Out of the Shadows

I was committed, there was no turning back. Yet, as much as I tried to avoid the feelings of anxiety, I couldn't help but worry that I was going to screw up somehow. "Things are going to be fine" I said, trying to reassure myself.

The hallway was eerily quiet. Except for my footsteps there wasn't a single sound. Which was sort of a good thing if you think about it. The fact that no one is around was proof that the Category IV signal had been received in time for my classmates to escape to the VSS. The only people that I could come across was hostile. There was something to be said for that.

I wouldn't have to worry about innocents getting caught in the crossfire. Though if I was being completely honest, I was more worried about my fellow students recognizing me. While my makeshift disguise covered all the important features of my face, I was still concerned that I would be recoginzed by the stupidest little thing that I couldn't control.

As for a plan, I had no idea what I was supposed to do once I finally came across the tresspassers. While I was hoping that by the time I was downstairs there would be some hint of a strategy going into this thing. Given my curse wasn't a physical one, I might have to just wing it and hope that I could talk my way out of any situation I came across.

Before I could come up with a better plan than that, I found that I had finished my walk down the stairs to the first floor. Standing at the bottom of the stairs was the largest man that I had ever seen in my life. At first he hadn't noticed me so I ducked behind the banister and prayed that he was one of the good guys.

Staring back at me was the absurdity of the situation. What exactely had I gotten myself into? I didn't have any superpowers. If this giant of a man got me in his clutches he could literally rip me in two. There was no way that I could hope to fight someone like him head to head.

Surely there must be something that I could do. I was hardly serving my purpose by cowering here in the stairwell. If that was all I was going to do I should have just stayed up in the Satcomm room on the roof.

"I know you're around here somewhere, child" the mountain of a man announced with a booming voice. "You might as well come out of hiding. If you give up now, the Boss might be merciful and not kill you."

Frozen by fear, I didn't know how to react. How could he have seen me? I was so well hidden. Could it be that he had heard my footsteps? Silently I cursed my carefree attitude from earlier. I had been walking around like I owned the place. Absolutely no stealth, whatsoever. Classic rookie mistake.

Hopefully he would just think that he had been hearing things if I just stayed put and didn't make any noise. The sound of my heart beating felt like I was listening to a stampede of cattle. Surely he couldn't hear that, could he?

My anxiety his new levels as he spoke again with a chuckle. "Oh, there you are." The heavy foot falls of his combat boots heading up the stairs echoed as he neared my hiding spot. With each step my heartrate increased. It was only a matter of time before he was upon me.

It was clear that he wasn't trying to call my bluff. He knew that I was there and he was going to capture me if I didn't move now while I had the chance. With absolutely no plan in mind, I leapt up and over the banister and landed behind the giant invader.

"Looking for me?" I asked with a confident and cheeky attitude. While I displayed a lot of outward confidence, on the inside I was freaking out. I didn't want to fight someone like him. Who knows what would happen to a powerless, middle school girl if a world champion wrestler got his hands on me. I certainly didn't want to find out. I like my back where it is thank you very much, the last thing I need is for it to be broken over someone's knee.

"Who are you supposed to be?" the invader started laughing at me. "Look kiddo, All Hallow's isn't for another six months. You're a bit too early on the do-it-yourself-costume.

"Whatever you say, meathead" I replied, trying to think of a good one liner. "You're the one that's off schedule. The Alliance has a nice comfortable jail cell ready and waiting for you. Don't you think it's rude to keep them waiting?"

The giant gave me a funny look. It seemed like he was trying to decide about what he should do next. Finally, he opened his mouth as if to say something but no sound came out. Without another word he turned around and started to walk towards the front door.

"You have got to be kidding me?" I mumbled to myself in disbelief. "Did I just mind trick that simpleton into giving himself over to the Alliance? Is hero work that easy? I can't believe that just happened..."

Unfortunately, for me, those last couple of words jinxed me. As I was speaking, the man suddenly came to a stop. "Wait as second, the Boss warned me to get rid of anyone I came across. I can't go anywhere. You're still breathing."

"Oh crap. That's not good. That's really not good!"

The giant invader screamed bloody murder and charged me with the speed and power of a locomotive. It was only due to my quick reaction that I managed to jump out of the way and grab hold of the very bottom of the banister. With my average strength it took a couple of tries to pull myself up to the second flight of stairs.

"Don't think you can get away so easily" the brute chasing me said.

It took a couple of seconds for him to dislodge his hand from the plaster wall which was just the perfect amount of time for me to figure out what my next plan was.

"Hey bozo! Catch me if you can!" If I couldn't beat him head on, I was going to kite him. With someone who was built like a tank, eventually he was going to get tired of chasing me and stop to catch his breath. It was in that moment that I would strike.

"Why are you running?" the man shouted after me. "You're just making it worse for yourself, little girl. You're going to die either way. You might as well just accept it with some semblence of dignity."

If he was expecting me to dignify his request with a response, he was going to find himself sorely mistaken. Like hell I was going to stand there and banter with him back and forth like a pair of old fogies. I had places to go and people to save.

I never did understand why superheroes just stood by and let the villain monologue their entire plan and the reason behind its existence. After all, you were wasting precious time to stop the bad guy. Its no wonder why in the movies the hero always stopped the bomb from going of at one second left.

After pulling my self up from the first floor to the next flight of stairs, heading back up the stairs was slightly more work than going down them, but I was quite motivated to make sure that I was ten steps ahead of the rampaging bull behind me.

A hard right led me down the hall towards the science wing of the sophomore floor. Just as the rest of the school there wasn't a single person in sight. All that could be heard was my footsteps and the jerk behind me's thundering hoofs/rapid breathing. While I hadn't planned on him getting winded just yet, it seemed that he was in a worse condition than I had originally thought.

"Damn you!" the winded invader swore. "I'll make you pay for this, just you wait!"

The one downside to being in a middle school building when being chased by a homicidal was that due to 'efficiency' reasons, each school was built using the same blueprint. This meant that no matter where I ran, it was highly likely that the man chasing me would know how to find the quickest route to catch up to me. All that I could do was just keep running and hope that he grew tired before I slipped up and backed myself into a corner or worse.

I need to think of something else, its only a matter of time before he finds a way to cut me off. What should I do? I can't keep this up forever.

"Oh, little girl? Where are you?" my pursuer called out with a creepy voice. Just based on how he sounded, the man chasing me was still more ticked off than out of breath. Things were going to come to a head soon. I had to come up with a plan before then.

As I was nearing the second floor girl's restroom a flash of inspiration hit me. With the few precious moments that I had out of sight of the monster behind me, I managed to prop the door slightly ajar and lock one of the bathroom stalls. After completing my diversion, I snuck out of the bathroom and into the classroom across the hall.

I no more than finished when I heard said bull in the proverbial china shop reach the hallway that I was hiding in. He wasted no time and barged into said restroom.

"I have you now, little girl. There's nowhere left for you to run."

As soon as I knew he was fully committed to breaking down the door to the stall, I rushed the bathroom from my hiding spot. There was a button on the side of the entryway that would open the emergency panel that was crucial to my plan. Once I pressed it, the panel would open and allow me to type in a code that would send the room into emergency lockdown.

This panel's location was a funny one for sure, but when you consider it was meant for a emergency overide in case someone got stuck in the bathroom after a drill, things start to make more sense.

As for how I knew the code to unlock the bathroom, let's just say that I spent a lot of time reading old manuals that had been stored in the Sat-comm room. Like most Superians, the adults at my school looked at a defunct room in their building as the perfect place to store old junk that they might need one day.

With my fingers crossed mentally and a silent prayer ready on my lips, I sprinted towards the panel. The button worked perfectly, but it took a second for the computer to boot up. This thing hadn't been used in a decade and its age was starting to show. My fingers typed in the code so fast that I barely had time to register whether the number was correct or not before I hit the enter button.

"Please don't have changed the password!" I begged under my breath. If they had followed the manufacturer's suggestion the password should have changed several times since installation, yet I was betting that the inherent laziness of humanity would come out on top. After all, if it isn't broke, why bother changing it?

After an agonizing couple of seconds, the panel made a happy dinging noise accepted my input. The emergency reinforced titanium door then shot out of its pocket in the blink of an eye. Before the intruder knew what had happened the room was sealed off tighter than Fort Knox. There was no way that he was getting out of there.

To my surprise though, the sound of other emergency doors closing around me caused me to stare at the panel with confusion. Something wasn't right. Why was the emergency system shutting everything down?

The moment that I saw the number that I had typed in, it hit me. A sinking feeling hit my stomach as I realized what I had done in my attempt to seal this door. When my code had been accepted a chain reaction had started. While it was true that the code would open any door that was affected by a Category V lockdown, the system worked both ways. By typing in the code to a door that was not affected by a lockdown in progress, I had inadvertently caused a glitch in the system.

Now every door in the entire building was being triggered to close. This wouldn't have been a problem, except that I had no way of knowing if the intruders had managed to hold anyone hostage. The only way that I would know if I saved everyone was if I somehow stopped this cascade before it reached them. If I didn't manage to stop it in time, then I would have to release the homicidal bull of a man that I had just locked in the girl's bathroom.

Desperate to avoid a second round showdown with Mr. Meat-for-Brains, I started typing. There had to be a way to halt this mess in time. Oh, please work! Please!