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Ch. 5 Contingencies
🕑 Added 2024-06-02 02:26:15 +0000 UTC5.
The common room was filling up with people for the movie night that Santi had sprung on his friends and dorm mates. He had to make promises and deals with devils to get most of them here. Nearly thirty students, with more arriving as the seconds ticked on. People were hooting and hollering at the screen, laughing and talking through the old movie as they ate the snacks Santi had bought. No alcohol, Santi had made sure of that.
Tank was lounging on one of the small sofas, his white teeth flashing as he smiled and laughed with a cluster of other students. Paulie, his always absent roomate, had been found. The short boy was talking to a pair of girls, both of them bobbing their heads to whatever he was saying. Chloe had shown up ten minutes ago with three friends, her roommate and the other dorm room that probably shared a bathroom with her. She had been shooting him looks, but otherwise was engaged in a heated debate with several other people.
Santi checked his phone and sighed. The anxiety of what was about to happen was ramping up. Fourteen minutes to go. Part of him was doubting that the memories were real. That they were just the most vivid dream he had ever had. He prayed it was true. Santi left the common room quietly and went up to his dorm room, scrolling through his contact list till he found his sister's name. She would be up, he had texted her that he was going to call.
The phone rang twice before Yessenia picked up the phone. This was where his plan could have been foiled. If Yessenia hadn’t picked up the phone, it would have screwed up everything.
“Santi?”
“Hey, uhhh, this is weird, but hear me out. I had a bad dream last night. Like real bad. It was a nightmare. About the house and you guys. Could you check the locks please, for me?” Santi had worked hard on the excuse he needed for Yessi to get out of bed and go check the locks at eleven-thirty at night. She believed in the power of dreams, crystals, zodiacs, all of that. He had always rolled his eyes at his sister's superstitions, but it was insanely helpful tonight.
“Santi, what happened in the dream?” Yesi asked in a whisper. He could hear her moving though, the creak of stairs as she treaded her ways downstairs. Santi checked the time, twelve minutes to go. He was entering his dorm room right on time. He texted Cameron, putting Yessi on speakerphone.
“You up?”
“This a booty call?” The response was instant. Good. Santi let his friend sit for a minute as he focused his attention back on his sister.
“It was bad, Yesi. Just check the locks please. All of them, even the garage door,” Santi ordered his younger sister. He went into the small closet and started pulling out bags. Two heavy black duffle bags, stuffed with improvised weapons, and a backpack that he strapped on.
“Huh, that’s weird. The garage was unlocked,” Yessenia’s voice held hints of horror. She was a nervous girl, always watching true crime and the thought of having an unlocked door, even into the garage, was startling. Santi didn’t know how the monsters got into the house, just that they had. Bianca had escaped through a window and ran to Cam’s house where he fought them off, but not without injuries.
“Check the rest, please.” Santi was checking his supplies he had bought from his hideout. Axes, bats, and a few improvised spears. There were a few cheap machetes and hammers he had tossed in. He didn’t think much of them, they were pulled from the big shopping center and had been less than fifteen dollars. He had sharpened the blades, but they were hideously made. Built for cheap landscape work, not killing monsters. Better than nothing though.
“Shit, the front door was unlocked too! My Dad must have forgotten when he got home,” Yessenia complained as Santi heard the locks click into place. Ten minutes to go. He grabbed a cheap shopping bag full of glow sticks and walked out of the dorm. He had already discretely emptied it of his clothing and possessions yesterday.
“In ten minutes, shit’s going to go nuts. Get that bat you pulled out of the shed and save my family.” Santi sent the text to Cam, while walking down the stairs back to the common room.
“What the fuck do you mean?! I’m calling you,” Cam answered instantly. The boy lived on his phone.
“Can’t answer. Talking to Yesi right now.” Santi texted back as he sent Cam straight to voicemail.
“Yesi, are all the doors locked?”
“Yeah, everything is locked. Santi, you’re scaring me. What was your dream?”
“Grab a pen and paper,” Santi said as he waited in the stairwell right before the common room. Everyone was still there, talking and laughing loudly. The R.A, Kyle, was locked in a conversation with a pretty brunette and not paying attention to doing his job. Santi gave a silent prayer of thanks as he waited for Yessenia. He sent two more calls from Cam straight to voicemail.
“Got it!” Yesi exclaimed.
“Write this down. Take the county roads to the college in five days. Avoid the bar on road 96. Burn it down actually, don’t go inside.” The bar was where Cam would die. Killed in a monster den, Bianca would lose her left hand fighting to escape it.
“Santi, what the fuck?”
“Just write it down. At the corner of Elm and Myer, there’s an old brick building. That’s where I’ll be. Bring anyone who survives. Rifts will let you all enter them but they’re more dangerous. Dungeons are limited in number, but are measured. Kill as many monsters as possible, take risks and gain levels. Be here in a week,” Santi ordered. Seven minutes.
“Santi…” Santi hung up on his sister and turned his phone to airplane mode. He had to be careful now and a ringing phone could ruin everything. He had set everything up to the best of his ability for his family and best friend to survive. It broke his heart abandoning them, but the presence of the Apostates weighed on his mind. They would be aggressive, earning every reward they could. He had to do the same thing.
Six minutes.
He walked into the common room and stuck close to the back wall. A few people noticed him, but they quickly turned back as Santi walked to the doors of the dorm. He deposited the heavy duffel bags on the ground and went to get the people he had the most trust in.
Tank, Paulie, and the last roomate of the two rooms, Daniel. Daniel was half Korean- half English. Thin with black hair and dark eyes, he wasn’t anyone’s first choice for picking something to do something physical. Like slaying monsters. Santi believed he would hear him out before freaking out though.
Four minutes.
Santi dragged them all over to the entrance of the door and they huddled around him. They were drawing glances from people, but most everyone was focused on socializing.
“What’s up, Santi? You don’t look good,” Tank asked. The mountain of a man was six and half feet tall, but his deep voice was gentle as he looked down at Santi. How Santi had ever taken him for granted, he didn’t know. Tank was a good man.
“Is Tank your actual name, or a nickname?” Santi blurted out. He was nervous now, trying to delay the inevitable. Three minutes.
“It’s actually Dexter, but the minute I started to grow they called me Tank,” Tank explained.
“Good to know, thanks for sharing. In approximately two and half minutes the world is going to end.”
All three of the boys stared at him with blank faces. Santi swallowed hard and looked down at his phone and the time. Two minutes and fifteen seconds actually. It got down to two minutes before anyone said anything.
“Santi, are you ok? I know midterms are coming up, but like, damn.” Paulie was brusque as always. His thick eyebrows were hidden in his hair at the shock that Santi had just given them. Or, well, that they thought he was insane.
“In two minutes, if I’m wrong, take me to a hospital, the one with grippy socks. Eight years in the future, the world has basically completely collapsed due to a series of unfortunate events. Events that start in a minute and forty five seconds. I survived and was a scout. I got sucked into a ritual and the memories of those years were shot back in time.”
“Ok, it’s time to call someone,” Daniel groused in a faded English accent. Tank’s face was confused and hurt, while Paulie was looking morbidly curious.
“One minute. Hold tight. When it comes, we won’t have much time. There’s weapons in the bags, take them and hand them out. Stay in the building till sunrise. There’s this entrance and the back entrance. Barricade the back entrance with furniture. In the plastic bag there are glow sticks. Oh, yeah, the power will go out and guns won’t work.”
“Yeah, let’s call someone. You said there’s weapons in the bags?” Tank was talking softly, large hands extended outward as if Santi was a dangerous animal.
“Improvised mostly. Hand them out to those you think won’t freak the fuck out. Don’t let anyone leave the building till sunrise.”
TIme
The lights flashed out and the world went dark.
