The Clean-Up process went far into the day. What was now known as the Beetle Night raid had left Velysium Hall in a mess, however, it was in a much better state than when they found the place. There was blue blood everywhere, wood scraps littered the floor, the walls of Velysium Hall were litter with holes from the beetle’s sharp toes digging into the concrete to grip them better. Cleaning up all of it had been a nightmare, and usually, for teenagers, they were sure to complain about the huge loads of work and cleaning they needed to. This time, however, they all did it without complaining, going through the day sluggishly and with no other driving force other than survival.

The teens had all the reasons to be filled with dread and traumatized by the recent event, more than they already had. Following the 9 that died last night, 12 more people lost their lives for a total of 21 people. Their wounds had been way too severe to save, with most of them being defenseless when the Beetles passed by their defensive line.

Most of them also had their fair share of wounds, ranging from large gashes to scraps, or just broken limbs that would take weeks to heal, which was not ok when they were surrounded by monsters who like nothing but to eat them all.

Steven and Toby would have liked to be far from the main entrance today, but it was their turn to guard the place. However, the events of last night left everyone wanting to be at least 10 feet away from Velysium Hall’s entrance. Still though if they didn’t guard the place, they would all be doomed faster.

The barricades were being rebuilt from pieces of wood that could still be used. Even though they had been largely ineffective in the long run, they still played a role in stopping a hoard of beetles and slowing down the big Beetles, Now officially renamed Mega Beetles. This time around though, they had unscrewed a bunch of the blue lockers fixed on the wall and were adding them to the barricades, in hope that the Mega wouldn’t be able to get through it. However, that was a stretch, those things seemed to be able to get through everything.

Either way, every time a beetle appeared down the corridor, not only was everyone on edge but were terrified of another Beetle raid forming straight for them. People were practically ready to book it when a beetle was spotted, but most of the time, if they turned off the power drills they were using to fix the barricade and stop all the noise, they would leave quietly. Something they were sure to use for a while.

While all of that was happening the adults, the remaining 17 of them at least, were having a meeting in one of the vacated classrooms.

The place was dead quiet with all 17 of them reflecting on the deaths of not only their colleagues but the students as well. They, compared to some of the other teachers at the cafeteria, cared deeply for their jobs, and the death of each of their students put them at a hard stop.

“What are we going to do?” Asked Mrs.Stillwater, trying her best not to let her voice crack as the tears still streamed down her face,” we can’t continue like this, eventually, we're all going to die if we don’t do something.”

The others in the room nodded in agreement, they were thinking the same thing. They were already desperately low on medical supplies, had food that seems to want to rip their stomachs to pieces, surrounded by creatures who wants them dead within their school, and worse of all morale was at an all-time low, with most people seemingly resigning to the truth: that they were sure to die within the upcoming days, or weeks.

“I would have liked to get in touch with the military, the government, or anyone with some decent firepower to come to rescue us.” Said Mr.Valko, the psychology teacher,” But the cell towers are down and we can’t get in touch with anyone. To me, it seems like our only option is either hope the beetle’s leave peacefully, or we escape somewhere else.”

“Both of those seem very unlikely.” Said Mr.Val,” I doubt the beetles will leave at this point, considering there is a high chance we are in a hive, and usually with creatures like these, they don’t move unless their queen moves, so unless we see any beetle even more massive than the Mega’s crawling away with an army around it, there is a high chance they are not leaving.”

“And with the monsters we saw rampaging and still see creeping about the place outside, there could be even worse creatures than the beetles out there. Heck have y’all seen the dino from the other day? That thing dwarfed the entire school.” Added Coach McConnel.

After a moment of silence, Mr.Valko began talking again, “Well” he said,” I was just weighing our options, because I do not see us surviving in this place without some form of miracle.”

He was stating the obvious, everyone in the room knew it, but still, they had to try to survive. They had families they wanted to find, things they and the students needed to accomplish, a whole life ahead of them and they didn’t want it to end like this, there were some who had a spouse and kids who they needed to find in this crazy world.

“Well.” Said Coach McConnell, getting everyone's attention,” I think it's best to put my knowledge of drill sergeant to use. Last night's deaths were mostly due to the fact that the students were slow to gear up and get into the fight, which caused a lot more casualties than before.”

“What?!” shouted Mrs.Gibson, the woodwork teacher,” we can’t do that! They are only teenagers, we can’t put them through that----”

“I’m not saying we make soldiers out of them.”, interrupted Coach McConnell,” I’m just saying we get them to a point where they can respond to another attack quicker and even a little stronger and faster to better take care of the beetles.”

“Still, they are not in a state for that right now….” objected Mrs.Gibson.

After some quiet one of the janitors spoke up,” Though, what choice do we really have? You can’t really expect us to protect them all by ourselves from the beetle while we’re getting just as battered as they are. “ Said, Malcolm.

“I agree,” adds Mr.Val,” We can’t keep babying them, especially in this crazy era we find ourselves in. If they can learn to protect themselves better, that is another thing we won’t have to worry about on top of all the other problems that are coming up.”

Eventually, all the adults in the room agreed to the suggestion, and Mrs.Gibson had no choice but to accept too. It was also decided that all of them will partake in the training.

However things would pick up tomorrow, they let the students mourn for the day.

[Day 12 {week 2}] - Wednesday - January 12, 0000 A.A

“Hold on a moment you want to get what? And where?” Asked Niko in shock, dropping his spoon back into the bowl of beetle soup he had been eating, until Neo told him his insane idea.

After a day of silence and morning for all the people they lost, things got a little better. But just a little better. The teenagers were talking again, but it was a lot more low-key and amongst a small group of people. Most of their talks though questioned if they would survive or even meet their parents ever again. Few did their best to steer away from such a topic and thus the result of Niko's outburst, causing some of his friends to come over.

“What's wrong,” asked Ria, as she came up to them and sat down, followed by a number of other people. All of them were still in martial art uniform, though bloodied from the previous battle, they were much cleaner than their previous clothes, and they hadn’t bothered to wash up in case another raid came and they got bloodied again. It was decided that they should only wash if they become excessively dirty.

“Neo wants to go get his backpack from his locker,” said Niko hurriedly trying to get everyone to encourage him not to.

“What?” asked Heather with a terrified face,” Why, you can’t go out there, what if another group of beetle-like 2 nights ago meet you when you go? You’ll die!”

“Exactly man, why do you even wanna go out there with all the murder bugs.” Asked Leo.

Neo rolled his eyes before answering,” Oh calm down, I’m just trying to get something that might help. Niko, Velma, and I created a really wicked Weaponized Nail Gun, it shoots nails really far and is super accurate too. It would be very helpful in this situation.”

Everyone stared at him with unbelieving eyes. Before looking over at Niko to confirm if that had been true, to which he nobbed.

“First of all.” Began Zane,” Why did y’all make an already pretty dangerous weapon into a better one?”

“........It was cool……” Said Niko

“Yeah, we got bored that summer.” Continued Neo.

~~~~~~~

Coach McConnell had refused along with the principal and a lot of the adults. It was simply too dangerous in case another beetle hoard decided they needed to attack again. They called Niko, Neo, and Velma to the side for them to properly tell them what such a contraption of theirs could do. It took some time but they managed to convince the teachers that it was worth it.

It was decided that Niko, Neo, Zane, Ranzer, and Coach McConnell would go get Neo’s bag where he had kept the blueprint and design of the thing.

“I going to warn you.” Said Coach McConnell as they left through the main Barricade,” I don’t think the cafeteria people will let us through to where your locker is. You said it was on the wall to the cafeteria’s overlook right?”

“Yeah.” Replied Neo.

“Then it's a lost cause. Maybe if they are generous today they’ll let us through without much trouble but they’ll probably ask for something in return,” said Coach McConnell.

Heading to the cafeteria without attracting too much attention from the beetles was practically impossible and they had to fight a few groups along the way. It would seem that the beetles had tagged the area to be patrolled as multiple groups were prowling through the hallways, so they couldn’t try and fight each and everyone for fear that the noise attracts all of them to their position.

The school had seen better days. Some doors had been ripped from their frames, there were holes in walls leading into the classroom, the entire place was ransacked with school items everywhere. Badges, phones, and even shoes…..some with the foot still attacked and rooting.

As they got closer to the cafeteria their numbers dwindled considerably, with corpses of at least 20 Mega beetles and a lot of normal ones splayed about in a lounge area a little ways from the library.

“How the hell did they kill so many of them?!” asked Neo in shock as he looked at the downed creatures. Looking closer there was no real damage to them, their abdomen had not been ripped, not had their legs been destroyed, nor had they been frozen by liquid nitrogen or anything. They were just dead.

“Hey! Who are you!?”

To the sound of someone shouting at them all of them pulled their attention away from the mega beetle corpses and toward the group of 9 that was coming from. Each of them carried makeshift weapons, but most concerning was the pistol one of them was carrying

“Oh, Coach McConnell, It's you.”, Said the person at the head of the group, one of the math teachers, Mr.Zack,” What are you doing here?”

“We’re here to get something we left behind.” Coach McConnell said getting in front of Niko, Neo, Ranzer, Zane.

The group of boys and the math teacher began to talk amongst themselves for a bit, seemingly deciding what to do. It took some time and a bit of angry whispering before they got an answer back,” Alright, come one, We’ll go ask Brandon.” They said beckoning them to follow.

They followed the group toward the overlook of the cafeteria. Since it sat at a lower elevation to the first floor, there was an open for them to look down at the numerous people staying within the place. As they passed by the railings, they couldn’t help but look down with complicated expressions at what was going on within the cafeteria. Most of the boys were off to the sides, all of them working on something or otherwise resting with multiple wounds all over them. While most of the girls were other to the side where people go to get their food, all in various states of undress with Coach Haron around multiple of them doing as he pleased. It wasn’t even only him, but numerous other teachers were partaking in it. Many more sitting on the sideling unable to comprehend what was going on.

“The fuck….” Said Ranzer as he looked on at the horror in front of him.

The other kept quiet and looked away from the scene as they approached the halfway point upon the overlook, where a sizable group of people was standing. One of them was Brandon, the football team captain who was wearing military garments with a rifle, an M249, with a pistol at his waist. All of them now understood how they managed to kill so many Mega Beetles.

“What the.” Said Brandon when he saw them approaching, he brushed back his brown hair from his eyes before sizing them up,” Mark what's this?” He asked the guy who had led them here.

“They said they wanted to get something.” Said Mark, before hastily adding,” Sir.”

Brandon nodded before asking,” what is it you want to get?” He asked.

Neo steps forward to answer, but Coach McConnell beat him to it,” Just something we forgot when we left.” He said before looking down at the cafeteria again with a stoic face,” Which was the right choice.”

Brandon thought for a moment before saying,” Sure, but you need to give us something, You guys left, so I’m not obligated to give you something you forgot.”

“What do you want? Of course, we won’t trade people if that's what you ask for.” Replied Coach McConnell to which Brandon laughed.

“No, No, No,” Said Brandon as he calmed down,” we don’t need more people, we have enough of them already. But I do like that thing.” He said Pointing at Zanes Glaive.

Before even Zane could say anything, Neo himself replied,” No.”. There was a very simple reason for it. The Glaive was Saif's weapon, and since he was dead it held sentimental value to Zane and the other Martial arts club members who had seen him wield the thing. He had been much better than Zane at doing it. Trading it for a piece of paper with a design that would most likely take weeks to make, if they could at all, but had a chance to not be very effective would cause a lot of chaos within their group.

“What?” said Brandon stupidly.

“No,” Said Niko,” but I’ll give you my sword instead.” He said ready to hand over his katana.

This time it was Brandon's turn to refuse,” No, I don’t need that, I have a gun.”

“Then why do you want Saif’s Glaive?” Asked Zane.

“It looks cool. Why else, I can just shoot any bugs that come for me. Anyways if you don’t want to you can leave.” Said Brandon.

Coach McConnell nodded, before turning to his guys behind him,” Told you.” he said before urging them to leave.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Who are Niko, Ranzer, and Zane again?” Asked Coach Haron, who Brandon had dragged from his activities so he wouldn’t keep getting distracted.

Brandon sighed and rolled his eyes,’ this man’ he thought,’ ever since this whole thing started he has no care in the world apart from f*cking his life away.’ “ Don’t worry about that for now, just know that they were on the second floor when all of this happened, but from what we hear, everyone there was massacred.”

“So?” Coach Haron asked with a raised eyebrow, glazing back to the teenage girl and the English teacher he wanted to get back to.

Annoyed, Brandon continued,” even if they survived, the only intact staircase leads to Velysium Hall, where one of the bigger and stronger beetle is.”

“Oh!” cried Coach Haron in understanding,” you're wondering how they got down. Hmmm, that is weird, you can’t kill those huge bastards without a gun or by sacrificing some people. Don’t think those upright people could do that though…..Hehe good thing I decided to raid that crashed military supply truck and loot those dead military bastards a few days ago, made our lives much easier.”

“Yeah but you still got a lot of people killed.” Replied Brandon, however, he really hadn’t cared for those that had been sacrificed to get the weapons.

“There's just cannon fodder,” he said Earning a glare from one of the injured boys who stood up to go confront him only to get shot in the head earning a sizable amount of screams from the people around.

“Shut the hell up!” Said Coach Haron, setting down his pistol as the noise died down to quiet sobs,” Anyways, get a team of people and go check out Velysium Hall for what is going on there.”

“Alright.” Said Brandon before turning and walking away. He glanced at the body of the dead guy and could help but be sad…..just a little though.

~~~~~~~~~

“What the hell is that?” Asked Mark as he looked down at the barricade of lockers and wood as his group walked down the hallway to Velysium Hall's entrance.

“The beetles could be piling things around their homes or something.” Suggested someone.

“Nah.” Said Brandon as all of them heard the noticed the people watching them from small openings in the barricade.,” Someone must have secured the place.”

As they got closer to the barricade, a section of it opened and Coach McConnel walked out followed by the Principal and Mr.Wheeler.

“What do y'all need?” Asked Coach McConnell with eyes that wanted nothing but for them to leave.

“Nothing.” Said Brandon,” We were coming to take this place from the bugs, but I guess y’all beat us to it. How’d you kill the big bug anyway?” Asked Brandon.

“That's classified.” Answered Coach McConnell.

Both groups stood there in awkward silence afterward. Brandon took a look around the hallway taking in the sight of the dead bugs that had been piled all along the wall. There were plenty of them, more than if a small group of them had stumbled upon the place.

“Did a large group of Beetles come through here a few days ago?” Asked Brandon to which all 3 adults reacted by recoiling.

“Why?” asked the Principal,” did you have something to do with it?!” She screamed

Uncaring for her anger, Brandon continued,” Yeah, maybe, we were fighting 2 of the big bugs in the front foyer, we might have scared a bunch of them this way. We were waiting for them to clear to see what we can get from this place. Well no big deal”

A thump came from the barricade as both Brandon’s group and the 3 teachers looked as people started shouting from the inside.

“No, No, No Stop Jenna Stop!” Shouted people from inside.

“LET ME GO!” Screamed Jenna as more thumps came from the Barricade,” let me put an Arrow in the bastard's forehead, no big deal, NO BIG DEAL, a lot of us died because of them!!! Including My Brother!”

“Drag her out of here!” Said Malcolm, as she started screaming and telling them to let her go again.

The Principal and Mr.Wheeler went back inside to take care of the situation. Coach McConnel turned back now visibly angrier,” I think it's best you leave now.”.

Brandon was about to say something but Mark stopped him, shaking his head before they decided to leave without a word.

Trivia -

A grudge has been laid. From this day forth, Jenna Sanders's ultimate goal would be to end Brandon.