Everybody leapt to their feet. Fear replaced the laid-back ambiance that had taken place in the room just seconds ago.

"What was that?" Luca whispered. He lingered nervously behind as all of the older teens raced for the door without answering his question. The only way they could figure it out was by seeing for themselves.

Eira slammed her hand against the small electronic pad that would typically unlock the door, but she seemed to remember with haste that the lack of electricity would mean it wouldn't function. She grabbed the lock instead and tried to figure out how it worked. In the end, she just yanked at it and it easily slid open with a small click. She yanked the door open so forcefully it was almost wrenched from its hinges.

"Watch it," muttered Miles, brushing past her to get a view of what was happening in the hallway.

Two boys were in the hall. One had to be relatively the same age as Miles and his group, but the other boy in the hall was obviously Altered. If his age didn't give that away, the fact that he was violently trying to attack the Unaltered boy definitely did. Both of them must have been students. Miles gathered this by judging how positively rich they looked and coming to the conclusion that they belonged here.

The scene unfolded rapidly. The Altered had no weapons, but his knuckles were abraded and his hands were clenched into fists. He was driving the younger boy into the corner of the hall, throwing aggressive punches that weren't countered very well by the Unaltered target. Before Miles could wonder why his own group had heard crashing noises from inside, the Altered boy hurled the Unaltered boy across the wall, sounding the same loud noise that Miles and his group had obviously heard.

"Hey!" cried Lia, and immediately looked like she regretted it when the Altered boy glanced over his shoulder at her. The Unaltered boy looked disoriented and pained, even more so when his attacker dropped him and he was left to crumple wordlessly to the floor. He clutched his hands to his face.

Lia, panicking, backed away. "Stop that!" she yelled at the Altered boy, sounding much less confident this time. She found herself stumbling back into Miles and Eira. Miles moved back out of the way and Aaron grabbed Eira's arm, pulling her back too. Lia immediately ducked inside, all courage drained from her posture.

Before anything else could happen, there was a sudden shove from behind Miles who again moved immediately, and then Luca was there. It took a few heartbeats for Miles to realise that Luca was holding something, hefting it high like he was brandishing a weapon.

That weapon was, in fact, a frying pan.

It seemed to Miles like an extraordinarily stupid idea for a weapon, and he was convinced this would be Luca's end right here until Luca swung the pan directly for the Altered's head. Miles heard rather than saw the pan make impact, and then there was a thud that indicated somebody had fallen.

Miles looked back at the scene; the Altered boy lay, unmoving, on the ground. He didn't so much as twitch to indicate that he was still conscious.

One second passed. Two.

"Holy shit," breathed Lia, and then she threw her arms around Luca and squeezed him so tight she lifted him off the ground. "I can't believe you just did that! "

Luca had to drop the frypan to accept Lia's embrace, which he wriggled and squirmed to get free of. "Did I kill him?"

Miles pushed through the doorway, crouching dangerously close to the Altered boy. "No," Miles said, hearing the relief in his own voice when he noticed that the Altered was still breathing, "he's just unconscious."

Across the hall, Aaron had knelt down beside the fallen Unaltered boy, who was starting to regain his composure now. "You two must be students, right?"

The Unaltered woozily propped himself up against the wall, and then he nodded. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I've never seen him like that. He's never done that -"

"Stop," said Eira, crossing the hall to get to her brother's side and then crouching beside him to face the Unaltered boy. "Don't apologise. There's a reason for this, we think. But it's..." she glanced at Aaron. "Complicated."

The Unaltered lifted his glassy eyes to look at her.

Lia, who was now with Miles beside the unconscious boy, replied, "Eira, don't try to explain right now. We don't have time. We have to leave now, before this one wakes up."

This seemed to stress Eira out. "Is he coming with us?" she gestured towards the Unaltered boy.

The Unaltered boy looked horribly confused, trying to figure out who he was supposed to be looking at for information. "Where are we going?"

"We're leaving," Aaron answered. "We're... don't worry, actually. We're not students here." That must have been already obvious, since Eira and Lia weren't boys and this was an all-boys school. "If you stay here, you're in danger so long as there are still other Altered students here."

"There are lots of Altered students," said the boy slowly.

"Speaking of which," put in Miles, trying to keep his voice low, "we have to be quiet. We don't want to alert any Altered that are here right now of our presence or it's game over, yeah?"

Luca appeared in the doorway then, the backpack that the group had prepared earlier now on his back. He seemed just as eager to get out of here as the rest of his group.

Lia muttered to Miles, "This one" - she pointed to the unconscious boy right before them - "will probably live, right? Hopefully. We don't have the time to spare to drag him into another room or anything, so we'll just have to leave him here and hope that he wakes up on his own or becomes somebody else's problem."

Miles eyed the boy uncertainly. "If you're sure he'll be fine." He knew they had no other solution anyway, so he had no choice really but to agree.

"What's your name?" Eira was asking the Unaltered boy.

He looked wary before responding, but when Eira extended her hand to help him to his feet, he seemed to gain a little trust in her. "Percy."

Lia and Miles stood up too, Miles casting a final uncertain gaze towards the unconscious Altered boy. Lia asked, "Are you coming with us, then, Percy?"

Percy, who was wiping blood from beneath his nose with his shirt, still seemed indecisive. "I don't understand. You haven't told me anything, and I can't leave without telling my parents... which I can't do, anyway. The electricity has been out for hours and so has the internet. I shouldn't leave."

"Did you get the notification?"

He snorted. "I thought that was a joke."

"No," Miles said, tone laced with warning, "it's not. You're in danger while staying here since there are still Altered students here." Miles wished he had known earlier that there had been so many Altered in this building while he and his group were sleeping so close to every other room. "One just tried to kill you."

Percy was frowning, apparently starting to comprehend what everybody was trying to explain to him in the simplest form. "I... don't trust any of you."

Miles straightened up, clenching his jaw. "Let's leave, then," he said, addressing everybody except Percy. Trying to avoid Percy's gaze as a whole, Miles turned around and started walking. He didn't actually know where he was going, but there were so many doors in this school that he ought to be headed for at least one of the exits.

Lia caught up to him quickly, calling over her shoulder, "Miles is right. We have to go, now! We don't have time to waste here if Percy isn't coming." She said the last part regretfully, but determinedly. Miles was glad she agreed with him.

Luca noisily followed, bag bouncing on his back with the contents all rattling around inside. Eira seemed incredibly reluctant to abandon Percy, but she soon found herself stumbling after the others, and Aaron followed her with half as much hesitation.

Lia was walking quickly, and Miles was struggling to keep pace with her when suddenly, a voice sounded from behind them, and Miles heard Percy limping to catch up. "Okay!" Percy called, sounding suddenly frantic. "Okay, I'm coming." As he said this, the sound of a door creaking open sounded frighteningly nearby.

"What changed your mind?" asked Eira, worry contorting her soft features.

"That," panted Percy, pointing down the hall to where a door now hung open. A boy - not the Altered from before, since he was still out cold in the hallway, but a different one - stood in the doorway, watching the group with sickly fascinated eyes.

It was awfully unsettling to think about the fact that Miles and his group had been staying in a dorm room so close to all of these Altered students.

"What's that in his hand?" Aaron's voice shook.

The Altered boy started moving, as if sensing that the group was growing fearful and finding it the perfect opportunity to attack.

"That," Lia started, immediately quickening her pace, "would be a baseball bat."

Percy was already running. "Time to get the hell out of here."

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+1573 Words

Way too excited to finally get Percy in here... turns out to be probably one of my favourite characters in the book :) I hope you all start to like him and his plot as the story progresses!

As always, pretty please vote and comment! And stay safe in these times <3

- Reb <3