#52

Once Jacob was inside the Student Center, he saw it was in ruins. It was predictable; though on further inspection, it looked like most of the damage was accidental. Probably from the shocks of the explosion outside. Maybe the army had first manifested in town, and then moved to campus, and were taking it from the outer border inward. Maybe this, the center focus of the campus, was where they planned to place their breaching device.

Where was Doctor Kai? They didn't have any sort of communication between each other; if this was where they planned to place the breaching bomb, it could be too late before the Doctor arrived.

This was honestly the least of Jacob's concerns, but he clamped down on the others.

He was approaching the coffee shop—covered in coffee, both beans and liquid, from one of the shocks—when he saw a form still behind it. It was dressed in red, so he cocked his pistol. His hands were still shaky but he was getting control over them. Suddenly, it lunged out...

“DROP THE GUN.”

At the sound of that voice, Jacob did drop it. But then he picked it back up again a second later.

“Jacob?”

It was Amos.

He had been wearing a red t-shirt.

“Amos? Holy shit.” There was a pause. “Well, been looking for you.”

“How did you fucking get here? I mean, to Morris?”

“You mean Maurice?”

He blinked, and then muttered something quietly to himself. He seemed confused. There was silence for awhile.

“Well, look, mate, we gotta get outta here,” Amos said, dodging the subject.

“Figured that part out. Listen, I have a transport, we can...”

He dropped to the ground then as the ceiling—made of concrete—shattered. Amos was barking something about hiding inside the coffee shop—without thinking he crawled inside as pounds upon pounds of sheer matter fell down on him. The floor was splintered and a bathroom, hidden beneath, was breached, with water spraying up through the hole.

Jacob gasped and pulled his leg out from some rubble. No harm done, just a bruise. Amos started to pull him back further behind the counter, shouting something about a reinforced awning overhead.

The front windows were smashed; the front door was buried. Dust was everywhere, sending both men into a wild cough.

It was only a few minutes later that they both got a good look at what had crushed the building.

“Fuck!” Amos shouted as he struggled to stand. “I-is that...McGee Manor?” He looked at his brother. “Did you summon my bloody D20 party to save us?”

“Not...not quite.”

The House was apparently attempting to land. Doctor Kai was leaning out a window (though Jacob remembered there being no windows aboard the Manor). “Jacob!” he was shouting. “You found your brother!” Jacob tried to stand up, not taking his eyes off The House. “Get outside, quick, and I'll pick you up!”

Jacob looked around. Most of the hallways around the coffee shop were full of debris. All exits were blocked.

“We're sealed in! Can you get any closer?”

It looked as if he was about to say something else, but suddenly, the building shook around, rattling more rubble loose. Above, Kay, or Kai or whatever, mouthed something. “Oh, no.”

“What's going on?” Amos yelled.

Then there was another shake—a bigger one. But this one was much different than the earthquake at Lex's house, or any of the previous bomb blasts. This one resonated; and that particular word, “resonated”, struck a chord with Jacob as he felt the vibrations now traveling through the air. It was as if the music of the universe had been exposed, or at least that the entire universe was now shaking. He felt suddenly afraid, but he didn't know why.

Doctor Kay, also, looked afraid—terrified, in fact. Jacob never thought he would see such a thing on that particular person's face. He only had a second to consider this expression before the older man started yelling.

“The breaching device is in place!” he shouted. Jacob felt himself go pale. “Get aboard! Get aboard now!”

Jacob looked at the rubble and saw that may he could climb it to the top of the broken Center; but the first chunk was far too tall for him to climb, with no handholds. Still, he had to try. He gestured towards Amos, who still had no idea what was going on, to follow him.

“What's the breaching device?” Amos asked.

“I don't know, but it's supposed to blow this whole campus—and maybe the town—wide open,” Jacob replied. “Whatever it is, we need to get above it. If that's possible.”

He was now trying to get up the first large chunk, but even with his best jump he wasn't making it. Doctor Kai was yelling inarticulate things about hurrying.

“Jacob?” Amos asked then. He was briefly interrupted by Doctor Kai shouting something about the enemy having arrived. “Marcel's dead, isn't he? Lex, too, right?”

Jacob paused, and looked back at his brother. “Yeah. Yeah, they are. How did you...?”

“It doesn't matter.” He grinned then, with a little bit of his usual cheese. “I'm empty, now, bro. I lost everyone here too. All but one.”

He then seized Jacob, lifting him over his head and placing him on top of the rubble. Jacob suddenly couldn't hold back his horror, but he still tried. “You're, uh.” He blinked something away. “You're serious?”

Amos didn't stop grinning. “Get out of here! I've got one last performance.”

“Amos, you dumb sack of shit. No!”

“You're the one who's being a dumb sack of shit. Now, get out of here!”

Jacob started climbing, but he didn't look away. Not until he saw and heard the rush of glowing cyan light coming towards them.

He climbed faster and faster, his head flushed hot, until at last Doctor Kai pulled him aboard. He looked down, where so far below him, his brother was.

Amos was still smiling. “Hey, bro!” he shouted up. He had also seen the light.

“Watch this!” And he turned around, throwing his arms up in front of his face like he was defending himself against some shitty-ass rubber suit monster. In his mind, he likely was.

One last overdramatic and stupid “OH NO!” and the Slimechap was no more. Reduced to a cloud of trailing Kirby dots, and then not even that.

The light swept everywhere below the floating House, consuming the campus, not even leaving ruins behind. In its place, thousands of feet down, was exposed and raw machinery. Too complicated for Jacob to understand.

Of course, that wasn't the only complicated thing in his head now.