Under the Orange Sky - Opening

(Eric)

         Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.

         “Ten minutes.” Adam said.

         “And no teacher.” I finished.

         Adam and I were sitting in the center of the front row of chairs. The rest of our row was empty, as well as the entire row behind us. We turned and looked towards the back of the class. From the third row onward sat the rest of the class. They did not look happy and some of them were glaring at us.

         “Think we should check it out?” I asked.

         “For the love of our health I would say so.” Adam said.

         Adam and I quickly stood up and moved for the door. The quiet murmuring that had permeated the class came to a halt. I could feel the eyes of the entire room on my back.

         “Where the hell do you think you two are going?” One of them asked.

         “Well… We were going to try and find out why there’s no teacher. I figure that the office will know.”

         When no one raised an argument I pushed open the door to the classroom and left. Outside Adam and I walked down the hallway to the right and rounded a corner. Someone who was headed the other way collided with Adam and stumbled backwards.

         He stared at us for a moment. “Oh… i-its you.”

         I sighed. “Yeah it’s us. You know what’s going on?”

         The poor guy looked like he was going to faint. He brushed his lanky blond hair out of his eyes and looked around for support. Seeing no one else in the immediate vicinity he resigned himself to his fate.

         “There don’t seem to be any teachers around. No one is even in the main office. There are some weird guys down in the courtyard too. They’re standing in a circle and chanting.”

         Adam and I exchanged a look. “You sure that all the teachers are gone? Even Jackson? Jackson never leaves campus.” I said surprised.

         “Yes. Even Jackson is gone. None of the officers can find them. We tried to go into town but the gates are locked from the outside.”

         “Are any of the guards around?” Adam asked.

         “Look. I’m going around to the different classes to tell them the situation. If you want more information go check it out for yourself. And besides that when have the guards ever let anyone see them?”

         Adam snorted rudely and walked around the irked class officer. I followed behind him. We walked in silence for a while until I recognized the route we were walking.

         “We’re going by Poison's room? That’s stupid on a normal day!”

         “Not stupid. Strategic. He’s a chemistry teacher. We can pick up some acid for the gate lock there.” He looked back at me. “I thought you were the smart one. Why didn’t you think of that?”

         I rolled my eyes. “I think we should check out these supposed crazies in the courtyard.”

         Adam opened the door to Poisons office. “Why? The time is ripe for escape. We’re busting out man! We can have our own TV show.”

         “You do realize it’s probably a trap. They could be waiting off somewhere else for escapees.”

         Adam paused in checking the locks on the cabinets. He stood up considering. Then he looked at me.

         “They’re not that devious are they? They can’t be that smart. Damn it!”

         “You see what I mean. Told you we needed to keep a low radar around here. These guys aren’t like those idiots at our old school.”

         Adam stared at me a moment. “You're gonna rub in the smart guy comment aren’t you?”

         “Nah. Its not your fault you're so dumb.”

         “Shut up.”

      Five minutes later we were ate the entrance to the courtyard. Pushing open the door Adam and I were stopped by a solid wall of students. Milling about in the large open area was close to the entire student body of Sea West.

         “Holy shit.” Adam muttered. “Are these crazy guys that interesting?”

         “I dunno.” I replied. “Let’s go check them out.

         Pushing our way through the crowd wasn’t hard. I, being very skinny, pushed my way through the crowd fist. I marked the path and Adam followed in the wake I left behind. Any time I ran into a place I couldn’t get through I just tapped some shoulders and the mass of students would part before me. Once I reached the edge of the crowd I realized why everyone had gathered here.

         Not only were the crazies standing in a circle but they were chanting as well. All of them had their faces cast towards the ground as the stood stock still in their deep red robes. Beneath their feet was a large geometric design that resembled a spiraling spider’s web. I listened closely over the general hub-ub of the crowd to hear what the robed people were saying.

         “Odest Idei Mo Nay Vay.”

         Adam raised an eyebrow. “That’s not creepy at all.”

         “Tell me about it.” I said walking closer to the robed men. “Um… Excuse me but could you tell me what you’re doing here?”

         The man didn’t respond and a bunch of people were yelling at me to get away. “I was just wondering what brings you to our humble courtyard on this fine day.” I continued making a joke out of it.

         I reached out to tap the closest robed man on the shoulder and suddenly he spun around swinging for my head. I jerked out of the way in time only to end up staring down the barrel of a pistol. I cried out and stumbled backwards some.

         “Whoa!” Adam said. “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot! It’s all right. We’re just gonna all leave you alone to do your chanting.”

         Apparently, however, it was not all right to just leave them alone to do their chanting. Simultaneously the rest of the red robed invaders whirled around to face the crowd, all of them brandishing pistols. In unison they groaned through their chant again.

         Adam made this choking sound from the back of his throat. “Their eyes!” He said quietly. “Their eyes are gone!”

         I looked at the closest mans face a little closer. His eyes were missing. As were his eyelids. In their place were small maliciously glowing sparks of red. Then I realized that I recognized the strong German features and blond hair.

         “It’s the Principal!” I exclaimed looking at all the faces in turn recognizing each of them as school staff.

         Suddenly the strange design that the faculty had been chanting around flared to life. Red lightning shot from it and crackled across the crowd doing no visible damage to people but catching the buildings around us on fire. A beam of red light burst from the ground inside the design lancing up into the clouds overhead. Then the light expanded outward engulfing everything in its fiery glow that faded to white and then to black…