Lexie had never seen anything more terrifying in her life.

  The creature–the big, floating, bulbous eyeball with veins streaking across its sclera and tentacles erupting in place of its optic nerve–looked like something out of a demonic nightmare. Long lashes jutted out from the eyelids as it stared unblinkingly at the crowd. It was still, floating in little bounces while the building continued to shake.

  Just staring at it filled Lexie with terror.

  Not just the obvious terror of being confronted by a nightmarish creature.

  Another type of fear, more intrinsic than logical, seemed to reach into her, seize her heart, and keep her entire body from working. She wasn’t just scared of death. She was scared that she would never stop dying. She was scared that whatever this creature was, it would curse her to eternal damnation and she would never not feel fear again.

  All hope was doused out of her.

  And it was that very thing that forced the first scream out of her throat.

  A hand slapped over her mouth, but it was too late. All around her people were screaming, panicking. Table and chairs were crashing on the ground, glass shattering, bodies bumping into each other, panicked words flying through the air.

  “Oh my God, we’re going to die.”

  “Get out of my way, I’m getting out of here.”

  “What the hell is that?”

  “I should have stayed home. I knew I should never have come here.”

  “I’m too young to die.”

  “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

  “Stop grabbing me then!”

  “Get the hell out of my way!”

  “Quiet!” Aiden somehow managed to project his voice over the din and Lexie looked up to find that her father had been the one to clamp his hand over her mouth. He released her and ran to the other end of the room, slapping his hand on a button that activated the lockdown mechanism that had all the doors automatically locking. While everyone else in the room looked wild with terror, climbing over each other in their frenzy to get to the doorway and escape, Aiden was the only one who seemed unaffected. His face was severe and uncompromising but he didn’t look at all afraid as he gave the order.

  “Nobody leaves.”

  “Fuck you,” Frank said as he continued toward the door, while being held by a woman in a wheelchair who was muttering that he needed to help her get out too. Apparently, she was planning on using him to wheel herself to safety. “You want to keep us here to feed us to that thing? I’ll break that damn door down if I have to. Damn it, let go of me, woman!”

  Both Aiden and the woman in the wheelchair ignored Frank, as Aiden then looked around the rest of the room. “If you leave it will capture you. That’s the whole idea. That’s why it’s instinctively giving off those pheromones to lead its prey out of hiding so that it doesn’t have to come in here after you.”

  A few people had stopped to hear what Aiden had to say and some had never made it off the floor due to various injuries. But Frank and a few others were still determinedly making their way to the door like mindless zombies ignoring the fact that the door was locked. The only good thing was that they were actively obstructing themselves, each trying to be the first person to get out. They were also keeping an eye out for the thing to make sure it hadn’t moved.

  “You go outside, you will die,” Aiden continued. “Stay indoors and live. You’re not thinking rationally because that thing is instilling panic, but just look away from the creature for three seconds and I promise you will see.”

  "The emergency door is still open," someone yelled and like herd animals, they all turned toward the back and rushed for the corner where the back door was. Frank was ahead of the pack and was almost there when two things happened nearly simultaneously.

  Terry threw herself in front of the back door blocking it with both hands out and Mr. Frederick tackled Frank to the floor.

  Frank turned on him instantly. “I’m going to kill you, you smug bastard.”

  “He’s right,” Mr Frederick said in a low tone. “I stopped looking at the thing and some of my hysteria went away. I think…I think Sparrowfoot is telling the truth. The creature is trying to lure us out.”

  “I think so too,” Terry said. “I couldn't get a good look at it since someone accidentally slugged me in the eye while screaming and so I believe I’m thinking more clearly than y’all are."

  “Y’all are insane!” Frank countered. “You’ve locked us in here with a [Villain] and a fucking floating eye!”

  “The [Villain] is trying to help.” Mr. Frederick gave Aiden a look to continue what he was saying and Aiden nodded at the man.

  “Everyone turn your back on the creature," he said. "Trust me. Just do it for a few seconds and see what happens. Don’t look into its eye or you will be driven by fear once more and you will feel the unbelievable urge to run.”

  Lexie immediately knew that Aiden was right. She hadn’t stared at the thing for seconds since she’d been too busy watching the crowd. Aiden had turned her around to watch the chaos and while she was still scared, some of that mindless panic was receding.

  God. What a crazy feeling to experience. She still shuddered from the despondency she’d felt. She wouldn't have wished that hopelessness on her worst enemy.

  “He’s right.” Another woman said. “The thing was just standing there but for some reason, I felt like it was going to kill me right there and then.”

  “Yeah. I mean we’re supposed to be scared but not that scared. I’ve come within inches of a ten-foot troll before and it didn’t scare me that bad.”

  Frank, who had been forced to the ground by Mr Frederick, finally stopped struggling and muttered into the carpet. “Alright, I get it. Get off me.”

  Mr. Frederick rolled off, and Frank climbed to his feet, dusting himself off and glaring at Aiden. “So what, the thing was messing with our minds?"

  Aiden inhaled. “In a sense, although I’m not sure it intends to. It’s an eldritch creature, a pretty young one by the looks of it. And I don’t know what it’s doing here but typically creatures that young are looking for one of two things; comfort or food.”

  Lexie gulped.

  “Any chance this one is vegetarian too?” she asked Aiden, her nerves plunging further down when he shook his head.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “No. They very much eat people.”

  A round of horrified gasps echoed in the room.

  “With what mouth?” someone asked.

  “Is that really important right now?” Glinda snapped and then said, “Alright, professor. Tell us. How do I keep from getting eaten by that thing?”

  Oh now you want his help? Lexie thought snarkily, but she pressed her lips together to keep the words in.

  “Maybe we can convince it that we’re its mommy instead," Frank said before Aiden could answer.

  “No. That won’t work.” Lexie was pretty sure Frank made his comment mockingly but Aiden responded genuinely regardless. He sighed and then took a peek over his shoulder at the thing. “Right now, it’s not sure what we are. It doesn’t see the humans inside the building, just the fact that there’s a huge thing in its way. I don’t know what attracted it here but that’s not important right now. The important thing is that it’s not sure whether we’re a threat or a meal. And it’s shaking us, trying to find out. That’s why the walls are moving.

  “So maybe it will think we’re a threat and just give up?”

  “Maybe.” Although Aiden didn't sound so hopeful about that possibility. "Mostly this gives us time to come up with a plan.” He quickly strode to the place where he’d arranged the household appliances and garden tools for the demonstration today, his eyebrows furrowing as he considered them. He took a barbed wire and a garden rake, carefully wrapping the wire around the rake and speaking as he worked. “The creature is called a Hechtl. It’s Eldritch for 'the all-seeing eye'. Looking into the eye for more than three to five seconds may cause a handful of symptoms based on the specific race. This could be anything from compulsion to petrification to sudden death.”

  “C-compulsion?” someone stammered. "Like mind control? Oh God, not that."

  "You'd prefer sudden death?" someone else snarled.

  “Based on what just happened now,” Aiden continued. “I’m thinking that this creature is more-so a compulsion type. So that means that as long as we don’t look into its eyes for more than three seconds at a time, we should be able to destroy it. Conversely, it also cannot be looking at us.”

  “I don’t understand. I thought we just didn’t have to look at it.”

  “Yes, but some of its tricks can work if it looks into our eyes too. Right now it’s not doing that, because like I said, it’s not sure where our eyes are. It’s still seeing the building as a whole creature. So as long as we don’t do anything to break that illusion, then it should be fine.”

  He had finished lacing up the two rakes with barbed wire and took it over to an outlet that was usually reserved for high-powered manaronics. He used the edge of the tool to knock the outlet cover off, exposing the bluish liquid-uy substance inside. Then, he held onto the rubber ends and plugged the rakes into it, one by one.

  After he was done, he returned to the rest of the crowd and held out the tools to Mr. Frederick and Terry.

  “Take these,” he told them. "The wires were gotten from a security fence and are imbued with mana. I've just charged them so they deliver shocks once they come in contact with a mana-conductive creature, like that one. The two of you will take these and guard the doors. If anything comes through that door, use your weapons to deliver a shock that will send them back.”

  Mr. Frederick and Terry swallowed and shared a look. The fear skittered across their expression as they both considered the huge responsibility they had just been given, to guard everyone in the room. And Aiden probably gave it to them because they were the most levelheaded of the group.

  Aiden waited for them to make their decision.

  They nodded at each other and inhaled deeply before accepting the rakes.

  "Make sure you only touch the rubber ends." Aiden turned back to the group. “Who here has ever shot a gun before?”

  Frank and Glinda raised their hands.

  “My father was a hunter,” Glinda said.

  “And I was a mundane reserve soldier until my injury," Frank said. “Was the best shot on my team too.”

  Someone said something that sounded like muttered doubt but Adien ignored them.

  “Good enough.” He went back to a basket on his table and brought out what looked to be two water guns. He placed them on the table and materialized four vials of green liquid out of his inventory.

  “These are some potions I was working on,” he said, plugging them into the water pistols. The water pistols glowed slightly as they were filled up and some smoke emitted from the muzzle of their barrel. “You two have to be careful with these. One drop of the potion and it will burn your skin off."

  "What's it for?"

  "The potions are poisonous and corrosive. Max tweaked the water guns to enable them to hold the poison and it also turns the liquid into bullet-like pellets that you can shoot. You two will take these and be our second line of defense."

  Frank looked at it and frowned doubtfully. “Not that I’m not grateful, professor, but wouldn’t it have been better if you’d brought an actual gun?”

  “Yes, but I can’t own guns. As an ex-[Villain] owning a clear assault weapon is…complicated. Illegal. So I had to get creative. A water gun and a corrosive potion do the trick just as well and fly under the radar much easier.” He glanced back at the creature. “Besides, I’m not sure a gun would even do much against it, although it's young. Their tentacles are chitinous and hard to penetrate with regular bullets. On the other hand, the poison can burn through and have enough projectile force to pierce through tough material so they might work better than a regular gun."

  Frank nodded. "Got it. This works fine then."

  "Good. And also watch out for feelers…extra sets of eyes that sometimes sprout from its tentacles.”

  “Disgusting," someone said and a murmur of assent went through the crowd.

  "Everyone else grab whatever you can and use it as a weapon. If you have some kind of conductive material, try to charge with a power source if possible. Use your canes, your oxygen tanks whatever you can to help you repel the creature's tentacles. And most importantly, stay low to the ground and avoid its eyes."

  "To what end Professor?" Glinda asked. "Are we going to kill the thing?"

  He shook his head. "Very unlikely that we can. The plan is to repel it far enough away that we can make a run for it. Or if not, I'll lure it into the building and trap it here while you guys escape."

  “By yourself?” Lexie blurted out for the first time and he looked at her. He suddenly put his hand out and materialized two more water pistols, already filled up. Lexie wondered how long he'd had them in his inventory.

  He handed one to her and leaned in to whisper. “Stay behind me, honey bee. I'll keep you safe I promise.”

  She swallowed and nodded.

  As everyone scrambled around getting their weapons, Aiden kept giving instructions. He had everyone crouching underneath tables or hiding behind pillars. And as they got into position, he went over the plan again. Lexie's heart raced. The walls were beginning to shake more violently and pretty soon Lexie was sure that the creature would break through the walls or find some other way in. It was pretty obvious that they were on borrowed time.

  Aiden and Lexie were behind the middle pillar and he took a second to stare at all of them, making sure everyone was where they were supposed to be. He released a breath.

  “Despite having some experience, I’ll warn you that I’m not great in high-pressure situations,” he admitted. “I do better as a [Hero] when I have time to plan. So I'm likely not the one you need right now but I’m the only one here. This is just to warn you that for us all to survive, everything has to work out exactly as planned. Everyone needs to play their roles and no one can mess up. Understood?"

  They nodded, fear making hands shake, and faces unsure.

  He attempted an encouraging smile. “We’ll be fine. Let’s just stick to the plan.”

  Suddenly the windows shattered.

  Everyone screamed and crouched even lower. That fearful feeling pulsed through the room again, tugging at their resolve but everyone held their position.

  “Frank,” Aiden called and the older man glanced at him. “I’m going to try to communicate with it. I’ll need you to shoot it–”

  “Eat lead motherfucker!”

  Frank bolted to his feet straight and shot a spray of green pellets right at the eye. It landed with a scorching hiss and the creature screeched and reared back, with more glass cracking in its wake.

  It disappeared from view for a moment but there was little hope that it was gone. If anything the air felt heavier, more foreboding.

  The eerie moment that followed wasn't a victory. Aiden gave Frank a look of such profound disappointment it was palpable as he finally completed his sentence.

  “-only if I fail to negotiate,” he finished a tad uselessly. The walls trembled again as the creature articulated its displeasure again, dousing everyone in waves of fear.

  “Oh God, Frank, what have you done?" Terry groaned.

  “It's not my fault,” Frank squatted again, glancing around him in panic. “You should have led with that professor.”

  A screech filled the air and two tentacle arms burst into the room.