"WHERE IS EVERYONE?" Dexter wondered, kicking over a rock into one of the gaping black pits in the sidewalk. It tumbled down, but there was no sound to indicate when it hit the floor. Dexter gulped.

"Let's not go near that," Theo suggested, dragging him away by the collar.

"I mean, where the hell are we, let alone everyone else," Paris threw up his hands, plopping down on an overturned fire hydrant. "Do you think I could take this home with me?"

"Focus, idiots and Dexter," Xandra snapped her fingers, pacing along the sidewalk. "We have to figure out where we are."

They had walked down the several flights of stairs to Esmeralda's lobby. Paris shoved Theo out the door to make sure the air was safe, then bounced out after him, instantly heading for the biggest black hole he could find. After a few minutes of exploring the block Esmeralda's building was on, they regrouped before the main entrance, careful to not sit on any glass.

"Everything looks exactly the same as our New York. Just... destroyed," Dexter reported. "It looks like some sort of giant earthquake struck."

"Or the Maze Runner is coming to life," Paris chimed, digging through the debris that was gathered at the foot of his fire hydrant.

"But we couldn't have slept through an earthquake, could we?" Dexter was still talking, almost to himself, running over the thousands of possibilities in his head. He paced back and forth, muttering to himself. "And where would all the people have gone. There would be bodies, if there were any dead. Plus, Esmeralda's apartment was clean, so it happened a good while after the party... At least three hours..."

Theo was watching the skyline, eyes narrowed. "I think I see a pigeon."

Xandra frowned, lost in her own thoughts, too. She was no genius, and she didn't expect to figure this out, but if she didn't try to find a solution, she thought she might go crazy. Already the aftereffects of the party were wearing off; panic was creeping up on her like a shadowy beast, and she felt her heart kick up in speed. She had no idea how to handle this situation.

Paris wasn't handling the situation at all. He was waving a pipe through the air like a lightsaber, making sound effects with his lips, his knee bouncing like a race car engine.

"Could you cut that out?" Xandra snapped. "You're being obnoxious."

Paris looked affronted. "Excuse me, I'm practicing the Jedi arts."

She narrowed her eyes. "I don't think idiots can become Jedi, dumbass."

"Know, you would not," Paris did his best Yoda voice. "Dumbass also, you are."

"God, I hope you fall into one of those pits."

"I'll come back with a new sense of my past," Paris said sagely. "Haven't you seen the movies?"

"Those movies were trash."

He gasped loudly. "You're trash!"

"You're just a little baby who can't handle your emotions, so you're resorting to jokes," Xandra retorted. "Grow up."

"Oh, and you're doing so well at handling your emotions," he mocked, bowing low. "All hail Queen of Emotional Sensitivity! Tell me, how's suffocating your depression going?"

She clenched her jaw. "You little dick. What's it like coming from the country with the ugliest men?"

"France has prettier girls, at least. What are you supposed to be, a goth tree?"

"Just because your male ego is threatened by women taller than four foot zero--"

"My male ego is threatened by your ugly face!"

"You're the reason why there are lesbians."

"You're the reason why mothers hate their children!"

Xandra snarled. "You're the reason why little boys die of cancer."

There was a heavy, horrible silence.

She hadn't really known what that meant, if she was going to be honest. She could only recall one of their Algebra classes, when they were watching a dumb YouTube video about the quadratic formula. One of the ads had been about St. Jude's, the cancer outreach, and Paris had blanched pale, pale white. It had stuck out in her mind because she had wondered if anybody actually bought this cheesy crap.

Well, whatever that memory had triggered, Xandra regretted saying it.

She barely had time to register as Paris lunged at her, screaming at the top of his lungs, the metal scrap of pole in his hands aiming to club her across the face.

Xandra put her hands up to block the pipe, to keep it away from her face, but found her hand gripping his wrist instead, much faster than she ever thought she could move.

A lucky grab, because instead of where the pipe had been, now a crackling white blade was scraping her ear, slicing a chunk of her hair off. It dug into the building behind her, brushing past her neck, nearly hilt-deep in the stone.

They froze. Xandra's eyes were wide, panting, her heart bursting with adrenaline. Paris was shaking, his eyes murderous.

"What. The. Fuck." Theo choked from somewhere behind.

All Paris could see was that white, thrumming sword. It looked like... well, it looked like a lightsaber. It was a long, thin blade, flat like a pirate's cutlass, but radiating a deadly energy. And it was hovering right by Xandra's jugular vein. In the harsh light that his sword shed, he could see it pulsing in time with her fear.

"Don't ever, ever say that shit to me again," he growled, pressing the blade closer.

Xandra ducked, inhumanely fast, and was behind him in less than a blink. Her boot dug into his back as she kicked him down.

"Don't try to kill me," she spat back.

"Are we the fucking Incredibles?" A few feet away, Theo examined his hands, eyes huge. "What's my superpower? Can I fly?"

He jumped, and hit the ground. Hard.

"Nope," he groaned.

Dexter's brain was whirring at incomprehensible speeds. "It's like... a simulation or-- or-- virtual reality. Wherever we are, it's not real. It can't be."

Paris swung his blade out of the wall, slicing up Esmeralda's building with gusto. A huge slab of it fell to the ground, shattering. He spun around, sweat plastering his hair to his forehead, grinning almost manically. 

Xandra touched her neck.

"I like this place," he declared, hopping onto a fallen column. He jumped off and sliced a stop sign mid-air, watching it slide to the ground and crash on the sidewalk with satisfaction. "Boom. Jedi."

"So, you're is the Flash," Theo pointed at Xandra, and she shrugged. He turned to Paris. "Rome--" 

"Paris." 

"--is Luke Skywalker--"

"I prefer Obi Wan, actually," Paris interjected.

"Okay, England. What does that make me and Dexter?"

"Toto and Princess Leia," Xandra said dryly.

"Oh." He leaned over to Dexter, who was lost in thought. "Can I be Toto?" 

Dexter, who wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention, was still thinking about alternate realities and the chances of being put into a Matrix-like simulation. He didn't hear anything at all.

"Okay, great," Theo gave him a thumbs up, then returned to the group. "So, I'm Toto. Dex is the Princess. Where's the Scarecrow and Darth Dorothy?"

"I don't think you've seen either of those movies," Paris said skeptically.

Dexter suddenly jolted up, eyes large and alert, hair rumpled. "We should go."

"What? Go where?" Xandra demanded. "We can't just leave here, we don't know if it's safe."

"Trust me, anywhere else is safe," he pressed, brow knitting with worry. "Please, let's get out of here."

"Hell no, I'm not leaving!" Paris protested. "We don't know what's out there!"

"We can't stay here, I have a really bad feeling about this!" Dexter insisted, tugging on Theo's wrist. "Please, Theo, you have to trust me. We shouldn't be here."

He gave him a once-over. "I don't know..."

"Please!" he begged. "I don't-- we shouldn't--"

"Hey, lover boy, is that your pigeon you were talking about?" Paris pointed to the sky.

A small black dot was growing closer and closer, the obvious shape of wings beating above its head. It was vaguely bird-shaped, but as it grew closer, Dexter could make out a scaled underbelly, a soft black fleshy mass for a back, and wings that looked as if they were made out of human hair.

"That's not a fucking pigeon," Xandra blurted.

"No fucking shit," Paris snapped.

"Can we go now?" Dexter whimpered.

"Yeah. Run." Theo agreed.

They ran.

Xandra and Paris sprinted back into the lobby, skidding on gravel and debris. Hearts racing, they crashed behind the check in desk and exchanged terrified looks, their breathing loud and heavy. Paris clenched his pipe in his hand, wondering how exactly to summon his lightsaber back. 

Xandra whipped her head around.

"Where the fuck did Theo and Dexter go?" she hissed.

"I don't know! I don't know! Holy shit, that's a demon, we're gonna fucking die, je savais que je n'aurais pas dû aller à cette fête stupide!"

"What did you say?"

"WE'RE GONNA FUCKING DIE, XANDRA, AND YOU WANT A FRENCH LESSON RIGHT NOW?"

She clapped her hand over his mouth, hissing. "Shh! Shut up! It could hear us."

Something loud crashed, and the shattering of glass twinkled over their ears.

The monster had landed in the lobby. 

Paris stiffened, eyes wide, breath coming in short pants. Xandra ignored him, pressing her hand heavier over his mouth, trying to focus over the thundering of her heart. She would not die like this. 

Footsteps. Loud, clicking, like talons on linoleum. Thud-click.

Thud-click.

Thud-click.

Thud-click. 

Closer...

Closer...

Silence.

It stopped.

Shit.

"RUN!" Xandra screamed, wrenching Paris along with her as she sprinted out from the desk, her legs pushing her forwards faster, faster, faster--

Suddenly Paris' screaming slowed into a dragging, deep roar. The monster's footsteps slowed. Falling glass slowed, hovering in the air, and Xandra stopped, skidding on her heels before she collided with the concrete pillar in front of her. She turned.

The monster was as horrible up close as it was from afar, looming closer in slow-motion. The flesh on its back was smooth and leathery, a horrible black that looked unnatural in every way. It bulged as the monster slowly inched its way forward, one minuscule inch at a time. Its wings were extended, furred and coarse, thousands of threads matted together into a bat-shaped mass.

The eyes were horrible, though. Xandra blanched as she backed away from the beast, closing her own eyes. They were pure white, the horrible white of swollen flesh and waterlogged skin. Red veins bulged at its corners. The image had scorched itself into her retinas. 

Xandra grabbed Paris, who was dragging behind her, still stuck in a falling position. She resisted the urge to slap him while she could, pulling him out the demolished front door, grunting.

"Heavy and ugly," she rolled her eyes, sweating. "Could you be more annoying?"

Finally she got him outside, shoving him into a red pickup truck that was parked outside, stuck in motion. Xandra pulled herself into the front seat. The key dangled in the ignition, left there by a valet who Xandra had yet to see. 

"I'm putting this on my Fast and Furious audition tape," she muttered, flooring the pedal.

The pickup truck blasted off, and everything fell back into speed. Glass shattered against the ground, and the monster bellowed in a ear-piercing shriek. The back of the trunk jolted as Paris landed, face first. 

"Ow, what the fuck?"

"Hold on tight, French Fry," Xandra called. "We're in for a ride."

THEO DIDN'T REALLY FEEL BAD ABOUT LEAVING PARIS BEHIND. Xandra, maybe, but she could handle herself. Even so, he'd take Paris at the moment, since he didn't want to be stuck with the human equivalent of a bag of Scooby Snacks. Dexter was essentially useless, aside from alerting them from the monster in the first place, and now Theo was dragging him around like a stuffed doll.

A huge monster was on their tail. The not-pigeon Theo had seen was somewhere else, presumably hunting down Xandra and Paris, since they had split up. For a moment, when the two of them sprinted for the lobby, Theo thought he and Dexter were safe. 

Nope. 

A massive beast rose from behind a building, crashing through it, and screaming in a horrible shrieking sound at them. Theo screamed with equal gusto and bolted, yanking Dex by the sweater. 

The beast was disgusting. Clumps of tissue grew on its sickly grey hide, which bunched and sagged as the monster ran after them. It looked like it was wearing an elephant's skin over a frame that was horribly misshapen. Its feet were monkey feet, hairy and grabby, pulling down entire columns and knocking buildings unstable. Its face--

Theo gagged. "Don't look at the face!" he yelled. 

Dexter turned. "Huh? HOLY SHIT--" 

"C'mon! Work with me, Thorness!" Theo yelled, leaping over an upside down park bench. Dexter's feet got caught in it, and he tripped, nearly face-planting into the concrete. 

"I'm usually a lot more graceful than this," he commented, untangling his feet. "I did ballet for--" 

"CAN YOU STOP TALKING AND JUST RUN?"

Dexter snapped his mouth shut, chasing after Theo.

They ran for what felt like ages, fear hounding their steps. Something was exploding behind them, but Theo didn't want to look back, terrified that it's face would be right there, wormy and riddled with holes, ready to devour him whole. 

BOOM. The ground shook, and Theo and Dexter were blasted forward a few feet. They stumbled, but kept running. 

"Don't look back!" Theo called again, leaning forward, sweat dripping down his temples as his thigh muscles burned. 

"Yeah, this time I won't," Dexter panted, voice edging on hysteria. 

A few more blocks passed, and Theo's stamina dropped. He staggered forward, still moving, but not at the same speeds he'd reached before. Dexter was heaving, struggling to pull in a full breath, face bright red. 

The monster didn't seem to be behind them, but Dexter's face was still crumpled into that same worried expression he wore when he'd warned them of the beast, so Theo didn't stop. He prayed that Xandra and Paris made it out alive, but he had no heart for heroics.

They would have to save themselves.

"Go, go, go, go, go," he chanted under his breath, dragging himself around those small pits in the sidewalk. "Holy shit, fuck, yep, don't fall, go."

"That's not really helping," Dexter pointed out, breathless behind him.

"You're not really helping either, Princess. So shut up."

"Yes, sir."

They kept going.

Finally, when Theo risked a glance back, Dexter's face had relaxed. Theo dragged both of them into the closest store --a crumbling CVS-- and headed straight for the snack section, stepping around chunks of the demolished building.

"What are we doing?" Dexter whispered.

"Getting food," Theo replied, ripping open a bag of Cheeto Puffs. "I'm stress eating. You should try it."

Dexter shot him a skeptical glance, but took a bag of honey pretzels off the wall, crunching one between his teeth. His heart was still racing, eyes wide and pupils dilated with fear, but that creeping sensation he felt was gone. They were safe, for now.

"We've got to go back and find the others," Theo grunted, sitting down beside him. "Puff?"

Dexter declined. "We should wait a little longer. It still doesn't feel... safe."

"I'm guessing you can see the future. Some sort of crystal ball type shit," Theo mumbled around an orange puff. "Can you tell how Xandra and Paris are?"

"I can try." 

Dexter shut his eyes, straining, eyebrows raised in hope. 

Theo held his breath.

Silence.

He popped one eye open. "I have no idea what I'm doing."

"No shit," he groaned, falling back. "What are we gonna do? We're gonna be lost!"

A shadow fell over them.

"Don't worry. You'll be safe with me."

Theo didn't even have time to scream as a bag wrapped over his head.

author's note! 

i'm struggling with my math homework, and i needed some encouragement/procrastination material, so here's chapter two! early! 

i'll still release three on wednesday, so you won't have to wait until NEXT next week for another update. don't worry <3 but i'm also thinking...

maybe i should post all of part one??? five chapters in one go?? because part two picks up about a few days later, December 7th. maybe i will. hmmm. 

just cause i wanna plan it so that the events that happen on December 11th (aka, the grand finale) happen on December 11th IRL so you guys can be traumatised on this day forever. yk, i'm a good person <3

anyway, lemme know what you think! see you wednesday for real next time