"If it is," said Walski, the wooden bokken appearing in his hands again, "he will pay for this..this and everything else he's done. I swear it." He put his hand on Caroline's shoulder. The woman winced in pain but managed a weak smile.

"We seem to have a very powerful and probably unstable, opponent," said Rex. "It's not going to be as easy..."

Walski, ever brave in the face of danger, merely shrugged. "We have these new powers that this Rijk guy gave us. We can - we must be able to defeat him."

"He's dangerous, nevertheless," replied Rex. "Our guard must not be let down for any reason whatsoever. One should call to mind what our mysterious and ethereal friend just told us, and he's the one who gave us these powers in the first place. If he's told us to be cautious, should we not take his advice?"

"That's true," said Walski, nodding. His voice changed for a second, as if someone was talking through him. "The one who goes into battle without a plan has already lost it - so the ancients say." Rex blinked at the sudden change in tone, but said nothing.

"In any case, we must move on. We have to find the source of the disturbances, and this Deva Yuga, and destroy it. For not just Caroline, but us and everyone else, too. " Laura's voice rang with a tone that somehow inspired the others. *And he's not gonna get away with this..not if I can help it* added Laura in her mind, clenching her fist and looking down at the woman in obvious pain at her feet.

Emily remained kneeling as the others stood. "I know what you must do, and so do I. I have to stay and try and find help for Caroline. And some others, too." she said as she glanced around at the other wounded in the room who were unconscious, but still breathing.

"Are you sure you want to stay?" said Bradster. "You should come with us...."

Emily shook her head. "Something in me tells me I can't just leave people like this. One of us staying behind will make sure those...things...don't come back. I don't have those powers like you all do, anyway, but I can help in other ways. I'll be ok. Just get that punk for me.."

Bradster relented. "Ok, I guess....but be careful..."

"Yes...good luck, Emily..." said Rex.

The group turned to leave through the now battered doorway. Laura was the last one to leave, and as she took one last glance back at Emily, she saw her still kneeling next to Caroline, talking to her in soothing tones and attempting to move the rest of the rubble off of her. Most curious, though, was the fact that seemingly unbeknowest to Emily, a blue column of light surrnounded her. The image of a short girl with light blue hair done in twin ponytails that went down to her feet hovered just above Emily's head. The ponytailed girl seemed to be smiling down, while holding a curious cat-like creature in her hands, and Emily herself seemed to mirror that smile.

*It looks like you were wrong about being powerless, Emily...* thought Laura as she looked at her from the doorway. Then Walski called to her from the hall, and she turned to go, leaving the curious scene behind her.

*****

The group climbed the stairs quickly, Walski leading with his bokken, the others follwing carefully. Despite their cautiousness, however, the stairwell and the ensuing passages they traveled to to get to the outside were empty of any of the demon creatures they had seen and fought. However, the halls themselves were still seemingly turned upside down, with foreign objects everywhere, and broken pieces of wood, metal and concrete were scattered on the ground, causing everyone to step carefully around the debris. The occasional body also seemed to become a part of the chaos, and Lori gave a slight scream when she happened to cast her eyes down to the first human body they saw - the girl's throat had obviously been cut by demon claws and her eyes stared sightlessly at the open ceiling above. With a grim face, Walski walked back and closed the girl's eyes, drawing a blanket over the body as the others looked down at it in horror as they glanced back at it. After the third or fourth corpse the group either averted their eyes or looked ahead with set, ignoring faces. No one said a word after the sixth.

"Looks like we're almost at the entrance again," said Bradster, breaking the long, dark silence and pointing to the main lobby just ahead of them.

"We would have gotten here sooner...if the quickest way up hadn't of collasped and blocked the way," said Laura. "But at least we made it. Going through here was just...I can't describe it..."

Lori just wordlessly shook her head, thinking about what they had seen on the way.

"All the more reason to take him out." said Walski, determination seeming to radiate off of him. "He follows no code of honor, no bushido. He is ours to defeat." The change in voice again seemed to be noticed by Rex alone, who shrugged after a moment's thought and followed.

Bradster picked his way into the lobby first. Bending down, he picked up an empty carton, and upended it in front of the others, who entered on his heels. "Well, they certainly like to eat...all of our food was picked dry where we left it..."

"Don't worry about it," said Lori quietly. "I don't think I could eat anything now anyway..."

"It doesn't look like there's anything we can use here," said Laura, after a quick glance at the room. "Let's get outside." The others nodded, following her to the double doors that would lead them out to the school gate. Laura put her hand on the pushing bar. She turned around. "Is everyone ready?"

Everyone nodded, and set their faces again. Laura pushed open the door, and walked out, followed by the others. The walls of the school complex blocked their view of the street, but they had no need to see to know it was all the worse outside. An occasional scream was heard, with perhaps gunfire echoing in its wake shortly afterwards. The chittering of teeth that they had heard in the building seemed to echo in the distance as well, and intervals of dead silence interrupted the sounds, seeming to enhance the dark mood of the clouds that floated in the steel grey sky, blocking the sun from intervening.

The group made their way to the gate, which was broken and bent on its hinges. Fearing the worse, the students stepped out past it, and into the main street. Speechless for long moments, the group took in the sight before them. Bradster was the only one to talk during that interval as he viewed the ruins of what was once a busy street.

"My God," he said, looking around. "What the hell have they done to our town....?"

Cars were upturned on their sides, or upside down. Houses seemed to have large chunks of wood or concrete ripped from them, standing unsteadily on their foundations. In some cases, there were ruins where a building used to stand, the shards of metal that remained the only sign that one had ever stood there. Dead bodies seemed to be sporadically placed on the sidewalk, the road, and next to buildings.

And worst of all, there didn't seem to be a single living human in sight.

The demons ruled the streets.

*****

- End Chapter 4

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