Kevin meticulously adjusted the microscope's focus beneath the hum of fluorescent lights. Jessica watched him work, trying to ignore how her enhanced senses picked up every little sound—the soft breathing of her fellow cheerleaders huddled in the corner, the distant creaking of the school's ancient pipes, the occasional scratch of Kevin's pencil against his notebook.

  "Well?" Tiffany's voice cut through the silence. "Found anything useful, or are we just wasting time while that thing picks us off one by one?"

  Kevin didn't look up from the microscope. "Actually, yes. This is... fascinating. The cellular structure is unlike anything I've ever seen."

  "Fascinating isn't going to keep us alive," Mia muttered, wrapping her arms around herself.

  Jessica caught the tremor in her teammate's voice. They lost Amber—the memory of her screams still echoed in Jessica's mind. They couldn't lose anyone else.

  "The molecular bonds," Kevin continued, his voice taking on that excited tone he used to get during their late-night research sessions, "they're incredibly unstable at high temperatures. Look at this."

  He grabbed an emergency Bunsen burner from the supply cabinet and set it up with practiced ease. Jessica remembered how many times she'd watched him do the same thing during their chemistry labs together, back when she'd been part of his world.

  Kevin placed a small sample of the pink slime onto a glass slide and held it over the flame. The substance bubbled and writhed before dissolving into nothing more than a puff of acrid smoke.

  "It's vulnerable to heat," Salina said, leaning in closer. Her dark clothes seemed to absorb the harsh classroom lighting. "And bug spray only repels it.”

  "Which means we can kill it." Kevin's eyes gleamed behind his glasses. "We just need enough heat."

  "The furnace." Mia straightened up, her face brightening with the first hint of hope Jessica had seen since this nightmare began. "There's one in the basement. My dad's the maintenance supervisor, remember? That thing gets hot enough to heat the whole school in winter."

  Jessica's enhanced hearing picked up the quickening of everyone's heartbeats as the possibility of survival sank in. But there was something else niggling at her mind, a detail that seemed important.

  "Kevin," she said, crossing to the microscope. "You said the cellular structure was unlike anything you'd seen. What exactly does that mean?"

  Kevin glanced at her, and for a moment, it was like old times—the two of them piecing together a mystery, following the trail of breadcrumbs to some impossible truth.

  "It means," he intoned, "that this thing isn't from Earth. The molecular arrangement, the way it responds to stimuli—it's completely alien. Literally."

  "Like, from outer space?" Tiffany's voice rose an octave. "Are you serious?"

  "How else did it get here?" Salina's dark lips curved into a bitter smile. "Meteor, spaceship, whatever. The important thing is we can kill it."

  Jessica's mind raced. An alien. It made sense—the way it moved, its ability to mimic its victims, even the strange pink coloring. But more importantly...

  "So we have a plan," she said, cutting through the murmurs of speculation. "We lure it to the furnace room and—"

  A crash echoed from somewhere in the hallway, followed by a wet, slithering sound that made Jessica's hair stand on end. Her enhanced senses picked up something else too—a familiar scent, but wrong somehow, twisted.

  "Oh god," Mia whispered, pressing back against the wall. "Please don't let it be—"

  "Quiet," Jessica hissed, straining her ears. The slithering grew louder, accompanied by footsteps that sounded almost normal. Almost.

  Kevin quietly switched off the Bunsen burner while Salina edged toward the door. Jessica could smell their fear, sharp and metallic in the air. But underneath it was determination—they weren't going down without a fight.

  The footsteps stopped just outside their classroom. Jessica's muscles tensed, ready to spring. If she had to reveal her secret to save her friends...

  "We should run," Tiffany whispered, her usual confidence cracking. "What if it gets us like it got Amber?"

  "We stick together," Jessica said firmly, even as her own heart hammered against her ribs. "Kevin found its weakness. We just need to—"

  The door handle turned.

  Jessica moved without thinking, positioning herself between her friends and the door. She felt the familiar pressure building inside her—the wolf stirring, ready to break free. Not yet, she told herself. Not unless there's no other choice.

  The door creaked open.

  Every heartbeat in the room seemed to freeze. Even the fluorescent lights appeared to dim as if holding their breath along with the terrified teenagers.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  But nothing entered.

  After several agonizing seconds, Mia let out a shaky laugh. "Maybe it—"

  A pink tendril shot through the doorway, whip-fast and glistening. Jessica barely had time to shout a warning before it wrapped around a desk and yanked it into the hallway, the screech of metal on linoleum piercing the air.

  "The back door!" Kevin yelled, already grabbing his notes. "Now!"

  They ran. Jessica brought up the rear, her enhanced speed carefully held in check to match her friends' pace. Behind them, she heard the creature's wet, sliding movement entering the classroom.

  They burst into the hallway, sneakers squeaking on the floor as they rounded the corner. Jessica's mind raced. The furnace room. They needed to get to the furnace room. But first, they had to lose their pursuer.

  "Split up!" Tiffany gasped as they reached an intersection.

  "No!" Jessica grabbed her arm. "That's how it can get us all. We stay together."

  A horrible squelching sound echoed behind them, followed by what might have been Amber's laugh—if Amber's laugh had been run through a meat grinder.

  "Oh god," Mia whimpered, pressing closer to Tiffany. "How are we going to make it to the basement?"

  Jessica met Kevin's eyes across the hallway. He gave her a slight nod, and she knew he was thinking the same thing: they needed a plan, and fast.

  "The chemistry lab," Salina said suddenly. "We can grab more supplies.”

  “And I can check the janitor's closet to build a weapon,” Jessica added.

  "Good thinking." Kevin adjusted his glasses. "We'll fight it to make it chase us to the furnace.”

  The sound of desks being thrown aside spurred them into motion again. As they ran, Jessica's mind whirled with possibilities. The furnace was their best shot, but getting there alive was another matter entirely.

  She just hoped they could figure it out before the creature claimed another victim.

  "Do you really think this'll work?" Tiffany asked as they ran, her voice barely a whisper. "The furnace thing?"

  Jessica thought of the way the slime had writhed and vanished in the Bunsen burner's flame. "It has to," she said. "Because if it doesn't..."

  She left the sentence hanging, but everyone heard the unspoken truth: if this didn't work, none of them would make it out alive.

  *****

  Jessica's sneakers squeaked against the linoleum floor as she crept down the darkened hallway, her heightened senses on high alert. Every shadow seemed to writhe and twist in the dim emergency lighting, and the metallic taste of fear coated her tongue. The weight of the improvised flamethrower—a spray can and lighter cobbled together from supplies in the janitor's closet—felt reassuring in her hands. It might not be enough, but it should push the thing to reach the basement.

  "Everyone clear on the plan?" Kevin whispered from behind her, his voice barely audible.

  Salina nodded, her pale face ghostly in the darkness. "Lead it to the furnace room. Got it."

  "This is insane," Mia muttered, hugging herself. "We should just wait for help."

  Jessica fought back a growl of frustration. She could smell Mia's fear, sharp and acrid, threatening to overwhelm her own self-control. But they couldn't wait. Not with Amber, Camella, and who knew how many others already taken.

  "The police can't handle this thing," Tiffany said, her usual perkiness replaced by grim determination. "We're the only ones who know what we're dealing with."

  A distant squelching sound made them all freeze. Jessica's enhanced hearing picked up the wet slap of something moving across the floor, growing closer.

  "Places," she hissed, shooing the others toward their positions.

  Kevin and Salina ducked into the science lab, ready with their makeshift chemical weapons. Tiffany pressed herself against the wall near the water fountain, clutching a baseball bat from the gym. And Mia—

  "I can't do this," Mia whimpered, backing away. "I can't, I can't—"

  "Mia, wait!" Jessica lunged for her friend, but it was too late.

  Mia turned and bolted, her footsteps thundering down the hall. The sound of her panic echoed off the walls, and Jessica's heart plummeted. So much for their carefully planned ambush.

  A horrible screech filled the air, followed by Mia's terrified scream. Jessica sprinted toward the sound, rounding the corner just in time to see a mass of writhing pink tendrils dragging Mia into the darkness at the end of the hallway.

  "No!" Jessica raised the spray can, but the creature was too quick. The door slammed shut with a wet squelch as some kind of transparent membrane sealed it.

  "Jessica, behind you!" Kevin's warning came just as something cold and slimy wrapped around her ankle.

  She spun, kicking out with her supernatural strength. The tendril snapped, spraying viscous fluid across the floor. But more were coming, oozing from every vent and crack in the walls.

  "Run!" she screamed to the others, but they were already overwhelmed.

  Salina hurled a beaker of something caustic at the nearest mass of tentacles, making it recoil with a hiss. But another tendril caught her around the waist, yanking her off her feet.

  Kevin tried to help her, swinging a chair at the appendage. "Let her go, you cosmic jello reject!"

  The creature's response was to spawn three more tendrils, wrapping around Kevin's arms and legs. He struggled, but the alien substance was too strong.

  "Tiffany, get out of here!" Jessica yelled, slashing at the tendrils with her claws. She'd given up trying to hide her secret—survival was all that mattered now.

  But Tiffany was already gone, dragged into the darkness with a final, cut-off shriek.

  Jessica fought with everything she had, her werewolf strength and speed letting her tear through tentacle after tentacle. But for every one she destroyed, two more took its place. The hallway was filled with the creature's bulk, and the sickly sweet stench of its alien flesh made her gag.

  A tendril caught her wrist, knocking the spray can from her grip. Another wrapped around her leg. Jessica snarled, her eyes glowing amber as she unleashed her full power. She ripped free, leaving strips of her clothing behind, but it wasn't enough.

  The monster was everywhere now, its gelatinous mass pulsing with an inner light. Through gaps in its writhing form, Jessica caught glimpses of her friends being dragged away—Kevin still fighting, Salina trying to cast one last spell, their faces contorted in terror.

  "No!" Jessica's howl of rage echoed through the empty halls. She slashed and bit and tore at the creature, but she might as well have been fighting the ocean itself. For every chunk she ripped away, more rushed in to fill the gap.

  A final massive surge of tendrils sent her crashing through a classroom door. Jessica rolled to her feet, but the creature didn't follow. Instead, it retreated, taking her friends with it. Their muffled cries faded into silence, leaving her alone in the destroyed hallway.

  Jessica slumped against a desk, her chest heaving. Failure crushed down on her like a physical weight. She'd lost them. All of them. Her cheerleading squad, her friends—everyone she cared about was gone, taken by that thing.

  She looked down at her trembling hands, now tipped with razor-sharp claws. What good was being a werewolf if she couldn't even protect the people who mattered?

  The sound of dripping drew her attention to a trail of pink slime leading down the hall. The creature's scent was still strong, a corrupted sweetness that made her hackles rise. It had to have taken them somewhere. And as long as that trail existed, she could track it.

  Jessica pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the ache of her injuries. They were already healing anyway, helping her strength recover faster. But maybe, just maybe, it would be enough to save her friends.

  "Hang on, guys," she whispered, following the trail into the darkness. "I'm coming."

  The empty halls of Moon High had never felt so oppressive. Jessica's footsteps echoed off the walls, each sound making her wince. The emergency lights cast everything in an eerie red glow, turning familiar corridors into something alien and threatening.

  But she couldn't stop. Not with the fate of her friends—of potentially the whole world—resting on her shoulders. Kevin had figured out what this thing was, before it took him. An invader who had come to Earth to feed.

  Which meant Jessica wasn't just fighting to save her friends anymore. She was fighting for everyone. The thought should have terrified her, but it filled her with a strange calm. All those months of hiding what she was, pretending to be normal. But this was the reason why she vowed to protect this town.

  The trail of slime led toward the basement stairs. Jessica paused at the top, her enhanced hearing picking up wet, rhythmic sounds from below. Something was moving down there, something big.

  She took a deep breath, steadying herself. The monster had her friends. It had her squad. And she won't allow it to feast on them as a late morning breakfast.

  Time to show this alien freak what a real monster could do.

  Jessica's lips pulled back in a snarl as she descended into the darkness, her eyes glowing with supernatural light. This ended tonight.