Dread Within

There were times when Mary would wake up with a headache, usually those were from pulling all-nighters working on her side projects while listening to random streams for background noises.

But this time, Mary shouldn't have any headaches as she remembered going to bed fairly early after painstakingly tucking in her idiot drunk brother.

Her vision was clearing as the dim light illuminated two strangers in front of her revealing them to be...

'Dean McLovin? Bob the janitor?'

Mary was confused as she examine herself wearing the same clothes from last night but they were filthy now and she was barefoot. Then a strange sweaty odor invaded her nostril as her mind was racing to understand her current predicament.

"W-why d-does it smell like someone had s-sex here."

Her experience with physical intimacy was clearly very limited, but it didn't stop her from blushing a little.

Seeing her expression, Dean had a confused look while Bob facepalmed, but quickly started to explain her situation before misunderstandings started piling up.

"Miss Mary, you went through a very traumatic experience when Dean here found you and brought you to safety."

Mary touched her head revealing a helmet made out of a glass-like material and realized it was a Memoria. Her mind was racing as she wondered what trauma warranted a memory blockage, then her heart sank as she asked something Mary would regret saying out loud.

"Where's my brother, Jacob?"

Mary's voice was calm but internally she was shaking as she hoped desperately that Jacob was nearby resting or alive doing anything.

However....

Dean shook his head while Bob, who was experienced in these kinds of matter, spoke the cold harsh truth.

"I'm sorry...about your loss."

Mary held her breath hearing those words, they were vague, but not vague enough for her to not know of her twin brother's fate. To her, Jacob should still be alive waking up with a nasty hangover from heavy drinking, but she woke up learning he was gone.

'Did my memory get blocked because I saw how Jacob died?'

She started to visibly shake and took the device off her head, barely keeping her emotions in check as she shakingly asked, "How did J-Jacob d-die?"

There was a moment of silence after she asked that question until...

"He died protecting you."

An emotionless voice resounded out, but it had a hint of sadness in his tone delivering the heartbreaking news. Nonetheless, Dean spoke the truth to the downtrodden Magenta-haired woman.

Tears started leaking out of Mary's eyes as she heard those words, she felt an intense pressure in her chest as various feelings came crashing through but mostly sadness and guilt were present.

"Ummm....c-can I h-have some space?"

Bob instantly understood and silently directed Dean to follow as he spoke out one last time before exiting, "Miss Mary, I left a pile of my daughter's old clothes there along with shoes. You can also use the public restroom over on that side to wash up a little."

He pointed towards the only intact wardrobe in the janitor's room then at the direction where the public restroom, or what's left of it, was on this floor.

"Thanks..."

Bob was gone out of even the janitor's room and before Dean disappeared with him a soft whisper came out behind him.

"...thank you Dean f-for saving me..."

Dean paused a little then remembered her previous state when he found her.

"Make sure his sacrifice doesn't go to waste."

Then Dean was gone leaving Mary to vent out all of the negative emotions that piled up within her since hearing her twin brother's death.

Meanwhile

Dean wasn't sure if what he said was cruel as it practically guilt tripped Mary to staying alive to honor her brother's sacrifice, but he said what felt right within him. Then he was back in the hallway right outside the janitor's room where Bob was waiting.

"Bob...is it alright to leave her alone unsupervised?"

"The girl will be alright, but she needs some time alone to process her grief.....and I heard what you said to her. It was good advice, but don't go saying that to everyone who lost a loved one. But, we'll check on her after I'm done briefing you on my experience."

Dean nodded on Bob's advice and waited for him to start talking.

"Now where to begin...ah let's start there", Bob mumbled to himself before raising his voice, "After most of the party moved somewhere else, I figured it was good to start cleaning the area so I started with the 4th year building. Then those two muscleheads felt partially responsible for the mess and decided to help me. For a while it was peaceful cleaning up until...we heard screams coming from Pleasantville then the night sky got a little darker. In the distance, we saw a horde of security drones going AWOL terrorizing the people there then other students attacking one another."

"I went back inside the building with the two following behind me and tried contacting security or anybody on my watch or terminals here. Of course, all communications were down then we saw the horde coming near the building with Ha-eun leading them, she wore a crazy smile as she carried a head in each hand. Seeing a young lady doing that sent shivers down this old vet, plus there were too many for regular old me and those two boys heck I couldn't trust the sentry turrets to protect us after seeing the security drones going crazy."

"So I decided to hide in that secret room with them and cut power as a precaution. For hours, I modified several tools and made this cryo gun because deep down, I knew Ha-eun was the biggest threat out of the horde. So that's about it"

Dean was in deep thought hearing Bob's account of last night, but he felt a slight pang in his chest. Though he ignored it and decided to ask Bob some questions:

"What time did this happen?"

"Hmmm...it was around 1 am, but the clock started going crazy around 6:30 am this morning. Know anything about it?"

"Kat and I might have an idea but it's only speculation and....knowing it might decrease morale."

Bob raised an eyebrow at the response, but decided to trust Dean's judgement while quietly hoping the duo's theory remains a theory...whatever it was.

Dean continued with some questions like if there was anything strange during the party or the past days while he was gone.

But Bob answered normally as he was only a janitor and wasn't interested in gossip, even Freddie and Mercury weren't helpful when Bob asked them since the two prefer to get gains instead of listening to boring teen drama in their school.

"sigh...no knowledge about how this happened", Dean exhaled as he looked at where Kat was busily chatting with Freddie and Mercury about mundane stuff on the other side of the halfway where they were keeping a lookout for danger. She seemed more cheerful since that 'talk', and chatting with those two eased the burden on her heart. 

"That Mary girl might know, so we should ask her later. Oh and Dean?"

"Hmm"

"I think you should be leading this group. I can provide some tips, but this old man can't lead for shit."

Dean raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Bob with a look asking 'why?'.

"Listen...back in my corps, I was always a follower. My leadership skills are shit, but my parenting skills are top notch. See how those two boys listen well? heh....So ready to lead us boy?", Bob chuckled while rubbing his smooth bald head.

Dean thought about it and while he was always the group leader during school assignments, those were only limited experience. Even during his internships, he had a military advisor watching over in case of danger. But now, he was told to lead this small group without any safety nets meaning his decisions could lead to injuries or worst, their deaths.

His mind was racing wondering if he could take on that responsibility...no he had no choice, it was because after knowing a little bit about the people around him, he realized he was the only one with leadership skills. Thinking that, he calmed his mind and...

"Yeah...I'm ready."