Miles:
"I'm telling you," I say, waving my wrench around. "It can't be the shield generator. I just checked it, and it's working fine."
"It has to be the shield generator," Joel, my fellow Yellow Sun Academy engineer, says. "I already checked the academy's power, the wiring, and the controls. They're all working fine."
"Don't believe me? Check it yourself."
I lean back, giving Joel plenty of space to examine the shield generator. While I hate to admit it, I watch with a little smile as Joel checks the shield generator.
"It's not the shield generator," Joel finally says.
"Ha! Told you."
Joel rolls his eyes and throws an oil-soaked rag at me.
"Well, smarty-pants, if it's not the shield generator, and it's not anything else, then why did the academy's shield fail during the bug attack?"
"I don't know," I yell back. "Sheesh. We spent weeks taking everything apart, running diagnostics, examining, and re-examining every single gear, and still nothing! What did we miss?"
"No clue," Joel says, hitting my arm before nudging his head. "Come on. Let's go give Headmaster Noah the bad news."
"Can you do it? Headmaster Noah is still slightly mad at me after what happened in his office."
"I told you to do multiple trips, not to carry everything in at once."
"It wasn't completely my fault. Who could have known that hammer would've flipped through the air like that? Or slammed Headmaster Noah's computer?"
"And his bookshelves."
"Thank you, Miles!"
Gathering our tools and pushing ourselves up, Joel and I start walking down the academy's maintenance hallways. We head toward the elevator, already seeing the silver double automatic doors.
"What the--"
I stop and look around. Joel stops and looks at me.
"What is it?"
"Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"I don't know," I slowly answer. Looking around again, I see a handful of narrow hallways going in various directions. Each one is brightly lit, so nothing should be hidden. I shake my head and wave my hand.
"It's nothing. Let's go."
Turning toward the elevator, Joel and I start walking again, but stop when we hear a roar.
"What the heck was that?" Joel yells.
"There!"
Pointing down one of the hallways, we see an animal running toward us.
"A predalion!"
The massive animal, with grey skin and a dark grey mane, the predalion roars, shaking every hallway while showing Joel and me its dozens of sharp teeth.
"Run," I yell.
I run toward the elevator, grabbing Joel's hand and pulling him along. We reach the elevator, and I pull out my holographic access card. I tap it against the scanner, but for some reason, it ejects my access card.
The scanner goes beep, and the light stays green.
"No, no, no!"
I tap the scanner again, but it won't accept my card.
"Beep! Beep! Beep!"
"Here! Use mine!"
Joel reaches into his pocket and pulls out his access card. He gives it to me, but before I can tap it against the scanner, the predalion lunges at us.
"Aahhh!"
"Ding."
Headmaster Noah:
Grabbing Miles and Joel the moment I can, I pull them back and throw them into the elevator. While the two slam against the elevator's wall, I pull out my axe and turn around.
The predalion bites down on my axe's blade. The beast tries to force its way into the elevator, but I stomp my foot and push back. Stuck in a stalemate with the predalion, I look back at Miles as he pushes the elevator's button. The doors slide, but can't close with the predalion standing in the way.
"Stay back," I yell.
Reaching behind me, I grab an arrow and use it to stab the beast in its exposed face. The predalion roars, opening its mouth widely. Raising my foot, I stomp against predalion, kicking it out of the elevator.
"Apologize," I say, spinning my axe, "But authorized personnel only."
Turning and smiling, Miles pushes the elevator button again. The predalion lunges at us, but it bashes its head against the sliding doors, leaving a large rounded dent.
"Joel? Miles? Are you two okay?"
"We're fine," Joel answers, gasping as he pushes himself up. "Thank you for saving us."
I nod and turn back toward the dent.
"Please fix this later."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Miles says, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Headmaster Noah. What—what just happened? Where did that predalion come from? How did it get into the academy's maintenance hallway?"
"I don't know," I answer.
Hearing an alert, I reach into my cloak. Pulling out my holo-display, I turn it on, and Assistant Headmistress Amaya appears.
"Headmaster Noah," Amaya starts, "Something is happening! Where are you?"
"In the elevator with Joel and Miles. They were attacked by a predalion."
"A predalion?"
"Yes, a predalion, and worst, I believe it was ours."
A memory shoots through my mind.
"When I was fighting it, I saw a tag around its front right leg. Assistant Headmistress Amaya, I need you to check the Academy's other animals. In case any of them escape."
"Headmaster Noah, they already escaped!"
"What?"
Assistant Headmistress Amaya turns her screen. She shows me the academy's schoolyard. It is covered in rampaging animals and professors fighting them.
"What happened?"
"I don't know, sir. Something happened. All of our cages unlocked at once. The animals escaped. The professors and I are fighting to keep them from destroying the academy."
"What about the other staff? The non-fighters? Where are they?"
"They're safe, hiding in the academy's secure bunker. Far from the fighting."
"Smart. I'll join you as soon as I can."
Assistant Headmistress Amaya nods before ending the call. Getting off as soon as the elevator doors slide open, I pull out my sword and axe and carefully step into the hallway.
"Clear," I say, turning to Joel and Miles. Motioning for them to come out, I nudge my head. "Follow me. Stay close."
The two nod and follow me. I quickly walk through the narrow hallway, holding my weapons out.
"The closest entrance to the Yellow Sun's emergency bunker should be this wa--"
Before I can finish, a crocogator lunges at me. A large, wide but flat animal with a massive mouth and powerful teeth, strong enough to rip through most metal, the crocogator jumps at me from a narrow hallway.
Kicking Miles back while using him to jump ahead, I fly through the air, dive onto the floor, and roll before stopping.
Joel and Miles scream as the crocogator crawls them, but I stomp on its thick tail. The crocogator growls before turning toward me.
"Hey," I say, raising my sword and pointing the tip at the animal. "Fight me, not them."
The crocogator roars and turns toward me. It raises its upper jaw before slamming it down, a snap sound echoing throughout the entire hallway. Leading the crocogator away, I look at Joel and Miles.
"Get to the bunker. Now."
Joel and Miles nod before running. Meanwhile, I look at the crocogator as it quickly crawls toward me. Stepping back further and further, I look at my weapons.
"A crocogator's skin is tough," I think, "Even with my weapons, I won't be able to break through easily."
Still backing away, I see something reflecting on the academy's floor. Looking up, I see one of the academy's crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.
Pulling back my hand, I throw my axe at the chain holding the chandelier. Cutting right through it, the chandelier drops right onto the crocogator, crushing and killing it instantly.
"Darn," I say, looking at the scattered crystals as they fly everywhere. "I like our chandelier. I picked them myself."
Making a note to ask Joel and Miles to fix it later, I grab my axe and rush to help the other professors. As I run toward the exit leading to the courtyard, I stop, my feet skidding against the floor.
"Wait. There's something I must do first."
Reaching into my cloak, I pull out my holo-display again. I quickly type a message and send it to all the students.