Maria had never seen that much blood in her entire life. She couldn't take her eyes off, mesmerized by the fascinating horror of it. She didn't realize that she was crying until a tear ran it's way down her face and onto her hand below.

Maria vowed then and there to never ditch class again.

Though she hardly knew the tough acting Michael, she was thankful that he had tightened his grip around her waist because it acted as support for her weakening legs.

"Michael?" she heard herself squeak.

"I don't know, Maria…" he whispered back into her ear. Down the hall the sound of footsteps running could be heard.

Michael instantly let Maria go and leapt into action, pushing boxes and spare equipment this way and that. He eventually revealed a long folded up table leaning against the wall. Maria didn't have the heart to tell him that the baseball bat he had moved to the corner would be a better weapon than a table.

Carefully, he slid the table to the side and started playing with a large vent.

Maria didn't know what to do. She was so used to being in control of everything around her that she felt helpless now that she wasn't. So she simply stood there, clasping and unclasping her small hands and occasionally shifting her weight from one leg to the other.

Suddenly Michael was in front of her holding her arm and staring at her strangely.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"What do you think?" she snapped back, instantly regretting it. He was just trying to be nice. "Sorry," she mumbled.

Michael ignored her and looked around. "Where are your books?" She looked around as well. They were no where to be seen.

Maria covered her mouth in shock. "Oh God… I dropped them outside when you pulled me in here."

"Dammit!" he cursed under his breath. "It's too late now. Come on, wee need to hide. Trust me on this. Go ahead and climb in, I'm right behind you."

Glancing over to the open vent and seeing layers of dust and cobwebs, Maria shook her head vehemently.

The doorknob rattled.

Maria felt her eyes widen and her heart speed up. The next thing she knew, she was in the vent, visiting with the spiders.

Michael followed just as he promised and covered the vent with the table leaving a small crack to peer through.

A few seconds later the door clicked open.

Trying not to hyperventilate, Maria grasped for Michael's hand in the dark.

A footstep entered the room accompanied by the crackling radio.

"Base established. I repeat, base established. Base to perimeter five."

"Perimeter five here," the man in the room responded.

"Has the mess been taken care of?"

"Almost sir."

"Did anyone see?"

"Possibly sir." Maria squeezed Michael's hand even harder.

"Explain."

"I found a book and a folder belonging to a Maria DeLuca on the ground near the… mess."

"No sign of the girl?"

"None sir."

"Okay, we'll deal with her when we collect everyone. Bring the body to me. As for the rest of you, start rounding the brats up in the auditorium."

*~*~*~*~*

The transmission ended and Michael allowed himself a deep breath. Slowly he moved his head so he could see out into the room. The man was younger than he sounded, probably only twenty or twenty-one and was dressed all in black.

'I wonder what they want,' Michael pondered but quickly stopped when the guy knelt down over the blood. With a wave of his hand, the blood disappeared, sending Michael almost into cardiac arrest. The man hefted the body over his shoulder, grabbed Maria's book and folder and shut the door.

"Shit!" he hissed. "Maria, we gotta move… I… I need to get to Izzy!" He peeled her hand off of his, thankful to get the blood flowing once again.

"What? What's going on Michael?" she sounded so small and scared that Michael almost regretted the mean things he had said about her earlier. Almost. She was still a princess.

"These… guys are taking over the school."

"But why?"

Good question. "Damned if I know." Well, that wasn't TOO much of a lie. He really had no idea why they were here besides the obvious reason of trying to find him and his otherworldly friends.

"Look, my cell phone is in my locker. Why don't you put your "lurking" talents to use and go get it so we can call the sheriff."

"We can't go out there princess, they'll see."

Maria's voice took on a little more urgency. "What do you expect us to do then, huh? Sit here until they go away?"

"Nope, we need to move," he answered distractedly, trying to formulate a plan.

"Move where? They'll see us, remember?" She was quickly getting on his last nerve, so instead of answering with a stream of obscenities, he simply pointed to her left down into the dark.

Maria looked down the vent, looked back to Michael and then down the vent again.

"Nope. No way, not uh. There is no way you are getting me to crawl down there."

"You don't have a choice. We will be found if we stay here."