The Phantom School - 80 Shielded in Both Dimensions

I dropped down on my knees and held my ear with my clean hand. It was covered in blood. I was feeling queer, sick.

I shut my mouth and tried to get up. I had to bear with the pain and escape, and the only way out was the corridor I came from; which meant that I would have to make a run through large colonies of those tiny bugs.

The muscles on the right side of my face began spasming rapidly and violently. I had no control over it, so I had to try to ignore it for now. If I could just run past that corridor…

I dropped down on my knees again. I was losing strenght. I could barely breathe, let alone stand up and run. I was sweating, and my body temperature was rising. The high-pitched ringing in my ears was audible again.

A mixture of saliva and blood was coming out of my mouth. I tried to spit it out, and just then, I noticed some of those bugs; dead, floating away.

I could no longer even try to stand up.

With my remaining power, I began hitting my head against the wall.

The locked door next to me suddenly unlocked. It was the scientist I had followed all the way here. He grabbed me by my arm and threw me past the door. He immediately closed the door shut and locked it again. I was now laying on the ground, at the mercy of those bugs which were destroying my body.

That scientist appeared next to me. He was wearing something different, it looked like some special kind of lab gear. He was holding a large canister in his hand.

He suddenly held the canister against me and pressed a button. The pressurised gas inside the canister hit my face, mouth and eyes. It was smelling like burnt plastic, and the gas was burning my eyes and nose. As I had no control over my face, I could neither close my eyes or tell him to stop. My eyes were immediately covered in tears, but the burning sensation along my respiratory system remained.

He then continued the gas shower over my stomach and legs. I coughed a few times and tried to gather my strenght again.

The scientist finally finished whatever he was doing, and looked into my eyes. He threw the canister away and got closer.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“N-n-n-n” It was hard to talk with the tetani on my face. “N-n-no… no.” I said. My ears were still bleeding, and I was dizzy.

He turned me over and began inspecting the wound on my ear. With every second, I was getting more and more dizzy and sleepy.

– – –

I was sitting near a wall, and the scientist was covering my ear with some white cloth. I had apparently passed out for a while. I looked around and saw hundreds -if not thousands- of dead, tiny little bugs all around.

I was feeling something in my pharynx. I coughed a few times to get rid of it. A bunch of more dead bugs came flying out of my mouth. I could still feel a lot of pain, but the dizziness had passed. I clenched my teeth and tried my best in order not to yell in pain.

“Easy there.” someone said. When I looked at that direction, I saw that another man was with us in the corridor.

“Are you okay?” the scientist next to me asked again.

“I’m… better, but not really okay.” I said, with my teeth still clenched.

“Okay, we are running out of time, just as you can see.” he said. “So, tell us. Tell us everything you know about this… ‘Community’, whatever you call it.”

“I-I-I first… saw the…” I tried to talk.

“Come on, let him rest and recover for a while.” the other man said.

“But the situation-” he tried to argue.

“We are handling the situation quite well.” the other man said. “I mean, at least for now. Leave him be for the time being.”

The scientist near me looked at my face. I stared back at him without saying anything, but trying to imply that I was in great pain. The other man was watching us from afar.

“Alright.” the scientist murmured, and went away. “Fine. Just rest here for a while, but when I come back, I need to get some information.” He seemed angry.

“Could you be less aggressive?” the other man said to the scientist. “He wanted to help us, and we failed to protect him. You can’t hold him responsible for anything.”

“I am not being aggressive!” the scientist yelled. “I am tired, frusturated; and if we want to stay alive, we NEED that information.” The other man sighed and looked at me.

“If you need anything, feel free to ask.” he said. I couldn’t reply with words, so I nodded. He gave me an assuring look and went away. I was alone in the corridor once again.

“Great job.” It was Cansu’s voice. I looked up to the ceiling.

“R-Really?” I asked.

“Take heart, you are doing great.” she said. “One more step of my plan has been successfully completed.”

“W-w-why do I trust you and your plan s-s-so much, I h-have no idea.” I said.

“Because there is no turning back after this point.” she said. “If we fail, that’s it.”

“M-m-maybe you are leading m-m-me to my d-death.” I said. “You can r-read my mind, I-I-I-I can’t read yours.” Even I wasn’t sure if I was joking or being serious myself.

“You already know that, if I wanted to kill you, I could’ve done it a thousand times by now…” she said. “…teacher.” she added with a seductive voice.

“W-wh-what if you want to get r-r-rid of both me and this facility at once?” I asked.

“Look at you.” she said. “Look at your words, and your thoughts. Teacher, they are messing with you, manipulating you, trying to make me seem hostile; yet you are unable to notice and fight it.”

She could be right… What was I even saying?

“This is why I am with you.” Cansu said. “This is why we need each other.”