The abandoned A.I. Studies school stood like a rotten tooth against the moonlit sky, its boarded-up windows and crumbling brick walls oozing menace. Jessica Hale—nineteen, tall, with black hair tied into a messy ponytail and blue eyes sharp with unease—dug her nails into her palms as her friends trudged ahead.
"Why? Are you scared?" Markus teased, his black eyes glinting under the beam of his flashlight. The wind howled through the skeletal trees, carrying the scent of rust and damp concrete.
Jessica swallowed hard. "No! But there might be dangerous things inside. Let's go somewhere else."
Alucard, his broad shoulders tense under his leather jacket, snorted. "Aw, now you want to leave, scared cat?" His voice dripped with mockery.
Isabel flicked her brown hair over her shoulder and smirked. "What happened to the brave lion, huh?"
Lesley, the oldest of the group, shot them a warning look but said nothing. Jessica exhaled sharply and followed, her boots crunching on broken glass.
The school's entrance was a gaping maw of shadows. Nailed to the door were signs—RESTRICTED AREA. GO AWAY.—the letters smeared in what looked like fresh blood. Jessica's stomach twisted.
"What is this place?" she whispered, her breath fogging in the cold air. "Why are there signs written in blood? We should go back before things get out of control!"
Alucard whirled around, his face inches from hers. "Of course not! We didn't come all this way just to leave because you're scared! We came to find out why it's haunted by 'worse than ghosts.' So stop complaining and grow up!" Spittle flew from his lips.
Lesley stepped between them, her green eyes flashing. "Calm down. She was just suggesting—"
Alucard shoved past her and kicked the door open. The others followed, their laughter brittle. Jessica hesitated, her pulse thundering in her ears. Then—a flicker of light.
Her head snapped toward the woods. A flashlight beam cut through the trees, sweeping left, then right. Police? She ducked behind an oak, her back pressed to the bark. The beam grazed the spot where she'd stood a second ago. A man's silhouette paused, then moved on.
Jessica waited until his footsteps faded before sprinting inside.
The Portal
The air inside was thick with the stench of mildew and something metallic. Her friends stood frozen in the center of what had once been a science lab, their faces lit by an eerie glow.
A portal.
It swirled in midair, blue and purple tendrils licking at the walls like living smoke. Particles of light drifted from its edges, dissolving into nothingness. And the sounds—guttural screams, wet crunching, laughter that made Jessica's skin crawl.
"Is that a portal?!" Markus's voice cracked.
Alucard's mouth hung open. "What the—what?!"
Isabel clutched Lesley's arm, her knuckles white. "Oh my God!"
Lesley crossed herself, her lips moving in silent prayer. "Jesus Christ!"
Jessica's voice was a blade. "I told you this place wasn't safe! Now we can't even leave—the police will catch us!"
Markus opened his mouth—
"AHHHHH!"
A scream, raw and primal, ripped through the room. Then a sound like bones snapping.
"HE HE HE HE! DELICIOUS!"
"LEAVE SOME FOR ME!"
The teens recoiled. Jessica's heart hammered against her ribs. What the hell was that?
A frantic game of rock-paper-scissors later, and Jessica was elected to enter the portal. Lesley grabbed her wrist, her fingers trembling.
"Y-you don't have to go… We can redo it!"
Jessica shook her head. "No. I'll go."
She adjusted her sound-blocking headphones, tightened the strap of her backpack, and stepped through.
The Other Side
Darkness. Then—
"Oh dear God… What is that?!"
A dragon.
Forty feet of obsidian scales, wings folded like a nightmare's embrace. Black aura pulsed around it, distorting the air. Its chest rose and fell in a slow, rhythmic hiss—asleep?
Jessica's camera glitched, the screen fizzing to static. Damn it. She raised her binoculars.
An arsenal lay scattered near the dragon's tail: laser rifles, a red energy sword humming faintly, a paralyzing gun with a coiled barrel. A massive shield leaned against a rock, its surface etched with runes.
And then she saw it.
A sword—dark blue and green, its hilt a skull with emerald flames pouring from its eye sockets. The blade itself burned with the same eerie fire, lodged in the ground beneath the dragon's wing. Protected.
To her left, demons feasted. Hulking, leathery things with too many teeth, tearing into carcasses Jessica didn't want to identify. Hellhounds, their fur matted with blood, gnawed on bones. Their leader—seven feet tall, his neck wreathed in molten lava—growled orders, twin scythes glinting in his claws.
To her right, robots welded a spaceship, sparks flying.
Jessica's mind raced. Grab what you can. Get out.
She snatched the paralyzing gun, the energy shield, and a laser pistol. The shield activated with a snap-hiss, a red barrier flaring around her left arm.
Then—THUD.
Hot breath prickled the back of her neck.
She turned.
The dragon's eyes—golden slits—locked onto hers.
"HELL YEAH! NOW I CAN DEFE—"
The dragon roared.
The sound shattered her headphones, the force of it slamming her to the ground. Her ears rang. The dragon's maw glowed—oh shit—and a laser beam seared the earth beside her. The shockwave sent her rolling.
Move! MOVE!
She scrambled up just as the demon lord moved.
One second he was yards away. The next—WHOOSH—his scythes sliced the air where her head had been. She dove, the blades embedding in the ground behind her.
"YOU ALL WILL DIE!"
Jessica lunged for the portal—
The Escape
She tumbled back into the school, gasping. "We have to go now!"
"Why?" Alucard demanded.
"NO QUESTIONS! MOVE!" She shoved them toward the exit, then yanked a grenade from her belt—stolen from the arsenal—and hurled it at the portal.
A demon leaped, kicking the grenade upward.
BOOM!
The ceiling collapsed. Wooden beams crashed down. Jessica's shield took the brunt, but the shockwave flung them all to the ground.
When the dust cleared, they poured through the portal.
Thirteen demons. Their lord. Six iron-skinned monsters. Fourteen zombies, their mouths dripping black bile.
"Go! I can hold them!" Jessica yelled.
Lesley sobbed. "I can't leave you!"
"You can! Alucard, take her away!"
Alucard hesitated, then nodded. "I'm sorry…"
Jessica tossed him the laser gun and charged.
The energy sword sang as she carved through zombies, their bodies collapsing like rotten fruit. Two monsters—eight-legged, iron-plated—fell next, their bellies split open. She beheaded a demon, its shriek cut short.
Then—CRACK!
The demon lord's scythes shattered her shield. The impact sent her flying into a wall, the sword clattering away.
The lord loomed, his laughter a jagged thing. "HE HE HE HA HA HA! PATHETIC!"
A shadow blurred past.
"Give me your hand!"
The stranger—the man from the woods—slammed the shield into the lord's chest, knocking a scythe loose. He hauled Jessica up, and they ran.
The Aftermath
Later, at the crossroads, Jessica smiled weakly. "This is my stop. Thanks for saving me."
Simon—his name was Simon—shrugged. "You were lucky I was dumb enough to go there too."
"Well, at least you're not the only one." She extended a hand. "I'm Jessica."
He shook it, his grip calloused. "Simon."
"Lovely name."
"Whatever. Thanks."
As she walked away, Simon muttered to himself, "Oh God, she's so cute."