One thing she noticed almost immediately –as she sprinted by opening doors and confused students– was that there were no teachers in sight. Clearly they have something to do with this, she remembered Mrs. Randell's strange expression.
She skidded to a halt in B-hall, trying to avoid crashing into the crowd of people in front of her—the hallway was getting cramped with classes pouring out of the rooms.
"Saphris?" She called out frantically, rising on the balls of feet to look over the crowd.
"Saphris, where are you?" Dylan didn't bother looking in the right side of the hall, knowing that her friend had English for 7th period.
"Dylan?" Came the anxious response. She sighed with relief –thank god she's okay– and pushed her way through the throng of other students. "What are you doing here? I thought you had Band this period?" Saphris asked when she reached her. The other girl had her phone out, and from what she could tell, there was a multitude of messages that Saphris had tried to send to her mother. "Did you hear the announcement? What the hell–"
"There's no time," Dylan interrupted, glancing around. She eyed the cafeteria entrance, maybe we can cut through there—but to where? There's no way out, she thought, eyes flitting to the school's exit behind Saphris' head. It was also reinforced with shutters—it was obvious that it was covering all of the exits. "We have to get out of here." She continued, grabbing Saphris' hand and pushing her way through to the cafeteria.
"What? Do you know what's happening?"
"Nope! But I'm sure as shit not staying here and getting trampled by this mob when the monsters show up!" She replied, impatient.
"Monsters?!" Saphris squawked, "what the fuck do you mean, monsters?!"
Dylan didn't bother replying, she dragged her friend over to the kitchens and started trying to pull the grate up that closed them off from the rest of the lunchroom. Soon enough the screaming would start again, of that, she was certain. And sure enough…
"Monsters." She said decisively, barely listening to the sounds of mayhem. "Help me get this up—come on, we need to hide!" She hissed, startling Saphris out of her shock.
"Yeah…" she stuttered out shakily, helping her yank the grate up enough for them to slip under it.
It slammed down behind them, and Dylan cringed at the sound.
"Where do we go from here?" Saphris murmured quietly, watching the cafeteria exits through the wiring. It didn't take long for people to start pouring into the lunch room, sprinting away from the danger.
"I don't know," Dylan whispered, pulling Saphris further into the kitchen. She didn't want anyone seeing them and thinking it was a good hiding spot too, it'd draw too much attention. "But there's gotta be somewhere to hide back here…"
There weren't as many emergency lights in the kitchen, and it was getting more difficult to see. They walked past stainless-steel tables and shelves, trying to keep their footsteps muted. "What about the cabinets?" Saphris suggested, pointing at a couple on the other side of the room. "Those look big enough for two."
"I hope so," Dylan muttered, walking over to the largest one and kneeling down next to it. She opened it, finding it split in half by wired shelving. "Here, help me with this." She asked, pulling the bags of ground beef off the shelves so she could move them.
"Ugh, no wonder the school food's shit. It's all just this processed crap." Saphris muttered, grabbing the bags and putting them on the counter before pausing.
Dylan stopped. "What?" She asked, glancing up at her friend, uneasy.
"Maybe we should put these somewhere else?" Saphris suggested slowly, glancing around at the other prep tables. "This place is already clean—this would be the only food sitting out…" she trailed off.
"Meaning it'd be like a beacon, showing anyone that comes back here exactly where we are." Dylan finished, understanding what her friend was getting at. "Okay, so what if we shove them in the other cabinets? Anywhere we can find space?" Saphris nodded, grabbing the bags and stowing them in other cabinets—fumbling every now and then.
"Where do I put these?" Dylan asked, pulling the shelving out.
"Maybe underneath?"
"Oh, good idea," she commented, sliding it underneath the cabinet—it was hidden perfectly. "Come on," she gestured, and crawled into the dark space.
Saphris clambered in; adjusting themselves until they were sitting with knees pressing against their chests. They pulled the doors shut, the seals trapping them in total darkness.
Dylan shifted, pulling her phone from her pocket. "Do you think anyone would be able to see it if I turned on a flashlight?" She whispered.
"Probably not?" Saphris murmured hesitantly, "the doors had seals on them, and we can't see the emergency lights. So I think it's safe…"
"True," Dylan answered, switching on her phone's flashlight and setting it in between them.
The angle was awkward, but it illuminated their faces just enough for Dylan to see the anxiety in Saphris' expression. She sighed, resting her head against the wall, relieved that they were at least somewhat safe for the time being. She felt so drained…
"Hey, don't fall asleep now!" Saphris whispered, sounding even more freaked out. Dylan opened her eyes, not even realizing she shut them. "What the fuck is happening out there? You said there were monsters! And what the hell was that announcement?! You clearly know more than I do right now—so fucking spill it!"
"I don't know, Saphris!" She hissed back. "Everything was normal until the floor started shaking and Mrs. Randall left while acting all weird, and then the next thing we knew the lights went off and that dude started talking over the intercom—and then there was this fucking kid—and then Genna fucking melted!" By the end of it, she was panting, shaking with the memory of Genna's skull grinning right at her.
Saphris stared at her dumbfounded. "Melted? What do you mean, melted?"
Dylan gave her a flat look. "Exactly what I mean. A crying little kid just appeared in the Band hall, and when Genna went over to him and hugged him—she fuckingmelted. Like, full on: skin dripping, flesh falling off, bones clattering at the end—melted." She almost gagged at the thought, not wanting to remember it again.
Her friend didn't know what to make of it, shaking her head, terrified. "How is that possible?" She asked, disbelieving.
"I don't know!" Dylan had to fight to keep her voice a whisper. "It just did. And when everyone started running, those shutters came down over the exits; there's no way out…" despair creeped into her voice. "And then I heard more screams coming from the choir hall, so I ran. My first thought was to find you. I had to make sure you were safe." She sighed, squeezing her eyes shut.
"I was so grateful when I found you." And if her voice sounded watery to their ears, Saphris didn't comment on it.
"Thank you," Saphris murmured seriously. "Thank you for thinking of me—for finding me."
"Always." Dylan answered, wiping her blurry eyes. "…But I don't know how long we'll be safe for. Who knows how long we could be stuck here for."
"I tried to text my mom, but nothing would go through." Saphris said, pulling her phone out to show her the failed messages. "I thought she might know what was happening…" She trailed off, worrying her lip. Dylan's brows furrowed as she read the messages, and she glanced at the top of the screen: no service.
"People around me tried calling 911—you're supposed to be able to call them even in situations like these, but even that wasn't getting through." She grabbed her phone –leaving the flashlight on– and pulled up the phone app, dialing it for herself.
The screen flashed red, and an error message appeared in the center of it: ERROR: Unauthorized Connection. She flipped the phone around to show Saphris, accidentally blinding herself in the process.
"Unauthorized connection? What the hell? Does it do that for all calls?"
"I don't know," Dylan replied, baffled by the message herself. I knew the others were saying it was showing an error code, but this was what they were seeing…?
"I'm gonna try calling mom. I couldn't really earlier with how loud it was." Saphris said, clicking on the call button on her mother's icon. It hadn't even rung once before the same message popped up on her screen. "Fuck."
"This isn't normal. Why isn't it saying 'Call Failed'?" Dylan questioned, putting her phone down again so the flashlight would shed light on them both. "None of this makes sense."
Saphris shrugged, tearing up and clutched her knees closer to herself. Goosebumps had started prickling her skin.
It took Dylan a moment to realize that it wasn't necessarily fear that was causing her skin to raise, but rather the cold. She hadn't even noticed it in their hurry to create a hiding spot. Cold storage, right.
"God, I hate the fucking cold." Saphris mumbled, curling in on herself even more. Dylan was surprised she could feel it through the two long sleeves she had on, but her friend was always way thinner than her.
"I mean, with the power out, it should warm up soon… with us both in here and all." She commented, trying to keep Saphris from spiraling even more.
"…How long do you think it'll be before they notice we're trapped…?" Saphris whispered feebly. Dylan knew she was talking about her parents.
"It was the end of 7th period when this shit happened. It won't take them long before they notice something's wrong." She said logically, trying to convince herself at the same time. "Besides, your dad is pretty overprotective—I'd give it an hour at most." She continued, trying to lighten the mood slightly.
Saphris' look said she noticed and did not care for it at that moment. At least we're safe. That's all that matters right now.