The darkened trees outside the school were not a sight Sarah was enjoying. The little light the school was giving off was enough to illuminate them in a way that made their shadows all the more unnerving. Wait, how was the school giving off light? They used generators wired into some systems Andrew had designed, but without those connections, what was feeding their power? Sarah added that to the growing list of worries in her brain. She wished Glenn was here. He always knew what to do.


    “I’m going to set Mr. Wiggles down. He wants us to follow him closely, but even he doesn’t know where we are,” Serilina said as they stepped onto what remained of the lawn from the Gardens, stopping in front of the trees.


    “Bug said Cat nice. Bug has been such a nice dog,” Many Legs said.


    “Wiggly has been taking care of me for most of my life. I promise he’s perfectly trustworthy, and he’s also the only one who has any chance of knowing what happened to us,” Serilina replied, with a bubbly smile. Sarah had no idea how the woman was managing to maintain it despite their situation, but maybe this wasn’t as insanely new to her as it was to them. She had heard some stories of what her new allies had been through, after all.


    Slowly and carefully, the group began to follow the cat into the thick trees. Sarah tried to keep her footfalls as silent as she could, doing her best to mimic the others. Just as she thought she had managed it, Mr. Wiggles froze in his place.


    “Need to go back,” Many Legs whispered, sounding more scared than she had before.


    “What is Wiggly?” Serilina asked, looking down at the cat.


    “There’s something in the darkness. I assume that’s what’s bothering the cat, I haven’t been able to get sight of it yet, but it’s out there, and I don’t like the feel of it,” Robin answered.


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    “GO RUN!” Many Leg’s yelled as a dark black shape burst from the trees, strange clawed arms reaching for Serilina as Many Legs knocked her away, and grabbed the creature herself.


    Sarah turned and ran at the centipede’s instruction as the loud crunching and thrashing grew behind them. She almost crashed into another black form but felt Robin grab the back of her shoulder and yank her back a split second before the creature had a chance to get a hold of her. “What the hell are these things?” she yelled.


    “Wiggly has no idea; he’s never encountered anything like this, and he doesn’t think his senses are working right. He’s pretty sure Many Legs saw them before he did,” Serilina answered, her voice joining the chorus of fear as she trembled, clutching Mr. Wiggles to herself.


    “LEAVE FRIENDS ALONE!” Many Legs roared as she charged past Sarah and the others, crashing hard into another of the creatures, Several of her legs looked mishapen, and she appeared to be bleeding from a few spots, but her rage looked to be enough to carry them through.


    “Yes, I agree Wiggly,” Serilina said.


    “What do you agree about?” Sarah asked, some of her fear dropping at Many Leg’s performance.


    “The fear has dropped. I didn’t realize it at the time, but those creatures were creating some sort of field on us, making us more afraid. Luckily, we have a giant centipede defender. But Wiggly said we need to get back and hope for a sunrise before we do any more exploration,” Serilina answered. In front of them, the black form was retreating from the rage of Many Legs, who didn’t look to be in great shape, but she was still on her feet urging them forward.


    Luckily, they hadn’t gone far into the forest, and a short, frenzied dash later had them back in the school. “We need to figure out how to fight those things. We can’t leave Many Legs to do it entirely alone in the future,” Robin said, bending over to examine some of the centipede’s broken legs.


    “Robin, take Many Legs to my office. Serilina go let the adults know what happened. I’m going to go find Matt. He will be able to patch up Many Legs, hopefully. Serilina work on getting every door and window locked after you tell them what happened outside. Bring someone with you. I don’t want anything getting in or out of this school without us knowing about it,” Sarah said, trying to take charge. It wasn’t easy, but it felt right. She would keep these kids safe no matter what, not just because her own children were, but because enough people had failed them, and she wasn’t about to be another.