>The hallway that leads to the lunchroom (and then gym) presses up on all sides, as if it became narrower in some portions and then wider in others
>You wipe your brow of sweat as you lead your gang down the empty halls
>The heat snuck up on you at first — a slow and sweaty rise in temperature
>You're reminded of the metaphor about the frog being boiled alive, never noticing a thing
>Only, you know, it's more literal than that this time
>And you do notice
>"I think the janitor left the heat on." Alex slumps over a bit as you continue down the hall
>"No stopping," Mike breathes, drawing on the sweaty, humid air
>More than a frog metaphor, you're reminded of last Friday, up in the annals of the school
>It was so hot you all collapsed
>And you can guess why
“God this is a long hallway," you wheeze
>You should have asked Vanessa to make you athletic and not brave
>Not that it matters now anyway — that buff left you Tuesday
>"Shouldn't we at least see someone out here? Like in the halls?" Jenna says, leaning up against the lockers in her bee costume. I find it very hard to believe everyone is in the gym right now and STAYING there."
>"After all you've seen with us, that's what you have the hardest time believing?" Mike says
>"You're lucky you're cute, Sapone." Jenna half-assedly waves her holy water squirt gun in Mike's face
>It looks like everyone is melting there in the hallways, like plastic army soldiers put to the blowtorch
>The gradual rise in temperature is going to do you in yet again
>Sam draws her baseball bat and stands alert, taking the lead away from you
>"I-I-I-I hear s-s-something," she whispers
>Her whisper is useless
>A hysterical voice booms from the ceilings
>"OF COURSE YOU HEAR SOMETHING, DARLING!"
>You groan
>Not this bitch again
>"YOU HEAR THE STORM. AND THE STORM IS…"
>There's a rattling behind the group
>Ceiling tiles fall and clatter onto the floors like glass plates
>And then
>Threading down on a line of rope like a corpulent Spider-Man(Woman) is none other than than Stella the janitor
>Ah, yes, the crazy crystal badger
>The one who assaulted you on Tuesday
>She plops down like a sock filled with yogurt, landing unceremoniously in a big pile of fur and psychosis
>She's dressed in… oh god
>Like a sexy nurse
>How did the spill of her rather impressive cleavage and the deep cut of her shirt ever make it into a school?
>Didn't the other staff see th-
>"THE STORM IS ME." She wheezes and stands upright, arms wide, claws bared
>Hands down the shittiest iteration of Solid Snake yet
>Thanks Kojima
>"That's right you thieving fucks, I've been waiting for you to show your face again." Even in the darkness you can see her face screwing up with madness, froth dripping from the corners of her mouth
>Her rose quartz earrings dangle from her ears, strung up in gold
>Her eyes settle on Sam, who shrinks away from her manic gaze like a dog flinches away from beatings
>"I should have never trusted you. Your betrayal was revealed to me in a dream, and yet I chose to ignore it. I never thought my own minimum-wage employee would betray me, and yet here I stand, half-naked in a dark hallway on Halloween, prepared to assault a bunch of teenagers."
>She lurches forward, still winded from the titanic effort of sitting upright
>"I taught you EVERYTHING you needed to fight off the Glowing Ones, (((them))), Grays- and you threw it all in my face, Sam."
>"Y-You didn't teach me any-anything e-e-except how t-t-to make c-c-chlorine g-g-gas and e-e-eat crystal p-powders," Sam blurts as she nervously reaches for her baseball bat
>You tense up, and your heartbeat quickens
>If you need to, you will throw yourself at this crazy bitch
>Sam's defensive stance does nothing to deter the badger
>"You can ignore dreams," Stella froths, “but you can't ignore destiny. And tonight, your destiny is-"
>Alex steps between Stella and the group, his lanky, striped-suit-clad form like a pillar of sanity in the face of Stella's unhinged madness
>And thank fuck Alex is going to take the hit for this, maybe he'll belt her one in the-
>"I'm sorry, but how did you know about the Glowing Ones?" He says
>F U C K
>Stella comes to an abrupt halt, and you swear you see her eyes fill with the sharp light of clarity
>"How do you know about the Glowing Ones?" Alex presses her, his hand inside his suit jacket, as if her were concealing a pistol
>Which isn't ENTIRELY wrong, you just know what kind of pistol it is
>"You're one of them, aren't you?" Stella takes a tactical step backwards and assumes a low, combat-ready stance. “Well try all your mind zog on me, it won't work. I've swallowed enough red pills to piss blood."
>"Comrade! Please! We mean you no harm. We are no Glowing Ones, Grays, Jews or anyone else in the NWO cabal."
>Stella snarls in reply. “Exactly what a deep state operative would say."
>Yet she hasn't thrown her impressively large, scantily clad body at Alex, who is standing firm — the barrier between the gang and Stella
>Soon, though
>In a matter of seconds, Stella will snap like a brittle twig, and assault Alex
>Your muscles ache from all the tension
>"I assure you, we are no friends of the deep state or the CIA. I share in your struggles against imperialism and oppression, comrade. Please, lower your claws. We are no enemies."
>The badger hesitates
>"Imperialism? What are you talking about?"
>Oh God, here we fucking go
>Stella does not lower her claws
>Or wipe the froth from her mouth
>But she hasn't lunged at anyone's throat yet, and that's a good sign
>You can only see Alex's back, but you can tell, just from the context of the conversation that he's wearing the most obnoxious, holier-than-thou grin
>Stella is about to get a crash course in poorly-researched history and conspiracy theories
>Actually, wait
>This might be a good thing (not only because Alex will finally have someone to talk to who is 'woke')
>You take a step back
>And then another
>You tap Sam on the shoulder
>She jumps a little, but seems to get the message, and takes a quiet step in sync with you…
>As do Mike and Jenna
>"Let's start with the 50s and 60s." Alex shoves his hands easily into his over-sized pockets, adopting a casual lean. “Ever heard of a little thing called MKUltra?"
>Stella gasps. “How did you know?"
>WIKIPEDIA YOU STUPID BITCH
>She sounds as if Alex is the only other person on earth who knows about the CIA's actual attempts to devise a truth serum, which only serves to further spike your blood pressure
>Ah Christ, okay, now's the best time to take your leave before you call them both retarded
>You turn tail (in Jenna's case, literally) and throw yourself into a run down the hall, aiming for the gym
>Er, it's more like a shamble in your long robes, but you get the picture
>THE POINT IS you're making a quick getaway, and the gym is so tantalizingly close
>You lift the hem of your robes as you break into what could only be called a gallop
>Jenna hobbles alongside you in her bumblebee costume, while Mike sprints ahead in a leather blur
>H-HE'S FAST
>When you look behind you, you see Alex still standing there, explosively gesturing at Stella, while the badger explosively gestures back
>You can only catch little shards and fragments of what they're saying
>'Bourgeoisie'
>'The Glowing Ones'
>'Class-Consciousnesses'
>'Muh crystals'
>The stream of weird bullshit recedes into the sounds of your feet pounding against the floor
>Alex, the brave solider that he is, will have to deal with Syliva himself
>You sneak quick peek at your phone
>11:00 p.m.
>One hour left
>The remaining four of you post up outside the gym's double-wide doors
>From the window slits on the doors you can see… a lot of fog… and a lot of strobe lights
>You hear the pulse and thrum of bass-heavy music, no doubt some PG attempts at making a banger a bunch of horny high school kids can attempt to grind to
>Not that there probably aren't shit load of chaperones in there, obscured by the industrial fog machine, waiting in the wings to curb stomp any hormonal urges
>Mike places a palm on the door and looks to you
>"You guys ready?" He grips his water blaster close to his chest
>Come to think of it…
>You pat your pocket where the Book of Rite is. You shove it back down
>…Yeah
>You're ready
>You take one last look over your shoulder at Alex…
>Who is no longer there with Stella
>In fact, the whole hallway is empty
>Oh boy
>No time to stop now though, not with the clock ticking
>You give Mike an affirmative nod, which is returned to you by your co-conspirator
>Jenna draws her water pistol
>And the doors open
>And…
>Chunky clouds of fog roll out and blanket your feet in a slow parade
>An impressive wall of sound hits you
>First, low bass
>Then high shrieks that sound unnatural to you
>And murmurs
>And the smell of sulfur and and bodies and sweat
>Flashing strobes pulse against the obscuring clouds of fog
>You can see shapes and shadows veiled behind the wall of mist, but nothing more
>Mike steps first into the gym
>Then Jenna
>And then you
>And then Sam, her baseball bat at the ready
>You see… almost exactly what you expected
>The massive gym has been 'transformed' by the concentrated efforts of an insane badger and the school faculty
>Long, cloth-covered tables burdened with candy and drinks are pressed up to the side of the gym, each table draped in spiderwebs and spewing gallons of voluminous fake fog from beneath the draped cloths
>The center of the gym hosts a DJ table and several sizable loudspeakers
>Behind a MacBook, with chunky headphones on, is a rat who looks far too small next to the impressive loudspeakers on each side of the table
>You can't place why, but she looks somewhat familiar
>From above strobe lights and stage lights flash and pulse like spotlights on the hunt for someone in the crowd
>And surprisingly, there's a lot of students here
>At least, more than you thought
>But you can only see their faint outlines as they're traced against the fog by the pulsing strobes and stage lights
>It IS Halloween, shouldn't most of these kids be out at crazy parties like Braydon Smith's last night?
>Guess only the losers are here
>Which makes you…
>Never mind
>You move deeper into the gym, your only real goal being the equipment storage room against the walls
>Mike, very slowly, brings his water gun around the room
>"Where the fuck is everyone? I thought there would be more resistance than this."
>"I don't trust this," Jenna adds as the four of you make it deeper into the gym
>The center of the gym is… too clear
>And the shapes in the fog are starting to shift and move, which draw your eye
“Just keep moving. Sam," you don't look down at her. You keep your gaze spinning around the fog-cloaked gym, watching as the shadows in the fog shift and move. “Do you hear anything?"
>"J-Just the music!" She strains to be heard above the thrum of the music. “B-But i-i-it sm-smells like… w-w-warm bodies."
>"No kidding," Jenna adds. “I can't get a bead on anything in particular. There's too much going on in here."
>Well, if they're here, you wouldn't know it
>They might have done a great job of cloaking their presence from the two anthros in the group
>Or it's entirely unintentional
>You just can't take your eyes off the silhouettes in the fog
>They're all around you as you reach the center of the gym and emerge from another bank of fog
>Fuck, you're already halfway to the equipment room
>You approach the DJ table cautiously
>The rat pays you no mind
>She continues to jam away, bouncing her head to the pulsing electronic music
>The music is painful for you at this distance, you're sure it's almost deafening for Jenna and Sam
>"Christ!" Mike turns around and shouts. “There's no way it should be this easy!"
The Leaves of Fall Act 3: Something That Matters (Part 18)
You've never really 'fit in' with the heavily divided Ranchview High School crowd. Jock, Goth, Prep, Cheerleader, Nerd... you were never any of these. But as Halloween approaches, strange things start happening, and a dark ritual begins with the finding of a curious red book. It's a race against time for you and your friends to stop a group of students from ushering in an age of darkness, and to also figure out just what the hell is wrong with that rabbit.
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About this version: originally, The Leaves of Fall was split into two pastebins to compensate for the length of the story. Given that pastebin has chosen to censor this story for ambiguous reasons, it will forever be stored here and on AO3. This new version contains spelling, grammar and content fixes. Please understand that the content is all the same as the earlier versions minus some sentences being changed and fixed up. I cannot stress this enough: no new content has been added. It's my hope that this is a cleaner, easier-to-read version of the story.
Cover: https://imgur.com/a/vZS4Q
Sam (drawn by Akella of /hmofa/) https://imgur.com/a/nk3t1wT
Fan art collection: https://imgur.com/a/SCCSIQv
Accompanying playlist (WIP): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9aXlzDRA49QKxgYsOV2JuDd410_nI-0J
Alternative link: https://www.sofurry.com/view/1479078
Total word count: 147,552 words
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About this version: originally, The Leaves of Fall was split into two pastebins to compensate for the length of the story. Given that pastebin has chosen to censor this story for ambiguous reasons, it will forever be stored here and on AO3. This new version contains spelling, grammar and content fixes. Please understand that the content is all the same as the earlier versions minus some sentences being changed and fixed up. I cannot stress this enough: no new content has been added. It's my hope that this is a cleaner, easier-to-read version of the story.
Cover: https://imgur.com/a/vZS4Q
Sam (drawn by Akella of /hmofa/) https://imgur.com/a/nk3t1wT
Fan art collection: https://imgur.com/a/SCCSIQv
Accompanying playlist (WIP): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9aXlzDRA49QKxgYsOV2JuDd410_nI-0J
Alternative link: https://www.sofurry.com/view/1479078
Total word count: 147,552 words
4 years ago
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Estimated reading time
10 Minutes
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