Chapter 2 Aftershock

The reaction of the crowd was instant, as soon as the sound of the boy's skull cracking reached the other students' ears, Panic ripped through the crowd. Silas sat frozen, the fear that racked through his body was so crippling he couldn't move, his legs wouldn't move. He screamed in his mind MOVE!! But his body still wouldn't respond.

As the creature took more and more bites out of the arm that it had ripped right off of the boy's body to take a breath, Silas noticed something; its legs seemed to be slowly but surely less frail, not by a lot but enough to be noticeable. As the creature finished the last of the flesh left on the boy's arm, it lowered itself down and bit into the hole where the arm used to be, leaving its teeth embedded in the bloody flesh for a moment. Releasing it you could now see a yellowish liquid dripping from the hole where its teeth had sunken in and from the creature's mouth.

The creature suddenly turned its head noticed Silas hunched on the ground, pushed up against the wall of lockers as far as he could be, the look on his face was that of pure horror, the creature took a step towards him, they were only about 5 feet apart the creature easily being able to reach Silas and rip out his throat within seconds.

Suddenly the air around them seemed to split for a moment before a burst of blood and flesh spilled from the creature's massive arm. Silas turned to see a police officer standing about 20 feet away with his gun drawn.

"Kid Get out of there!!" the police officer shouted, Silas felt his legs begin to feel less heavy as if they had finally decided that they could move again, he looked up at the creature for a moment who had turned towards the police officer. The officer fired off another round hitting the creature in the shoulder, the creature didn't even flinch but the anger on its face was easy to see. It screamed out before it moved towards the officer who fired round after round.

Silas didn't wait to see what happened next, he stood up and ran, he was fast and always had been, but now it felt like he couldn't run fast enough. As he rounded the corner of the hallway he could hear the shouts of the police officer, and they weren't shouts of victory. Silas then heard the creature scream. The scream echoed off the walls making it feel as if it was right next to him again. Silas stopped and vomited up his small breakfast. What the hell is happening?! This isn't real, this isn't real!" Silas shouted silently, tears streaming down his cheeks

As his stomach finished voiding whatever was left inside of it, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve, Sade and Asher those two names were the only two things left inside his shell shocked mind.

His legs moved without him moving them, the closest one to him was Asher, him being in a math class surely sleeping. The creature had seemed to have gone to the other side of the school, maybe it had made its way to the staircase and to the second floor.

Silas could hear the sounds of distant screams. He tried to block them out but was unable to. He kept moving, further and further away from the sounds but they followed him no matter where he went. As he reached the door to Asher's class room, Multiple teachers were outside their classrooms talking, questioning what exactly was going on. As they say Silas running down the hallway they turned to him

"Silas what the hell is happening? Did we hear gunshots earlier? We can't reach the main office." one of the teachers said with a worried look on

"You need to get the rest of the Students out of here and whatever you do stay the hell away from the west wing!" Silas Shouted in between breaths.

Asher suddenly walked out of the classroom hearing Silas' name and voice, one of the teachers from the group broke off and tried to get him back inside the classroom but Asher, annoyed, pushed him away walking over to Silas who in Asher's eyes looked like a train wreck.

"Bro you okay? What's going on?" Asher asked with an uncharacteristically gentleness in his voice.

Silas suddenly grabbed Ashers wrist when he got close enough, "Sade we need to find Sade. I'll explain while we go" Silas said with a large amount of fear in his voice. He turned and started to run pulling Asher along with him.

"Bro what is going on? What's happening with you?" Asher asked pulling Silas to a stop after they rounded a corner.

"The video, the video that has been circulating online, it's true, whatever the monster was, one is in the school. Parker, the reason he was sick was because of whatever the hell this is, he become a- hulking Brute of flesh, he attacked a kid and crushed his fucking skull! Then he- he" Silas couldn't continue, he broke down in tears, all of it was hitting him he needed to get Sade and get the hell out of here.

"No way bro- we need to get out of here, save are lives before Par- or the Brute does the same to us" Asher said backing up a little from Silas his face an expression of Fear

"We need to get Sade first, then we are getting out of here, who is to say how many of those things there are." Silas said he looked up at the sign above one of the class rooms, he walked over to the door that was wide open just as it was when he left. He walked into his first class of the day grabbing his backpack and walking back out.

"Was anyone.. Yah know.. Dead in there?" Asher asked, Silas simply shook his head. As they picked up running again they quickly came up on the remains of the boy neither of them knew the name of and the police officer.

"Oh god man! Oh Jesus no no no!!" Asher started to scream, he quickly pulled his phone from his pocket, and dialed emergency services, as he listened his face became a mask of horror "We are sorry, but all of are lines are currently in use" he collapsed to his knees, his long hair covering his face, he started shaking uncontrollably, tears running down his cheeks, Asher had never been great with blood; he wasn't squeamish around it, but for sure hated the sight of it. "This is just another nightmare man, you just gotta wake up!!!" Asher screamed.

Silas didn't know what to do, his mind was in shock so nothing that was happening was getting through to him, he saw the blood, the yellow liquid oozing from every open wound, but chose to ignore it. The only thoughts that were running through his head were simple: get himself and his friends out of this hell alive. His mind had officially entered into survival mode.

Silas lowered down, placing his hand on Ashers back, "Man we gotta move, get Sade, I know-" Silas stopped abruptly, he knew nothing he said could cheer his friend up.

Asher looked up, his green eyes piercing daggers into Silas eyes, "how the hell are you so damn calm!! There's absolutely no way this isn't affecting you man! That kids head was fucking crushed!! That cop is missing his damn legs! How they hell are we supposed to get Sade! She is on the second floor, where that Brute is! You can hear the screams man, what are we supposed to do!" Asher screamed through clenched teeth. Asher had a point, they were two high school students. What could they do?

Silas for some reason as Asher had said had registered the screams from the second floor, the stomps of the Brutes movements, Silas shook his head, "Asher it is affecting me! I watched the Brute crush that boys fucking skull, it almost killed me for christ sake! Right now man we can't focus on the fact that there will be time to reflect later, but now is not the time." Silas knew what he was saying made no sense, he himself couldn't understand why he wasn't more affected by what was happening. The rest of his mind was completely blank, no response, any time he tried to think it was completely blank, only a couple of thoughts would surface: Get Sade and leave.

Asher looked into Silas' eyes for a moment, mulling over what his friend had said, Asher knew they didn't have time to focus on any of this. To focus on the dead, the horror of the situation. Asher stood up without another word, dried the tears from his eyes and cheeks and walked forward, moving around Silas and the dead police officer, and towards the staircase, waiting for Silas at the base of the stairs.

Silas looked at Asher, as he leaned up against a wall, waiting for Silas, Silas started to walk towards Asher, who was still noticeably shaking even if he wasn't crying anymore. As Silas passed the dead police officer, he noticed that the glowing yellow liquid seemed to be moving beneath the clothes of the officer, the dead veins of the officer seemed to be glowing a bright and vibrant yellow. Silas started walking a bit fast, afraid of what this could mean, but stopped abruptly, noticing a black object not far from the officer's head, Silas bent over and picked up the pistol.

While it looked a bit worse for wear it still looked semi functional, he ejected the magazine, it had 7 rounds left. He reloaded the magazine, looking up at Asher who looked at him worryingly, "the cop wasn't able to take it down with that, what makes you think you'll be able to?!" Asher said, a tad bit annoyed.

"It's better to be safe than sorry man" Silas said, slipping it behind his back and storing it in the waistband of his jeans as there weren't many other spots it could go safely.

"Ready man?" Silas asked patting Asher on the shoulder, "As ready as you can be dude" Asher said with a nervous grin

As Silas and Asher made their way up the staircase, the screaming became far more apparent, while it was a little bit distant, they could still hear the distant sounds of screaming both from students and teachers while also from the Brute setting both the boys even more on edge.

As they inched closer and closer towards the sounds of chaos ahead of them, they observed the path of destruction that the Brute had left in its wake. Locker doors had imprints of the Brutes' oversized fists embedded into the steel, with crumbled dead bodies below them.

Silas could hear the sound of crying again from Asher as they moved every step that Asher took was forced, he didn't want to be here. Some of the kids that lie dead and lifeless were people who he had known and been friends with. It took every ounce of will he had to stay calm and not break down again, to keep moving forward. As they reached a corner where the sounds of slaughter reached a crescendo Asher turned around to look at Silas, "Man what class was she in again?" Asher whispered trying his best to keep his composure as more screams echoed down the hall.

Silas looked at his friend, who was shaking violently, Silas was doing everything he could to block out the screams but even in his mentally detached state they were reaching him.

"She should be in the gym, And the entrance to that is just around the corner." Silas said realizing that they most likely would have to fight the damn Brute if they wanted to get into the gym.

Silas looked around quickly trying to see if there was anything at all he could give Asher for a weapon, he looked around at the bodies, seeing one of the janitors holding his mop. Silas, even in his detached state, felt sad seeing the old janitor, he had always been a sweet old man and didn't deserve to die. Silas bent down gently picking up the janitors mop breaking off the head and handing the now relatively sharp stick to Asher

"I appreciate the gift man but how will this help?" Asher asked, stabbing the mop now made into a crude spear in the air a few times.

"Look man, I don't think it is a great weapon as well, but may as well go down fighting." Silas said, placing a hand on Asher's shoulder for a moment, before moving past him to peer down the hall.

As Silas peeked part of his head around the corner, he saw what could only be described as a slaughterhouse. Multiple bodies were strewn all about the hallway, some more in tack than others. With its back towards them the Brute seemed to be feeding on one of the corpses either feeding or injecting it with more of whatever it was that made it that way, the girls eyes stared blankly at Silas, and all Silas could think was Im thankful that inst Sade. Silas cursed himself for thinking this way.

"Alright the Brute seems to be further down the hall then we originally thought. The door to the gym's upper levels is between the Brute and us. If we move quietly we shouldn't disturb it." Silas said, trying his best to not start trembling, he pulled out the gun to make sure it was ready to fire if that was necessary.

Asher looked at Silas, his nerves almost getting the better of him but as he was about to turn and run Silas moved around the corner, Asher's legs followed even though his brain did not want him too.

As Silas and Asher inched closer to the door, they noticed that a lot of the bodies had the bite marks from the Brute, but they were all in different spots, they never were in the same spot twice. Where the teeth had dug into the flesh, it seemed that the yellow liquid was pooling, drawn to a single spot in the center of the ring of bite marks.

Silas wanted to stop and inspect this development, but knew that they didn't have time for that. Sade and Escape, inspecting what the hell made this thing work and its capabilities would happen later.

Once they reached the door, Silas slowly pulled the door open, Silas was incredibly thankful that the doors weren't old and didn't make almost any kind of noise. Once they both slipped in the door and it shut behind them, they both breathed a sigh of relief.

Silas looked around the large open room, seeing its baron of any life was both a huge relief and also an even bigger worry, where was Sade.

Asher saw the worry wash over Silas' face, "Hey man let's check the locker rooms before we jump the gun on anything." Asher said in an effort to cheer Silas up, to be honest, Asher himself didn't even know if she would be in here.

As they moved slowly towards the locker rooms making as little noise as possible, The brute was behind a set of wooden doors, which it could easily knock down if it wanted to or knew they were in here.

As they got to the boys locker they tried turning the knob, it was locked, Silas then remembered that boys gym wasn't till later in the day where he had the class with Asher so no boys would be in the gym.

Silas then walked up to the girls locker room door, knowing that any other time, he would never do this, but in this situation he didn't think anyone would put it past him. As he turned the knob and opened the door someone thrust out what seemed to be a makeshift spear at him aiming right for his stomach.

Silas quickly moved out of the way, the spear sliced into the side of his arm, Silas did everything in his power to not scream out in pain. Being able to bite back the scream right before it came out. Silas turned back to see a girl from his grade, named Rebecca held at spear point by Asher, who had a look of rage so intense it looked as if it could burn the whole world to ash.

Rebecca held her hands in the air, not dropping the spear but holding it up with her hands, "hey hey now im sorry!" She whispered, "we can't be too careful okay?! Your Sades friends right? She is inside, come in quickly."

Silas and Asher didn't argue, they quickly rushed into the room and Rebecca closed the door behind them quietly.

The girls locker room didn't look all that different from the boys' lockers lined almost every wall with multiple sets of lockers lining the inner portions of the locker room, it looked like a Stereotypical locker room.

After walking for a few moments, they all came to the main portion of the locker room where they saw the group of girls that had this class all sitting on benches talking, it seemed that most of them were talking about what was going on.

Silas scanned the crowd of girls, most of them not noticing them yet. Rebecca suddenly spoke up. "Would yall shut up for two seconds!?" Rebecca said in a voice filled with authority. Rebecca was a tall girl standing at about 5 '11 according to her, she had deep black hair with deeply tanned skin, she had a muscular body, word around the school was she was training to be a bodybuilder.

As Rebecca called out a majority of the girls shut up and turned to her. One however jumped up, recognizing both of her closest friends anywhere.

Sade had been worried sick, they had heard a lot of things coming from outside, screaming of both kids and adults along with something so high pitched that it could only be described as a monster's cry.

As Sade reached her two closest friends, she threw her arms around them both, she did everything in her power to not break down in tears, she was a strong girl and didn't often cry but this time, even though she tried to hold back tears, they began to stream down her face.

"I'm so glad you're both okay" Sade managed to say between sobs, Silas and Asher both smiled, and hugged her back happily, relieved that she was alive while so many of their other classmates were laying in the hallways dead.

Rebecca cleared her throat with a cough while looking away from the trio, a little bit uncomfortable. "Alright we are all glad that you were able to reunite, but we have other things to worry about. Start talking, what the hell is going on out there!"

For another brief moment, Sade held onto her friends, as Asher pulled away, she held onto Silas. As she pulled away she looked into his eyes, Silas did not look back at her, he looked dead ahead as if he was seeing something that wasn't there.

"Si? You okay?" She asked, Silas Suddenly jumped, startled back into reality, he looked at Sade and smiled a little.

"I'm okay Sade, dont worry too much about me." Silas gently pushed Sade away and began to explain the situation to the group of girls.

"To put it simply, the video online is the one circulating around. It's real there is one of those yellow Glowers in the school, I think-" Silas stopped for a moment, taking a breath, closing his eyes, the feeling of shell shock was beginning to ebb ever so slightly and the memories of what had happen throughout the day, brought back pain.

"I think the Glowing creature, or as me and Asher have named it, The Brute- I think its Parker." Silas finished in a shaking voice.

Silas opened his eyes, most of the girls were staring at him, with looks of abject horror plastered on their faces. Some began to cry, their soft crying quickly developing into heavy and uncontrollable sobs, for a moment that was the only sound that filled the room, as Silas played his eyes across the room, he could see some of the girls were comforting the ones that were sobbing. Some even shot dirty looks at Silas and Asher, as if they were the ones to blame for the situation they were in.

One girl stood up, her name was escaping Silas at the moment, however her mouth was flexed into a tight line of anger, her eyes flaring with defiance.

"There is no way that video was real! No way what you're saying is real! They're lying, probably playing some kind of prank!" She shouted

Before Silas could even think of responding, Rebecca stepped forwards, her face a mask of absolute fury.

"Sit your ass down now!! You and everyone in this damn room heard the screams from outside! You're gonna stand there and tell me that you didn't hear it the same as everyone else?! Really!?!" As Rebecca finished her sentence, you could see a look of shame cross over the defiant girl's face, as she quickly sat back down.

"Silas, Asher, explain exactly what this thing is, does it look the same as the one in the video?" Rebecca said, turning to face them both.

Silas shook his head, "Its bigger, not by a lot but it definitely is bigger, its arms are the size of tree trunks, although its legs-"

Suddenly a loud high pitched and ear piercing scream tore through the air, there was a loud crash from the other side of the locker room. Through the corridors of locker rooms the group could see that the door to the locker room had been bashed in, not bursted off its hinges but definitely well beyond use. Just beyond the destroyed door, stood the walking nightmare itself, blood dripping from its open mouth.

The two opposing sides stood for just a moment, completely still, then suddenly a girl let out a terrified cry of fear and The Brute let out another blood curdling scream and rushed forward, bashing into lockers as it ran straight towards the group. Silas knew he had just seconds to act, he quickly grabbed Asher and Sades hand and jumped out of the way. As The Brute barreled into the group of girls sending most of them flying into lockers blood spitting from some of their mouths while some just crumpled, lifeless.

Rebecca watched in horror as the creature that Silas had called a Brute charged into the group, she had narrowly missed being caught up in its charge and she was grateful for it. As she watched The Brute grab a girl that hasn't been slammed into a locker but instead into a bench and take a huge chunk out of raw flesh out of her arm. She let out a scream and fell limp, passing out from the shock.

Rebecca was a strong willed girl, and had been since she was a kid, and did not want to leave her classmates to die. Just as she was about to rush forward planning to stab The Brute wherever she could. She felt someone grab her arm and pull her backwards. "Rebecca, come on! We can't stay here!" Asher shouted at her, she herself wanted to stay, but she felt her legs move before she had time to stop them, and they were not moving towards the creature but towards the Shattered door. Following closely behind Asher, Silas and Sade.

As the group got through the doorway, they didn't stop to think as the sounds of desperate screams came from the depths of the locker room. Silas felt his mind beginning to fog back over not letting him fully feel the weight of what was happening. He quickly began to scan the area, the gymnasium had an extremely odd layout, having the only way between the upper level and the court being the bleachers that were able to retract. They were currently retracted.

The only way to extend them was fairly convenient being a large button between the boys and girls locker rooms. Silas began to quickly move over to the button, the others following closely behind him.

"Si, you know how much noise those things make right? It is gonna draw The Brute right out." Sade said in a desperate whisper.

Silas looked at her, then at Asher, then at Rebecca, he considered all of them his friends. No matter the circumstances, he needed to protect them at all costs. He pulled the pistol out from his waistband. Both Rebecca and Sade let out a gasp seeing the pistol

Both Rebecca and Sade stared at the gun in both desperation and horror, questioning for one, where he had gotten such a weapon and two if it could really take the beast down.

Silas didn't want to play the hero, didn't want to be some great savior, he just wanted to go back to his simple life but this monster was preventing that, it had torn through every person it came across, injecting them with its bile and who knew what else it could do. Silas looked at the exit to the gym, the way they had come in, the door had been opened by someone that now lay limp and lifeless crumpled against it. The screams from the locker room had long grown silent.

Silas smacked the button without another word or thought, this monster was a threat, a threat that nobody could deal with. How he was going to kill it, he had no idea.

Asher watched Silas as he smacked the button on the wall, as the Bleachers screeched out of their resting place pushing out into long practiced formation, Asher heard the ear piercing and blood chilling scream of The Brute as it darted out of the locker room.

Covered in blood it stood on its legs now, The Brutes muscular arms had grow a bit smaller sense Silas and Asher had last seen them, it stood no taller than an average man but a large noticeable different was the fact that its legs were no longer shriveled messes of skin and bone, but instead; were just as big as the arms were now. The Brute now looked like a bodybuilder at the peak of their career. The skin on its face sagged down as if it had just had a stroke. Its eyes glowed a bright vibrant almost golden yellow. However a white material was beginning to cover the eyes making them glow less vibrantly and with almost a sickly yellow-white tint to them. Blood was splattered across its body, in some spots what looked to be white bone shot out from its body making odd looking spikes Another difference stood out to Silas and Asher as well, in the center of its chest, where its heart should be, sat a glowing pulsating blob of flesh, bones stretching over the blob in a protective cage.

Sade and Rebecca both saw the creature, and as they studied it, their legs felt as if they had become jelly. The brute moved in almost a feral way; it hunched down, moving on all fours, not seeming to care that it was stabbing itself in multiple different spots with its bony spikes. It seemed to be searching, sniffing the air, and stopping to listen for movement.

Rebecca had never felt this much fear in her entire life, she was not a fearless girl, however it was hard to scare her. she clutched the makeshift spear which was actually just an old and rusted javelin so tightly that her fingertips turned white.

She watched the creature as it searched desperately for its prey, she looked at the Javelin, she was the best thrower on their schools track team, being senior in high school and having more than enough time to cultivate her skills. *Im the head fuckin thrower! I worked my way to the top in every sport I try! This stupid monster aint about to push me around!* She screamed in her head. Before the others could stop her she got into a throwing stance as fast as she could, the noise drew the attention of The Brute and it began to advance at breakneck speeds.

Before it reached her and her friends though, she threw the Javelin with every ounce of strength that she had in her. And to her glee, the javelin, while not hitting its mark. Slammed full force into its shoulder piercing its leather like skin and spewing blood and a yellowish, golden, glowing liquid from its open wound. the force of it knocking it backwards.

The Brute did not react to the javelin sticking out of its arm in pain, it however did something far more terrifying, it stared at it in almost fascination.

While The Brute was distracted, Silas fumbled with the pistol, after a moment he managed to get it off safely, he pointed the gun at the creature that was now looking back at the group. It let out another blood curdling scream, much louder now that it was so close. It began to charge again, a little slowed by the Javelin, but not by a lot.

Silas pointed the gun at the creature, it was now only 30 feet away, and would be on Asher first as he was the closest. Then it would move to Rebecca, Then to Sade before finally moving onto him killing all of them in an instant. *Silas looked down at the sight of the Pistol Die! You Fucking monster!* He screamed in his head

He let out a couple of rounds, hitting the creature a few times in the arm, blood and yellow bile spitting from the wound, only slowing it down by a little as it continued to rush forward. Silas took a deep breath and fire another few round

At first The Brute didn't react, continuing to charge forward for a few more steps before stumbling forward barely keeping itself up right. As it stood still, another far larger amount of yellow bile spewed from its chest as the yellow glow and beat of the blob dimmed before completely stopping. It let out one last desperate scream, clawing at its chest before falling backwards, pushing the Javelin out of its body as it fell back slamming against the ground

Everyone stood still for a moment, nobody moved, not even the sound of breathing could be heard. The Brutes body twitched a few times before finally, the last glow of its eyes finally faded away.

Sade slowly walked forward, quickly picking the javelin before moving quickly away from The Brute's now dead body.

Rebecca sat backwards basically falling onto her butt. "Someone gonna tell me why no damn police or riot squad hasn't stormed the damn place?" Rebecca said in annoyance

"We tried calling the emergency hotline- but it said all the lines are busy" Asher said with a bit of dread and worry in his voice.

"Your kiddin me, right Asher?" Rebecca said, looking up at him with a tad bit of hope in her eyes that quickly died as Asher shook her head.

"If this is widespread, we need to get somewhere safe. Why not go to my house?" Sade suggested. The group all nodded, Asher moved over to help Rebecca up, after a few moments of absolute silence she took his hand and got up without another word. Rebecca took the Javelin from Sade and began to walk down the bleachers.

" you think she'll be okay?" Asher asked Silas and Sade as they followed Rebecca's lead leaving the horrible creature's corpse behind.

"I don't know, I don't think many of us will be after this, Let's just get to my house and go from there, and hey maybe she would appreciate someone checking on her, she may seem like a tuff girl but she is actually a huge softy." Sade said with a playful shove at Asher, who had a gentle shade of peak across his face, it was no secret to the group that Asher had a thing for strong willed girls.

As they got out of the gym Silas noticed they were in the same hallway as the dead body of the cop and the first victim of the cop, however were about 200 feet away from the gruesome scene, where there weren't any bodies and the Brute hadn't made it this way yet. As they were just about to reach the exit. Silas thought to turn around feeling something. The hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, as if something were right behind him.

As Silas turned around his felt a wave of fear flooding through his body, adrenaline flooding his extremities, stumbling down the hallway, was the first victim, its head had not fully forced back, but part of one eye and its mouth were intact, its other arm had become a shriveled mess of bone and dead skin while there was still a hole where the other arm had been torn off. Another, Lighter; pulsing yellow blob of flesh glowed from its chest.

Suddenly it bent over and a sound of air being inhaled could be heard as it let out a glass shattering scream, blood and yellow bile spitting from its mouth. To the group's horror as they all turned to see what Silas was seeing and what had made the scream, A number of different screams replied to the first victim's cry.