Chapter Text
The sound of rapid feet beating against the hard ground and the beat of their combined heartbeats was deafening. A group of teenagers can barely be seen in the red moonlight running through the forest.
“TIME?!” Yelled out a desperate voice belonging to a blond haired teen wearing a green zipped up jacket.
“8 minutes!” responded another voice, belonging to a brunette with freckles who wore an orange scarf and a blue sweater. He carried a rifle in his right hand as he checked his watch on his left.
‘ Just a bit longer… ‘ thought the blond as they continued dashing through the forest.
The sound of another set of feet running right behind them seemed much louder to Lloyd Garmadon, he risked looking to his right but never turning his head away from in front of him. ‘ It’s close! ‘
He was sweating by now but the sight of school buses stacked on top of one another had never been so relieving. “The graveyard!”
The six teenagers dashed as fast as they could for the gray walls, the gate being opened and welcoming them inside. They rushed as fast as they could but it seemed to be right on their tail.
Lloyd turned quickly to his left as he slid to a stop at a huge red button, hand lingering just above it as he counted the heads that ran inside.
‘ One… Two… Three.. Four.. ‘
As Lloyd counted the fifth head, a loud voice echoed, the spiky haired brunette running inside “CLOSE THE GATE, CLOSE THE GATE!”
Lloyd slammed his hand on the button and the wrring of the gate as it started to close seemed to be music to the group's ears before it felt like all the blood left their bodies.
The spiky haired brunette clenched his teeth and gripped his bat as he raised it defensively.
A pitch black monster with a grin too wide for any ordinary human and two dotted white eyes approached the gate. As it reached out to grab them, the gate slammed shut in front of it and all they could hear was desperate banging from the creature.
Everyone gave a collective sigh of relief, their stances lowering. “Alright..” Lloyd said as his hand moved to swipe some hair out of his eyes. “Let’s head back to the bus.”
Broken down buses stacked on top of each other with even some empty car shells every now and again. The amber eyed brunette groaned as he ungracefully plopped in the seat next to his sister. “Ugh! That sucked.”
The teenagers sat askew from one another, each one trying to catch their breath. Lloyd sat hunched over, relaxing his head on the seat in front of him as the banging continued. He massaged his scratched and bruised feet.
Lloyd’s red eyes peered open as he noticed the silence. “Ah.. the banging stopped.”
“It probably gave up or someth-…” The spiky haired brunette trailed off, instantly sitting up with wide eyes. A familiar inhuman noise played in Lloyd’s ears as his own eyes widened and he sat up to look at the bus door.
A black clawed hand gripped the corners of the bus's doorway, its face grinning madly as it peaked inside. All the teenagers watched it in shock and horror.
“HOW?!” Multiple voices shouted, but were no closer to getting answers. The beast walked past the weapons placed in a wooden box as the teens stood up from their seats and backed up to the rear end of the bus.
They were cornered.
“Can we open the back door?!” Lloyd asked, his eyes only briefly leaving the creature as he glanced to the emergency door.
“It’s blocked!” Shouted the spiky haired brunette as his hand gripped the emergency exit handle, the door not budging an inch due to the other school bus. The freckled boy sniffled as he felt tears streaming down his face. “W-WHAT DO WE DO?!”
“Die?”
“ZANE!”
The creature took this moment to lunge at the group, its mouth opening wide. Everyone screamed as the hand got closer and closer…
Before a beeping sound could be heard and the clawed hand met empty air.
The still grinning creature stared dumbfounded at the previously occupied space.
Lloyd Garmadon shot up with a yelp and a hand moving to his messy bed head. He slowly lowered his hand as he let out a shuddering breath. “Way too close..”
His attention moved to his phone as it buzzed next to him, no doubt from their group chat.
‘ Jay - Everyone okay? ‘
‘ Lloyd - 👍 ‘
‘ Zane - That was way too close. ‘
‘ Nya - Physically yes. ‘
‘ Kai - Mentally no. ‘
‘ Cole - Did anyone finish the homework? ‘
Lloyd stared at the text message before glancing over to his desk, seeing the very much not finished homework lying there.
He looked at the books almost like they should be offended that they existed. He typed a quick message to the group chat before flopping back down on his bed.
‘ Lloyd - Screw it. ‘
‘ Nya - ^ ‘
‘ Kai - ^ ‘
Lloyd stared at the ceiling, mentally thanking whatever higher being existed before closing his eyes and going to sleep.
..
The sun felt like it was taunting Lloyd as he chugged the last bit of coffee from his own thermos. He watched as the bus slowly came to a stop in front of his house and he got on, begrudgingly walking to his normal seat in the sixth row of the bus
“Hello Lloyd!” A familiar voice made itself known from behind the blond, Lloyd didn’t need to look to know it was Zane’s voice with Cole beside him.
Lloyd didn’t bother giving Zane a response, sitting down and leaning back into the seat. He knew he couldn’t fall asleep in the car due to his contacts but that didn’t stop his eyes from closing in exhaustion.
He felt a presence above him and he opened his eyes to see Zane peaking over the seat. “Last night was rough huh?”
The sound of a backpack being zipped open could be heard, followed by the shuffling of a paper as it was removed from the aforementioned backpack.
“I finished the homework!” Zane cheerfully said as he put the paper next to Lloyd’s head, Lloyd’s artificially green eyes staring at the paper with a tired expression but his mouth still agape.
“You can copy it if you want, I know how tiring last night was!” Lloyd faked a smile while his eye twitched. ‘ Zane’s energy never ceases does it? I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned out to be a robot or something…‘
“Thanks..” He said with no energy as he took the finished paper and got out his own empty one, taking out a green mechanical pencil to copy it down.
Soon the bus arrived at a red building, their oh so happy school.
“Good morn-“ Their teacher, Ronin, started before he caught a glimpse of the three teens. “ing..?”
All three of them seemed gloomy, tired, and overall a mess. ‘ They’re like this every morning now… do they stay up all night?? ‘ Ronin pondered, thinking back to the first few days of school where Lloyd and Zane would give him a happy good morning each, Cole even giving him his own silent greeting with a nod.
His mind flashed to Jay entering the class with a shy grin, giving him a good morning. Then to the Smith siblings, Kai’s bored greeting and Nya’s enthusiastic one.
Now though..
Now Nya sat with her head on her desk, her brother looking just as drained while he stared straight ahead looking at nothing in particular.
Jay sat back with his head tilted to the ceiling and his mouth hanging open and the last three standing at the front of the class looking similarly dejected. Zane even let out a yawn.
“Everyone get out your homework please.” Ronin tried not to feel offended as nobody replied to his greeting.
Lloyd tried his best, he really did.
He knew he wasn’t supposed to sleep with contacts on. With the night he had, he thinks he deserves some credit for trying so long.
He kept himself awake for the whole first five minutes of class before he inevitably passed out at his desk. Now his eyes feel dry and he knew it was gonna be a nightmare getting the contacts out tonight.
‘ Crap, I slept through class again, ‘ he mumbled under his breath before glancing at the others near the back of the class. ‘ Looks like the others did too. ‘
Lloyd stretched his arms as he packed up his stuff. ‘ At this rate, we’re gonna fail. Nya might even be sent back to her original grade.. but there’s not much you can do in our situation. ‘
As Lloyd finished putting the last book in his backpack, he heard his name being called. He glanced over to see everyone else standing up and ready to walk out the door. Zane, the one who called his name, waved him over.
“We’re all eating lunch together! You know, to talk about…” Zane paused and glanced around before finishing his sentence under his breath. “Stuff.”
Lloyd gave him a nod and a pathetic smile. ‘ He always says stuff when he’s talking about phantoms…‘ Lloyd internally groaned. ‘ This should go well. ‘
The noise of the cafeteria was suffocating in their tired states. Girl’s talking amongst each other, people loudly gorging themselves on the chicken, fries, and mashed potatoes they were having today.
The group ate quietly, nobody wanting to start the conversation. Cole even had his head on the table and seemed to be asleep.
‘ Just as awkward as I thought it would be… ‘
A voice spoke up amongst the table.
“I think we should go back to Savannah.”
All attention turned to Kai who sat at the edge of the table, close to the window. His face resting on his hand.
“I thought everyone agreed it was too dangerous?” Jay questioned, his fork absentmindedly picking at his food.
“So what? We’re supposed to let things stay as they are?” Kai challenged as he moved his hand off his face, his eyebrows furrowing and straightened his posture.
“I’d rather be semi-stuck than permanently stuck.” Lloyd spoke up, his eyes darting to the left so he couldn’t make eye contact. That seemed like the wrong thing to do or say.
Kai crossed his arms on the table as his glare turned to Lloyd. “Well maybe if you would have told us the truth from the beginning, we wouldn’t be stuck at all!”
Lloyd met Kai’s glare with his own, shifting his position as he raised his arm. “I already explained why I didn’t-“
“Isn’t that hypocritical to say Kai?” Zane interrupted Lloyd as he circled a fry in his hand.
“You’re the one who brushed it off as a prank and walked off. If he said anything, would you have even believed him?”
Kai slammed his hands on the table as he stood up, glaring daggers at Zane. “WHETHER I WOULD HAVE BELIEVED IT OR NOT, HE SHOULD’VE SAID SOMETHING!”
The normally loud cafeteria quieted down as Kai raised his voice with every word. Jay and Nya awkwardly looked around as other students stared at them.
“NOW WE’RE STUCK IN SOME DEMONIC DIMENSION, RUNNING AWAY FROM FLESH-EATING DEADLY CREATURES, I’VE LOST COUNT HOW MANY NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES I’VE HAD-“
At this point some students that were sitting near the table awkwardly shuffled away to sit at other tables to stay away from the scene Kai was making.
“NONE OF US HAVE SLEPT IN DAYS, WE CAN'T TELL OUR PARENTS OR ANY—“
Kai was interrupted with a loud bam at the table, startling Kai and gaining the attention of everyone else at the table.
Cole stared at Kai for a second before putting a finger to his mouth, signaling for Kai to quiet down. Kai stared at him like he was about to shout again before his eyes lowered to the table and he sat down. He started to shake as the reality set in.
“If we don’t go back to Savannah where this cycle began, then what else are we supposed to do?”
Everyone glanced to the person they sat next too, nobody wanted to be the one to say he had a point.
‘ As… annoying.. as his outburst was, it’s understandable. If we go back, then we might find out what’s happening and how to escape… or.. ‘
Lloyd shivered as the image of a grinning phantom appeared on his mind.
‘ We could make things much worse.. ‘
Lloyd looked down at his food, one question in his mind.
Should they risk it?