Under the Veil of Night

In the building, Alan was astonished with every picture that he had gotten from the battle. There were so many things that he never expected to appear from the school.

"They're really scary," Alan looked at the photos that he managed to take as he mumbled. "Are they really human?"

From every angle he looked, he couldn't make any connection about them being human. Aside from the fact that they had two legs, two hands, and one head, there was nothing similar between them and human.

He glanced at the camera that he had placed on the side. It was recording the entire situation in Lima School from the very beginning, including the destroyed building. Recalling the numerous earthquakes that happened because of them, he shivered a bit.

Suddenly, his phone rang.

"Alan, where are you? It'll be time for lunch in another hour or so," the voice of his father sounded.

"Father, I'm still busy," Alan replied sheepishly.

Alan's father frowned. He glanced at the clock and sighed. Ever since the morning, he couldn't be at peace because he was worried about his son's safety. No matter what, he couldn't let his son dig his own grave just to search for interesting news.

"Be careful. Don't take more than what you can."

"Yes, Father."

As he closed the phone, Alan sighed slightly. He looked at the picture he took as he pondered. Because he was staying pretty far from the actual location, his camera resolution didn't manage to catch the image clearly. Even though he wanted to know who they were, he was not that foolish enough to trade his life for them.

'Curiosity can kill the cat,' Alan chuckled. He readied his camera again when he felt a sudden earthquake. His expression sank as he gazed to the forest in Lima School. There was smoke coming from that direction.

"I wonder what's there…"

…

Building in the Forest

Jason opened the door to the lab and saw several corpses of the doctors. Not all of them turned into monsters as many of them were lying there. His eyes narrowed when he saw that they were all dead with a shot to their forehead.

'This accuracy… I only know one person who could do this. But he shouldn't be here, right?'

When his thought reached this far, Jason's heart fell down. He dashed to the other door, which was closed and banged it open. His eyes scanned the surrounding before it locked into one place.

Shiro was standing while leaning to the table behind him. His hand was holding the handle to the secret door there, trembling lightly for he was unable to bear with the pain. Blood flowed out from many parts of his body, painting a rather gory sight.

"Shiro!" Jason called his friend as he dashed towards the man.

Raising his head slightly, Shiro narrowed his eyes slightly. His head was hurt because of the impact before as it also made him dizzy. The familiar voice brought his consciousness back.

"Huh? Jason? What are you doing here?"

"That's what I'm asking you!" Jason approached Shiro and gasped when he saw the wounds on Shiro's body. Considering how this man was trembling all over, it was not hard to guess that his bones were broken to the extreme. Recalling Aria, he knew that Shiro must have fought that man.

He pulled Shiro's arm and helped the man to stand up properly. Seeing the man's face contorted in pain, Jason smiled wryly.

"Where's Rei?" Shiro asked.

"She's with Kevin. They're heading to the main tower to find Ferdinand," Jason replied.

Shiro frowned. He recalled that Kanae should be controlled by Ferdinand because of the device. There must be something that happened. It didn't really matter for now. He had to find a way to get out of this place as soon as possible.

"We have to get out," Jason pulled the handle and opened the door. Seeing the stairs, his face darkened. There were many of them that he had to climb while brought Shiro along with him.

"You should go ahead," Shiro beckoned for the man to go. "I'm only slowing you down."

"No. Ferdinand will destroy this place soon. If I leave you, you won't be able to survive," Jason replied.

"That's more reason to not take me out of this place. What if I make you die, you brat?"

"Don't call me brat. You're just a few years older!"

"Just put me down!"

Jason ignored the shout that Shiro gave him. Internally, he thought that Shiro was still fine since the man could yell that much. Dragging his best friend up the stairs proved to be harder than what he thought.

"I can't move anymore," Shiro staggered.

Jason noticed that even though Shiro was able to speak just fine, he looked rather haggard. With a rather hurried breath, he had to lean in just to make sure that he didn't fall. His feet were trembling all over, showing that he had to bear with the pain.

"There's no more time, I'll carry you."

Crouching down slightly, he made Shiro stand on his back before he pulled the man's feet. With that, he was carrying the man on his back.

"Hold on, I don't like being carried like this."

"I don't like to carry a man too," Jason laughed. "It'll be a different case if you're a woman, though."

Shiro narrowed his eyes. "I should have found a recorder and shown it to Laura. I'm pretty sure that she'll be mad at you."

"Uh… you're a terrible friend."

Knowing Laura, he knew that he wouldn't be able to get away if he said that he wanted to carry a woman. If that woman was not Laura, she might even consider never letting him inside her office anymore.

"The door is near," Jason pointed to the door several meters away from them.

"Yeah."

As he stepped forward step by step, the two of them sensed that there was something wrong. The earth was shaken, just like an earthquake. Based on what Kevin said about the material, Jason knew that it was impossible to feel it in this place.

There would only be one answer for this problem.

"Sh*t! He's destroying this place!" Jason ignored his tired and painful feet as he dashed forward. Sensing the incoming heat and force from behind him, his face turned pale.

Bang!

The door was kicked open as he ran. However, the sudden force from behind sent him tumbling on the ground. Rolling on the ground with a painful headache, Jason looked at the building. It was caught in power with the wall crumbling down.

'He must use some kind of powerful explosion.'

His ears were ringing because of the explosion, but he didn't think much about it. His gaze landed on the fallen Shiro. The man's back was burnt with some traces of them on his hand.

"Shiro!" Jason approached the man. He could see that Shiro was still breathing, but it was very weak.

Cursing internally, he carried Shiro on his back once again. His mind was in total chaos as he knew that if it was not Shiro on his back, he would be the one to get the burnt.

"Don't die on me, Shiro!"

Running to the gate, he prayed hard that it was not too late to save Shiro's life.