Smoke

I was shaken awake by Clayton. I tried to look at the clock, but it wasn't working.

"It was working yesterday" I looked out the window, it was still nighttime.

I turned my focus back on to Clayton.

"Listen man, I don't know what happened. Some shit is going down. The electricity went out, Fisher and Hopkins wanted everybody to stay in their rooms. My phone bricked, yours?" He looked at me, pleading in his eyes.

I took out my phone and tried to turn it on, but it wouldn't. Normally, this wouldn't worry me. it would take as few seconds to turn on, but now it wouldn't, no matter how much i pressed the power button.

"Listen, you can stay here if you want. But, I need to make sure Zima is safe. She gets anxious a lot and all of this may be too much for her." He went toward the door and peered out, looking if the teacher was there.

"It looks like a clear coast. I'm going, again you can stay if you want" He whispered as he slips to the door

I weighed my options, staying in and doing nothing or following Clay and possibly getting in trouble for a girl I don't even know that well. I didn't want to be in the dark by myself, so I followed.

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Dallvante was walking down the street when the light went out

"These people have a curfew? God, what is wrong with them" He thought as he continue to walk down the road

He was here on a special mission, sent it form the boss.

"Get the package and come back. That's all" The boss told him

"One day, I won't be his little runner anymore." He was elevated at the thought

He continued on to his destination, already visionar all the ways it could go.

He knew he reached his destination when he saw a stylish bar ahead of him. He flashed his fake id,walked in and scanned the surroundings. It waa ba pretty large bar, with screens that showed sports and people grouped around the center and lounging about. He walked up to the bartender and got his attention.

"Hey, uh. Are you old enough to be in here?" The bartender asked, looking at him suspiciously

"I'm not here to drink. I came form Zaniel" He responded, already getting anger at the man

The bartender looked at him for a second, slowly realizing what he meant. Nodding his head, he pointed to a man sitting at a table located near the end of the bar. Dallevante walked to the table and sat down in front of the man.

"I take it you from our friend in the big city" The man asked, faking warmth

Dallvante was instantly on edge from the man's behaviour. "Yeah, i'm here to pick up a package"

The man smiled "Good, but it's not here. It back at 'base'" He formed air quotes around the word base.

Dallevante really didn't like that, he was supposed to quickly pick up and go back. "Listen, he doesn't want me to stay long"

"You won't, you still get our friend's gift" The man said, trying to Dallevante down. "I just want to show you, how things work here"

"Fine," Dallvante said, "By the way, how are the lights working?"

"Generator" The man replied getting up. "Oh,the name Lawson"

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We made our way up the stairs towards the girls floor of the hotel. Clay looked around every corner to make sure the coast was clear.

"I should have asked her what room she's in '' Clay wanted to slap himself for his stupidity, but it would make noise so he'll do it later.

We continued to sneak,listening to each door we came across. After listening into a few, Clay heard one with a rapid footsteps and some arguing.

Softly knocking the door he whispered "Zima,Zima!"

The footsteps came to the doo and it flung opened. He couldn't move out of the way fast enough before getting hit.

He covers his mouth to avoid crying out in pain.

"Oh, god!" A white girl with curly hair said looking down on us

"Why?" He cried out, quietly

"Clay?" A voice said form in the room

"Hello, name Clay. His name is Aston. My girlfriend Zima is there. I think having a panic attack. Please, let us in" He looked at the girl, silently begging.

"Ok, come on. Before a teach see you" The girl rushed us into the room

Once she saw them,Zima ran towards Clay, crushing him in a hug.

"I was worried" She said

"Same, expect I broke the rules. So, i got a point" He said, hugging her back

They stayed like that for a while, ignoring the other girl and me in the room.

"Oh, sorry" Zima said looking at the girl

"No, you to have your moment" The girl said

"Sorry, what is your name? I need to know it so i can sue you for the door" Clayton jokes the other girl

"You lose, but its Ann" She replied, smiling

"Yeah, you're right. I don't have that much money for lawyers" Clayton turned back to Zima "So, what are we gonna do?"

Zima was shocked "You snuck out of you here to see me and you had nothing else in mind?"

"Well, we can't leave. We don't have our cars' ' Clayton went over to the window and looked out. "And it's super dark out anyway"

"Like you can drive" Zima rolled her eyes. "And ours phones aren't working, either"

"EMP" I made my presence know

"EMP?" Zima looked at me confused

"Electro magnetic pulse" Ann said "I'm pretty sure it can knock out all electricity around it"

"Well, let's not get ahead of yourselves. This could be a blackout" Zima said

"Then why don't our phones work?" Ann pulled out her phone and tried turning it on, but of course it didn't work.

"We don't know,ok" Zima sat on her bed, Clayton joining her

"Ok, but still most likely." Ann said

"So, what are we gonna do?" The two girls looked at Clayton with impatience "What? I got here by myself. Yall, gotta home up with something to"

"Let's just settle down for now and wait it out. Even ifs a EMP like you two are saying, we can still leave when day comes" Zima told them

Ann rolled her eyes, "Wait, how are we gonna explain TWO boys in our room?" We sat in silence for a moment. The two girls looking at Clay

"I didn't think this far" Clay said looking away

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Dallevante and Lawson got out of the car and were meant with an average looking house. They walked up the stairs and Lawson knocked on the door. A man slid the peephole open and saw Lawson and Dallevante. The man looked at Lawson.

"Don't worry, he from a friend in the city" Lawson said, presenting Dallevante like a show host would present a prize

The man behind the door just nodded and opened the door. The two went =, but Dallevante was stopped at the door.

"Yo, hol up. The fuck is this?" He looked dead straight at Lawson

"We gotta check everyone who come into our lovely home" Was all he had to say

"Bro, let's hurry this up" He put his arms out and the guard patted him down. The guard went for his waist and found his gun.

"OH!, you didn't tell me you were packing" Lawson came over and got the gun from the guard. "A revolver, small, compact, and tactical. And it doesn't leave casings behind, smart. Don't worry, when you leave, yoo get your piece back"

Dallevante was getting, understandably, pissed at everything that was happening. He wanted to turn around to go home, but the job needed to be done. And he didn't want to deal with Zaniel's bullshit. The two went into a messy living room, its coffee table covered with pills and beer cans.

"Mind the mess, we don't get visitors very often" Lawson made Dallevante follow him into the hallway. There they made their way to a door, Lawson took out a key and opened it. It was a closet.

"Ok, what the fuck is this bro?" Dallevante was struggling to keep it together at this point.

"Wait,wait. Just watch" Lawson walked into the closet and kneeled on the floor of it. He took out another key and reached down pulling a loose floor board. Under the board was a door.

"The fuck is this!?" Del Levante's head was filled with all the worse things.

Lawson saw the thought on Dallevante's face. "Don't worry, we are not making a Saw sequel here. Come on" He took off the lock and swung the door open, it led to a long staircase.

Dallevante had no choice, he either went down or faced Zaniel. So he went down. When they reached the bottom it led to another door.

"My fucking god,bruh!" Dallevante was ready to push the man in front of him.

"Sorry, we have to do this, to prevent unwanted guests. This is it, promise" Lawson opened the door. Noise began pouring out of the room in front of them.

When Dallevante entered, he saw barely clothed men and women working around a large table. Mix various fluids together and pour water over it. Heating up the mixture and forming it into crystals. The roar of a generator overlapping it all.

"This is where the magic happens. Oh, here you go" Lawson handed Dellevante a mask. "Keeps the fumes out"

Dallevante quickly put it on.

"So, why am I here?" Dallevante asked

"Oh, come on. Are you not curious about the product? Our whole business partnership rides on the stuff being pure" Lawson waved a hand over the whole room

"Wait, How do you get the people down here?" Dallevante asked

"We have many ways to the mountains, abandoned old mines and stuff. Plus, we have a great friendship with the 'agents' who begins these fine people to us"

"Well,ok. Listen, how long is this going to be?" Dallevante asked

"Well, there is not much beyond this, so let me get the sweet sugar for ya" Lawson was going to go back to the room when a yell broke out.

Everyone in the room went still.

"Motherfucker!" Dallevante looked around him, looking for a place to escape unnoticed.

"Dont worry, we have top notch security" Lawson took out a walkie talkie. "Oh,what's happening out there?"

A voice came from the other end "We don't know,sir. I was just talking to JJ and all of the sudden he screamed and his line went dead."

"Lock everything down, now!" Lawson screamed into the walkie. He turned to workers "Don't worry, everything is ok. Take a break for now"

Dallevante walked up to Lawson and went up to this face. "Listen to me, it's this some rival shit going down"

"No, we the only real players here, I don't know what this is" Lawson said, looking afraid

Delevante couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Uh,Adam. Do you see anything?" Lawson said into the walkie talkie

"Oh, fuck. I see JJ. Look like a fucking bear got to him" Adam said quietly

"A bear. That doesn't make any sense, bears don't just attack people. They have a pretty good reason not to, seeing that we have guns" Lawson was in disbelief of what he was hearing

"Well, I don't know man. This bear wanted to attack. I'M coming inside" Adam audible started to make his way to the front of the house

"What you can't. What if the bear gets in and kills everybody?" Lawson pushed past Dallevante and rushed up the stairs,Del Levante soon following him.

The other guards were in the living room, looking out the covered windows. "Get down" one of them said

Dallevante and Lawson got on the floor. Lawson went over to one of the guys and asked "Where is it"

"We don't know sir" The guard answered while looking out the window

"How, for the love of god. You don't know? Its a bear, not Casper the fucking ghost!" Lawson tried his best not to yell that.

"Well, we think it away after eating slash killing JJ" The guard said

That's when the door began to bang. Boom and boom rang out as the door was being slammed. The guards got their guns out and trained them at the door.

"Give me my gun back" Dallevante told Lawson

"Kid, that revolver is gotta do nothing to a bear" Lawson said, but gave him the gun anyway

One of the latches on the door broke. The remaining one was hanging on for dear life. Dallevante got up and ran into the hallway. Others take his idea and run with him. He opened one of the doors and led into a small bedroom with a window. He ran for as he heard the door being slammed through. He got to the windows and swung it open, running as fast as he could back into town. He heard the beast tearing into the people in the house.