14 - 14 -

Dazed, we stood completely still while Malus kept speaking in a calm voice as if he was completely oblivious to what had happened just moments before. After a small amount of time, he noticed our silence and turned to look over all of us.

We retreated quickly as he approached the bars of our cage and beat them with an unknown material, which created a deafening clang that echoes through the room. "What's the matter?" He was now snarling. "I asked all of you a question!"

We all hushed a heavily reluctant "I'm sorry" before cowering within ourselves once more. Of course, if anyone of us did anything just a bit too loud, Malus would have singled them out, and nobody would want to be put face-to-face with the corrupted creature. Instead, we took care not to do anything that would catch the alien's attention.

Despite our efforts, Malus' eyes drilled into one particular student. With an unknown force, he was starting to be dragged towards Malus. To our astonishment, he began to pass through the bars. Still, even the most headstrong group members turned a blind eye. If anyone wanted to save their own skin, they would not react in the slightest.

"You," Malus said to his trembling victim in a voice that was cold as stone. "You'll listen to me, right? You've no choice, don't you?"

The creature, one that was smaller than Malus by a few heads, quickly nodded and started to reply. "Y-Yes, sir."

Malus' fake grin returned and he grabbed the creature's jaws with a large hand. "Good, good. None of your friends want to talk to me, though. Do you know why that is?"

"Because they're scared." The creature decided to tell the truth. I most likely would have if I were in his situation. "Scared of you."

"Scared?" Malus suddenly hissed at the creature that was in his grasp. "That's exactly what I wanted." With one thrust, he threw the alien aside and onto the cold stone floor. I cringed from my safe haven inside the cage as his head made a sound that echoed through the chamber.

Only a few seconds later, Malus turned away from the creature that feebly carried himself up off the ground and exited through a door.

As a door slammed, we were all surrounded by a deafening silence that was only broken by the small alien's cries of pain. Meanwhile, I tried to stifle the intense fire of rage that burned within me, as I knew that it would only serve to make Malus even more powerful.

"Help..." The small alien gripped at his head, still splayed across the floor. "Hurts..."

All our heads turned as a response to yet another sound; the bars were creaking. As it turned out, a student that had the power of telekinesis was operating on them, slowly pushing them apart. However, from the consistent rumbling, it seemed like he had only just started.

With this, a few more members of our now fully assembled group were starting to congregate, most likely also experienced in the art of telekinesis. A gap was created for us to escape the cell through within a few minutes.

As we headed out of the cell, a single thought began to spread throughout all of us. Some said it out loud to nobody in particular, while most simply thought about it to themselves: if Malus had the ability to sense us from anywhere, what was the point of ever trying to escape? He would simply round us all up once more and we would be back in the same situation again. Another student will likely be beaten over and over again to satisfy Malus' condition. I gritted my teeth. Surely that would make any chance of leaving the facility impossible?

Endora joined the group of students that spoke the question we all were trying to solve. She leaned up against me and sighed. "What's the point? He can teleport!"

I shrugged and desperately tried to figure out a solution. "I don't know. If we stay, he's just going to come back, and if we try to leave he's going to bring us all back into this... this room." I gritted my teeth and started to regret every action I have previously done thus far. Approaching the leader with the group around him, even having my interest piqued when B suggested that I join the club in the first place.

A voice spoke up amongst everyone's hushed conversations. Our leader, the one that originally suggested that we leave our sleeping quarters. "Listen up!" Nearly instantly, everyone turned their heads towards him. The leader among us sighed slightly. "Let's try this again. I know it's a stretch, but there might be someone else in these woods."

I personally doubted that, but I kept listening. It was better than living in this stuffy facility. "Think about it. We all move towards the woods, then we start running. Yes, yes, I know it's less than a decent plan, but we really are at a loss here. We're just beginners, after all. Malus has experience, something we don't have."

We all grumbled but eventually decided to follow through with the plan. A number of leaders congregated and formed a thin circle around all of us, then nodded to each other. They all started to usher us forward, out the door. Endora and I somewhat reluctantly complied, deciding to be on the lookout for any more threats or sudden Malus sightings.

Several hectic moments passed before we had any sense of direction. As time went on though we began to feel that the air was starting to become cleaner. We all supposed that the observation meant two things: either we were approaching the vent or we were close to exiting the facility. It wasn't me that noticed it first, though. The creatures that seemed to have more sensitive noses initially differentiated the difference in quality and started notifying others of it.

As it turned out, we had approached the end of the endless maze of halls and doors. We all flooded out into the grassy plains once more as the final door broke open. The leaders had to physically restrain some from running right then and there.

Our leader rose his voice above everyone else's again. "Is anyone missing?"

It was a question that everyone, including myself, had to take seriously. Not only did I check to see if Endora was beside me (which she was), I also took into account the other members that I accidentally bumped shoulders with throughout our extensive trek.

We all muttered affirmations and our leader nodded. "Then I suppose it's time that we act." He gulped and displayed a fearful expression. "Just make sure that none of you get hurt, alright?"