Chapter 6 6

Students screamed.

They rushed the double doors.

Aden saw the infected students near the exits move. They didn't run. They blocked the doors.

"Chadwick!" Aden yelled.

He grabbed his friend by the collar of his shirt and yanked him behind a concrete pillar.

"What is happening?" Chadwick screamed, clutching his head.

"Stay down," Aden ordered.

Elise was standing on a table. She looked calm. She was watching the infected.

"They're sealing us in," she muttered.

Aden pulled Chadwick's phone from his pocket. His own was destroyed.

"Unlock it," Aden said.

Chadwick fumbled with his thumbprint. "Okay, okay."

Aden started dialing 911.

A gloved hand shot out, grabbing his wrist. Elise.

"Don't," she said, her voice low and urgent. "It's a trap."

Aden's desperation outweighed his caution. He yanked his arm free. "We need help! They're killing people!"

He finished dialing and pressed the phone to his ear. The line clicked open instantly.

It rang once. Twice. Static crackled on the line.

"911, what is your emergency?" The operator's voice was calm. Too calm.

"Argent High School," Aden shouted. "Terrorist attack. Biological weapon. We're trapped in the cafeteria. Send SWAT!"

Silence on the line.

Then, a sound. Slither. Crunch.

"We are already there," the operator said.

The voice changed. It became the raspy, distorted voice of the parasites.

Aden froze.

"Don't worry," the thing on the phone giggled. "We are coming to collect you."

Before Aden could even react, the phone was snatched from his hand.

Elise.

She crushed the device in her fist without a second thought.

"Are you insane?" Aden yelled, the horror of the phone call mixing with rage. "That was..."

"That was a beacon, you idiot!" Elise said coldly, tossing the pieces aside. "I tried to warn you. The network is compromised. The police, the emergency services... they're gone."

"How do you know?"

"My family has been monitoring the chatter. The city fell an hour ago."

She reached under her skirt and pulled out two silver batons. She flicked her wrists, and they extended.

"There is no rescue," Elise said. "There is only the hunt."

At the doors, the infected students began to change.

Their faces split open. Skin peeled back like a banana.

Tentacles lashed out.

A boy near the door tried to push past them.

A tentacle wrapped around his neck and snapped it.

The screaming in the cafeteria reached a fever pitch.

Students scrambled under tables.

Aden saw Chloe Lane. She was huddled under a table near the salad bar. She was sobbing.

Jessie was walking toward her.

Jessie's face was gone. In its place was a maw of needle-teeth.

Aden felt his blood heat up. The silver he had eaten was pumping through him.

He looked at Elise.

"Help her," Aden said.

Elise glanced at Chloe. "She's prey. It's natural selection."

"She's a person!"

"She's meat."

Aden cursed.

He looked around. He grabbed a heavy metal chair.

He didn't think. He didn't calculate.

He charged.