The ground shook and cracks appeared on the walls. The tentacle monster scanned everyone on the field, one by one. As if thinking about which of us it should eat first. Recalling that scene still makes all the hairs on my body stand on end to this day.
"What is going on? Andy, please explain what you know to us. What is going on?" I asked the kid and that, however, was when a shoe landed at the side of my face.
"I'll speak to him," said Zach, annoyed. "Hey, kid! You know the way out, didn't you say? Spit it out. Cause if you don't, everyone here will die, including you." But Andy remained silent.
"You're not helping, Zach. You're scaring the kid." I told him and attempted to take over but he spoke over me.
"And what do you think we should do? Baby talk to him until he's finally in the mood to speak? Wake up! Can't you see that thing outside?"
And just when he said that, the tentacle rose again, and as if in slow motion, it swung into an arc and landed on the place where the beefy dude from the mess hall earlier was standing. The dude froze. The tentacle slammed its full weight to him and when it lifted itself, the beefy dude was no more. What remained on the place he stood at was just a splat of red.
"Please say anything, Andy. Why aren't you talking? I shook his shoulder."
The boy started to get teary. He opened his mouth and with the tiniest of voice, he told me, "But you will die. You cannot die."
"I will not die if you tell us. Please?" While I was convincing him, I was removing the rope on his legs. Zach was clicking his tongue and was tapping his shoe on the floor, obviously getting more antsy by the second.
And then…
"Dandan? Can I speak to him?" It was Kristina.
I motioned her to go ahead.
She kneeled in front of the kid to be eye level to him. "Andy. Is what you told me a while ago real? Were you telling the truth?" She asked him. "You weren't lying, were you?"
Andy shook his head vigorously.
Kristina cusped his face. "I see. Then I promise you this. We won't die. So please tell us what to do. How do we get out of here?"
Slowly, and accompanied by the screams of the people in the field, Andy opened his mouth and said, "Journal. You need the journal. And Betty too."
But here is the problem: We left the journal at the dormitory that has long been burning. Even if we go there, it has probably turned into ash. And second was Betty. She seemed to disappear along with the three. And when I realized it, I thought we were gonna die after all. There was no chance. But Andy still had something to say.
"Betty is protecting the journal. She is inside the room. She didn't leave."
I thought I was hearing things at first so I asked, "What did you just say?"
"Betty is protecting the journal. She is inside the room. She didn't leave." Andy repeated. And as if something clicked inside my head, I brought my face closer to his to meet him in the eye, he was startled.
"Where is she then? Tell us what we should do. Anything. Just to get out of here."
"Inside," the boy whispered, almost inaudible.
"Huh? Where is… inside?" I looked outside and saw another person was gone. They were being eaten one by one. And exactly at that moment, I caught a glimpse of Trevor. He was running in our direction carrying his daughter with his arms. The tentacle was after him.
"Don't come here, you idiot!" I yelled. "Everybody, duck!" Then I snatched Andy from where he was seated, pulled him to my chest as we dived to the floor. Surprisingly though, Kristina also thought of doing the same thing and as a result, Andy was sandwiched between us.
There was a deafening screech coming from above us. Dust fell on us and next thing we saw, the roof was no longer there.
"Inside the mother's belly. Betty was eaten by the mother." Whispered Andy in between us.