A week has passed since we recruited Shadow for our No-Club, and despite Gnat’s predictions of doom and retaliation, there's still no sign of any hostile activity from The Flintstones.
It’s lunch time, and even though my stomach growls like a starving wolf, I take my time on the way to the exit in my persistent attempts to avoid the whispers and pointed fingers that still follow me around, although it's not as bad as it was after the interview.
The corridors are nearly deserted by now. As agreed, two of my fellow No-Club members are within eyesight: Gnat, kicking imaginary stones, and Shadow, carefully avoiding the lights projected by the lamps, but strangely enough I have no idea where Slug is.
When we finally turn into the corridor leading to the exit, a dark silhouette moves into the bright rectangle of the door blocking the sunlight , followed by a second, third, and fourth. It’s not difficult to deduce whose those are and what they want. Gnat’s ominous predictions of violence and revenge are finally coming true. The Flintstones are about to claim their revenge! Yabadabadoo!
Shadow reacts instantly. All lights go out, shrouding the corridor in sheer impenetrable darkness. Brilliant, this will give us a realistic chance to get away undetected. But before I can even turn around, a familiar voice calls out to us from the direction of the door.
“Hello... would... you... be... so... kind... to... let... me... pass? It’s... lunch... break... We... all... have... to... go... outside... It’s... the... rules... you... know...” Although it's too dark to see him, it's clear where Slug is: right in front of four vengeful cavemen, probably smiling friendly up at them, blissfully unaware of the danger he's in.
My body starts running before I tell it to, followed by a very determined-looking Gnat, both of us speeding towards disaster. Maybe Shadow is following us too; who knows in this darkness. The good news is that, thanks to her, we are still undetected. The bad news is that it somehow gets harder and harder to move forward. The air around us seems to get thicker and thicker. It’s like wrestling through a giant bowl of porridge.
When we’ve almost reached the dark four-headed silhouette outlined against the light rectangle of the outside door, the biggest head raises an enormous fist: Fred! Mumbling a Hail Mary, I force my arm through the thick, viscous air into the impenetrable darkness in front of me, blindly groping around. By pure chance, I get hold of something that must be a hoodie. What incredible luck. I pull as hard as I can. Slug comes tumbling backward. I catch him, point him in the right direction, and start running, dragging him along. Shadow and Gnat join us. The air resistance decreases. Maybe we’ll make it after all. But just when I’m about to breathe a sigh of relief, the floor starts to move—first only a little, but increasingly violently—until the whole corridor is transformed into a bubble bath of broken tiles, grit, cement, and soil, splashing higher and higher. We bounce helplessly along with it, unable to find our footing.
I fall, scramble up, fall again, grab around for something to hold on to. Find nothing. Grab again. Nothing. Fall again. This is it. We will be buried... drowned by our own school. And then... my hand finds something after all. A door handle. I grab it, pull it down, and after a strange mechanical click, the door unlocks. Impossible! Every classroom is locked during lunchtime. Still, against all regulations, it swings open. What an incredible luck.
Gnat sees it too now. He grabs my leg and starts climbing toward the door, using me as some kind of rope ladder, pulling Shadow along with him. Around Slug, the corridor moves less hectic, slow enough for him to walk over to us and start pushing. We shoot forward into the classroom.
The door closes behind us, locking with a mechanical click. We're saved. No moving floor, no drowning, no getting killed. Outside, the deafening noise of destruction dies down. We are all silent, trying to control our breathing, ignoring our thumping hearts, afraid the Flintstones might try to break down the door. But nothing happens. After what seems like ages, we hear the voices and footsteps of students returning to their classrooms growing louder. Lunch break is over.