Afflicted

"Not even our friends?" she asked, pausing by the rotating door. "We’re supposed to let them carry on while we sneak off to safety? What if something happens to them and we could have warned them?"

I shook my head, unsure of what to say. Dad had made it clear that I shouldn't tell anyone, but Lacey was right. I couldn't live with myself if someone was hurt or worse and I hadn't even tried to warn them.

"Let’s just try to get them back home rather than going out for food," I suggested. "Once we're all closer to the city we can work out what to do from there but at least they'll be nearer to help. By then the city might even have issued the isolation instructions and we can all head there together."

"Yeah okay. We'll try and get them back without saying anything, there's no need to scare anyone when there might not even be anything going on," Lacey agreed.

I felt like she was trying to convince herself more than me but I nodded as we stepped into the rotating door and headed outside.

Dark clouds had rolled in during the movie and it almost looked like night was falling. I pulled the collar of my leather jacket closer around my neck as a cool wind blew around us.

The area around the cinema was deserted and I frowned as I looked for any sign of someone other than our friends.

“What the hell?” Lacey asked, keeping her voice low as if she were afraid to disturb the eerie silence.

“Where is everyone?” I whispered in return.

Our friends were standing at the side of the street, looking at something across the road.

We hurried over to them and Ryan turned at the sound of our approaching footsteps.

"Don't," he warned as he stepped into my path and tried to block my view. "You don't wanna see this." He held an arm out to stop Lacey too but she sidestepped him with a frown. I gently pressed his arm down so that I could step around him too and he reluctantly let me go.

Lacey let out a shocked gasp just as I spotted the woman laying face down on the sidewalk. Her smart suit was shredded down the right side and blood pooled the tarmac around her.

"Is she breathing?" I whispered even though I could see that she wasn't. The flesh on the side of her neck was torn open.

Blood pounded in my head as I stared at the lifeless body, willing myself to look away. Bile rose in my throat, threatening to spill the contents of my stomach. I took deep breaths as I forced it back down, trying to stay calm.

Tommy turned away suddenly and puked into the street behind us.

Ella lowered her arm slowly, her cellphone clasped in her hand as she moved it away from her ear. "The Monitor is aware of the situation. It saw what happened on the CCTV from that building." She pointed across

the street and we all followed her gaze to the small camera. "They said we should leave the scene as we didn't witness anything and can be of no further help."

"So why is no one here to help her?" Tara asked, looking around for any sign of an ambulance.

"No one can help her you idiot," Demi snapped. "She's dead. We need to just do what the Monitor said and get the hell away from here.”

A horn blasted loudly behind us and I jumped as I turned towards the road. Two cars had reached the junction at the same time and the drivers leant out of their windows to swear at each other as they argued over who had the right of way.

Demi ignored the commotion on the road, turned away and started to lead the way back towards the bus stop.

I glanced at the dead woman once more and hurried after Demi. If The Monitor didn't want us to talk to the police then I wanted to get as far away from her as I could. I wished I'd taken Ryan's advice and not looked. I didn't think I'd ever be able to shut my eyes again without seeing the blood or the glassy look in her eyes.

Several cars flew down the street behind us sending a gust of air swirling through my hair. I raised a hand to run my fingers through my curls, a small part of me worrying how my hair looked like it was any other day. I dropped my hand, wondering why I cared.

An arm fell around me, making me flinch in surprise. I got a bigger shock when I looked up to find Reese looking down at me. He pulled me a little way from the group and I shrugged out of his grip irritably. For half a second I'd thought he was comforting me but he was just pretending to get me away from everyone else.

“We need to get home,” he hissed. “Mom and Dad have arranged to get us into the city-“

“I know,” I replied. “We need to get the next bus-“

“I think we should steal a car,” he suggested seriously.

“Are you mad?” I asked incredulously. “We can't drive! And even if we could, they don't let criminals into the city- what you're suggesting could get us banned right before they close the gates for good!”

“And waiting for the bus might mean we don't get there in time!”