Afflicted

by Susanne Valenti

  Our group gathered by the back of my truck and I hopped out to join them.

  “It's only another couple of blocks from here. If we run its five minutes tops,” I said confidently.

  “Let's get going then,” Reese agreed.

  “Okay, stick together. It might get crowded up ahead so don't let yourselves get left behind.” I gave them a chance to say something else but they all seemed just as keen as I was to get going.

  I set a steady pace as I started jogging along the sidewalk. The roads got more and more crowded with cars and pedestrians alike and I started to feel more uneasy as we went. Contaminated people could be anywhere; the closer the crowd pressed, the less I'd be able to spot them coming.

  I wished I could believe that Tommy was a fluke case who had just taken longer to react to the water but I knew in my heart it wasn't true. And if the storm had spread the contamination everywhere then we couldn't trust anyone. Even ourselves.

  The houses ended and we arrived at the edge of a huge crowd waiting to get into the city. Bodies were packed together tightly and I turned to beckon the others to follow me as I started to skirt it, heading into the huge open air station.

  Walls were erected to either side of the queuing area to pen everyone in and stop them from skirting the security measures. I hugged the wall on the right, moving along beside the people hemmed into the queues. They frowned at us like we were cutting in but I ignored them, heading on to get a look at what was happening and hopefully find someone to get Reese and Katy inside to their family.

  Wardens stood in a thick line behind barriers in front of the landing platforms. They were sporting machine guns and grim expressions as they looked out at the crowd.

  “Please queue in an orderly fashion,” a smooth, feminine voice announced loudly over a tannoy system again and again.

  I checked that the others were still with me as the crush of bodies pressed us back against the wall. They looked to me for direction and I smiled reassuringly as I craned my neck to look at the cablecars.

  The large, glass pods weren't moving.

  Overhead, black drones flew back and forth above the crowd. I squinted at them, spotting cameras but also something that looked suspiciously like guns. I'd worked with military grade drones before and I recognised the weapons easily.

  I turned my attention back to the Wardens. On closer inspection, they seemed uneasy. Their knuckles were white where they gripped their guns and more than a few of them had sweat lining their brows.

  The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

  I turned to Katy and grabbed her hand. “We need to go.”

  “What?” she frowned at me, pulling away a little as she tried to spot the cablecars too.

  “Now.” I pulled on her arm, increasing my grip as she resisted.

  “Linc, we just got here-“

  “Something's wrong, trust me.” I caught Reese by the shoulder and started pushing him along too.

  “What's going on?” Reese asked, allowing me to steer him back the way we'd just come.

  “We need to leave, just trust me,” I said firmly, upping the pace as I shoved other people aside.

  Katy grabbed Lacey’s arm making her follow us and the others soon fell in too.

  “Move!” I shouted as the crowd blocked our progress. People grumbled as I shoved them aside but I didn't care. We had to get out of there before it was too late.

  “Linc, just tell me what's wrong,” Katy said urgently and I could feel her fear.

  “Trust me Katy. I promise if I'm wrong we'll come straight back but-“

  “All citizens are to return to their homes!” a male voice boomed over the tannoy. “There is to be no more entrance to the city at this time.”

  The crowd went mad, screaming and booing as they tried to force their way forward, demanding entrance to the sanctuary they'd been promised.

  “All citizens are to return to their homes!” the voice repeated. “Disobedience will not be tolerated!”

  “Faster,” I urged as I elbowed people out of our way. I kept Katy’s hand firmly in mine, refusing to let her go until we were safe.

  “You will not be warned again!” the voice said and the crowd roared its disapproval.

  An inhuman shriek sounded over the noise of the crowd and I stilled for half a second. On the far side of the crowd, people started screaming.

  I pulled Katy on faster, my heart starting to pound adrenaline through my veins as I could feel the tension rising.

  The press of bodies was suffocating but I could just make out the edge of the crowd ahead of us. We were nearly there. Just a little further-

  Gunshots rang out above all the other noise. Screams followed and the crowd which had been surging forward turned like a tide, desperate to flee instead.

  We ran with them, ignoring the things that caught under our feet and trying to pretend that it wasn't other people.

  The gunfire blasted again and again and the screaming upped in pitch as pure panic took over. The inhuman shrieking sounded louder than all of it as more and more voices took up the call.

  I lost sense of anything around me and could only focus on two things: putting one foot in front of another and Katy’s hand clamped in mine.

  I wouldn't let her go. No matter what happened, I wouldn't let her go.

  A woman slammed into me, blocking my way as I tried to carry on. She shrieked, her bloodshot eyes glaring as she launched herself at me. I didn't hesitate and fired a shot into her leg, sending her falling to the ground with a scream.

  Katy yelped in surprise but I didn't let the interruption slow us and dragged her on again. We had to get away before the place was either overrun with the afflicted or we were cut down by the drones.

  The crowd screamed, bullets flew and we ran faster than we'd ever run before.

  I didn't know what danger waited for us but I did know that so long as we were together we could face it. So I put one foot in front of the other and silently vowed to find a way out of this for all of us.

  Chapter Thirty Four

  Kaitlyn

  The world around me narrowed to the point where Lincoln’s hand grasped mine. So long as he had hold of me I knew I wouldn't fall. I knew I could keep running. And I knew my heart was still beating.

  The panicked screams of the crowd wound around me, tightening my own chest with the weight of their fear. Gunshots rang out again and again, so often that I stopped flinching from them. The screams of the contaminated people were worse. They seemed to come from everywhere and in the crush of bodies it was impossible to tell when one of them might suddenly be upon us.

  I held onto Lacey too, my fingers biting into her skin as Lincoln forced me onwards.

  A drone swept overhead, its glistening black paintwork glimmering in the sunlight as it twisted through the sky, raining death down on anyone unlucky enough to get caught in its sight.

  Someone slammed into me, almost knocking me from my feet and smacking my arm so hard that Lacey was wrenched from my grip.

  “Lacey!” I screamed as bodies piled into the space between us.

  I tried to twist back, searching for her in the sea of faces but Lincoln dragged me away.

  “Wait-“ I tried to pull him back but he didn't even slow, forcing me on as my feet stumbled.

  We made it out of the station and the crowd poured away down the hill ahead of us, screaming as the drones and afflicted raced after them in pursuit. Bullets flew, mowing down lines of people as they ran. Contaminated and unaffected alike, they didn't seem to care. There was so much blood that the concrete beneath my feet was stained red.

  I started to run after everyone else but Lincoln pulled me to the left, towards a brick wall which was at least a foot taller than me.

  “What are you doing?” I yelled as another drone roared across the sky behind us.

  “We’re going over.” Linc finally released his grip on me and cupped his hands as he put his back to the wall.

  “But-�
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  “Now!” he yelled, his eyes on the sky above me.

  I snapped into action before I could question him further. I just hoped he knew what he was doing because I sure as hell didn't. I placed my foot in his palms and he launched me skyward as I jumped. The top of the wall scraped my palms as I gripped it and swung my leg over, perching on the top and looking back towards the devastation behind us.

  My mouth fell open as I took in the massacre taking place beneath me. Drones swept through the sky, raining death down from above while the city Wardens advanced behind them, finishing off anyone who was left alive in the heap of bodies.

  The shrieking grew more intense as the contaminated people flew down the hill, racing after anyone they could catch.

  I felt sick. Bile raced up my throat, threatening to spill the contents of my stomach. I searched the crowd frantically for any sign of my friends and brother but all I could see was chaos.

  Lincoln jumped, catching the top of the wall and pulling himself up beside me. He paused too, glancing back before setting his gaze on me.

  “We can't stop,” he said, cupping my face in his palm. “We need to run.”

  I nodded silently, turning my attention to the alley on the other side of the wall.

  Lincoln jumped down, landing in a crouch before turning back to me and raising his arms. I didn't need any further prompting and pushed myself off after him, falling into the safety of his embrace.

  He set me back on my feet and we ran again, tearing along the alleyway which ran between the wall we had just climbed and the back of a warehouse.

  Lincoln pulled a pistol from his waistband and shoved it into my grasp. I curled my fingers around the cool metal, focusing on it as we kept running. He pulled a second gun from his belt and flicked the safety off as he ran, ready to take on anything that got in our way.

  The screaming got fainter as we ran on. Though whether it was because we were getting further away or there were just less people left alive, I didn't know.

  I wanted to go back. To find Lacey, Reese and the rest of our friends. But I knew we couldn't and the shame made tears spill down my cheeks.

  We rounded a corner and found ourselves on an unmade road lined with warehouses.

  Linc stopped suddenly and I nearly barrelled into him.

  “What-“ I began but he shoved me back, pushing me around the corner again with a finger to his lips.

  The sky buzzed as a drone closed in on us and I held my breath, my grip tightening on the pistol. There was nowhere for us to hide. If it rounded the corner, we were totally exposed and there would be nothing we could to do to stop it from firing on us.

  Lincoln stooped, grabbing a rock from the ground by our feet before launching it around the corner. It clattered noisily across the concrete and the drone opened fire.

  Lincoln leapt out, firing his pistol until the chamber rang empty.

  The drone’s machine gun suddenly went quiet before a huge crash sounded beyond the warehouse.

  “Come on. That drone going offline will probably have set off a distress beacon. There could be ten of them on us in thirty seconds!” Lincoln called as he started running again.

  I followed close behind him as he reloaded his pistol and sprinted to the end of the dirt road.

  I couldn't help but stare at the mangled black metal which was laying in our path, smoking slightly. The sight of it sent a slither of ice running through my veins. How many people had died because of that machine?

  At the end of the track, we came upon a locked door leading into one of the warehouses.

  Lincoln stopped, spinning around as he took in more of our surroundings than I guessed I was even capable of noticing.

  A faint buzzing reached my ears, growing steadily louder by the second. A drone was closing in on us again. And this time I didn't think it would be tricked by a rock.

  Lincoln turned back to the locked door and booted it as hard as he could. It groaned and he kicked it again and again until it finally burst open. The buzzing was closer now, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and I raced inside as Lincoln pushed the door closed again.

  I stopped, hoping we were finally safe out of sight of the skies but Lincoln grabbed my hand in the darkness and tugged me on.

  “They have infrared sensors as well as motion sensors,” he said as we started running. “They'll track us down in no time.”

  “What?” I gasped as panic loomed again. “Then how can we possibly escape?”

  “We need to get somewhere the sensors can't see us.” He didn't elaborate but started weaving between the huge crates which filled the warehouse, pulling me along behind him.

  At the far side of the huge space was a small window, it's glass so grubby that hardly any light found its way into us. Lincoln ran to it, using his sleeve to clear a patch for him to look out. After a few seconds, he used his elbow to break the glass and cleared the shattered shards with the muzzle of his gun. Once the frame was clear, he pulled himself through.

  I stowed the pistol in my waistband and struggled to clamber up behind him. I fell into the dirt outside as the buzzing in the sky drew closer again.

  Lincoln was already halfway along the street outside and I scrambled after him as he dropped to his hands and knees.

  “What are you doing?” I gasped as he wrenched a manhole cover from the ground.

  “Get in.” He pointed down into the darkness and I stared at him blankly. The buzzing of the drones was getting louder and my heart thumped unevenly as death stalked ever closer. “Hurry Katy.”

  I dropped to my hands and knees and shuffled backwards, lowering myself into the hole until my toes met with a ladder. I started down quickly, the cold, damp metal making my fingers numb as I descended into darkness.

  Lincoln followed so close that he almost stepped on my fingers more than once, making me up my speed.

  As he dropped below the surface, he dragged the cover back into place above us, sealing us inside and cutting the light off completely.

  We descended as quickly as the pitch black would allow, my pulse thundering in my ears as the fear of being discovered built around me.

  My foot smacked against hard concrete, taking me by surprise as I reached the bottom of the ladder and stepped away to give Lincoln room to follow.

  Once he was down too, we stood in silence, our laboured breaths the only thing to disturb the air around us as we strained to listen for the drones above.

  The buzzing was faint but unmistakable as they gathered beyond our hiding place, searching for us with infrared and motion sensors. I just hoped we were far enough below ground to fool them.

  I hardly dared to breathe as the buzzing came and went, the drones clearly circling as they tried to find their prey.

  Eventually it faded away and didn't come back, allowing my heart to finally beat normally again.

  “So what now?” I breathed and even my whisper felt like a shout as it cut through the tension surrounding us.

  “Now?” Linc asked, his voice husky. “Now we do the only thing we can; survive.”

  Acknowledgements

  A massive thank you to:

  My sister Caroline for doing everything from proof reading to staying up late discussing the finer points of our stories and for sharing this dream with me.

  My parents Steve and Pauline for teaching me everything I know and making me into the person I am today.

  My husband Richard, for being my everything and walking through life at my side.

  To Gary for putting so much time into helping me make my books better and always making me laugh.

  To my best friends, Jemima, Emma, Clare, Helen and Kirsty who have been there through thick and thin since the dawn of time (or some time around the beginning of secondary school anyway). I am blessed to have friends like you.

  To my whole family who have been so supportive.

  And most importantly to all of the people who have read and loved my books as much as I do. />
  A book only comes alive when it is being read by people who love it and I thank you for breathing life into mine.