When Shadow and Slug step through the front door, Gnat looks up in surprise.
“Where's Max?”
“She... went... to…” Slug begins.
“Williams," Shadow adds. "She asked us to wait.” Gnat doesn't react, looking uncharacteristically subdued. "Something wrong, Charles?"
"Not sure, maybe... is Max...? I mean... because of what happened in class? Is she...?" But before he can finish his sentence, he notices Williams on the opposite side of the square, pushing a garbage container towards the bicycle shed. "He should be with..." he whispers.
"Max!" Shadow finishes, and without another word, Gnat storms back into the school, with Shadow and Slug following closely behind.
“Guards,” warns Shadow. “They’ll start their rounds soon.”
“Maybe... she... just... needed... to... go... to... the... toilet,” Slug suggests. But Gnat cuts him off by pointing to the end of the corridor, where the enormous silhouette of Betty Rubble disappears around the corner. “Rubble means trouble”—they all know it. Where there’s Betty, there are the Flintstones, and there can only be one reason for them to be in the school after hours; Max must be in danger. This is why they founded the No-Club: to ensure that none of them would ever have to face the Flintstones alone.
By the time they reach the corner, the Flintstones are already rounding the next one, completely focused on something ahead of them. It’s not hard to guess what—or rather, who.
They hurry to the corner, then to the next, and the next, making sure they’re never more than one corner behind. They move deeper and deeper into the school until the footsteps of the Flintstones suddenly stop. For a moment, everything is dead silent, and then...
“WHERE THE HELL DID SHE GO?”
They first feel a surge of relief—Max must have gotten away—but then panic strikes. The voices grow louder again.
“They’re coming back,” Shadow whispers. It will only be a matter of seconds before they're discovered. There's no time to run or hide. There's only one option: brace themselves for an inevitable and undoubtedly brutal confrontation.
When the Flintstones turn the corner, they’re so caught up in their argument that they don’t even notice the three smaller students. But then Wilma looks up. “There!” she shrieks. “Those other three midgets.” For a brief moment, all four are too surprised to move. Then Fred takes a menacing step forward, lifts his gigantic hand, and...
everything goes dark.
“She does it again! That little...”
ZAAAAAP
A bolt of lightning strikes Betty full in the face. “Nobody calls my friend names, you racist pig,” hisses Gnat sharply. But then, in the fading light of his own lightning bolt, he sees that Betty is still standing, looking very, very angry. How is that even possible? And then everything is dark once more.
“You should have stayed hidden in your little girlfriend’s shadows, you maggot,” Betty howls just before a chunk of bricks, ripped from a wall, smashes into the side of Gnat’s head. If he hadn’t reflexively turned away at the sound of the whooshing bricks, his skull would have been crushed like a walnut. Still, blood streams down his face.
For a brief moment, everything is completely silent. Both sides hold their breath after the sudden eruption of violence. Then, something stomps toward them through the darkness, breathing like a bull.
“I will tear off your limbs, one by one,” Betty shouts. “I want blood, and I want it now, no matter what the vice-principal says! And don’t even think about interfering, Roberto. These three are mine.”
Gnat realizes that Shadow’s impenetrable darkness is the only thing keeping them safe, but for how long? He feels her tremble like a leaf right next to him. Maintaining this must be draining her energy. That the air is getting thinner and thinner doesn’t help. Barney has joined the fray.
"Run," she whispers in a dry, thin voice. Without waiting for a reaction, she turns and runs, trusting the others to follow. It's what they agreed on. Gnat and Slug cling to her like kittens to their mother, as she is the only one who can navigate the dark. She can't actually see, of course; it's more of a feeling—like a bat using echolocation. Not with sound, but with… well, for lack of a better word, emotions. Once, Gnat had jokingly called it "Emolocation," and she had to smile. He has his moments. But now, there’s nothing to smile about.
“They're getting away!” Betty yells.
“Watch closely, losers,” Fred grumbles with thinly veiled triumph. “This is how it’s done. Let’s see what that little black face can do when she’s buried two meters underground.”
Shadow, Gnat, and Slug have just turned the corner when the floor starts to shake. Instantly, the light returns. Shadow is exhausted. There’s only one thing left to do: run. Run like hell.