VOXISTALE: Novel Edition

Chapter 93

"The hell happened here?"

The girls peered from around the corner of an office building toward Voxis High, one of its walls completely blown open to reveal the ruined theater within. Simply seeing a theater made a shiver run down Sadie's spine, reminded of a near-death experience, though she ignored it and focused on Fuku's question instead. "Obviously something . . . explosive. I guess. Come on, we can get in through that way."

They began to move, casting glances down either side of the street as they moved. It was incredibly dark, the sky clouded to block the light of even the moon. Perfect cover, but they weren't sure if the Messiah had night vision goggles or cat eyes or something. So naturally, they were nervous and cautious- which would have applied if Fuku wasn't a glowing beacon of light. If there wasn't any cloud cover, Sadie was certain her companion could have been seen from orbit. So the monster had been wrapped tightly in a thick coat and mask, the only glow coming from where her mask was slit for her eyes.

"Where'd you leave Rian?" Fuku asked as they edged their way into the auditorium and began to trek through it.

"In the cafeteria. I meant to go back, but . . . well, things happened."

Fuku said nothing in reply as Sadie took the lead to check around corners without having a lime light signal her presence, forcing Fuku to hang back until gestured to advance by Sadie.

The girls progressed through the front entrance, through a hall, and down a flight of stairs to the bottom floor, the cafeteria found through a couple more winding halls. Papers were strewn about haphazardly, lockers busted open, classroom doors hanging off their hinges . . . it almost seemed like a siege had taken place. Or perhaps the Messiah had cleared out the school and just tore the place up looking for any of their targets. It didn't seem too far-fetched if the Messiah believed any of them had holed up here—which increased her worry, as that was exactly what she'd done with Rian.

The cafeteria fared no better than the rest of the school. Windows were shattered, some tables were smashed or flipped, even cafeteria food and garbage lay scattered about. Sadie could feel her heart sink into her stomach at the sight as she turned her gaze to the far corner of the room where she'd left Rian. It was too dark to actually see there, so with bated breath, she led Fuku toward it to find it was empty. "Dammit . . ." She let out a whisper, turning away and placing her hand over her eyes, shielding them from view, something she had done since her childhood, unaware that she was trying to conceal her emotions out of embarrassment.

"He's not here, is he?" Fuku asked, though the tone of her voice made it clear she knew the answer.

Regardless, Sadie shook her head. "No. He isn't. If he is, he's . . . I dunno . . . we can search the closets and classrooms. Maybe the boiler room."

"That . . . probably won't be necessary," Fuku replied quietly, "maybe he escaped. Went home?"

Sadie paused, sniffing before she wiped at her eyes. "Maybe," she sighed, "we should go. The Messiah could be monitoring this place."

With that, they began to make their way back out, back-tracking toward the hole in the auditorium. Sadie tried not to look around the room itself, feeling extremely uncomfortable at simply being within, but her unease didn't fade when they got outside. The revving of motorcycle engines were echoing off the surrounding skyscrapers. Just great.

Sadie and Fuku darted back into the theater, taking cover behind a part of the wall that wasn't demolished. Sadie turned her head to look at her companion. "Can't we put sunglasses on you or something?" She hissed. Fuku looked around, but alas, no conveniently-placed sunglasses littered the floor. "Just . . . hide further in," Sadie advised, "I'll make sure we're not spotted."