Cat ran down the hallway as fast as her legs, already nearing their limit, allowed. She found it curious that, at that moment, her mind was thinking about regretting never having started running in the mornings, as she had wanted to do for years. Her lungs burned, and her heart felt like it was about to explode. Meanwhile, her mind distracted itself with those thoughts, as if trying to avoid thinking about the giant head with sharp teeth chasing them.
Rose, for her part, looked much more composed.
"We can't keep running indefinitely," she told her at one point, without even getting out of breath. "I need you to try turning me into Healer. Although, honestly, it would be better if you turned yourself into Archer."
"I... Can't..." she replied between breaths. "...Rini... The bond..."
"Right. Then we'll have to stick to the rooftop plan."
Minutes earlier, while hiding in the science lab, Rose had informed her that the school seemed to be surrounded by absolute darkness. After telling her details that she couldn't quite remember now, she had suggested going to the rooftop to see if it was possible to send out a distress signal or something like that. Cat had many questions, but before she could ask the first one, the teacher's head that had attacked the faceless children earlier ambushed them by smashing through one of the windows.
Cat and Rose miraculously managed to escape while the monster destroyed everything in its path, only to continue being relentlessly pursued even after reaching the second floor.
"Rose... my legs..."
"You just have to hold on a little longer, Cat. We'll reach the stairs soon and..."
"And then? ...On the rooftop... What then?"
"You're right. If it keeps chasing us, we'll have to fight it on the rooftop anyway. So... Okay, distract it a little longer. Let me see what I can find," Rose said, and, to make the difference in their physical condition even clearer, she accelerated to almost twice the speed they had been maintaining and disappeared at the next intersection.
Cat watched her disappear with a mixture of horror and fascination that almost made her stop, but instinct prevented her from doing so when she heard the creature's dragging behind her.
About three minutes later, Cat passed the stairs leading to the third floor, but the thought of climbing them seemed impossible in her current state. Besides, Rose was still somewhere nearby, looking for a way to stop the monster chasing her.
Five minutes in, and she was already thinking she couldn't go any farther.
Seven minutes in, and she fell.
As best she could, she turned around and found the creature less than two meters away from her. Nothing but jaws and teeth.
She thought of her friends, whom she had dragged into this mess because she believed herself capable enough for the mission. Because she believed she had what it took. She thought of her family, and it hurt knowing she wouldn't be able to see them again. She only hoped they would all be okay after she...
Her last effort in the face of imminent death was to reach for her neck and touch the locket her father had given her when she was little, but she couldn't find it. She must have lost it during one of the chases... She didn't even have that anymore.
So, as she saw the creature's jaws looming over her, she closed her eyes.
Three seconds later, she opened them again when she felt nothing and found herself looking at an unreal yet hopeful sight.
Somehow, Rose had jumped onto the creature and driven an oboe into its left eye. The monster, for its part, veered off course as it tried to flee from its attacker, but crashed into the wall on the right, destroying it. In the process, it lost several teeth and broke its nose.
"Sorry I'm late. I had to improvise," Rose apologized, landing in front of her, armed with a medium-sized easel resting on her shoulder as if it were an axe, with several markers and paintbrushes in her pocket, which she was already grabbing with her other hand. "Can you walk?"
Cat nodded, although she wasn't entirely sure whether she actually could.
The giant head reacted, coming back to its senses. With one of its eyes blinded, the other now moved at twice the speed. In a desperate impulse, it spun around as it roared, as if trying to identify its surroundings and locate its attacker. When it did, it opened its jaws again and lunged at Rose.
More agile than she appeared, Rose hurled several pens with force, driving them into the beast's palate. When it came close enough, she swung the easel and struck the side of its head, shattering the wood while also deflecting the monster's attack.
The creature shrieked, but before it could get back up once more, Rose was already on top of it, brandishing the piece of easel that remained in her hand and driving it into the only eye it had left.
"Okay, now we're set," said Rose, turning back to Cat—who was still on the ground—and dusting off her hands with a confident air. "Come on, we can..."
Contradicting the girl, the head rose once more, roaring furiously and snapping its jaws in every direction.
"But how much longer is this monster going to keep going? I'm out of ideas! Run!"
Rose took off running, but after only a few steps, she turned around to make sure Cat was following her.
Cat, for her part, tried to stand, but her legs wouldn't obey her. However, she didn't stay still. To dodge the random bites, she crawled across the floor as best she could. The monster advanced toward her, but aimlessly, thereby giving her a little bit of an advantage. Suddenly, Rose returned to her side, lifted her, and put one of Cat's arms over her shoulder, helping her run.
"Leave me. Maybe I can hide... But if you keep carrying me, it'll catch you," Cat muttered.
Rose didn't answer. She just kept going.
The head would have caught up with them, but being blind, it changed direction with every bite. Still, it remained a threat.
As they reached the second staircase, the head launched one final attack, only to fall afterward and never rise again.
"Finally!" Rose exclaimed, setting Cat down and leaning against the wall. "I thought it was going to chase us all day."
"...And you still didn't let go of me," Cat murmured. "Thank you."
"Don't worry. There was no way I was going to leave you behind. We're in this together. Besides, what would I tell Mica if I showed up without his girlfriend?"
"I-I... I don't..." Cat stammered for a moment, but she didn't contradict her. This wasn't the time to think about such nonsense. "Where did you learn to do all that?"
"What? Running? Rescuing friends?"
"Jumping and fighting like that. It was incredible."
"Oh! I've spent my whole life in a theater that was more like a circus. Something I haven't seen in this country. So I grew up taking gymnastics, acting, and improvisation classes. I'm glad they ended up being useful for something."
"And they certainly were. If it weren't for that, I..."
"Relax, girl. It's nothing. Now come on. I want to rest as much as I can too, but we need to get to the rooftop so you can communicate with your Angelino."
Cat nodded and stood with Rose's help, but she was able to walk on her own. Then, as they slowly climbed the stairs, she came to her senses.
"Rose..."
"Yes?"
"How do you know about the Angelinos? I've never mentioned that."
Rose stopped dead in her tracks and took a couple of seconds before turning around and addressing her with a huge smile on her face.
"I must have heard it from one of you. Are you sure you didn't mention it? Maybe it was Tomás himself, who explained the Dimensions and all that to me when we came in. Or maybe Sarah herself during her previous mission."
"I don't think so, Rose... I never referred to Rini as an Angelino around any of you. And Sarah... Sarah hasn't shared absolutely anything with us. Anyway, how do you remember so much about those sessions with her? It was difficult for us to do so. Our memory wasn't working properly when..."
"As I said, it must have been Tomás's explanation."
"And the Angelino?"
"How should I know? Are you absolutely sure you didn't say it yourself?"
"I-I think..."
"See? Maybe you mentioned it and, with all the panic we've been through, you forgot. Come on, let's finish getting to the rooftop."
"What's on the rooftop, Rose?" Cat asked, considering whether she should play along with Rose or... She had no other choice. She couldn't do anything on her own.
"How would I know?" the redhead replied without losing the smile that was beginning to turn disturbing.
"But you keep insisting on going."
"Well, something tells me our way out is on the rooftop. Or do you want to go back to the main entrance? Risk running into something else like that?" she said, pointing in the direction of the head.
"No... I'm not sure..."
"Come on. We're very close to the rooftop. Let's check it out, and if there's nothing there, we'll come back down."
Cat nodded, letting herself be led along, though she still feared they were walking into a trap.
Patiently, they finished climbing the stairs to the third and fourth floors and reached the rooftop.
There, Cat didn't find what she feared. She found something much worse.
At the opposite end of the rooftop, near the water tanks, the power generator, and the air-conditioning vents, stood an amorphous creature roughly three or four meters tall. From the torso down, it was a pulsating mass of tentacles and pustules, revealing how they wrapped around dozens of corpses.
Among them were the bodies of Jacob, Tomás, Hugo, and Mica.