Arthur Bennett
I stood frozen as my classmates ran for the exits, the gym erupting into chaos around me. I screamed at my legs to move, but they wouldn't. I wasn't alone in my fear. Others were rooted in place, paralyzed by the same terror. My eyes scanned the crowd, once seated calmly on the bleachers, now a frantic mass of students. And then I saw her.Mara. She too was still. Motionless.
My attention was pulled from Mara by a thunderous bang that echoed through the gym. I hadn't noticed, but the remaining teachers had drawn the creature away from where it once stood and were now engaging it in combat. Where Mr. Grant's remains had been left behind, Ms. Blake knelt, green energy pouring from her hands in frantic waves as she screamed and sobbed, trying desperately to breathe life back into what was left of him.
Mrs. Harper, her left arm engulfed in fire and her right brimming with electricity, launched her flame clad fist at the creature. It met her strike with its own contorted limb, parrying the blow and driving multiple barbed goo spikes through her arm.
The goo spread like living wires, binding her limb to its own. Before she could react, another spike shot down into her foot, anchoring her to the ground. The creature raised its free arm, reshaping it into a jagged spike aimed straight for her chest.
But before the blow could land, Ms. Martinez appeared at its flank in a blur, her fist crashing into the creature with such a force it was sent sliding halfway across the gym dragging Mrs. Harper's severed arm with it.
She let out a bloodcurdling scream, a sharp contrast to the shrill laugh the creature let out as his slide came to a halt. He released the spike, letting Mrs. Harper's severed arm fall to the ground with a disgusting plop. His eyes swept the gym as he chuckled and spoke.
"Ugh… it seems I've let too many of you leave. I can't have all of my hostages running away, hahaha."
As he finished speaking, a stream of goo just like the one he used to sever Mrs. Harper's arm, Rushed toward the remaining students in the bleachers. Toward us.
I flinched, instinctively stepping back into the bleacher behind me. My foot slipped, and I tumbled backward, my head cracking against the hard plastic. Dazed, I struggled to get to my feet. When I looked up, the entire set of bleachers was sealed off encased by a wall of semi transparent black goo.
As the creature no, he had a voice. A presence. Not like a wild animal.The man stood distracted, staring at us like fish in a tank, unaware of Mr. Smith conjuring something behind him. In one hand, Mr. Smith held a long sewing needle. In the other, a length of ruby string.
Mr.Smith shouted across the gym towards Ms.Blake "Ms. Blake! He's gone. You need to pull yourself together... now. or we're not making it out of this alive."
Ms. Blake didn't move at first. The green glow from her hands began to falter, flickering like a dying flame. Then she spoke.
"I know... I know he's gone. I just..."She inhaled sharply, forcing the words out. "Fine. I'm good now."
She rose from the ground, her clothes and hands stained red.
"Good" Mr.Smith said The needle and thread in his hands began to move. The ruby string shone in the air as the needle shot toward Mrs. Harper's severed arm, piercing the flesh and weaving an intricate pattern along the stump. Then, with a sharp turn, the needle flew across the gym back towards Mrs. Harper herself, piercing the exposed nub where her arm had once been.
It danced again, stitching a mirrored pattern into the raw skin. With the thread now connecting both ends, the severed arm launched through the air and reattached with a wet snap locking into place as if it had never been severed.
"About damn time. Do you have any idea how much it hurts to have a limb severed?" Mrs. Harper muttered, letting out a relieved sigh. She flexed her fingers, rotating her reattached arm with a pained grimace."Hey, goo guy. Next time, take the non dominant arm. How am I supposed to sign autographs when I get out of here?"
The man let out another sharp laugh "That false bravado will only carry you so far… Firecracker. And you, Seamstress I'm sure there's a limit to how many times you can pull that little party trick."
Ms. Blake raised one hand toward Ms. Martinez and the other toward Mrs. Harper. From her palms, a wave of green energy radiated outward, enveloping the two women in a soft green glow.
Before the man could process what had happened, Ms. Martinez vanished from view, moving faster than my eyes could follow. In an instant, she reappeared behind him and struck. The impact launched him through the air, hurtling toward the barrier he had erected. Tendrils of goo extended from the surface, trying to dampen the blow but even with their help, the barrier shuddered and waned, its edges pulsing as if straining to hold the force of the impact.
It was hard to believe that kind of power had come from someone so small. Ms. Martinez didn't look like much, but in that moment, her strength felt unrivaled.
As the man began to regain his composure, Ms. Martinez and Mrs. Harper were already sprinting toward him coordinated, ready to strike . Mrs. Harper reached him first, her fist wreathed in fire as she swung with everything she had. The man shifted, bracing himself to counter once again. As their arms collided, the familiar goo spikes lashed out toward her arm. But this time, the flames surrounding her burned brighter, hotter than before. The spikes withered on contact, turning to brittle carbon and crumbling to ash as they passed.
He dodged just barely, leaving a streak of pale white skin visible in his monstrous form.
Her punch, missing its target, slammed into the barrier behind him. The impact burned a hole through the goo, flames hissing and popping against the edges. For a brief moment, light streamed in from outside. But the opening didn't last. Tendrils snapped back into place, sealing the gap in seconds.
Behind me, one of the students stared at the spot where the barrier had weakened. He crept toward the edge of the barrier, where the goo looked thinnest, less reinforced. With a long breath, he raised his hand and summoned a small flame, pressing it slowly into the weakened wall, trying to burn through.
Multiple students quickly followed after him, moving down the bleachers toward the corner. I inched forward slowly, careful not to draw attention to myself. I stayed a bit behind him, close enough to see what he was doing but far enough not to be drawn into any of the conflict.
When I focused back on the chaos unfolding in the gym, Ms. Martinez was unleashing a relentless flurry of strikes. Her movements were sharp, each attack coming within inches of connecting , but the man twisted and weaved through them, just barely slipping out of reach every time.
Until one finally landed. Her fist connected with a wet crack, but something felt off. The goo covering the man's body caved inward, forming a shallow divot where the impact should have struck solid flesh.
Before she could react, his arm came down in a flash. The goo shifted, hardening into a blade mid swing. With one swift, visceral motion, he severed her arm at the shoulder, the blade slicing clean through. The momentum carried it downward, driving into the floor with a loud boom.
The man chuckled to himself, allowing the to blade dissolve rather than bother dislodging it from the ground. But just as the goo dissolved away, he was struck again by the very same arm he had just severed.
Now, it was laced with ruby red string, threaded through the muscle and skin, moving as if it had never been detached at all. The strike landed cleanly, knocking the man into the air.
Seeing an opportunity, Ms. Harper charged her legs with electricity and leapt after him, her fire clad fist once again aimed straight at her target. As she closed the distance, a massive pillar of goo shot from the ground, catching him midair and holding him suspended.
She couldn't slow down in time.
A large spike erupted from the pillar, piercing through her chest. She gasped, eyes wide, the spike bloomed outward splitting into hundreds of razor thin tendrils that tore through her from the inside out. leaving her dangling lifelessly in the air like a marionette with no master to pull its strings.Her limbs hung slack, blood running down the spike as the room fell into silence.
The man dissipated the goo, both he and the body falling to the ground. He landed with a solid, weighty thump. Mrs. Harper hit at the same time with a wet squelch, her body crumpling on impact. The sounds blended into a sickening mixture that reverberated throughout the gym. The small flame the boy had conjured flickered for a moment, and I felt my stomach turn.
Ms. Martinez, on the other hand, kept her composure. Without a second thought, she sped toward the man once more, unleashing a flurry of strikes with relentless precision. The green glow that had once surrounded Ms. Harper faded, while the light around Ms. Martinez intensified.
Her movements no longer visible, each punch distorting the air around her fists, as if the force was bending space itself.
Something seemed to snap in the man's mind. He stopped dodging altogether. With a sudden shift, he began parrying each strike, summoning a blade of black goo with every movement. With each parry, her arms were split and severed clean, but were near instantly drawn back together, stitched by the ruby string that seemed to be engraved into her body.
As Ms. Martinez's relentless flurry of punches continued, the man's focus seemed to sharpen with each passing second. Strands of goo began to dissolve from the barrier behind him, redirecting toward his body. The section the boy had been burning through lost its regenerative support entirely, the weakened spot now vulnerable.
Taking advantage of the moment, a student with enhanced strength stepped forward and pushed his fist through the softened wall. The barrier gave way creating a breach just wide enough to slip through.
The students closest to the gap didn't hesitate. They bolted for the opening, fear and instinct taking over. Mara was among the first, her eyes locked on freedom as she sprinted toward the hole.
Just as she stepped through, her shoe caught on the edge of the barrier. She stumbled forward, hitting the ground hard. Before she could recover, the rush of people behind her surged through the breach, feet colliding with her back and shoulders as panicked students trampled over her in a desperate attempt to flee to safety.
Being one of the last students to finally gain the will to follow, I stepped through the hole. As I did, the man seemed to notice us escaping. His head turned slightly, just enough to catch us in his peripheral vision.
With one swift motion, he tore Ms. Martinez's arm from her body once again, this time hurling it across the gym like discarded debris. Then, with eerie precision, he grabbed hold of the string still connected to the severed limb, wrapped it tightly around his hand, and yanked.
Ms. Martinez was lifted off the ground like a ragdoll, her body hurtling through the air. She flew helplessly toward Mr. Smith, the force of the throw turning her into a human projectile.
Before she could collide with him, the man suddenly appeared just a few feet away from the crack in the barrier. In one fluid motion, he unleashed a razor sharp blade of goo at head height.
The first students to escape never even saw it coming. The blade passed through them in an instant, severing heads from shoulders. I was among them.
My vision blurred. Then twisted. The world tilted as I watched my own body collapse to the ground, headless. The last thing I felt was warmth, Mara's finger tips barely touching my head as everything faded into darkness.