[i]"Nevermind. We can probably kick it down, if we need. Don't worry. I'll take the fall for that if we get in shit, I don't care."
[/i]
Val laughed, again. She couldn't help it. She knew she was laughing more than was adequate or appropriate in such a grave, sombre situation but she honestly couldn't help it. It was her instinctual way of dealing with anything that provoked intense emotion and she knew, if she stopped finding everything funny, that she would end up bursting into tears and breaking down in front of all her classmates. Not a great way to commandeer respect, she thought soberly. 

"Kicking down doors just happens to be my all-time favourite pastime," she said, her voice thick with sarcasm; she'd never really gotten into trouble before but she somehow didn't feel like advertising the fact and simply shrugged "But no fear - I highly doubt that anyone will be particularly concerned with a busted door considering what's happening outside. And if they do...well, getting reprimanded is my second favourite pastime. Custodian's Office, it is, then."

They continued on and Val tried to suppress the shivers that kept racking her body. Whereas the shaking had originally seemed sourced from the confused panic of the apparent apocalypse, now it seemed that the cold was affecting her more than she'd first thought. This part of the school was eerily quiet and the echo of their footsteps seemed exceptionally loud in comparison, inviting anything prowling within a 100 yard radius towards them. She quickly pushed that thought out of her head. It just so happened that they did find somethings - but they happened to be more terrified children and...excited teens, than anything else. With a laugh, she sent all of them to the auditorium, settling nicely into the 'helpful' role. 

In the Custodian's Office, it was clear that someone had been there before them - by the state of both the door and the smashed cabinet. Val side-stepped the broken glass littering the floor to stand by Cecil as he surveyed the selection of keys. They all seemed to have already been taken and she grimaced.

"Well let's hope this is the work of some well-meaning student rather than a saboteur..." she said carefully, blinking in the light of Cecil's newly discovered head torch, but she suspected her optimism was a little naïve in this situation. 

[i]"At least we know where to look for them."[/i]

She didn't say anything, striding over to the desk and taking a seat on the edge to catch her breath. She was still shivering violently as it seemed the temperature only dropped the further they advanced in the school. Sighing, she rifled through the books on the desk, which were sparse and uninteresting. It seemed as if everything in the present universe was conspiring to both bore and terrify her. 

"So where to next, boss?" she asked with a mocking salute, though her jokey grin was a little forced.