Chapter 2.

The front gate was closed, as expected, with the bigger than necessary learning place loomed a few meters away. Nikola stopped by the communication panel by the side of the iron bars, putting his school card by the scanner. With a low sound, a stylized smiling face appeared in the small screen, it’s artificial voice coming out of the speaker with out of place cheerfulness.

-Good morning Nikola Schneider from 3A! You are late!

-I know, sorry. May I come in, ARC? – it was embarrassing to bargain with the school’s IA, but he was too out of shape to jump over the fence… And it would be easily detected anyway – I overslept with an awful nightmare, made me lose breath and all, I swear.

-Oh my, good heavens! This sounds serious. You should come on in, take your classes and pass by the infirmary later on. I will open the gates for you. – and so the robot did, adding something extra before leaving – By the way, report your late arrival to your class representative: don’t worry, you are in no trouble.

Even if the robot said so, he knew that his human colleagues would be much less tolerant of his late arrival, after all, this wasn’t a one thing only. School was hard enough with everyone left on the same class, imagine if he would be held back as the only person left in the place? He would simply drop it, and his colleagues would never tolerate such thing. He sighted heavily and he entered and walked towards the main building, already imagining the barrage they would throw at him.

“Darn it.”, chastised himself, again, “I really should have skipped today…”.

The hallways were cold and empty, at least brighter than most places… For the most part, as the third floor, where his class was, one of the examples where most of the place was either shady or completely dark. And why nobody changed the lights? Simple: how change something that they had a shortage of? Even when the Central Administration was able to produce new light bulbs or sticks, there were more urgent places in need of these.

It was kinda cool at some aesthetic level: the only highschoolers left had the darkest and eeriest floor all for themselves. If only there were younglings to scare off with gossips and ghost stories. Alas, no luck: now-a-days children were a double-digit number at the station… And dropping.

But at the same time, just like that, it was the darkest and eeriest floor of the main building. Mixing it with the lack of people and the usually dead quietness, it could make you get nervous quite fast. The journey from the access stairs to his class should have been short, but for some reason, the corridors were all pitch black, making Nikola quite uncomfortable. Walking in complete darkness? Maybe not his first time, but them again, it was never something with he enjoyed, specially now that his parents were…

Nevermind. It was this kind of situation that the station’s official reports that often leaked (most likely, were unable to be kept in secrecy with the lack of manpower) showed when someone simply went missing, or would show up… Dead and twisted. He gulped some saliva, weighing his options. Maybe nothing was happening: maybe a power-shortage or the suffering lights finally given up, right? He’s classmates would be in classroom, or maybe in another classroom even, since there was no point (or security for that matter) in staying in the literal blackness when there was better classes to be, right?

Or maybe… Whatever was out there, finally got inside and...

No, no, no, no… This would not be case right? All of them, at once? This would be, impossible, right? No, it couldn’t be. It wasn’t the case, for sure.

But them… Why Nikola was stalling? If it was so simple and safe, why wait by the stairs?

“It scares you, don’t?”, that voice again. That strange voice, right behind him, as he looked in the never-ending dark fall of certain oblivion, “Are you truly alone, Nikola?”, he needed to be, he must be, otherwise… Otherwise…

No! He was alone! Alone and safe! There was nothing to grab him and make him simply vanish. Now, more than ever, he remembered what he wanted: he simply wanted to be, no matter if this meant drudging by the silent dark streets, no matter if meant fighting more and more for scraps, and no matter if all he was able to see was the occasional lamppost or lightbulb that shined in the middle of nothingness. As the days of Brahe Station grew increasingly dimmer and solitaire, he didn’t care to be the last person alive, as long as he was that: alive.

“Walk you idiot, what are you waiting for?”, it was easier to tell himself that than actually do it. Maybe he just should head back the way he came and jump over the gate? Yes. Runaway from school, once and for all. Nobody would care if they were all gone right? Mayhe if he just stayed under his bed sheets, maybe the things in the dark wouldn’t find him, right? No, this was stupid: a lot of people went away just like that. Maybe this would make him more inviting even? Maybe he should sleep without bedsheets at all!

And them it grabbed his sides, from behind, like talons on his ribs. Nikola jumped forward, screaming, falling on the floor and feeling the pain hitting from everywhere. He quickly turned over, laying on his back, arms already finding ground to try get up. It was a silhouette, looming over him, getting closer and closer, a deep breathing echoing lowly; he saw what maybe were arms, raised highly, probably carrying heavens know what to have touched him in such way. He moved backwards as best as he could, but the thing just got closer, and closer, as his eyes watered and his voice was lost. Maybe his dream was a omen: right now, in this complete darkness, the few things he could somewhat discern came to bring him into the emptiness of… Of death? Did it finally come for him? His time to go? Would his body be found later on? Or maybe he would never be found, the only acknowledgment of his disappearance being some strange pattern on the rations he received by the Administration, as they would simply pile up to be collected and would never be. At least nobody would starve, right? Even if the food was godawful.

He felt it: it was ready to pounce, end his existence right them and there. These few precious seconds seemed to last longer than they should, and he remembered a lot in these very few seconds. He also questioned a lot: had he lived well enough? What was like on the other side? Was there even a other side? If there wasn’t, then what? No… No, he didn’t want to go. He tried to find his strength to kick, but all he felt was a paralyzing trembling of the legs, and just as he maybe was recovering from the fright enough to at least try to crawl away, it was there: sudden and strong brightness, right in front of him, blinding him as he rushed a hand to protect his face as he looked away.

His eyes closed for a second, and the deep breathing from the silhouette stopped. He opened them, turning his face and lowering his hand as his eyes grew familiar with the localized light at his front.

It was a flashlight, and he knew it because all he could see looming on top of him was a face. A know human face, of a girl, smiling mischievously at him, pretty eyes looking downwards, as just one hand remained raised high, trying to look like a claw, its fingers looking like hooks, ready to tear, while long black hair fell freely around her.

She gave a little giggle, and her pretty pink lips parted, a soft lovable voice coming out with proudness.

-Foouunndd yooouuu~…

Then she giggled again and fixed her posture, turning off the flashlight.

Nikola was dumbfounded: he just stared forwards, unable to clearly see her legs other than the shape they made with the small light that come from…Somewhere.

She was alive.

Haha.

Thank heavens they all were alive.

He felt the weight of his body hit him like a truck, his arms giving up and now he just lied on the floor, trying to calm himself from the from everything that just had happened so fast and so… Unfounded. Should he cry of joy, or nervousness? Should he shout of anger or relief? Maybe he just should get up and don’t take that seriously. But no matter what was the right option, it was taken for him faster than he could choose, as he felt a small kick on his leg and the girl with a much more normal tone talked again.

-Come on Nikola, you are late. They are mad at you.

“Darn it”, he taught, and chastising himself again for not skipping today.