Free Web NovelChapter 14: Miss Rose
"Those bitches. Can’t believe they left us here."
The boy beside Brandon said as he slid onto the ground. Brandon just stared forward in response, a resigned look on his face.
"There’s no point bothering with them, Kyle. They’re all dead anyway."
Miles paid no heed to those grim words, as he stared dazed at the name on the screen. A sense of relief rushed through him at the sight of Jayce’s name.
His mind caught up less than half a second later, immediately picking it up.
A tense, familiar voice came through before he could speak.
"Miles? Miles, can you hear me?"
His voice sounded normal. Human, in a way the principal’s bland voice could never be. Miles could only hope it meant he wasn’t in cahoots with the man.
"Yeah. I can. Are you alright?"
"I am. I’m fine. Where the hell are you?"
"The gym."
There was a pause on the other side before Jayce replied.
"Good. That’s good. I’m in the cafeteria with some other kids. Listen, you’ve got to get here now, or as soon as you can."
"Why?"
"The pylon. It’s here, it’s in the cafeteria. You need to get to it, kill those things roaming the halls if you can."
"What!? I don’t—"
"Hey, listen. Just trust me. I can’t talk now, but trust me."
"Ok, I will, but what happened to you? I’ve been trying to get to you for hours."
"It’s... it’s been hectic. Listen, a lot of things happened, but I can’t talk right now. Just get to the cafeteria, and no matter what, don’t go to the principal."
There was a click, and the call ended.
Miles looked at the screen before sighing. A mix of relief and frustration went through him as he did so.
’At least he’s safe.’
The call also verified his theory about the principal.
But the call had only left him with more questions than answers. Primary among them was the pylon. He’d already seen it earlier in his stat screen.
The notification still blinked in the corner of his vision.
[Pylon nearby]
He had no idea what it meant exactly.
Searching online hadn’t given him much to work with, either. All he’d gotten was some talk about points, exchange, and upgrading using them.
Pictures that popped up about them showed metallic, vending machine-like objects sitting solemnly in rooms.
He moved to check up on any new information, only to be met with buffering. The internet had been growing increasingly spotty.
The snow had likely started taking its toll on the infrastructure.
’At least we have it better than other states.’
Most essential structures in Nebraska were already hardened against snowstorms, due to their relatively frequent occurrence here.
Even then, it certainly wasn’t prepared for... this.
If even they were struggling this much, he couldn’t imagine what the people in places like Texas were going through.
Sighing once again, he switched off his phone, raising his head to find everyone staring at him.
’Oh.’
The room had already been hollowed out by those who followed Mr. Freeman, and with everyone else waiting in silence for thirty minutes to pass, it was only natural that his actions became much more conspicuous to them.
Still, Miles’s phone hadn’t been on speaker, so he doubted they’d actually heard the conversation proper. Especially over the racket that the heater and the snowstorm outside made.
The first to question him was Mr. Morgan.
"Is that call from Mr. Freeman’s group?"
He asked, mostly resigned; still, there was a twinge of hope lingering in his voice.
Miles only thought about it for less than a second before deciding to come clean. There was really nothing to gain from hiding the info.
"No. It’s from my friend Jayce. He’s in the cafeteria with some others."
Mr. Morgan sighed, looking disappointed. Although he hadn’t expected much, there was still a part of him that hoped he was wrong.
Meanwhile, Miles paused, still feeling the unfamiliar weight of the word ’friend’ on his tongue.
The man continued.
"There are kids in the cafeteria?"
"A few, I think. I couldn’t tell much from the call. There’s also a pylon there; he says we need to get there as soon as possible. And kill as many of those... things as we can."
He caught Brandon giving a slight, approving nod in his peripheral view. Grimm merely squinted, with the remaining students looking confused or interested.
Mr. Morgan, on the other hand, wasn’t all too convinced.
"And how can we trust him? What if he’s the same as the principal?"
Miles pondered a moment before speaking, careful with his words.
"I don’t know. But he sounded normal, human. Also, he warned me about the principal."
Mr. Morgan scratched his forehead in thought before shaking his head.
"Alright, then. We still need to wait for thirty minutes; we can decide on what to do after that."
There was no arguing with that. The room fell back to an uneasy silence as Miles felt the intense stares slowly shift away from him.
He heaved an internal sigh of relief before scanning the tense room once more.
The smell of sweat and blood had reduced with the exodus of students from the room. Even then, it wasn’t completely gone. The pool of blood still left from the previous corpse didn’t help matters, either.
He toyed with his skill again, and just like before, the sight and smell of blood was completely gone. The air smelled fresh, and lightly scented.
Once again, he felt the weight against his mind. Like something was pressuring his skull.
Still, he held himself from impulsively recreating the crow again.
’Miss Rose.’
She was far too heavy.
Yet, it had been so long since he’d last seen her. She’d been fading for a while now, and had completely disappeared once he moved to Nebraska.
As for what she was exactly? She was his teacher, his mentor, and his nanny. Most important of all, she was his friend.
His imaginary friend.
