What...the fuck...is that..?!

Everybody apart from Kaminari saw it, but we had all lost the ability to speak. Whatever was entering the loading dock was long, thick, and definitely not normal.
"O..oi, why are you guys..." Kaminari trailed off as he turned around, yelping loudly the moment he saw the snake-like thing. No, not snake-like. It was closer to a tentacle. "What the flying fuck..?!"

He took several large steps backwards, but that only alerted the thing, and it stiffened for all but a second before it lunged out, wrapping around his ankle. Usually, when faced with a risky situation, my body would automatically choose the flight option, but this time, for whatever reason, my instinct to fight kicked in.

"Sta..stay still..!" Rushing forward, I began to kick and stomp at the slimy tendril, and after a few hits, it retracted a little, freeing Kaminari. "N..nah, nah, guys, shut it..! Midoriya, shut it..!" Mechanical buzzes and splutters echoed through the dock, but they weren't coming from the door. They were coming from the generator itself.

"I'm trying..! It's stalled..!" The greenet was nearly shrieking, pushing buttons and tugging on levers. The tentacle, or whatever the hell it was really attached to, decided that my boot wasn't as threatening as it had originally thought, and again, it lurched out and took hold of the bagging boy. This time, it meant business, and with a single tug it had Kaminari on his back, screeching out as he squirmed and kicked out in retaliation.

Shit shit shit..!

"Get it the fuck off..! Sh..Shinso, get it off!" In a matter of seconds I was there with him, arms hooked under his pits as I dragged him backwards. The creature was strong, that much was obvious, but it didn't seem to want to play tug-of-war. My eyes flickered to the side, where I could see both Iguchi and Setsuno standing there, petrified as though they had gazed into the eyes of a gorgon.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?! Help him..!"

Once I saw their faces, I knew that neither one of them would be coming to help. All that big talk, yet they were nothing but a pair of spineless cowards themselves.
"Shiiiiiiiiit, there's more! There's fucking more..!" Kaminari wailed, and my attention snapped back to the door, where the mist only spilled with the movement of two more of the oily-looking appendages. These ones, however, were different.

They were lumpier than the first, and each bump had a spine, which had us all the more terrified. This was no freakish land octopus, nor a snake. This was something nobody had ever seen before.
"Kick! Kaminari, kick as hard as you can..!" I egged my friend on as I pulled, my injured back complaining with sharp jolts of pain.

He did exactly as I had said, but it didn't deter the slimy beasts, and one of the reinforcements began to slither up his leg, passing slowly across his thigh.
"I don't consent! I don't fucking consent! Get it off get it off get it off..!" As it climbed towards his upper body, Kaminari leaned his head back and tried to hide his face beneath my chin, every inch of him shaking in fear.

I have to get it off him, but if I let go to try, what'll it do?!

I wasn't willing to risk it, so I just kept trying to drag him backwards. Once the tentacle reached his shoulder, the tip dangerously close to my chest, it stopped, resting against his clothing. Was it just feeling him?

"Nah nah nah, bro..! Nah! No fucking way! It's got teeth or some shit, man..! Get it o-" Kaminari's panicked voice quickly turned into a bloodcurdling scream as the creature tensed, hot, sticky crimson beginning to ooze from beneath it. "SHINSO GET IT OFF PLEASE GET IT OFF! IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS..!"

My throat felt like it was going to close up completely, and my vision momentarily blurred, but I pushed through it. Kaminari was far worse off than I was, so what right did I have to feel sick when he was suffering? My teeth clenched, I continued trying to pull him back, my boots desperately attempting to gain traction, but slipping upon the boy's blood, which was now pooling on the floor beneath us.

The tentacle that had torn into Kaminari's flesh curled back and lifted, and I could see exactly what had happened. It had a mouth. It had rows and rows of teeth.
"C..come on..! Help him, you assholes..!" I screamed out, desperately trying to maintain my hold on the blond. There was another, much larger appendage now, but it wasn't anywhere near us. Honestly, I didn't give much of a shit whether it attacked Iguchi or Setsuno. Kaminari was my current priority.

"Keep him still!" Midoriya's voice pierced at my ears, and I complied, but even if I hadn't, Kaminari was still. He wasn't thrashing anymore. He was definitely still alive, but with the amount of blood he had already lost, he was exhausted. The freckled man had an axe, which he must have picked up from somewhere nearby, and took a heavy swing at the slime-coated creature, but it barely made a dent.

More and more slithered into the dock, and tears began to sting at the backs of my eyes as I clung to my friend, praying for a burst of strength, a superhero, a miracle. Anything. As the new tentacles began to coil around Kaminari's body, I felt him release a short, shaky breath, his head pressing back into my shoulder a lot harder.
"Hey...You need t..to let go of m..me..."

Wait...

"N..no way..! Not happening..! We can get it off, a..and we can stop the blee-"
"Hitoshi, if it gets you, who the fuck is gonna look after Eri?!" He managed to turn his head, and I froze. His teeth were bared, and they rattled together like a rickety train on its tracks. Despite his attempt to look serious, all I could see was pure terror in his wide eyes, and I felt like I was going to be sick.

Midoriya continued to try and hack through the creatures limbs, if they were even attached to anything else, but I refused to let go of him. Sure, Kaminari and I had never been super close, but we had been friends. He had been one of the first people besides Midoriya to actually try to talk to me, and he had really tried to help me crawl out of the dark, secluded shell I had hidden myself within.

I'm not letting go of you..!

"They're too thick! They won't keep still enough for me to hit in the same place each time!" Midoriya shouted, voice quaking as he kept trying to land a killer hit.
"Dude...come on..! Just let go of me..! I..I told you...I've..." Kaminari swallowed, but I could tell it was dry. "...I've got this..!" No. No way was I about to give up on him. We were all going to get out of this situation alive, and from there, we'd all figure out a way to survive whatever the mist had brought along with it.

At least, that was what would have happened in a perfect world.

Kaminari's hand, shivering and almost deathly cold, came up and grabbed my forearm, which was now wrapped around his front, right below his chin.
"Come on..!" I urged him to fight it. That was what I thought he had been attempting to do with that move, but I had been sorely mistaken.
"H..hey...When you get out of here...tell that pretty rocker girl at the music store th..that she's had my heart since the fifth grade...would ya, bro..?"

Kaminari's teeth sunk into my skin, and my reflexes caused me to release him, scrambling backwards before I even had the chance to realise what had happened. In my absence, the tentacles swarmed him, wrapping around his body like colossal jungle serpents, and began to drag him towards the hazy hell outside.

Midoriya had to throw the axe before he struck down, as if he had, he likely would have lobbed the boy's head clean off, which in all honesty, may have been a kinder fate. Instead of rushing to pick it up and keep trying, the greenet raced over to me as I leapt to my feet, grabbing me so I wouldn't run after him.
"Shinso, s..stop..! Think of Eri..!" He pleaded with me, but I didn't want to listen. The only reason I didn't break free was because, despite his smaller size, the assistant manager was much stronger.

There were a few, long moments where Kaminari looked like he was at peace with his decision, but as his legs passed the line between inside and out, the mortal panic took hold of him.
"W..wait..! No no no no no..!" His arms shot up, and he grabbed and pushed against the roller door, tears and spit streaming across his face, mixing with the blood splatter. "I don't got this..! I..I don't...wanna...d..die..! Please..! Please, I..I can't..!"

I must have dragged Midoriya a good two feet or so as I fought against him, trying to reach the blond. My awareness of my surroundings slipped away the moment Kaminari's fingers slipped from the steel, and a new kind of pain swept over me as he reached out out with a blood soaked hand. This new pain wasn't at all physical. It all stemmed from my chest.

A bloody, tear-stained face, melting away into the mist. That was the last image I would ever have of Kaminari Denki in my mind. The boy who had helped me get ready for my first ever date in the ninth grade. The idiot who used to jokingly call me babe when we parted ways at the bus stop. Just like that, he was gone.

"Shinso..."

He's...

"Shinso..!"

...He's dead...

"SHINSO, SNAP OUT OF IT AND HELP ME..!" Before I had even shaken myself out of my daze, I was on my feet, rushing to aid Midoriya. He was trying his hardest to pull the roller door down, but one of the Tentacles, the thickest of them all, was still partially inside, refusing to budge. Thinking on my feet, which hardly wanted to function, I grabbed the axe that Midoriya had thrown beforehand, uttering a loud, aggressive growl as I lifted my boot and pressed it against the creature.

"Fucking move..!" I had never considered myself as strong, but it seemed like adrenaline had really amped my body up. Swinging down, the echoing squelch of foreign flesh made me nauseous as the blade cut through, the surviving section of the tentacle retracting and giving Midoriya the space to, finally, be able to close the door.

Just like that, every ounce of energy fled my body, and I fell to my knees, completely uncaring that the tip of the creature's limb was still squirming and wriggling in front of me. Every part of my was ice cold, save for the front of my shirt, which was soaked through with the fresh blood of my friend, and the place he had bitten me.
"O..oi...A..Aizawa boy..."

"...We're sorry..."

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
***I hate myself for this.

I know I said there would be three illustrations this chapter, with a fourth bonus on Insta, but they turned out bloodier than expected, so the other 3 will be up on my Instagram shortly after I update this.

Next Time: How Stupid Do You Think I Am?***