said with a hand motion. But Vic stopped, looking at the clouds moving in the opposite direction.
He sighed then shook his head.
"It's late, let's do it tomorrow yeah?"
He didn't feel like postponing it, but it was the safest option they had.
Vivian paused, moving to put her hand in her pocket to bring out a phone, but she stopped mid action, "OK, tomorrow morning then."
"Yahoo!" He said, and jumped up at a spot with a fist above his head, "Finally some breathing time. I'm going to find something to eat, then I'll probably watch that series I just downloaded before sleeping by 11."
With that, he waved Vivian goodbye, and started jogging towards the east, where the bus stop for the hostel was.
At that, Vivian inhaled the air, trying to have a sigh, but she found herself coughing, falling her hands on her laps instead,
"That's *cough* *cough* too much smoke, ack!"
Meanwhile
The 'No lecturers' gang (and Bimbo who is tied to a chair) had gathered at the Star line event hall, on the east side of the school's academic area, close to the events district, for a meeting to discuss what they had achieved so far and what they would do in the future, with their leader Osas sitting at the table on the hall's stage, his followers sat before him on the floor as if he was preaching a sermon.
The people of about 250 in number, talked among themselves in low voices, some exchanged clubs and sticks and plaques, some just couldn't stand the heat in the overcrowded hall, so stood outside the hall.
Then, with a loud voice, the mad man spoke.
"Our campaign is done for the day…!"
"Yes, it is; that's true; of course."
"Now it is time for us to start the campaign at night!!"
"Yeeeeaaaahhh!!
"Those of you worrying about whether we'll graduate, you shouldn't bother yourselves, we have the general class rep. in our midst, and she has agreed to handle ALL OF OUR SCORES" he announced with a grin.
"YE-AH!"
Then, Bimbo raised her voice, "YOU ARE INDEED MAD OSAS, YOU ARE MAD IF YOU THINK YOU CAN MAKE ME DO YOUR BIDDING!"
She was at a corner with her limbs tied to a chair, she could barely move. Her mouth was stuffed with a handkerchief, but with technical movements with her tongue and her teeth, she had spat it out.
Osas stood up on the table, his leg out spread
"SHUT UP!" He pointed at him, "You are gonna give us good scores and take 'em to the senate, in place of those lost lecturers, whether you like it or not. And when I mean us, I mean we all! All students at UNIVERSITY OF PORT-TOWN!
"BULL-"
"YE-AH!!!!"
The crowd cut her short.
Osas raised his arm, and the noise ceased. His eyes met with a student, chewing relentlessly on cheese balls from a transparent nylon bag. Then it hit him, he hadn't eaten since yesterday evening.
"But for now," he said less loudly someone would have to go out and buy food for the-"
"Osas, if I may interrupt." It was the Phone sniper.
"Go ahead, bro." Said Osas, so the man went up the stage, "I saw Vic again this evening."
The crowd went up in a mutter.
"What?? And what did you do?"
"I-I sniped his phone."
"Aaaaaaaaaaa" the crowd explained.
"Silence!" Osas shouted, "Come, why didn't you bring him in?"
"Not possible sir, he was with that one girl, the one that annihilated our comrades at the old shopping district."
Osas frowned, while the crowd got louder.
"Fellow comrades."
…
"Who knows who that girl is?"
None among the followers could confirm, as Vivian was invisible to them. She moved in and out of places like she was a ghost, there was nothing particular about her.
'damn your luck, Vivian, you really don't exist to these people do you?' Bimbo smiled to herself as she thought.
"I see, in that case, someone from here would have to monitor Manic Vic's movement, to be sure he doesn't do anything against our freedom. Do not give him any chances"
YES; THAT'S RIGHT - the crowd answered
"Now, onto other matters…"
Things weren't looking sunny for Vic, the most wanted in school, and what about Vivian 'annihilating' people?
Bimbo looked about, her heart uneasy. She had to devise a way out of there. Most students left the hall, leaving it partially empty. Osas sat on stage, his hands over his head, as if he was sleeping. Two students stood in front of Bimbo, one holding a bag of cheese balls.
"Hey, baby! Thanks for the lunch, you hear? Real good stuff."
"You, it's everything that you see you'll eat. Who eats unbranded cheese balls?? What is the source?"
Bimbo remained silent.
"Hey! I don't judge you when you eat all sorts from all those mallams. Just mind your business and leave me be–"
The one with the cheese-balls held his stomach.
"What?"
The bag fell from his hand as he hugged his torso
"Bernard!"
"EEEEIIII! MY BELLEH OO!"
He ran towards the exit, pushing away people in front of him, and busted out of the hall. He pushed down a lady with a bucket of fried buns, she fell and yelled-
"Aah! Brother Bernard! What is wrong with you?"
The contents of her bucket spilled everywhere on the floor, rendering the buns useless.
That didn't stop some students from stealing them off the floor. They picked up the buns in front of the confused lady, her day was just ruined.
But in all of these, Bimbo remained silent.