Welcome to Gaia! ::

Kitty slammed her book down in front of Amara and Jean. This was not very smart on her part, since this table was situated in the library, where many other students were studying. Jean wasn’t, since she had already graduated, but she would be heading to college the following spring. Kitty growled beneath her breath. “I, like, can’t believe this!” Kitty groaned as she sat down. Many of the students in the library who had been glaring at her now returned to their work.
“Kitty, what’s up?” Jean asked, placing a bookmark in her book and setting it on the table. Amara looked over the top of her history text.
“I’ve gotta go on another one of those stupid field trips again!” Kitty said huffily.
“I thought you always got good grades,” Amara pointed out.
“I do!” Kitty said. “But apparently, since I suggested the other one in the first place, Mr. McCoy wants me to go again…” Kitty put her chin on the edge of the table and closed her eyes. When she opened them, she saw Logan standing between Jean and Amara. Amara had returned to studying and Jean busied herself with her book. “Uh, hi, Mr. Logan…”
“How many times do I gotta tell ya, Half-pint, that the library’s for studyin’, not bangin’ books around?” Logan said with his gruff voice, adding a growl at the end. He had been engrossed in a certain book, and he hated being interrupted.
“Sorry, Mr. Logan,” Kitty said sheepishly, shrinking in her chair. Logan stalked away, mumbling something under his breath that sounded like “ungrateful brats.”
“Vhat vas that about?” Kitty turned to see Kurt and Amera approach the table holding hands. They both had rumpled clothes and disheveled hair, which implied that they had been making out in the back of the library again. Amara ignored her studying again, and Jean put her book back down. The trio sitting at the table raised an eyebrow at the couple. “Don’t ask, I already asked you a question!”
Kitty sighed. “I was just, like, upset about Mr. McCoy having me go on the trip again.”
“So? We have to go too,” Amera said.
“That’s because you two make out in class and don’t do the work,” Jean said. “That’s why you’ve got the bad grade.”
“The point is that ve’re going too,” Kurt said.
“Whoopee,” Kitty said sarcastically, twirling her finger in the air.

*******

Since being made a part of the X-Men, Bobby had had a hard time keeping his grades up. But that wasn’t his fault, was it? He sat on the X-jet, watching the clouds pass below them out the window. He’d had to go on the trip last year too, and that was before the X-Men. How was he supposed to keep up?
Ray sat behind Bobby, watching out the window as well. He wasn’t very happy about the fact that he had to leave his boyfriend, Thomas, behind at the Institute. Khadrim sat behind him, wondering how the hell he had a bad grade at all. And sadly, it turned out that Amara had to go on the trip as well, but she was stuck sitting in front of Amera and Kurt, who were swapping spit in the back seat.
Suddenly, a strange grinding sound echoed through the jet, and then it started to shake. “What the-“ Hank began to work the controls, but when nothing worked, he cried to the students, “Buckle in!” All of the frightened students obeyed just as the plane started to plummet.

*******

“Let’s just, like, find the bus depot and get back home,” Kitty said as she shivered in the darkness. “Okay Mr. McCoy?” There was no answer. “Mr. McCoy?” Kitty spun around quickly and found only Kurt, Amera, and Khadrim, who all ran into each other at her abrupt stop. “Where’s Mr. McCoy?”
“I thought he was right with us,” Amera said through chattering teeth.
“Now that you mention it… We’re the only ones here,” Khadrim said, looking around. He was the only one who didn’t seem at all fazed by their situation.
“You mean we’re in this dark, spooky fog alone?” Amera asked, staring at Khadrim. Her hand shot down and grabbed onto Kurt’s three-fingered one, squeezing tightly. “Wh-where did they go?”
“I think the correct question to ask would be ‘Where did we go?’” Khadrim pointed out.
“Do you think ve should turn on a communicator?” Kurt asked.
It seemed as though in only a matter of seconds Khadrim had been chosen as the unofficial leader. “Yeah, I’ll turn mine on…” He reached down to his belt, where his communicator was located under his jacket, and turned the switch. Instantly there was a loud static sound. “Oh s**t.”

*******

“Oh s**t.”
“Ray!” Hank scolded.
“I’m sorry, Mr. McCoy, but this is an ‘oh s**t’ situation!” Ray said.
The small group of would-be X-Men was backed up into a wall, surrounded by creatures that were sutured and sewn into terrible figures. They all were bloody and battered, but each had a different face. It looked as though the residents of this town had somehow become these creatures of horror, zombies, if you will. There were at least ten of them and only four of our stranded mutants.
Hank sighed. “Fair enough.” He looked at the monsters, and, with a growl, lunged at the nearest one.
The fight was surprisingly short, but strenuous. After catching their breath and bandaging their wounds, they sat for a moment up against the brick wall. “What are we going to do now?” Bobby asked.
“We’re going to die!” Amara cried, butting her head against the wall in agony.
“We’re not going to die,” Hank said, although he did have his doubts. “We’re going to keep moving, and find a way out of this town, and-“
“No, we aren’t going to get out of here, we’re going to keep running away from these things, trying to survive until we either run out of food and starve to death or get eaten by those flesh eating monsters!” Amara ranted, flailing her arms about. “Then we’re gonna come back as the monsters again and we’ll eat the others, unless they’ve already been eaten-“
Bobby grabbed her arms, forcing them down to the cement, and kissed her to stop her flow of speech. Amara stared at him as he pulled slowly away. “We’re not going to die,” he whispered. “We’ll find someone around here and get their help, and then we’re going to leave Silent Hill.” Amara stared a moment longer before throwing her arms around his neck and sobbing into his chest. “I’m scared too, but we’ve gotta fight. We’ve gotta keep going.”

*******

Khadrim turned the communicator back off and forced the other three to move back slowly and duck to the ground. There through the fog they could just make out the shadow of a large creature. “Don’t make a sound,” Khadrim said, almost inaudibly.
The creature’s shadow glided across the fog, not getting closer. With every step it took, there was a long scraping noise, like metal being dragged along the ground. Kitty covered her face in her arms, Kurt shut his eyes tight. Amera’s eyes were wide open in terror, her mouth opened as if to scream and Khadrim’s hand quickly covered it. She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes and he mouthed “Shh.”
After an eternity of silence, the creature was gone and Amera whispered, “What the hell was that!?”
“I don’t vant to know,” Kurt answered, helping Amera up off of the cold ground.
“Maybe we could, like, get into a building and keep an eye out for the others?” Kitty suggested. “Like, out a window or something?”
“Yeah,” Khadrim said thoughtfully. “Yeah, we should be safe inside.” He ushered them toward the nearest building, an apartment complex. The door creaked loudly, which scared them all half to death, and they walked inside. “Now, there’s a window right here-“ he stopped mid-sentence as he turned to find the window he had seen outside was boarded up on the inside. “Damn it.”
Suddenly there was a creaking from the floor above them, up a staircase. Kitty shrieked and jumped behind Khadrim in fright. Then something fell from the second floor, which nearly landed on Khadrim’s head. “Who’s there!” Khadrim demanded.
“Who wants to know?” the person shouted back.
The voice was one that Kitty recognized in an instant. “Lance?” She stood up and walked back out from behind Khadrim. “Lance, is that you?”
“Kitty?” Lance’s head poked over the rail of the second floor landing before he dashed down the stairs to her. “What are you doing here!?”
“The jet crash-landed right outside of town…” Kitty said. “Why are you here?”
“We were headed toward the forest, going camping, see? But the jeep fizzled out when we got into the fog.” Lance said. “What are those monsters?”
“How should I know?” Kitty asked. “Where are the other guys?”
“They’re in an apartment upstairs. Opened a window in there to keep an eye out for people…” He looked at the floor like he had lost all hope of rescue. “They’re too chicken to come out of there because of the monsters in some of the halls.”
“What? There’s monsters in here too?” Khadrim asked, stepping forward. “Then let’s get going to the safe room.” He turned to tell Kurt and Amera to go up before him so he could keep an eye on their backs, but they weren’t there. “Damn! They kept walking!” Khadrim said. He started towards the hall beneath the stairs, but was stopped by a sudden tugging at his shirt.
“Come on, Khadrim, we need you.” Kitty said. He could just make out the pleading look on her face in the dark.
“Damn,” he said again, and he headed up the stairs with Kitty and Lance.

*******

They kept walking, Bobby and Ray standing on either side of Hank. Hank was looking through the wallet he had found. It had belonged to a woman, Sarah Jameson, age 43, according to her driver’s license. She had twenty-four dollars and a coupon for the local flower shop. Hank kept searching for some type of clue as to what the key could belong to. Then he found a security badge from where she worked - the hospital. Well, he thought, the keys definitely don’t belong to a car… so maybe… “Amara, is there a hospital on that map?”
“Why, are you hurt?” she asked as she pulled the map from her pocket. “Yeah, but it’s on the other side on the blockade on Saul Street."
“Well, maybe there are some alleyways or side streets?” Ray asked, peering from his place beside Hank.
“Um, the only way to get to an alley is by going through a building. Everything else was blocked.” Amara answered. “But there’s a large chance that all the buildings are locked up.”
“Well, we’re gonna have to take that chance.” Hank said. “I think this key might belong to that hospital.”

*******

Khadrim started toward the door. “Take the stick!” Pietro said, tossing a wooden plank with sharp, bent nails stuck in one end at Khadrim’s feet.
Khadrim looked at him with an eyebrow raised. “Oh please,” he said, then transformed his right arm into a deadly sword. He continued his way to the door, lifted his arm, ready to strike, and opened it.
“Jesus Christ!” Amera yelled at the sight of Khadrim’s blade mere inches away.
“Sorry,” Khadrim said with a shrug, reverting his arm into an arm once again.
“About time ve found you!” Kurt said as he and Amera entered the apartment. “Ve vent through about fifty rooms, half of vich had monsters…” He shuddered.
Pietro smiled when he saw Amera walk in safely. “You’re okay!” he cried, then proceeded to dance in place. “I mean, uh… Great, more of you X-freaks?” Amera and Kurt glared at him. “So… now what?”
Amera and Kurt made their way to the gathering of mutants on the floor, Khadrim right behind them. Only seconds after they sat down, there was a second pounding on the door, louder than Amera’s knocking. The entire group stood and crowded up against the wall, as far away as possible from the door. Khadrim was at the front, ready to protect the others, since he was the strongest. Kitty grabbed the stick, then stood back up into Lance’s arms. Amera was hiding behind Kurt, which didn’t do much good, since he was four inches shorter than she was.
Khadrim slowly turned his arm into a sword again, then stalked towards the door. “Alright, you b*****d, come in and play…” he said gruffly, a wicked grin on his face.

*******

“You ever think that the key is actually to that chick’s house and we’re heading into imminent danger for no apparent reason?” Ray asked as they climbed the front steps to an unmarked building. They entered into darkness, which they had figured would be the case.
“Ugh, it smells in here,” Amara said, plugging her nose. “What is that?”
“That would be the smell of alcohol,” Hank replied. “Keep up that attitude toward it and you’ll never need to worry about becoming an alcoholic like Logan.” Hank scratched his head. “Apparently this place used to be a bar,” he said as he pulled his hand from his hair. He could feel something cold and wet on it. “Bobby, flashlight.”
Bobby had been looking around, wanting to maybe find a salvageable beer or two. He obediently brought Hank the flashlight. Hank shined it on his hand. It was blood. Ray walked over to see the commotion. “What the hell happened?” he asked.
“Watch the language.”
“Sorry.”
“Well, I’m not injured,” Hank said. “Perhaps it got on me from the fight earlier.”
“Ick,” Ray said as something dripped onto his closely shaved head. He wiped it off with a finger, then examined it under the flashlight as well; it was blood also. “What the…” All four of them looked up at the ceiling. “Holy-“ Ray whispered.
“Language, Ray.”
“-Crap.”
The ceiling had been soaked through with blood. Amara paled then vomited behind the nearest table. “There must be a heck of a lot of blood for something like that to happen…” Bobby observed as he took Amara’s hand.
“Hey, that should be the door to the alley, right?” Ray asked when he noticed a door in the back of the room. He jogged over to it and gave it a good tug. He looked down to see that it was locked tight with a combination lock, but the dial was missing completely. “No way! The lock is broken!”
“There’s probably a fire escape upstairs that empties into the alley,” Hank said, and he started toward the stairs.
“Woah, you expect us to go up to that bloodbath?” Ray exclaimed.
“Would you like to try getting through this building and be that much closer to getting out of town, or go looking for another building that hasn’t been locked up, which could take hours?” Hank asked.
“Uh…” Ray said with a blank stare.
“Let’s go,” Bobby said, not giving him a chance to answer. He grabbed the front of Ray’s shirt, and the four of them headed up the staircase.

*******

Khadrim threw open the door and jumped back. He backed up as a huge worm-like creature with extremely large teeth squeezed its way into the room. The others were still gathered in a group in the corner, next to the window. Even Toad’s smell wasn’t bothering them at that moment. “Get out the window,” Khadrim commanded them.
“But Khadrim-“ Amera started.
“Go!” he shouted. “Break the damn window and go!”
They figured the only reason Khadrim was still alive was that the monster could not see or hear and depended on its sense of smell. Pietro wasted no time in breaking the glass panes and stepping out onto the narrow ledge. “Oh yeah,” he shouted. “This is much better!”
“Shut up and go already!” Kurt said, giving him a push. Pietro wobbled for a second, then glared at Kurt after regaining balance. The others followed, their backs flat against the wall as they made their way along the side of the building to the nearest fire escape.
Amera stayed behind. “Khadrim, come on!” she pleaded.
Khadrim was stalling. “Go Amera!”
“We can’t just leave you!”
“You can and you will! I don’t want you to see this! Now I’ll see you in a few minutes!” He watched to make sure she climbed through the window before turning back to the monster. “Okay, Mr. Worm, prepare to meet your maker… Who ever the ******** that twisted b*****d is…”

*******

“I really hate you,” Ray said as Bobby pushed him through the filthy hallway.
“Feeling’s mutual,” Bobby replied while trying all the doorknobs.
Finally they came to the last door. “Cross your fingers,” Hank said, took a deep breath, then gave the door a push.
Amara quickly shut her eyes and buried her face into Bobby’s shoulder. The floor of the entire room was covered in blood, but that was nowhere near as disturbing as what was above it. Mutilated corpses that looked as if they had been there to rot for decades were hanging from hooks on the ends of thick chains from the ceiling. Amara would have vomited if there were anything left in her stomach.
Hank swallowed the bile that had risen to the back of his throat. “Well,” he said,” that explains the drippy ceiling.”
“Yeah, just a little,” Bobby said, then vomited onto the bloody floor.
Suddenly, all the corpses’ heads snapped around to face them.

*******