I'm Just Septic-Eyed

Chapter 11: Smoke and Robots

Mark stared at the ceiling. There wasn't anything interesting about it, he just had nothing to do. Sean had gone to class with Cry. A part of him wanted to walk them both to school, but he knew they would be alright. At least he hoped. The fact that Sam was around still terrified him to no end. What was even scarier was that no one knew what he looked like; the only one who knew was still missing. Mark could meet Sam on the street and not even know it. At that thought Mark threw his hands over his face and groaned. He slowly slid them off while he exhaled deeply. There was no use laying about. Mark slid off the bed and walked over to his bag. Might as well get some work done.

~~~

"So how did Felix take the news?"

Sean and Cry were packing up. It was a long, hard lesson and they were checked out by the end of it. Cry sighed. After a few moments a robotic-like voice responded, "He is really worried about me. I told him I was fine but he won't believe me until he sees me for himself." Cry was absolutely not in the mood to punch out braille, so he used the text-to-speech on his phone.

Sean nodded solemnly. Mark was worried about Sean when he said that Sam was the one that did it, he could only imagine how Felix must be, considering Cry is more than just his friend. When the two finished packing up, they left the class together (with Chica, of course). "Is Felix coming to get you, then?" Sean tried to ask as cheerfully as he could. It wasn't much, really. Cry hummed his response. "We'll wait here for him, then."

The two trailed over to a bench and sat down. Chica sat down on the ground between them. Sean took a moment to feel the frail breeze and smell the air. And then he sniffed it again. It smelled an awful lot like... "Smoke," Sean whispered under his breath. Cry made an inquiring noise. "Do you smell that, Cry?"

There was a moment of silence before the text-to-speech responded, "Yeah, it smells like a campfire." There was a pause. "But... it smells close, doesn't it?"

That was when there were footsteps running both away and toward the smell, people talking loudly, and someone screaming. "That doesn't sound good," Sean grabbed Chica's harness. "Can you see the smoke, Cry?"

Cry did see the smoke. It was coming from inside the campus. The smoke was white and growing in size. "I think a classroom is on fire."

Sean froze. He tightened his grip on Chica's harness until his knuckles turned white. He heard someone say something in passing. Something he wished was just a mistaken student. They said it was Mr. Morrison's class. "C-Cry," Sean refused to believe it. Mr. Morrison wasn't in there, right? There were no students in there, right? "We have to go see what class it is. We have to. Please."

Cry agreed, albeit because Sean sounded urgent, and the two students hurried toward the fire. From what Sean heard, there was chaos. Professors tried to get students away, there was someone wailing loudly, and Sean's heart dropped when he tuned in to the woman's crying. His hands flew up to his mouth to trap a cry inside. "Ken! Ken, come out! Please!" Mr. Morrison was in there. Cry made a struggled noise and Sean instinctively turned his head toward the sound. "Cry?" He felt something yank the back of his shirt. Since his hands were no longer on Chica's harness, there was nothing stopping Sean from being dragged away by someone. "Chi --!" A hand covered his mouth.

~~~

Mark and Felix walked together. While they laughed, a firetruck zoomed passed them, blaring its horn. The two stared after it with curiosity until they saw and smelled the smoke. The white plumes were turning a deep grey. Mark and Felix looked at each other as if they were thinking the same thing. They both took off into a sprint the rest of the way toward campus. When they got there the firefighters were already getting everyone to step away. One of them had to practically carry Mrs. Morrison back. Mark peered around the crowd and spotted a firefighter with Chica. "Chica!" Mark began waving and jumping to get the firefighter's attention. Chica helped by pulling him in the right direction.

Felix looked at Mark with a concerned expression. "Jack wouldn't just leave Chica behind." The firefighter walked up to them and Mark pretended his heart wasn't in his throat. Felix decided to speak for them. "Thank you. You didn't happen to see the student who she belongs to, did you? Blind, a bit shorter than me, fluffy hair. O-or maybe his friend? They're usually together."

The firefighter shook his head. "Sorry, guys. I found her sitting there without anyone by her. We'll keep a look out for them."

Felix thanked the man again as he left. "Holy shit, Mark," Felix hissed. "Where the hell are they? They can't be in the building; Chica's out here." He put his hands on his head. "Oh my God. Oh my God." A string of Swedish curse words and concerns followed after.

Mark couldn't even come up with anything reassuring to say. He was just as scared as Felix was. "I..." Mark looked at Chica. She had no way to know what was going on. "I-I don't know, Felix. I really don't know. I'm so fucking scared. I can only hope nothing bad happened."

Felix looked to Mark and suddenly recognition crossed his face; it was like he figured out something Mark didn't. "You really care about him, don't you?"

"Of course I do! He's my friend, Felix."

Felix smirked a bit. His eyes were filled with sadness because he knew. He knew Mark was in denial. "I know he is, Mark. I know he is." Felix glanced around. "We have to look for them. If Chica's here they can't be far behind. At least I hope." He added that last part under his breath, but Mark heard it. He grabbed onto Chica's harness and prayed to any entity that would hear him.

The two men and Chica walked around the school. They called for their lost friends with every new area they entered. With each growing minute, Mark and Felix became more worried. Where could they be? "Oh God," Mark cried. His legs were shaking from how badly he was scared. "Where are they, Felix? I'm honestly --" Mark was cut off when someone bumped into his shoulder. He glanced back at them. They were wearing a hoodie so it was almost impossible to see who it was. "Dick."

Felix frowned at them. That was awfully shady. He sighed and called out, "Cry! Where are you, man?!" Both students waited for a response. They were about to give up hope when they heard a text-to-speech voice echoing off somewhere. Mark and Felix ran toward it instantly. They weren't ready for the sight that greeted them behind the building.