After recalling all of their manifestations, the duo calmly stepped in through the gap and entered 'Screen-2'. The interior was nothing new to them as they had already seen all it had to offer through their Karmic Art manifestations.
"Stop! Don't move!" A kid who was in his late teens pointed a needle at the duo, taking an apprehensive stance while trying his best to control his jittery legs.
The kid held the needle as if it was a spear while he motioned for some of his braver friends to stand behind him, as a show of support to his endeavour.
The hundreds of teenagers in the room had already formed a close-knit community in order to brave the dangers that the reduction in their sizes will cause them in the future. Even though they were young and inexperienced, none of them wanted to sit like ducks and leave their fates in the hands of uncertainties.
So, they did adopt some self-preservation measures; it just that they hadn't ever seen existences like Ugly Shaggy and Victoris that could phase through objects which scared the daylights out of them.
"Haha, alright." Prakash raised his hands in a show of non-violence.
"We came to rescue you guys though," Vikram said.
"Rescue us? From what?" The teen in the front shouted. He was getting cold feet at the sight of the two strangers who had appeared out of thin air, especially due to the fact that they were closed off from all directions.
"This place is no longer safe. Come with me, I'll show you guys how lucky you were to survive until now." Vikram said.
"And why should I believe you?" The youth retorted and further strengthened his grip on the needle.
On noticing the two strangers that had appeared in their midst, people who were hiding walked out one by one and soon formed a large crowd that had surrounded the duo at the centre.
Some were curious, some were suspicious, some were apprehensive about trusting the words of Vikram, but they chose to remain silent for now. They took a wait-and-see approach in order to infer more information, whether good or bad.
When Vikram saw the bright eyes of the surrounding teenagers, he suddenly felt conflicted to take them outside. If they continued to say here, maybe they wouldn't have to face any threats to their lives for a long time. But, the moment he took them back to the base, they would probably have to face many life-threatening battles from thereafter.
Following their former option, they would live a carefree life without a threat to their lives until the unfortunate day where their safety would be compromised when insects managed to find their way through the AC vents and rush inside.
But, following the latter option, they would face life-threatening battles multiple times every day and many among them might even lose their lives in the process. But, the survivors would grow stronger; though, they might have to face numerous heartbreaking emotions while doing so.
"They might believe us faster if they witness the cruelty outside. Besides, we don't have the luxury of time to patiently explain everything to them. Everything will be for naught the moment the birds attack this area once again. The moment the rain stops, I fear we would be besieged by them on all sides." Prakash whispered.
"What you said makes sense. Then, let me take care of this, brother, while you scout our next destination." Vikram said as he clapped his hands and focused the attention of the crowd on him.
"My brothers and sisters," Vikram raised the volume of his voice to the limits so that everyone present could clearly hear him, "The two of us have managed to open the door wide enough for us to pass through. That's how we managed to come inside, so if you want to take a look outside, feel free to do so."
"Really?"
"Is it true?"
"How did they manage to open such a solid door? We tried it before by combining the strength of everyone present here, but, we couldn't even budge it in the slightest."
"He seems to speak the truth. Otherwise, they wouldn't have appeared here."
His words sent a plethora of discussion among the crowd as most of the teenagers believed him. His graceful behaviour and his handsome visage instilled in them a feeling of trust even though they hadn't known him before. Moreover, facts presented themselves as stronger than words. The fact that an outsider had arrived inside meant that the duo had managed to secure a path that lead outside.
The teenager who had pointed a needle at the duo awkwardly lowered it as he sensed the change in the opinion of the surrounding people. Basically, he wasn't the leader type who held a strong self-opinion and was easily influenced by the crowd mentality.
"But," Vikram interrupted their discussions, "It's not entirely safe out there. Look at our sizes, every creature out there can pose a threat to our lives. We had actually fought a crushing battle against our foes before arriving here. You have been warned. If you want to follow us despite that, feel free to do so. We will take you back to our base."
"What if we did not follow you?" A kid raised his voice from among the crowd. Though, he was being sneaky and hadn't shown his face. The moment he said his piece, he changed his spot and hid somewhere else.
"If you don't follow me, then this is where we will be parting our ways. Don't come crying to me later." Vikram said and parted his way through the crowd and walked towards the door.
The surrounding people hurriedly followed after him when they realised something shocking, his walking speed was actually faster than their own, that too by a huge margin. They began to jog at first to catch up which eventually led to a full-speed sprint as they chased after Vikram.
Prakash stayed behind and gazed at the hundreds of teenagers who had followed after Vikram and looked at the ten or so people who had stayed behind.
"Aren't you guys following him?" Prakash inquired.
A youth that looked older than the rest made eye contact with Prakash and replied, "We wanted to know why you stayed behind. We thought we might find out something interesting if we waited."
"...." Prakash didn't know what to reply after that. Should he praise them for their smartness? Or should he chide them for being over smart? Prakash didn't know. The reason he stayed behind was to inspect the next theatre room from the inside first before proceeding out.
Since the maximum length that Ugly Shaggy could stretch itself was limited, Prakash wanted to scout all corners of the adjacent theatre room and glean into their status quo before trying to rescue them.
"You guys better follow the crowd." Prakash left behind a word and sprinted off towards a wall.
"Wait." The ten people sprinted after Prakash only to see him disappearing beyond their visual range in a matter of seconds. He was way too fast as compared to them.
"What should we do now?"
"I told you it would be useless. We should have followed after the rest."
"Huh? Didn't you vote for the plan when I raised it?"
"I only went along with the flow since everyone else seemed okay with it."
"Guys, stop. We need to follow the others out before we lose sight of them."
The bickering teenagers calmed down and sprinted in the direction the other teenagers had run off to when they followed after Vikram.
When they had reached close enough to the door and gazed at the faint source of light seeping out from it, they were stunned.
"Aargh, what is this?
"God, help me."
"Kyack, bleh"
Hearing the shouts of fear, screams of terror and the sounds of vomiting, the ten teenagers stopped and looked at the pale faces of their friends. They were too scared to take a step further and discover whatever horrific sight that lay beyond the door.
"We should retreat. Hurry!" Everyone nodded to the idea proposed by the oldest teenager among the group and began to retreat when a girl noticed a blurry purple image in her sight. Since it was too far, she could only make out the colour, but in their dark surroundings, that colour screamed their focus.
The purple colour seemed to be getting nearer as the girl hurriedly pulled the hands of her friend towards her and pointed her fingers to the source of the purple colour. It was at this time that the purple colour entered within 6 feet from her, enabling her and her friend to clearly see the object that had been approaching them.
It was a huge snake! The snake had a grotesque face while all the scales on its body gleamed with a dangerous hue.
"Monster! Run!" The girl screamed and dragged her friend with her. The others too noticed the serpent whose head alone was more than half their height and began to sprint away from it. It was the snake they had seen earlier, the one that could phase through solid objects.
"Hurry."
They ran with all their might towards the only direction that might take them away from the snake, towards the gap in the door. Since there was no longer any safe location inside due to the presence of that snake, their only option was to run out.
"Kyaa," The girl who had first spotted the snake tripped on the floor due to her hurry, sustaining an injury to her head.
"Quick, get up." Her friend hurriedly reached his hand towards her and picked her up.
"Aah, I seem to have sprained my ankle." The gird began to cry. It was at a time like this she had to trip and fall. She was going to die now.
"Damn it." Her friend hurriedly lifted her body and began to run. He gritted his teeth due to how heavy his friend was but still ran forward with all his might.
Only then did the crying girl wipe her tears and look at the snake that had long stopped chasing them. It was the only reason they were not dead as considering its speed, it should have reached them by now.
The huge purple snake then turned back and slithered out of her visual range. The girl heaved a sigh of relief as she rested her head on the chest of her friend.
Hearing the robust heartbeat of her friend as he carried her without complaint, the mouth of the girl curved upwards while her eyes curved with happiness. A radiant smile had appeared on her face which was followed by a slight blush.
At the moment of desperation where life and death was but a fraction of a second away, her friend actually chose to carry her instead of abandoning her, almost by instinct. This implied that on a subconscious level, her friend actually cared about her to such an extent that he would choose to save her even when it posed a threat to his own well being.
'Hehe' Even in such a scary situation, the girl was actually happy.