Better Eight Than Never

Chapter 3: Someone needs to Chill

"GET DOWN!" Simon shouted, tackling Bato to the ground.

Toda grabbed Jill's arm and yanked her to the floor so quickly that both of them dropped their sundaes.

"Nooooo!" Jill whined, clutching at Toda's arm. "M-My sweet... S-Sweet..."

BOOM!!!

A missile struck the counter and exploded, splatting everyone in its radius. The air itself felt like it shook, and Bato clapped his hands over his ears to try to keep them from ringing. They needed to get out of here, and fast. He grabbed his inkbrush, looking over to make sure the others were ok.

Toda and Jill were grabbing their weapons and getting into a better stance, while Simon was swaying and fumbling with their slosher, trying to get it off their belt. Mostly what they were succeeding in doing was making a blue puddle of ink on the floor. Not necessarily a bad thing.

Once confirming that the rest of the squad was still there, Bato pressed his back against a overturned table, then slowly looked up over the top to get a look outside. The inkling with the weird tentacles was still there, though now they were targeting a building across the street. The windows on that building shattered as a missile struck it, and parts of the front began to crumble away. It was a wreck out there; cars were crashed up and down the street, and pedestrians were running for their lives... There was no way they could set one step outside without being targeted. Perhaps if he set his brush down and ran, he'd be able to make a trail for the squad to follow in and he could get them to safety... it was a big risk, but maybe...

"Bato?" Toda asked in a hoarse voice. "Can you see where we should go?"

Bato ducked back down, looking at the three of them, then said shakily. "O-okay, I think we'll have to–"

"Psst!" Hissed a voice from the back of the store. Emma was crouching in the doorway to the employees only room, and beckoning with one hand to all the survivors in the room. "Everyone, get in here."

"We can't!" Jill hissed to her teammates. "We have to do something, people could be dying out there!"

"Whatever that is, we can't take it on." Bato said. "Even if everyone still currently in the shop had their weapons ready. We need to wait for the officials to get here."

Toda nodded, although he looked slightly apologetic about it. "I agree."

"Come on, kids!" Emma called from the door; by that point, all the other inklings that hadn't been splatted had made their way through to the back.

Simon glanced over their shoulder as the ground shook once again, swaying awkwardly. "I probably hit my head pretty hard just now... I'm gonna trust you guys..." They reached out a hand so somebody could take it and guide them. Toda almost immediately took this offer.

Bato did one quick check over the top of the table again, then examined the store. "Okay, here's the plan: I'll ink a path through to the edge of the purple ink, you three squid and follow behind me; once we reach the edge of the ink, just keep your head down and run for the door, I don't think trying to squid through the broken glass is a good idea. Any objections?" The three of them shook their heads, and Bato took a deep breath, gripping his brush tightly. "Go!" He hissed, standing and pushing the brush over the purple ink and leaving a dark blue trail in his wake. They were almost to the edge now–