Basics in Teaching

Chapter 5 - Basics in Behavior (1/3)

His students.

The white-eyed man felt like he should be panicking more, hesitating more, but he... wasn't. He barely gave them a glance before deciding to move on.

This wasn't him.

This wasn't who he was.

...then who was he?

CRUNCH!

He looked down to see what he had accidentally stepped on.

Or who.

"...Ruby?"

He unconsciously muttered to himself, focusing his immediate attention to the barely recognisable student. Her anatomy was fundamentally different to organic demi-humans or regular humans; she was primarily made up of computer parts and the like with hints of organic material within. And, similar to the other deceased students, had her insides completely removed and scattered around her corpse.

However, a faint, blue screen could be barely discerned on her computer monitor, although, the moment after, it suddenly turned to black.

A fleeting lifeform, perhaps a momentary revival, but her fate was sealed.

He had to move on.

It was obvious that something had done this, or rather someone-nothing about this scene was natural. He didn't like to play guesswork, but it was almost obvious who. And yet still, he pressed forward. Was he suicidal? Did his morbid curiosity take control over him? The teacher had no answers, but if he were to guess, it would be to find a certain someone.

In the hopes that they, in the midst of all this chaos and madness, were alive.

Even if he was to be killed while looking.

Eventually, the man found himself somehow upstairs on the third floor, where Alice, the ever-so elusive danger that lied overhead the school, typically resided. Along the way, he found many familiar faces... or rather, what was left of them. He had to guess whose face, and whose corpse belonged to who, they were so mangled. Although, for some reason, he hadn't found many of the teachers' corpses around.

Although he admitted that it would be difficult to presume most, if not all, of them and who they were, he was confident that he would at least be able to recognise some from a glance.

This alone induced a little hope, but it did not last.

As he continued to walk down the hall towards her room, the surroundings became... twisted. Distorted. The lockers began to concave backwards, the hallway extending forward in a loop that had no end, and the walls inverted unto themselves, collapsing in on each other and converging into the lockers and doors and windows before coming to an abrupt end.

The army of corpses on the floor ceased in tandem, the rest of the path forward returning to a regular, typical sense of familiarity that gave Rip some sense of comfort, as little as there was to give.

The headache that permeated his venture into this hellscape became stronger.

By then, it was obvious that something was causing it. But how? And who?

As he continued forward, he figured it out.

More bodies laid at rest in front of him. But these corpses appeared far more fresh, far more recognisable, and far more recent than the ones downstairs, as if they hadn't been fully devoured yet. They also all consisted of teachers. Mister Colt, Mister Demi, Miss Sasha, Miss Emily... Miss Serene, Miss Teck, Mister Maus...