Ava stood there for a long time, just staring at the empty doorway where Nox had disappeared. Her throat still hurt from where his fingers had been, and she could feel the bruises already forming. She'd thought her dramatic speech would at least get through to him somehow. Make him realize he was being an idiot. Instead, he'd grabbed her by the throat and then just walked away like she wasn't even worth killing.
'Well, shit,' she muttered, rubbing her neck.
"Is he... is he really gone?" asked the blonde girl from the gym, who had cautiously followed them out into the hall.
"Looks like it," Ava said, still staring at the doorway.
The jock, Jax, had finally managed to get his girlfriend sitting up against the wall. Diana was groggy, blinking slowly and touching the side of her head where a nasty bruise was forming.
"What happened?" Diana asked, her voice slurred. "Everything's spinning."
"We got our asses kicked," Jax said, his voice rough from being strangled. "Then some guy showed up and saved us. Then he left."
"Some guy?"
"Yeah, skinny kid who looks like he could bench press a car. Makes no sense."
Ava walked back over to them. "His name is Nox. He goes to school here."
"Never heard of him," Diana said, trying to focus her eyes.
"Most people haven't. He's one of those kids who just fades into the background." Ava looked back at the empty doorway one more time. "Well, he used to be anyway."
There were four other students still alive from the gym massacre. The blonde girl, two guys who looked like basketball players based on their height, and another girl who was maybe a sophomore. They all looked shell-shocked and lost.
"So what do we do now?" one of the basketball players asked, his voice shaking slightly.
Ava looked around the gym at all the dead monsters and, worse, the dead students. The place was a complete disaster. Blood everywhere, broken equipment, massive holes in the walls. The smell was overwhelming, death and burnt fur and fear all mixed together.
"We can't stay here," she said. "More of those things could show up any minute."
"Where can we go though?" the blonde girl asked. "Those monsters are everywhere. We heard them in the halls."
"I don't know yet. But we need to find somewhere defensible and figure out what's happening to us."
Diana was testing her telekinesis by making a basketball float in the air. It was wobbly and she looked like she was concentrating really hard, but it was working.
"I can still do it," she said, a little bit of confidence returning to her voice. "The mind thing. It's not as strong as before, but it's there."
"Good," Ava said. "We're going to need every advantage we can get."
Jax tried to stand up and almost fell over immediately. His face went pale and he was shaking badly.
"Take it easy," Ava said, moving to help him stay upright. "You look like death."
"I feel worse than that. That golden power really messed me up when it left."
"What was that anyway? Where did it come from?"
"Some voice in my head offered me a deal," he said, rubbing his forehead like he had a migraine. "Power in exchange for serving someone's interests. I was desperate, so I said yes."
"And now?"
"Now the voice is gone and I feel like I got hit by a train. Multiple trains." He looked down at his hands. "I'm still stronger than I used to be, I think, but nothing like what I had with that golden light."
"Think it'll come back?"
"No idea. The voice hasn't said anything since."
Ava thought about Nox and his system messages. He'd mentioned stats and levels, like this was all some kind of game. Maybe that's what was happening to all of them. Maybe they were all getting powers, but in different ways. Some got systems, some got sponsors, some just got raw abilities.
"We should get moving," she said. "Find somewhere we can rest and plan our next move."
"What about him?" the blonde girl asked, pointing at the door Nox had gone through. "Should we try to find him?"
"No," Ava said quickly, remembering the feeling of his hand on her throat. "Trust me, we're better off without him."
Even as she said it though, she couldn't help thinking about how easily he'd killed that huge Alpha monster. How he'd just punched its head clean off like it was nothing. Having that kind of power on their side would be incredibly useful.
But he'd made his choice, and she'd made hers. She wasn't going to abandon people who needed help just because it was easier.
"Come on," she said to the small group. "Let's see if we can find a way out of here."
As they started gathering what few supplies they could find - water bottles from the gym's vending machine that was miraculously still standing, a first-aid kit from the coach's office, some protein bars - Ava couldn't shake the feeling that they were making a mistake. Not staying to help these people, but letting Nox walk away.
Something told her they were going to need him before this was over, whether they liked it or not.
---
Nox moved through the wrecked hallways, his boots crunching on broken glass and debris. Ava's words kept buzzing in his head like an annoying fly he couldn't swat.
'You're just dangerous and useless.'
He almost laughed out loud. 'Useless? I'm the only one here actually doing something productive.' He was clearing the dungeon, getting stronger, surviving. That was the opposite of useless.
'These people are going to die, and you don't give a damn because what, some kids were mean to you?'
His jaw clenched. She had no idea what it was like. Years of it, every single day. The pushing, the mockery, the complete invisibility except when someone needed entertainment. Mark's face flashed in his mind, then Ms. Joy's fake sympathy that was worse than outright cruelty.
'No one gave a damn about me then. Why should I care about them now?'
He rounded a corner and saw part of the ceiling hanging by electrical wires. He walked right under it without hesitation. With his enhanced stats, he could dodge if it fell.
'You think you're so much better than everyone now that you have powers.'
'Better? No. Stronger? Absolutely.' And strength was all that mattered now. The weak died, the strong survived. Simple math that even Ava should understand.
'What happens when you run into something you can't handle alone?'
He stopped for a second, considering that. Then shook his head. 'That's what getting stronger is for. So I never need anyone's help again.' Depending on others was weakness. The whole point of this system was to become self-sufficient.
He kicked a chunk of concrete out of his path, sending it flying down the hall.
Why should he care about them? They were the same people who'd watched him suffer and done nothing. Now that the tables were turned, they wanted his help? The hypocrisy was almost funny.
He kept moving, but then stopped at a stairwell. He looked down the hallway toward the main entrance, then turned and went up the stairs instead.
He wasn't going back for them. Definitely not. He was heading to the upper floors, toward his old classroom. He wanted to stand in that room where he'd been weakest, where everything had started. Not as a victim anymore, but as a predator. He needed to see it, to feel the difference.
This wasn't about them. This was about him.
As he climbed the stairs, taking them three at a time with his enhanced strength, he heard something from above. Voices, panicked and young.
"Get back! Get away from us!"
He recognized that voice. 'Kendra from my class. The loud one.'
He moved up more quietly now, peering around the corner of the landing. Four girls from his grade were backed into a corner by three of those dog creatures. Kendra was holding a broken piece of metal pipe like a weapon. Emilia, the nervous smart one, was hiding behind her. Masha, the quiet observer. And Yeda, who was basically invisible even on good days.
They were about to die.
"Kendra, do something!" Emilia yelled, pressing against the wall.
"I'm trying!" Kendra shot back, swinging the pipe at a dog that got too close. "But there's three of them!"
One of the dogs lunged. Kendra swung hard, connecting with its head, but the creature just shook it off and kept coming.
'They're dead in about ten seconds,' Nox thought. 'Not my problem.'
But then he thought about it more. These weren't the popular kids who'd tortured him. These were the other invisibles, the ones who kept their heads down just like him. Maybe they hadn't helped him, but they hadn't hurt him either.
Plus, having more people who owed him their lives might be useful later.
He walked out from behind the corner.
"You guys having trouble?"
All four girls whipped their heads around, eyes wide with shock and relief.
"Nox!" Yeda breathed, looking like she might cry.
The three dogs turned to face him, growling in unison.
"You guys are a mess," he said, taking a step forward.
Kendra, still holding her bent pipe, glared at him. "Yeah well, we were doing fine until these things showed up."
"Looks to me like you were about to be lunch."
Before anyone could respond, he charged.
The first dog didn't even have time to react. His fist connected with its skull, and the creature flew backward into the wall with a wet crunch. It slid down leaving a red streak and didn't move.
The second one tried to jump him from the side. He caught it by the throat one-handed, lifted it off the ground, and slammed it into the floor so hard the tiles cracked. The sound its spine made was definitive.
The last one, seeing its packmates destroyed, actually tried to run.
Bad choice.
Nox grabbed it by its hind legs and simply pulled in opposite directions. The creature tore in half with a sound like ripping wet fabric.
The hallway went silent except for the sound of blood dripping onto the floor.
He stood there for a second, then wiped his hands on his already ruined pants. He turned to look at the four girls, who were staring at him with expressions of pure shock mixed with horror.
"See?" he said, a small smirk on his face. "Problem solved."