Chapter Three: The Things Inside Us

Aurora couldn’t stop staring at her wrist.

The violet lines beneath her skin had vanished, but the burning sensation remained. It thrummed like a live wire, traveling slowly up her arm and leaving behind a strange, metallic tingling that made her fingers twitch.

“Kaiden,” she demanded, her voice sharp. “What exactly did you do?”

Kaiden stared down at his palm. The sapphire-blue fire had long since faded, yet his fingers were still trembling. “I told you. I don’t know.”

“People don’t normally shoot lethal kinetic energy out of their bare hands!”

“Would you honestly prefer I had let that thing eat our faces?”

Aurora opened her mouth to snap back, but no words came out. She hated that he had a point.

Serena shoved her way between them, her eyes darting nervously toward the center of the cafeteria. “Can we please pause this couples counseling session and argue about your terrifying new mutant abilities after we don’t get eaten?”

A heavy, sickening slam echoed from the main entrance.

Everyone froze.

Daniel had managed to haul himself up. His neck still hung at a horrific, broken angle, and his right arm dragged uselessly against the linoleum. The student he had mauled lay entirely motionless behind him, but Daniel seemed completely indifferent to his own physical destruction.

A freshman girl shrieked, covering her eyes.

“Why won't he just stay down?” someone cried out.

Daniel’s head snapped toward the sound with mechanical precision.

Then he charged.

Aurora barely registered the motion before Kaiden grabbed her waist, violently yanking her out of the path of the onslaught. Daniel plowed straight through the table where she had been standing, sending plastic chairs flying like bowling pins.

“Move!” Kaiden yelled.

Aurora stumbled, catching herself hard against his shoulder. His arm lingered around her waist for a fraction of a second before he let go.

“Stop grabbing me!” she hissed, shoving past him.

“Then stop standing where you’re about to be turned into appetizers!”

Serena grabbed Aurora’s hand, her face completely drained of color. “Guys. Seriously. Not the time.”

“We’re not having a moment!” Aurora and Kaiden snapped in unison.

Under any other roof, Serena might have laughed. But right now, the terror in the room was suffocating. Across the cafeteria, a handful of teachers were desperately trying to restore order. Mr. Harrison had grabbed a heavy iron chair, holding it out like a shield to keep Daniel from lunging at a group of terrified sophomores.

“Get back!” the teacher shouted, his voice cracking. “Somebody call security!”

A junior quickly held up his phone. “There’s no signal!”

“Use the emergency landline!”

“I said there’s no signal!”

Aurora instinctively yanked her own phone from her pocket. The screen lit up, but the status bar showed an empty signal icon with a blank triangle. She tapped blindly on her contacts, trying to dial the school security office, only for an automated carrier voice to drone: Your call cannot be completed as dialed.

Something was jamming the network. Something happening far beyond these walls.

Faint, distant screams echoed down the hallways outside, followed by the heavy, rhythmic thud of bodies slamming against lockers. A fire alarm stuttered to life somewhere above them, shrieked twice, and then choked into dead silence.

Then, the cafeteria's public address system crackled back to life.

“Attention students and staff,” the automated voice droned smoothly. “A temporary security exercise is currently in progress. Please remain calm and proceed to your designated classrooms when instructed.”

A boy near the barricaded doors stared up at the ceiling speakers in sheer disbelief.

“A security exercise?!” he screamed. “Somebody just got his throat ripped out!”

The announcement continued, utterly unbothered by the blood on the floor.

“Do not approach individuals displaying unusual physical or behavioral symptoms. Repeat. Do not approach"

Aurora slowly lowered her phone.

Unusual symptoms.

She turned her gaze back to Daniel. He had stopped charging the teachers and was currently sinking his teeth straight into the metal framework of the chair Mr. Harrison was holding, grinding the steel with enough force to bend the bars.

“What kind of fucked-up school drill involves cannibalism?” Serena whispered, her voice shaking.

“One with an exceptionally terrible planning committee,” a voice muttered from the side.

Aurora whipped around.

Jace Reed stood a few feet away, chest heaving. His varsity basketball jersey was torn open at the shoulder, and a thin, weeping gash ran down his cheek. He looked from Daniel to Kaiden, and then down, suspiciously, at the glowing violet traces fading beneath Aurora’s skin.

“What is wrong with you people?” Jace demanded.

“Good morning to you too, Jace,” Aurora shot back.

“I’m serious. I was halfway across the campus in the sports complex when the lights went out. Three upperclassmen just... snapped. One of them didn't even slow down when he launched himself straight through a reinforced glass door.”

He rubbed his forehead, breathing hard. “And I think I somehow just sprinted from the gym to the cafeteria in less than ten seconds flat.”

Kaiden frowned. “What?”

“You heard me.” Jace stared at his own hands, his expression dazed. “I don’t know how I did it. The world just... slowed down, and the next thing I knew, I was standing right here.”

Serena blinked. “You ran half a mile in ten seconds?”

“Unless there’s a glitch in the matrix, yes.”

Aurora glanced sideways at Kaiden. “Well. Apparently, you’re not the only freak of nature in this room.”

“Don’t sound so thrilled,” Kaiden muttered.

A deafening crash cut them off.

Mr. Harrison lost his grip on the heavy iron chair as Daniel slammed into him with brutal force, sending the teacher crashing hard against the cafeteria wall. Daniel loomed over him, his jaw unhinging as he emitted a low, wet growl.

The teacher coughed, clutching his arm. “Somebody... please"

Aurora moved on pure instinct, but Kaiden caught her wrist in a tight grip.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“He’s going to die!”

“And if you walk over there, you will too.”

“Then help me instead of standing here playing bodyguard!”

Kaiden’s jaw clenched. He looked from the pinned teacher to the advancing creature, and blue light instantly sparked across his knuckles.

“Jace,” Kaiden barked. “Get the teacher out of there.”

Jace blinked, wide-eyed. “How?!”

“You’re fast, aren't you?”

“I found that out like two minutes ago!”

“Then figure out how to use it!”

Before Jace could panic further, Daniel lunged down toward Mr. Harrison’s throat..

A sudden, fierce gust of wind tore across the cafeteria, blowing napkins and papers into a whirlwind. In a fraction of a heartbeat, Jace materialized beside the teacher, grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him backward across the floor just as Daniel’s teeth snapped shut on empty air.

Jace slid to a halt, staring down at his sneakers in utter bewilderment. “What the actual hell...?”

“Did you just...?” Aurora stared.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Jace breathed.