Afflicted

by Susanne Valenti

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

  “What about our friends?” I asked angrily.

  Reese looked over my shoulder at the rest of the group and sighed. “He made me promise not to tell them. We could bring Jason and Lacey though, I'm sure two more won't matter but the rest of them…”

  “We should try and get them back too - the closer they are to Harbour City the better. If they really are going to need to isolate everyone from the outside world soon then it's gotta be better for them to be close by so that they can get in quickly. I don't know what's going on but if they're leaving a dead body lying in the street for this long then something serious must be happening elsewhere.”

  “All the more reason to steal-“

  “No Reese! I'm not risking my place inside the city so that you can have a joy ride.” I turned my back on him and jogged to catch up with Lacey.

  “I don't like this,” she said as I joined her. “What the hell happened to that woman? It looked like something had ripped her neck open. What if there's some half starved coyote lurking around here trying to find a meal?”

  “I doubt it's hungry,” Tommy said quietly, joining our conversation. I glanced up at him, his dark hair was sticking to his forehead and a light sheen of sweat covered his face.

  “Why not?” Lacey demanded.

  “Because it would have eaten that woman it killed.”

  His words made me shudder and I glanced around between buildings in case a pair of hungry eyes was watching us.

  “We’ll be fine so long as we stick together,” I said, not sure who I was trying to convince more. “Whatever or whoever killed that woman is probably long gone by now anyway. We just need to get back home and try to forget we ever saw something so horrible.”

  “Yeah,” Tommy agreed. He still looked a little green around the edges and I stepped a bit further away from him in case he puked again.

  “Stupid piece of shit!” Demi yelled ahead of us and I hurried forward to see what was wrong with her. “They've cancelled the next three buses,” she explained as she pointed at the digital display on the side of the bus stop.

  “But we need to get back,” I said helplessly.

  “Way to point out the obvious,” Demi snapped.

  I ignored her jibe and looked around, wondering if there was any other way for us to get home. The street was deserted. We were right by the town centre and I'd never seen it so empty before.

  “Where is everyone?” Ella asked like she'd read my mind. “It's quieter than a gnat’s fart around here.”

  Kristen laughed a little too loudly, tossing her red hair over her shoulder as she glanced back up the street towards the corpse.

  “They probably got a memo about the buses and caught the last one,” Spencer joked, nudging Demi playfully.

  “Pick your moments Spence, you're such a jackass.” Demi stomped away from him, pulling out her cellphone.

  A shriek sounded in the distance and I turned towards the direction it had come from. It sounded like some kind of animal; the sort of noise I'd only ever heard on nature shows on the TV before.

  “What was that?” I breathed as I took a step towards it.

  “I'm not sure,” Lacey replied shakily. “Do you think that's what killed that woman?”

  “If the buses are a no go we should head to the train station,” Jason suggested behind us.

  I glanced over my shoulder at the group of our friends; it didn't seem like anyone other than me and Lacey had heard the feral shriek.

  “That's a twenty minute walk at best,” Tara complained, twisting her pale blonde ponytail between her fingers.

  “I can't do that in these heels,” Ella agreed. I glanced at her boots but I'd hardly have called the one inch heels hard to walk in. “They pinch,” she explained as she noticed me looking.

  “You can sit here and wait for the next bus then,” Reese said as he moved towards the timetable. “It looks like it'll be along in just over an hour and a half- presuming it doesn't get cancelled too. I'd rather not hang out here with the corpse for that long though.”

  The rest of the group mumbled their agreement with my brother but everyone's gaze kept heading towards Demi. She had moved just far enough away so as not to be overheard and was talking quite animatedly to whoever was on the other end of the line.

  She hung up suddenly and walked back towards us looking even more pissed off than she had been before the call.

  “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.

  “Wait!” I called, hoping he might explain what was going on but he didn't come back.

  “Let’s do what he said,” Spencer suggested. “Something bad has happened here and I don't wanna hang around to find out if it's still going on.”

  We all agreed and joined Spencer as he upped the pace to a jog. Ella cursed quietly as she struggled in her boots but she didn't ask us to slow down.

  The train station finally came into view and I sighed with relief as I spotted it. Ella was starting to fall behind and I slowed to stay with her. She smiled at me gratefully and I returned her grin though a knot of unease still rested in my stomach.

  “You've got to be kidding me,” Spencer exclaimed from the front of the group as we all came to a stop. I couldn't see what was going on with everyone blocking my view but I could hear someone rattling what sounded like a metal gate.

  I pushed my way forward to find out what was going on and felt my heart sink as I spotted the gate blocking the entrance to the underground train station. A sign was hung on the gate which only held one word. ‘Closed’.

  “What the hell are we supposed to do now?” Demi shouted angrily.

  “There has been a considerable terrorist threat detected by the Monitor,” a man’s voice called from the depths of the train station. “All public transport has been suspended until the threat can be neutralised.”

  “What are we supposed to do then?” Reese asked loudly, giving the gate a kick.

  A large guard appeared holding a baton in one hand and smacking it into the palm of the other. “I've been told to stop any crowds from forming here,” he said slowly, glaring at us. “So I suggest you move on.”

  “We live near Harbour City,” I said pleadingly. “How are we supposed to get home if the public transport has all been shut down?”

  “Call a cab if you can find one that isn't charging the earth,” he said without any concern. “Or call your parents to give you a lift. Either way I can't help you and you need to clear off.”

  “So you're telling me they've just closed the train station and your answer is to call someone for a lift?” Demi asked angrily, her voice raising in pitch as her temper flared.

  I turned away from her, not wanting to witness the rant she was clearly about to begin.

  “Brilliant work Demi, now he definitely isn't going to help us,” I muttered although no one was listening.

  I walked away from my friends as Demi and the guard started arguing behind me. Some of the boys were joining in with her, trying to figure out the best way for us to get home while the guard shouted at them to clear off. There were lots of suggestions being thrown around but none of them sounded like they'd get me home any time soon.

  Something had definitely happened. Something so bad that the streets were deserted, a body was left laying on the sidewalk and an old man was raising a gun at strangers. I didn't need my dad's warning to tell me that I needed to get the hell out of here but it was looking harder and harder to do.

  I pulled my cellphone from my pocket and tried to dial my mom. The call failed and I frowned as I realised I had no cell service. I knocked my phone against my palm and tried to dial again. Still nothing. I held it up as I walked on, hoping to get some signal as I moved away from the taller buildings.

  It was just my luck to get stuck in a situation that called for calm when hurricane Demi was with me. No chance of that guard helping us out and not much else in the way of options if I couldn't even call home for help. Besides, my mom had never learnt to drive and with my dad stuck in the city, I wasn't going to be able to get a lift from them even if I did get through.

  I opened up my contacts list and scrolled through it vaguely, wondering if there was anyone I might call on for help. My thumb hovered over Lincoln's name as my stomach lurched involuntarily. If I could rely on anyone for help it would be him. When we were kids he'd always been the one person I could turn to. No questions asked.

  I hit dial before I could talk myself out of it and moved further down the street to block out the sound of Demi’s yells.

  To my surprise the phone starting ringing. It cut out suddenly on the third ring and I glared at my cellphone as the signal vanished again. Damn piece of crap. If I ever got home I was demanding a new one from my mom and dad. How did they expect me to survive without a functioning cellphone?

  I'd wandered beyond the station and an alley shrouded in shadows opened up on my right with a coffee shop beyond.

  A prickle started on the back of my neck and I turned quickly, feeling someone's gaze on me.

  At the end of the alley a dark silhouette stood, staring at me. My heart stuttered as my breath caught in my throat. Fear slithered it's way down my spine as I froze. Something about the figure didn't seem right.

  Grams had a favourite word which sprung to mind as I took a slow step backwards. Unnatural. Sure, she believed in ghosts and pixies who stole her shoes while she slept. Nine times out of ten when she called something unnatural it was just the wind blowing through the trees in a strange way. Or the cat knocking something over in the next room. But the way she said it had always made my ears prick up. A little shiver ran down my spine and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

  If Grams had been stood beside me in that second I knew the word that would have left her lips.

  Unnatural.

  And she'd have been right.

  The figure stood so still that it didn't seem human. It was tall and broad enough that it had to be a man though. My heart somersaulted as I stepped back again, hoping to move out of sight before they decided to respond to my presence. The shadows were too deep for me to make out anything about the man hiding within them but my gut told me that he didn't mean me well. The guy with the gun had asked if we were afflicted. I guessed he meant by the water. The water that was sending some people insane.

  I took a step back, then another, too afraid to tear my gaze from the darkness.

  As I took a third step, the figure let out a shriek so filled with rage that my blood ran cold in my veins. A scream of fright escaped my lips as he lunged forward and hurtled towards me. One thought flashed through my brain ‘Holy shit don't let me die like this!’

  Chapter Seventeen

  Kaitlyn

  A girl jumped in front of me as I let out another terrified scream and almost fell into the gutter. She had short cropped black hair, shaved up the righthand side but hanging to her chin on the left. For the briefest of seconds I was just glad that the man would reach her before me. Then my brain kicked into gear and I reached for her, hoping to drag her aside before he could make it to the end of the alley. If we could just get back to my friends he might back off. There were a lot of us and only a fool would take on a football team alone.

  As the screaming man closed the distance bet
ween us, the girl raised her arm and sprayed something into his face.

  He howled in pain and collapsed to the ground, clutching his eyes.

  I grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back as he rolled towards us, screaming a string of curses intermingled with threats of what he'd do to us when he could see again.

  My mouth hung open as I gaped at the man writhing on the concrete. He clawed his face so hard that blood slid down his cheeks. He was wearing dark pants but his shirt was gone and groups of four gouges marked his back as if he'd been trying to scratch his own skin off.

  “What the hell-“ I began, unsure what I was even going to ask.

  “Thanks for the distraction,” the girl said as she shoved the can of pepper spray back in her pocket and caught my elbow, steering me away from the alley. “He’s been following me for the last two blocks.”

  I opened my mouth to respond but couldn't seem to find the right words for the kind of crazy I'd just experienced.

  “Kaitlyn?” Ryan called worriedly as he rushed towards us and looked over my shoulder at the screaming man.

  “He attacked me. I think he's one of the people who the water turned psycho,” I explained shakily. Tears started to prick the backs of my eyes and I blinked furiously to clear them before they could fall. No way I was going to break down in the middle of the street with Demi looking on. She'd have enough ammo to use on me for the next month if I let that happen. Not to mention what Reese would start doing as his next impression.

  I let Ryan wrap a protective arm around me as we jogged back towards the rest of my friends, leaving the shrieking man behind us. The girl stayed by my side, her face grim as her eyes darted about restlessly. She reminded me of that possum I'd saved with Linc. Split between the desire to trust us or run for it.

  “Thank you,” I said belatedly, realising I'd let her save my life without so much as giving her a hello. Everything might be falling to shit around us but my mom would be ashamed of me if she knew I'd forgotten my manners like that.

  “No problem,” she replied as she surveyed our group through green eyes rimmed with black eyeliner