Part 2
The tentacle-like thing grabbed the soldier, and her face went red in panic. I watched in horror as she was dragged off by the tentacle, with a loud rip sounding the distance. All I could remember was how the students who didn’t run away as soon as that monster was seen stood in silence. The ground shook once more, waking everyone up from their shock. Most kids went to the bathroom to puke, the others were in hiding, and I continued to just stand there in silence as Mr. O’Reilly and the rest of the faculty forced the students away from the doors and windows.
What felt like a day passed by, and the students were still afraid of what was going on. The void still hadn’t passed, and it seemed we were going to be stuck there forever. Some students formed into sort of factions, and even the teachers held their own little group. I sat down on the floor with my head down, thinking about my parents. Did they get caught by what’s out there? Are they alive? If there was one thing my father taught me when I was a kid, it was to always assume the worst, that way you could cry about it all you want and can push on to do whatever you need. If what you assumed was wrong, then there was nothing to worry about. I silently cried myself to sleep, and woke up when the ground shook again, harder than the previous ones I encountered in the building. I looked up to see people running to the library, all saying the news anchor is playing another message. I quickly got up and joined the fray of students rushing into the library to hear this message.
“This just in, sources say the military is continuing the fight against a dark void that has swallowed all of the East coast of the United States and Canada. The void is quickly spreading westward into Ohio and the states going down the Mississippi River. No news has been heard about the President or his Cabinet in Mt. Weather. This void has swallowed all of Asia, and satellite images show it is trying to connect to the void in Europe. The Vice President, who was recently in Dallas, has been sworn in as the President of The United States, until word has reached his predecessor is still alive. Be adv—”
All of Asia fell, most of Europe was soon to follow and there was no doubt that void would expand east into the Pacific and hit us on two fronts. Some of the students once again began to cry as we all were talking about the end of the world. We were all scared, but time passed once again, and a new problem emerged. The food was shortening, and some people saw this. They tried to take whatever they could but were caught by others. Fights began to be common, and even the teachers couldn’t break it up with how many kids were going at it. Groups grew larger, and soon a large war would start in the school between the students. There were three groups, and I was in the group of those who wanted a peaceful resolution. It wouldn’t matter, because one day a fight broke out and it was one of the worse ones. It happened in the library, and it was over a large bag of chips. Chips, out of all the things for over forty kids to fight about, it was chips.
The fight broke out, sides colliding into each other like a war movie. Chairs and tables would be flying into the air as the fight got so hectic to the point where me and a bunch of other kids had to leave. I was the last to leave the room, and I looked behind me only to see a chair get thrown across the room, hitting the window. A large bang followed, and the room suddenly went silent. A larger roar sounded outside and the ground shook again. The room was so quiet, you could hear the glass on the window making a larger and larger crack. The ground shook for so long, it took me a second to realize what was happening. Whatever was outside knew we were stuck in here, and now that a chair hit a window almost breaking it, it tried to shake the ground to officially break the window to enter the building.
Before I could yell, I was pulled out of the room. My friend Kyle pulled me outside as one of the teachers quickly closed the door, locking it up and barricading it. The students inside the library quickly ran to the doors, trying to break out. I watched as I heard the window finally break, and the void was quickly spreading inside the room. After thirty seconds, the whole room was covered. I heard screams from the boys and girls that were trapped in there, I even saw blood splatter onto the windows of the door, and multiple ripping sounds. All of those students were gone no doubt, and I stood there frozen in shock as I saw the void come under the door. Kyle took off his sweatshirt and placed it under the door.
I quickly got up and went to the bathroom to puke. After spending five minutes in there, I got out and once again sat on the floor with my head down. Over forty kids were gone just like that, and nothing was able to be done about it. I sat there quietly processing what had been happening and if I should just accept the fact I would die. My heart was racing as I began to get dizzy, and all I saw was a dark room where I would have my lunch period and hang out with my friends.
“How are you holding up son?” A voice said. I looked up and it was Mr. O’Reilly.
“What is happening?”
“I wish I knew, but all we can do is law low until the mi—”
His sentence was interrupted by another teacher yelling. We both made our way to the screaming and found Mr. Cormack holding onto his radio. Many students were surrounding him, and everyone looked defeated as the news anchor was no longer talking.
“This is a public broadcast announcement. If you are getting word of this, the military is defeated. After many hours of hard fighting, our enemies have overtaken us, and we are defeated. The United States government has been killed off as our country has fallen into a dark and terrible position. We hope that one day, our Republic will once again shine across the world, but that day will not come now. Thank you all for making the American Dream a reality in this land. May God bless you, and may God bless America.”
The message was repeating itself, and we could not stop listening to it. It didn’t make any sense, because what felt like a couple hours ago, it was only the east coast that was covered. Another day has passed, and food was still a problem. We were all desperate for something to eat, even one kid suggested cannibalism, and that idea was put well into thought in some others’ minds. Fights broke out again, this time no chairs or tables were involved. The teachers were now focusing on themselves, even Mr. O’Reilly was trying to focus on how he could escape.
I walked around the school for a little bit and noticed a kid standing at the library door. I looked depressed and scared, so I went over to comfort him. When I got closer, I noticed it was Kyle.
“Kyle, what are you doing?” I asked him.
“Fintan, we’re dead.”
“Kyle, we will survive this, I am sur—”
“The American Government is gone! One second, they’re fighting on the East Coast, and the next they are gone! How on earth are we to ‘survive’ this monstrosity when it conquered a whole country in a matter of hours let alone the damn continents?!?!?”
Kyle was screaming at this point. I tried to calm him down, but there was no point. Some students even came out of the classrooms to see what was going on. I grabbed onto Kyle and yelled at him to be quiet. I immediately felt my head get smacked by a sort of metal object. I fell on the ground and when I looked up, it was Ms. Stuart. She also had the same depressed look as Kyle, and they both stared at me.
“I’m sorry Fintan, but God is punishing those who have failed him. We cannot end this unless we sacrifice those who betrayed him.” Ms. Stuart said.
Kyle walked to the door of the library and shoved the barricades out of the way. I tried to get up to stop him, but Ms. Stuart smacked me down with a metal chair from the auditorium. She gave the keys to Kyle as he unlocked the door. I screamed in horror as Kyle opened the door of the library, filled with the void.
It was now spreading across the entre school.