Afflicted

“My mom says she can't come and get me because there's been some kind of incident at her work and they aren't letting anyone leave for the next few hours. Can you believe that? I have the worst luck in the world - first I have to see that body and then I can't even get home. She won't even let me get a cab!”

Spencer moved forward to console her and I bit my tongue against my irritation.

Ryan took my hand and looked down at me with sympathy. “Everything okay?” he asked.

“I just don't think Demi is the person around here who's had awful luck,” I said pointing back down the street towards the woman's body behind us.

“You know how she is.” He shrugged. “It's how she deals with things.”

“By making absolutely every situation in the world about her somehow?” I asked. “Great coping strategy.”

“Maybe she doesn't get a lot of attention at home or something?” he suggested.

“Yeah or maybe she's just a bitch?” I surprised myself with how angry I felt and the fact that I'd voiced it so loudly. Seeing that body had really rattled me. I didn't want to have to hear about how awful the whole thing had been for Demi. Especially when it wasn't even because she was upset for the woman who'd been killed - only for herself.

“Hey, come here.” Ryan pulled me towards him and I buried my face against his chest. He wrapped his arms around me protectively and I let out a shaky breath as my anger faded. I was so afraid about what was going on and the more time I had to think about it, the more worried I became.

I just wanted to get home and let the Wardens take me to the city where we'd be safe. I never thought I'd willingly hurry towards the safety of the city when they wanted to close The Wall for good but suddenly it didn't sound so bad.

I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with a mixture of cool town air and the musky scent of Ryan's aftershave. I needed to push the memory of the corpse out of my mind and focus on getting back home as quickly as I could. Reese was right for once - we needed to get to the train station.

I pulled away from Ryan and found the others getting ready to head off. Demi had finished her rant and Spencer had his arm around her while she pouted.

Ella must have decided that the walk in the pinching boots was preferable to waiting hours for a bus alone and was ready to leave too. I gave her an encouraging smile as Reese led the way back towards the corpse and the other side of town.

I kept my eyes fixed on Jason's back as we passed the body and refused to look away until we moved beyond the end of the block.

“This is really starting to creep me out now,” Tara said as we walked on. “Where the hell are the police? And why hasn't an ambulance come to take that woman's body away yet?”

“There must be something going on downtown near my mom’s office. I guess they want to be there to help living people instead of worrying about a dead one,” Demi said dismissively.

Ryan raised his eyebrow at me understandingly as I bit my tongue. Whatever was happening, we didn't have time to argue amongst ourselves but I'd definitely be pleased to get away from Demi as soon as I had the chance.

The sound of an engine growling drew my attention back to the street and I looked up in time to see a bright red sports car come tearing towards us. It sped down the road so fast that it must have been doing more than twice the limit and sent a gust of wind swirling through my hair as it passed.

I turned to watch as it raced away from us and brakes squealed as it took a tight turn and disappeared from sight. The roar of

the engine faded more slowly until the weird silence returned again.

We hurried on down the street, barely talking amongst ourselves as the strange quiet seemed to force us to obey it.

A shop door banged open to our right and everyone froze, thrown by the odd interruption to our isolation.

A man stepped out and aimed a shotgun at us, his gnarled hands trembling as his finger found the trigger. “Are any of you afflicted?” he asked shakily. “Don't think of lying to me if you are.”

“What?” Tommy asked.

“We have a cold store out back,” the man said. “We can isolate you if you are. Until the help arrives.”

“Isolate who?” I asked, wondering what had this man so frightened.

“Are any of you acting strange? You know; angry, irritable, violent?”

“You're the one aiming a gun at us,” I pointed out.

He stared at us for several long seconds, his cloudy eyes seeming to take in more about us than I would have expected of someone in his condition.

“I'll not trouble you any longer then,” he said finally. “Just get yourselves home.” He dropped the shotgun and quickly pulled the shop door shut between us.