The Van Til House: STRAF SABBAT
Chapiter 71

"A special training class is really just the name of a room" Dusk began to tell a story. "There was no special training when all the children were locked up in that room. There's nothing. Just a chalkboard." Dusk paused for a moment, then added, "Every side of the room was filled with whiteboards."

Magisna frowned.

"The boys were just told to write: I'm sorry, blah blah blah.." Dusk continued. "But one of the kids dropped his whiteboard."

"Keep…?"

"They found a passageway behind the blackboard. So.. rather than having to waste time completing boring punishments, they would rather sneak in!"

I can understand this part, Magisna thought.

"Nobody knew they were sneaking into that hallway" continued Dusk. "They closed it again with a blackboard, so that when their teacher returned, the special training class was empty, and their teacher thought they had gone home and escaped punishment. So when they didn't show up the next day, everyone thought they were scared."

"What happened to them?" Magisna.

"They're partying!" reply Dusk.

"Fest?" Magisna knitted her brows.

"Yes, party crazy!" Dusk. "They found a storage warehouse next to a fertilizer warehouse, a carpentry warehouse and a machine room. There was frozen food, bottled water, batteries, everything. Enough to last for months."

"Now it's garbage" Magisna commented.

"The rats got the most, I'm sure," said Dusk.

"Our entrance was.." Magisna interrupted. "That's a special training class?"

"Yes" replied Dusk.

Magisna frowned again. "Where do you know all this?" tanyakanya. "Lu school here?"

"Yes" replied Dusk again.

"Lu was with them at the time of the incident?"

"No!"

"Where do you know they partied down here the day they were punished?"

"Gabe," replied Dusk again. "Gabe told me everything. And.." he hung up his sentence for a moment before continuing, "After I became a ghost."

"Everything?"

"Almost like a god!" Dusk added. "I know more than Gabe knows."

Magisna gulped.

"After a long time of veranda down here and exploring, the boys finally understood why they named it a special training class. This place is full of traps."

"The cave knows it," cut the Magisna quickly. "What happened to them?"

Kiddo is restless. It's been too long, he thought. Then try to rebuke Magisna. "The pen cave is out of this place" he protested. "This whole place is crazy!"

Magisna held up her hand hinting that the man could be even more patient.

"Someone—Leo, I guess-fall tripped something," continued Dusk. "Suddenly there was a terrible sound, as if the whole world was split apart. Leo had just woken up something long asleep without realizing it."

"Something that's been sleeping for a long time?" Magisna repeated the word Dusk in the form of a question.

"Galang" replied Dusk.

"Groof?" Magisna widened both of her eyes. Instantly the shadow of the mere hairy man's face flashed through his mind. "Who is he?" tanyanya.

"Snake smile of the plantation's underground ruler."

Magisna screeched as she smothered her mouth with both hands.

"The idiot stepped on his tail," Dusk chuckled.

Magisna did not laugh. He can't even blink. Unconsciously he held his breath. His body shivered again. His heart was pounding heavily on his ribs. Cold sweat rolled on his temples.

"The switch flinched and caused the entire roof to fall down right where the boy fell." Dusk continues his story.

"They?" Magisna.

"They laugh at him" replied Dusk.

"Gabe and Michael don't know what's going on behind them" Dusk continued. "Michael walked at the very front, and Gabe was behind him. They heard the rumbling, but they thought someone was idly turning on the machine they found. When they turned, all they could see was a cloud of dust. And before Michael realized what was happening, a crack in the concrete wall above his head hit him as well."

Magisna held onto her nape with a look of horror.

"Gabe tries to help her but he only finds Michael unconscious. Gabe thinks Michael's dead and scared. He tried to escape, but always came back and just circled around in the same place."

"Where are the meetings?" Magisna asked again.

"Dissolved and scattered" replied Dusk. "They're just as scared."

"And the story about the beast…?" Magisna squinted her eyes.

"Leo.." said Dusk.

"Leo?" Magisna raised her voice. "Lu said all the kids were—"

"Leo is not an ordinary human being," murmured Dusk. "Angoing rage and injustice can turn him into a wild star."

"So that means the beast is not in the true sense?" Magisna did not understand.

"Of course in the true sense!" twilight Sergeant. "Leo is a leopard man!"

Magisna again swallowed. "I mean mutants?"

"Leo is a descendant of a mixture of humans and panther demons" explained Dusk. "I don't know what the term is!"

Magisna was silent. Seemed unsure and confused.

"Why do you think he could step on the tail of a stealth snake?" Dusk grinned. "Ordinary humans can't touch a demon!"

Magisna remained silent.

"Are you done here?" Agustin asked impatiently.

"Not yet!" sergeant Magisna glared at the guy.

Kiddo and Agustin groaned at the same time.

"What happened after that?" Magisna looked back at Dusk.

"While Leo's powers exceed those of a mere human, it doesn't mean he's immune to pain." Dusk continued. "The great passerby tormented him, he strove and scavenged the sand that was hoarding his body, shouting and begging, asking his friends for help. But his friends just took it as a joke and instead laughed at him."

Magisna instantly recalled how she was almost desperate when buried in the sand.

"Lo's anger rose and he managed to get out" continued Dusk again. "But not as a human being anymore."

"She's turning into a tiger?" Magisna interrupted with wide eyes.

"Yes" replied Dusk. "He killed everyone except Gabe and Michael."

"Why?"

"They don't touch him!"

"He has control even though he's changed?" Magisna asked unsure.

"Half of him is an ordinary man!"

"So Leo is still alive?"

"He can't die!"

Magisna stuttered again.

"Leo disappeared after the incident" said Dusk. "The bodies of his friends were never found. Gabe never knew what kind of beetle it was, while Michael did not know what happened after the landslide. That's why their testimonies don't suit each other."

"So Leo's the one who snags everyone and writes on the wall?" Magisna was not satisfied.

"Me!" reply Dusk.

Magisna's inching backwards.

"I snuck in here to prove Gabe's story. I also don't think the beast is a demon incarnation or anything. I found two pumas and managed to kill him. I cut off their heads and took them to my cottage. I was planning to take him to court and thought it would help Gabe. But the next day, two human bodies were found headless in the place where I killed the puma!"