Chapter 1.4

"Kirsty!" I hear Theo hiss in surprise. I follow her gaze to a girl huddled under one of the desks. I vaguely recognised her from one of our classes, literature, I think.

"You managed to get away too? Do you know what's happening?" she asked, her voice pitched with fear.

I put my hand to my mouth to signal that she should be quiet. She nodded. The girl was shivering from shock, her teeth chattered in between her words, she hugged her legs for comfort, swaying slightly back and forth. Honestly, the thought crossed my mind that we should just leave her, she would clearly be a liability. But one look at Theo's face and I knew that was the wrong answer.

We wait a few moments longer, and when we're sure the soldiers didn't follow us to that floor, Theo calmly put her arm around her shoulders "We don't know what's happening, but we will get out of here alive."

"There are Garlantian soldiers and they're here to invade." I intervened.

"How do you know that?" she asked, wiping the snot dripping from her nose on her sleeve.

A shiver went down my spine and I suddenly felt like someone was coming. "shhhh…" I quietly put my hand on her mouth, and I could feel her hot breath on my fingers. I signalled for her to stay quiet, a slowly rose so my back was pressed against the wall beside the door. I sensed someone coming near and I readied myself.

The tension was too much, and Kirsty started to cry. Quietly, but the noise is enough. Theo's hand shot up to quiet her, but it's too late. The handle is wrenched down, and a soldier enters, zeroing in on the two girls huddled on the floor. He raises his gun at them but he didn't notice me, I snatched at the knife at his waist which caught his attention, and he started to turn but I jabbed at the side of his throat, ripping open his neck.

He couldn't yell for help, blood spilt into his windpipe and any words he tried to form are replaced by splutters and gurgles. There's more blood than I remember, it got on my hands and clothes and it splattered on my face as I remove the knife. In a desperate last attempt, he reached for me, but he falls short and tumbled to the floor.

I slip the knife in my pocket, and motion for Theo to help me move the body. Her face had gone white and wore a blank expression, but she helped me drag it under the teacher's desk at the front, out of sight from Kirsty and other Garlantian soldiers.

"Can you stand?" I asked Kirsty in hushed tones.

She nodded, but when she releases her grip on the tables, her legs gave way, and she fell back to the ground. She started crying harder.

"Kirsty it's going to be fine. We'll find a way to get you out of here." Theo tried to soothe her.

"We're going to get Alex, you remember my brother?" I asked in a calm whisper and she nodded. "We're going to get him from the art room, and then we'll come back for you and we'll find a way out of here."

"Do you promise you'll come back for me?"

"We promise." Theo answers before I could interject. It was bad to promise something like that. A promise that is difficult to keep is likely to become a lie. I dragged Theo after me, leaving the collapsed Kirsty in a fortress of disarray desks.

Outside, the corridor was empty, I gave a quick look out onto the school grounds below. There were several trucks, and dozens of men forcing students onto them, barking orders I could quite hear in their thick Garlantian accents. I wondered where they were taking them, but I knew I didn't have time for anymore.

I looked back at Theo, her eyes were wide, darting, trying to hold back the hysteria threatening to pull her into a state of shock. She was barely holding on, struggling with the fear and confusion that was threatening to overflow. I wanted to comfort her somehow, but I didn't know how, I didn't know if I should. She should have been scared; fear was part of being human and the situation called for being scarred. But while the situation was pulling her into hysteria, it was pulling me into a state of numb. That numb was dangerous, it meant I was reverting back to how I was before, when killing someone for survival didn't matter. The fact that I thought of leaving Kirsty behind and already killed a man was proof of that. But neither of us mention it.

We crept against the walls, staying away from the windows when possible, and careful not to trip on the bodies in the hall. There was a lot, and I caught Theo trying not to look down, but she then slipped on some blood and I had to catch her before she fell right on top of one. But to me, they weren't people anymore, they were meat in human clothes. I almost told her that, but some part of me knew it would only disgust her and wouldn't be of any comfort.

When we came to an intersection, we stopped and cautiously peered around the corner. Suddenly we were face to face with a solider. I was a little shocked because I didn't hear him coming but before I could react Theos fist flings out, punching him hard in the face and he dropped suddenly like a sack of potatoes.

She smirked, "Don't worry, I got you." The fear dissipated a little, and I saw the courageous, defiant girl I knew so well.

To be honest I couldn't think of anyone I would rather have my back. "Thanks." I gave a quick glance at the unconscious man at her feet, blood was leaking from his nose and he was totally out of it. We were almost there; the art room was at the end of the next corridor down. We were so close.

We stepped over the unconscious man, and our stride quickened with apprehension. Then from nowhere, the sounds of men's boots clang dangerously loud down the adjacent corridor. My heart almost sprang out of its cage and I frantically scanned for somewhere to hide… One of the classrooms? No- too many windows and not enough places to hide. We were so close to the art room… why did they have to come now? I thought irritated, but then that gave me an idea. The art storage cupboard was near here. I pulled her back the way we came, and as silently as I could, slipped the cupboard door open.

"What are you…" her hiss trailed off as she sees my expression and she let herself be pulled into the cupboard. I swear we disappeared just in time, a second later and we would have been discovered, I listened to them stomp over the bodies of dead kids, their voiced muffled enough so that I couldn't hear what they were saying.

It was dark, but even in the darkness, I see the shadows morphing and pulling until it was a large figure looming over us. Before I could stop myself, I exclaim "Where have you been?"

Of course, Shadow doesn't reply. And Theo hisses in confusion "Who are you talking to?" a second later the door opens a light pours in. My hand instinctively shoots up to cover her mouth. Shadow envelopes us, submerging us in cool, dark shadow that usually encompasses his body. Theos pulse races under my fingers as she holds her breath, but she holds back her panic. I can't see who it is through the dark mist, but after a couple of seconds, the door slams shut again.

A minute passes in silence, and then when we're sure they're gone, "What the hell was that? Who were you talking to?"

I thought about the best way to explain it, but I came up with nothing. "It's hard to explain… I don't really understand it myself. I kinda have this friend but no-one else can see him."

"An imaginary friend?" Her expression floods with doubt and mockery.

"No. Did that feel imaginary to you?" I answered seriously.

"I don't really know what that was. So, you have an invisible friend with the ability to make other people invisible too?" she wasn't believing me, I could hear the mockery in her voice.

"Kinda?" I didn't really know how to explain what Shadow was. "I think he comes from a different world or plane of existence. I don't really know." The words tumbled out my mouth and I knew I wasn't making it any more believable but I didn't know what else to say.

"So you have an alien invisible friend?" Trust Theo to make something so serious into something comical.

Despite the situation, I think I probably smirked at that. Even if she didn't believe me, it made me feel a little bit better.