Monika and I decided that it was the best option for us to break into the school to get the computer that Yuri mentioned beforehand. Jacob and the others would try to stall and fight the LFS that currently guarded the front of the school. 

"Go! We've got this under control!" Jacob exclaimed. 

"What about the girls?" I questioned out of concern for their safety. 

Sayori flashed me a smile. "Noah, you don't have to worry about that." 

She pulled out a pistol and proceeded to deadeye an LFS member from a long distance away. I stared at her in disbelief. 

"Where did you learn to do that?" I asked. 

Sayori shrugged. "There used to be a club for it at school. I told you that you should've joined earlier." 

I rolled my eyes sarcastically, but what about Natsuki? 

I turned to her, but she only gave me a hard look. "You don't have to worry about me, either." 

She cracked her knuckles. "I've taken self-defense classes as a child until recently when my dad forced me to quit. I think I'll be fine." 

I sighed. "Okay then. What about Yu-" 

She cut me off by pulling a knife out of her pocket. That quickly answered my question. 

"Yeah, you should be fine," I said. "Good luck guys!" 

Jacob kicked off the battle by launching a grenade right into the middle of the hoard. A loud explosion completely rocked the area. Monika and I met the hoard, and the two of us easily handled what tried to stop us. However, I didn't want to waste too much ammo, since I still had my shotgun and a pocket knife for backup. 

We made it into the school to see something that shocked us. There were a bunch of people in there that instantly tried to attack us. The difference, however, was that their eyes were glowing a dark shade of red, unlike the others. Monika and I fended them off the best we could. We tried to sneak around to find the back way, but we had to kill a few of them with the knives to try not to make much noise, because there was a lot out here, much more than we can handle with a shotgun and knives.

Once we made it into the commons area, it was pitch black. It seems like the electricity has been cut off. Fortunately, I could use my phone as a flashlight. I pulled it out and looked around us.

I heard Monika stifle a gasp. There seemed to be thousands of the possessed-looking LFS in the school alone. All of them were a good distance away, but we still had to be as quiet as possible. Some of them were drifted off throughout the school, and we took them down pretty easily. We even recognized some of the students.

Monika finished off one by putting him in a chokehold. "I remember him. He was the leader of the debate club." 

"How did that feel?" I asked quietly. 

She smiled. "Great. He was a total jerk." 

I smiled back at her, and I had a thought shortly after. Was the cause of the big slowdown as the days progressed the Third Eye? It only made sense, and the glitches didn't start until recently as well. That didn't matter anymore, though. I had to focus on the task at hand. 

We fought our way to the literature club, but before we entered, I pointed the flashlight through the window. It seemed to be okay, so we entered in. Nobody seemed to be in it, surprisingly. We put down our stuff and sat down on the floor because all of the desks were bloody. There must have been some sort of fight here recently. 

I took a deep breath. "It's okay, everything is gonna be okay." 

Monika and I looked at each other. She pointed to my chest. 

"Looks like you got scratched," she said. "Does it hurt?" 

I looked down and saw what she was talking about. I shrugged. "It stings but it's nothing too bad. I just don't need it to get infected." 

She nodded, and I scanned her up and down. Her shirt was slightly ripped, exposing almost all of her right shoulder. She also had a medium-sized scratch on the left side of her cheek that stretched close to her ear. I sighed.

"We can't sit here for long and risk being cornered," I said. "Let's get going." 

Monika nodded. "I agree. Follow me." 

She led the way, staying pretty close to the walls for the extra stealth. There were a few roamers, but they were all scattered to where we could take them down silently. I found it odd that there were once so many of them, but then they all seemed to disappear. It made me nervous, but Monika continued to lead the way without too much trouble.

I later asked Monika where we were going. 

She sighed. "Towards the basement. I'm pretty sure the computer that Yuri mentioned is stored somewhere in there. It's just the matter of..." 

"Matter of what?" 

"I just have a feeling that it's where the Third Eye is," she said while making eye contact with me. 

"What makes you think that?" 

"Where else would he be? He knows what we're after, so why would he just let us have it?" 

I could tell she was pretty frustrated, so I stopped her. "Hey, do you want a break? I'll take it from here." 

"Sure. Thank you." 

She gave me the flashlight and I took the lead. Monika still proceeded to give me directionssince I of course didn't know the way there. On the way, we were stopped by more and more LFS possessed, but we could fend them off for the time being. We weren't completely sure if we could stop the Third Eye, however. 

I found another staircase leading down. Monika motioned towards it. "It should be down here." 

"Noah!" 

I turned around, and it was Jacob along with the rest of the group. "Jacob! How'd it go?" 

"We managed to fend them off," Natsuki explained. 

"But we believe that they're dividing somehow," Yuri finished. 

I pursed my lips. The only explanation to that was that the Third Eye had to be behind it. So the only was to solve it was to take it straight to the source. I nodded. 

"That settles it then," I concluded. Monika tilted her head. 

"What should we do?" 

Jacob smiled. "The answer's obvious, isn't it?" 

"We take it straight to the magician downstairs," I said. 

---------------------------------------

What we saw at the bottom of the school will probably scar me for the rest of my life. 

The Third Eye was in the very middle of the empty space, floating about ten feet from the air with his arms extended. A green-ish glow was radiating around him. 

"He's absorbing the energy from the game," Monika said with a nervous tone in her voice. 

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked. 

She looked at me with a terrified expression. "He's taking the game's energy and using it to get stronger. If we don't stop him now..." 

Everyone was staring at her. Yuri lowered her gaze and spoke in a very low and quiet tone.

"What happens if we don't?" 

"Then the game crashes, killing everyone, including us, in it," she said. 

Suddenly, a pulse-like boom shook the entire school. All of us stumbled back and fell down against the wall. The game glitched, and for a second, I could see the endless void below that was the game's code. In a split second, however, the game returned back to it's normal state. 

Well, "normal." There was a magician who was taking a psychological horror game and using it to try to destroy it and then take over our own world. 

I knew exactly what was going on, but my mind was trying to tell me that I had to have been in a dream. Just a few days ago, I was living my normal life. 

Now, Jacob and I were in a situation that could alter the entire universe if the Third Eye isn't stopped. 

I took a deep breath. The possessed LFS were guarding the computer, and my mind spun into action. The only way that I could see a chance to get out of this situation was to launch a grenade to blow a hole straight into the middle of the horde. Then, we could save the other one in case we needed it for something a lot bigger. 

I ran the idea through with the group. Jacob seemed to hesitantly agree with it. 

"I see your point," he whispered. "But I feel like the Eye could blast us away at literally any second if we just ignore him." 

"What other choice do we have?" I countered. "I'm not saying that we ignore him, I'm just saying that we have to take care of the horde and take him out before they divide." 

"I think Noah's right," Monika said with a small shrug. "Blast a hole in the middle of the horde and make our way to the Eye." 

"Why not use both grenades?" Natsuki asked. 

I hesitantly shrugged. "That would leave us almost defenseless without any powerful weapons." 

She tilted her head. "When else would we use it?" 

I didn't have an answer. "Do you believe that it's the best option?" 

For a second, I could tell that she began to have second thoughts. "W-Well, I wouldn't exactly take my word for it. It's not like I know anything about what's going on." 

"None of us do," Jacob reassured. 

I continued to look at her, trying to read her thoughts. I knew she wouldn't just throw something out like that without having thought of it beforehand. I nodded and turned to Monika. 

"Let's throw one on both sides of the horde," I finally concluded. "In that case, I say we split into teams of three to even out the battlefield." 

Jacob nodded. "What are the teams?" 

I quickly scanned the group. "Let's make it as even as possible. Me, Natsuki, Monika and you, Sayori and Yuri. What do you think?" 

He nodded again. "Sounds fine to me. Noah, you should try to get to the computer as quick as you can. Monika and Natuski can deal with the horde." 

I twitched my neck. "I'll see what I can do. Jacob, back me up in case things go wrong, alright? If something happens..."

I trailed off, and Natsuki grabbed the sleeve of my arm. "Don't think like that. Nobody is going to die."

I looked at her with a desperate expression. "Alright."

Everyone understood the plan. I stood back up, and they all did the same. Scanning the group one last time, I nodded.

"Do me a favor," I said to them, and I took another deep breath to calm my nerves. "Don't die." 

Jacob smiled. "Wasn't planning on it."

We put the last-second plan into action. Monika and I slung the grenades on the left and right sides of the horde and two huge explosions shook the room. Natsuki and Monika followed me as we charged directly into almost certain death. However, the grenades worked better than I anticipated. Monika and Natsuki began fighting as I kept going forward. 

I trucked, punched, and kicked my way through the horde to get to that computer. I could hear gunshots being fired from Jacob's team, and I could only hope that they were okay. Sayori scared me with that deadeye, so I could actually feel a bit better about them.

Before I knew it, I found my way in front of the computer. I quickly grabbed it without hesitation, but the Eye suddenly appeared right before me. 

"You thought it'd be that easy?" he said. 

I was frozen in fear for a split second, but I quickly snapped myself of it. "No, but I'm not going to go down without a fight." 

I unsheathed the knife I had stored and swung at him without hesitation. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And that's the second part of The Escape! So this is most likely the last part I'll be able to publish until next week. But there's a smallish chance that I could be able to get something out tomorrow, since I have a half day. Yaaaay!

Check out SpadesWatermelonV2 and his AMAZING stories! He is much better at writing than I am, so why not go check his DDLC stories as well? (But don't forget about me)

So that's all I have for now. Later guys!