Foolish? So What

'S-Should I try it?'

"..."

"Nah, let's not be too reckless..." He muttered trying to make himself believe he wasn't afraid.

'Think more...'

Harry's mind raced as he tried to make sense of the chaos around him.

The whispers clawed at his sanity, and the cries of his classmates still echoed in his ears. But something about the scene didn't add up. He squinted towards the base, where the students who had reached or were still on the way were standing, frozen but unharmed. 

He blinked, clearing the haze from his mind, and focused on the ground where the underground monsters had attacked.

As horrifying as the ambush was, something nagged at him—the ground didn't seem to have been disturbed in all the places the monsters had supposedly struck.

And then it hit him.

'The monsters... they only attacked the ones who were running!' Harry realized with a surge of hope. 'Could it be that they can only sense movement?'

His eyes darted back to the students by the base. They were petrified, yes, but alive. They hadn't moved much since the initial attack. Maybe, just maybe, the monsters couldn't sense them once they had stopped moving. There was also the theory they were low in numbers, but he put that aside since he saw how endless the Endwalkers and Forest Gremlins were.

'If that's true, then...' Harry swallowed hard, steeling himself. He had to test his theory, but he needed to be cautious. The teachers, Mr. Thompson and Mr. Avery, were nearby, struggling to maintain composure as they tried to assess the situation.

"Mr. Thompson! Mr. Avery!" Harry shouted, his voice barely rising above the din of panicked voices and the ominous whispers. "I think... I think those monsters can't sense us if we don't move! Look at the students running to the base—they stopped running, and the monsters didn't attack them!"

Mr. Thompson's head snapped toward Harry, his eyes wide with a mix of anxiety and hope. He looked over at the students near the base, then back at the ground where the attack had happened.

"That's... that's possible, but..." Mr. Thompson hesitated, doubt clear in his eyes. "Are you sure, Harry? This isn't something we can afford to guess about. If you're wrong—"

"I'm not sure, but... it makes sense, right?" Harry pressed, his desperation growing. "Think about it. If the monsters were still there, they'd have taken out everyone who ran. But they didn't. They only attacked those who were moving fast!"

Mr. Avery, who had been silently watching the exchange, nodded slowly. "He's got a point, Thompson. It's a risk, but if we do nothing, those things will pick us off one by one."

They looked at the slowly but surely approaching Endwalkers.

The teachers exchanged a glance, weighing their options. The students around them were still in disarray, some clutching their heads, others staring blankly at the ground. They needed a plan, and they needed it fast.

"But if we try it and he's wrong," Mr. Thompson began, "we might not get a second chance. Harry, you're suggesting we... what? Move slowly and see if they attack again. Isn't it foolish?"

"Yes, it's indeed a foolish idea, we might die. But so what?" Harry nodded, his heart pounding in his chest. "You should know that we have no choice but to try. If they can only sense movement, then moving slowly or not at all might keep us safe. But we have to be ready to fight back or dodge if they do attack. The first time, it was a surprise but now we know how they attack."

Mr. Thompson took a deep breath, his expression grim. "Alright. We'll give it a shot."

"Mr. Thompson. Can you shout loudly, as loud as you can?" But Harry wasn't finished.

"Why?" Mr. Thompson asked curiously.

"We should 'wake up' everyone, don't you think?" Harry replied gesturing to others.

"So, that's why you were laughing so loudly in the beginning, huh?" Mr. Avery muttered. "You wanted to 'wake up' everyone."

"Haha, that's right." Harry smiled sheepishly noting Mr. Avery's sharpness.

"Then, leave it to me." Mr. Thompson nodded and turned around. He took a deep breath, as if preparing for to perform.

As Mr. Thompson prepared to shout, Harry and Mr. Avery, along with the few others who had managed to resist the whispers, watched with bated breath. Mr. Thompson's face was a mask of determination, and he took a deep breath, filling his lungs to their fullest capacity.

"EVERYONE, LISTEN UP!" he bellowed, his voice exploding through the air like a cannon blast. The sound carried over the open landscape, echoing through the kilometers, even reaching the students who were near the base.

Harry couldn't help but grin slightly at the sheer volume of Mr. Thompson's voice. "I knew his loudness had no bounds," he muttered to himself, impressed despite the situation.

Mr. Avery glanced at Harry with a strange look, thinking, 'Even in these situations, he's still joking'. But there was no time to dwell on it. The plan had to work, or they were all as good as dead.

The effect of Mr. Thompson's shout was immediate and noticeable. The students who had been under the influence of the whispers blinked, their eyes widening in shock as the haze that clouded their minds began to lift. Some of them gasped, as if coming up for air after being underwater for too long.

"Th-They're waking up!" Mr. Avery exclaimed, relief flooding his voice.

Mr. Thompson continued to shout, his voice carrying far and wide. "THOSE OF YOU NEAR THE BASE, LISTEN TO ME! MOVE SLOWLY—DO NOT RUN! THE MONSTERS ONLY ATTACK MOVEMENT! WALK SLOWLY, ONE STEP AT A TIME WITH PAUSES!"

The students near the base, still shaken and terrified, hesitated, glancing at one another with wide, fearful eyes. The memory of their friends being dragged underground was fresh in their minds, and the idea of moving at all seemed like madness.

"I-It can't be that simple, can it?" a girl near the front whispered, clutching her friend's arm tightly.

"He's right," said the boy who had been the first to run earlier. His face was pale, but his jaw was set with determination. "We have to try something, or we're all dead anyway."

Taking a deep breath, he gathered his courage and took a tentative step forward, moving as slowly as he could. He hesitated, then took another step, and then another.

Nothing happened.

The students watched with bated breath as he continued, one step at a time. On his seventh or eighth step, the ground beneath him trembled slightly, causing a wave of panic to ripple through the crowd.

"Don't panic!" Harry shouted this time, his voice carrying above the murmur of fear. "Remember, move slowly! They sense fast movement, not slow! Pause too!"

The boy in motion swallowed hard, fear evident on his face, but he nodded, steeling himself. He continued forward, taking slow, deliberate steps, pausing every few seconds as if expecting the ground to erupt beneath him.

But it didn't.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he reached the wall of the base and collapsed against it, gasping for breath. Cheers erupted from the group, the sound filling the air as hope surged through them.

"It worked! It worked!" someone shouted, and the relief in their voice was palpable.

"Thank goodness!" another cried, tears streaming down her face.

Harry let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, a small smile tugging at his lips. "It worked in the end," he muttered, a sense of accomplishment washing over him.

Mr. Thompson nodded, a grin breaking through his usually stern demeanor. "Good job, Harry," he said, clapping a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You saved us just now."

Mr. Avery shook his head in disbelief, a relieved smile spreading across his face. "I can't believe it worked. But we need to get everyone else moving now. Let's go!"

With a renewed sense of purpose, they began organizing the remaining students, instructing them to move slowly toward the base. One by one, the students followed the instructions, moving cautiously and carefully, and one by one, they made their way to safety.