Hollow Mask

The computer hummed slightly. Hunter was busying herself with a quick game of minesweeper. For the last two hours.

She had managed to misuse one of the computers in the school's library as her personal doom device. It had taken her less than a hour to write a simple program to try and get into the schools computer system. The little console in the bottom of the screen displayed the progress: "Installing backdoor... (058.7%)" Hunter sighed and locked the computer monitor with a password. Minesweeper can entertain only for so long.

Tired from the long seating session she stumbled towards the computer sciences section of the library and looked over the titles. The book selection consisted mainly of introductory guides. Nothing advanced or new she could learn.

The school bell rang and signaled the beginning of the first recess. Hunter was surprised to see Lyra entering the library not long after that and heading for the computers in the middle. Before she could react Lyra sat at the exact PC she had been sitting in front of and pressed a few keys.

"Ah ah ah - You didn't say the magic word... Ah ah ah..." came out of the speakers. Hunter sprinted over and unlocked the computer before any of the non-existent staff could notice. Lyra stared at her sudden appearance.

"Sorry for that, didn't want anybody messing around with my stuff," said Hunter as she hastily confirmed everything was done and deleted any traces of her little backdoor in the schools computer system.

Lyra raised an eyebrow, "Didn't know you were into computers, err... What was your name again?"

"Never told you but my name is Hunter. You would have trouble finding a bigger nerd than me in this school. I'm very good with computers and maths and stuff," Hunter explained, "I tried to decypher your message but found nothing yet. Did you try a letter-number one?"

"You mean A equals 1?" asked Lyra which Hunter confirmed with a nod, "Well, no. I thought it would be atleast something advanced."

"Let's try it shall we?" Hunter pulled up an image from the internet that displayed the alphabet and respective numbers. She took out Lyra's notepad and tore out an empty page. She started to translate the message.

After about a minute the first line was written down. "REPORT SI"

"Looks good," commented Lyra. Hunter continued with the second line. It took her less time than before. She translated letter for letter but stopped after the third.

"PON" Her hand was shaking slightly. She smiled at Lyra, "I don't think that one is a word." She skipped two lines and tried her luck on the fifth.

Part by part a new word appeared: "HUNTER" Her pupils dilated, her hands shaking heavily now. Lyra noticed this, "Are you okay?"

Hunter stood up and began circling the main area. Lyra noticed she had developed a strange tick with her right hand. She would randomly place one of her fingers shortly against her thumb repeatedly while mumbling to herself, "No... Can't be... Does someone know? Who is he?... Maybe Oliv knows... Should I ask her? Can't ... NO! ... Must be careful... Maybe... NO! NONONONO! SHUT UP! SHUT UP SHUT UP! Can't ... JUST SHUT UP!" She became even more angry as she continued her rant. Her left hand became more and more hectic as she entered a vicious cycle of paranoia. She squeezed her left hand into a tight fist.

She stopped and looked around. Hunter was shivering on her whole body. Lyra was worried, "Hey, ... errr ... Hunter, you okay?" She reached out and touched Hunter on her shoulder.

"NO! I'M OKAY! MAYBE! I DON'T KNOW! ... JUST ... JUST SHUT UP!" yelled Hunter and recoiled, slamming into the bookshelves behind her. She cowered down while silently mumbling to herself. Lyra backed off. The sudden change in this strange new girl frightened her. She had gone from perfectly normal to insane in less than thirty seconds. "I'M STUCK! I'M JUST STUCK HERE! WITH HER AND HER AND IT'S JUST INSANE! JUST SHUP UP! SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!" she screamed again.

Lyra ran off to find somebody to help her. She rammed into someone standing at the entrance of the library. She wore an official looking suit, had long blonde hair and ice-blue eyes. Her skin was a light shade of pink, almost white. Lyra believed she had to be the librarian of the school, although she had never seen her, "T-this... girl... Hunter is in the back. She's... loosing it," she stuttered.

"I know. Always when I'm busy," she said in a clear and soothing voice. She walked over to the cowering girl, that had started to sob loudly, and looked at her for a few seconds. Without a warning she grabbed Hunter, pulled her up and slapped her across the face, leaving no visible mark of the impact.

Hunter's eyes became glassy and unfocused for a second before refocusing on the woman in front of her, "Olivia."

"Pull yourself together. It is really distracting if you do that and I was in the middle of shopping at the mall. You know, enjoying the day off," Olivia explained. She let go of Hunter, who wobbled on her legs and almost dropped on the ground again before she caught herself.

"Thanks," she whispered while wiping away her tears, "I kinda lost myself."

"I noticed," deadpanned Olivia, "Now, if you excuse me, I still want to buy some stuff for you."

"Where did you get the money?" asked Hunter.

"I ... hmmm ... found this wallet in the pocket of this tiara brat," she explained as she turned around. Olivia walked out of the door without any further comment and was gone.

Lyra managed to speak again, "Who was that?"

"A 'friend'." said Hunter with a shacking voice, "I'm sorry, but I won't translate that message, ... don't think that would do me any good."

"I agree. If you still want to know, one of the eco-kids dissappeared during class. Went off to toilet and never came back, but she was probably just skipping class," said Lyra.

"Thanks a lot. Can I have some time for myself, please?" whispered Hunter. She turned around and walked off to a distant corner of the library. Lyra understood that she needed to be alone and silently left.

Hunter left the library as the bell rang again to signal the students that it was lunch time. She went into the bathroom and sloshed her face with cold water. She leaned on the sink and looked up.  She looked at a face of a girl who had been crying for over an hour.

"You look like shit," she commented her looks. Hunter kept using the cold water to hide the traces of her tears. After she had composed herself, she left the bathroom and made her way to the cafeteria. As she walked down the empty corridor when she noticed an ajar door on her left. She stopped and slowly approached it.

Hunter opened the door carefully. On the inside was a small janitor closet with a single light bulb, the mandatory chain switch dangling from the ceiling. She reached out and lit the lights.

The new light showed a strange creature on the ground. A short trail of white slime lead to the door, ending shortly before it. The creature was lying on it's back, showing its internal organs, each one looked alien to the cyan girl. Its chitin skeleton was white like a bone. The whole creature reminded her of a frying pan turned into a crab.

She pulled out the sword, willingly preventing the transformation and poked the creature. She jumped as its legs jerked and yellow blood flowed out of it. The stream of blood began running down and reaching the ground.

As it touched the ground, a small smoke trail errupted and the drops sank into the ground, leaving a small hole in it. Hunter examined the tip of her sword, which now carried a small yellow drop. Unlike the drop on the ground the one on the sword remained inactive. She swiped it off and watched as the drop sizzled itself through the small piece of cloth she found.

She frowned, "Not good."

Hunter pushed open the cafeteria doors. She scanned the whole room, that was filled to the brim with students. She noticed Lyra sitting close to the door and Sunset with her friends more in the back. She nodded as Lyra noticed her and walked towards Sunset's table. Hunter grabbed the backpack in her left hand tightly.

The conversation on her table stopped as they noticed her coming. After she had sat down, Rarity was the first to speak up by clearing her throat, "You don't look so good, darling."

Hunter scowled, "I know. Doesn't matter."

"Don't be so a sad-face," bubbled Pinkie Pie, "Telling others your feeling can help."

"I said, it doesn't matter!" said Hunter sternly, "We have a problem." She threw the backpack on the table and opened it. On the inside was the creature she had found. Not a second later the acidic blood of the creature began to eat its way through the backpack and the table.

Fluttershy winced at the sight of the strange creature, "Did you hurt it?" she asked shyly.

"No, I found it already dead and I would be glad if I had killed it before it had procreated," Hunter stated, "One of the students in this room is infected. If we can find whoever it has used as host, we might have a chance to save his live."

In the back of the cafeteria a small turmoil started but Hunter ignored it, "Trust me, if the parasite finishes his breeding cycle we are fucked. This thing will not stop until it has killed every single student in this school. It will turn it into a breeding ground, creating more hosts for more of its kind. It will not stop until every single lifeform on this planet is either dead or a xenomorph."

"Xenomorph?" asked Rainbow, "Sounds like a egghead monster."

"Tell me that again after you saw it," quipped Hunter. The tumult in the back had gotten bigger and she finally noticed it, "What's going on back there?"

Sunset looked over, "Looks like someone has some kind of seizure."

Hunter jumped up and sprinted off to towards the turmoil. She parted her way through the students and looked at the twitching body of one of the eco-kids. A large section of his stomach had been torn apart and blood had sprayed everywhere. He was unconscious and in a few minutes he would be dead.

"Has anyone seen where the thing went?" yelled Hunter.

The general response was negative, they had just jumped out of its way. The students had been more worried for the one in their middle. Hunter calmly stood up again and walked towards the middle of the cafeteria. "We are fucked," she said to Sunset as she passed her.

In one fluid move she grabbed her sword and rammed it into the ground. Sunset watched in awe as the blade sunk in atleast 10 centimeters into the solid concrete. The sword began to radiate a blinding blue glow that died off after a few seconds. Sunset noticed that Hunter had transformed into her half-pony form with the light armor.

As she began to speak, her voice echoed through the whole building as if she would be using the PA system of the school, "The school is now under lookdown. All doors and windows cannot be opened or gone through until I will allow it. A monster has escaped and needs to be dealt with. All students have to remain in the cafeteria. Under no circumstances you are allowed to leave, this is for your own safety."

She pulled the sword out of the concrete and secured it again on her back. She turned to face Sunset, "I need you and Rainbow for this. Tell the others to keep the situation under control in here. We don't have much time." Behind her the creature in the backpack had finally corroded the table enough and it slumped on the floor with a wet thud.

Hunter peeked around the corner. "Alright, clear," she whispered. Sunset and Rainbow scurried around it and searched for cover immediately. They hadn't found or seen the creature yet but a few student trying to escape the school. Hunter always assured that noone would walk around alone.

"Why do you have to imprison the Great and Powerful Trixie and her fellow students again?" asked Trixie. They had found her trying to escape through one of the classroom windows.

"I don't want it running around the city, that's all," replied Hunter, "and try to keep quiet. You don't want it to find us."

"Trixie will not accept this..." began Trixie but was interrupted by a loud scream echoing through the hallway. They looked at eachother and ran towards it.

When Trixie got around the corner she saw a large black tail vanishing in the airvent above. The tail ended in a thorn and was segmented like it belonged to a insect. Below the airvent laid the lifeless body of one of the students. He had orange skin and blue hair. His face and most of his chest had been obliterated and scattered around the hallway. The light in it had been damaged, making it blink rapidly on and off, giving the whole scene a natural horror vibe. Behind Trixie, Rainbow ran off around the corner and threw up. Trixie and Sunset had the urge to follow her example.

"You believe me now, great and powerful Trixie?" asked Hunter dryly. She walked towards the body and inspected it. Blood was flowing slowly out of the several wounds. "Any of you know this guy?" inquired Hunter.

"I think he was part of the school band," mumbled Sunset.

"We need to get going again," stated Hunter, "and dump off Trixie at the cafeteria." She left the body on the floor untouched. The rest of the group stared at it for a few more seconds before following her.

The four girls walked slowly, observing the hallway behind and in front of them. When they reached a T-intersection Hunter raised her hand, signaling them to stop.

"We have to seperate. You will go right. Get Trixie to the others in the cafeteria. I'll go left and try to find it," she whispered.

"You said we shouldn't go alone. That it is dangerous," hissed Rainbow.

Hunter nodded, "I know. Trust me with this." She turned and walked down the hallway to her left. As she passed Sunset she whispered into her ear, "It is hunting us." Sunset hesitated but then followed her order and led the group to the right.

They reached another corridor, the lockers to the left and right and no classrooms. The lights above flickered randomly, some of the mountings were dangling from the ceiling. 'The monster must have gone through here,' thought Sunset just as she noticed movement from one off the ventilation shafts.

All three froze as the black chitin skin became visible. It slowly dropped from the ceiling, head first and then moving it's long insectoid feet under it. It cowered on the ground as the tail dropped with a thud. It spotted Sunset and the two others instantly and hissed. The lips moved and spit drooled out of its mouth. It let out a high screech that made Sunset shiver and moved towards them.

Suddenly it stopped and looked behind itself. A loud scratching from metal on concrete echoed through the hallway. Hunter came around the corner, fully transformed and dragging the sword over the ground. The dull blade cut atleast 3 fingers deep into the ground while red and yellow sparks emitted from it.

"Xe~no~mo~rph~," she singsonged, "I found you~" The alien was hesitant for a second, irritated why any creature would even think of attacking it. It screeched again, though it sounded a lot more uncertain than before. Hunter took the sword with both hands and swung it around, readying for an attack, "This will be so much fun."

The alien retreated by a step as Hunter stormed towards her, the blade emitting a faint red glow as it cut through the molecules and atoms in the air. The alien attacked with its tail but Hunter evaded and swung the blade at the alien.

Hunter skidded a bit before she came to a halt and turned around. At first it looked like nothing had happened until the left half of the monster hit the ground first. Its yellow and acidic blood slowly streaming out of it and burning a large hole the ground.

Hunter put the sword back in its sheath on her back. She looked at Sunset, "You okay?"

Sunset was still busying comprehending the situation, so she could only respond a few seconds later, "Err, yes?"

Hunter looked around as if she was waiting for someone, "Olivia, I know you can hear me."

With a faint pop the Librarian appeared. "Yes. What's so important?" she asked. Hunter pointed at the quickly decomposing body of the Xenomorph. Olivia's face raced through multiple colors of the rainbow before deciding on a deep red, "WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE?"

Hunter winced before responding, "I did my job? Remember, fighting monsters and that?"

"THIS THING IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE! YOU DID THE COMPLETELY WRONG JOB YOU MORON!" Olivia screech while her face tried to invent even darker hues of red.

"What you mean I have to stay?" asked Hunter disappointed.