Page 32 of Afflicted

I’m hyperventilating, my chest hurts as my lungs graze against my ribs. Silas’s hands hold me tighter, and he’s saying something but the roaring in my ears is so loud I can’t hear anything.

I collapse in on myself, and Silas catches me.

“Hey!” He exclaims, his arms around me. “Hey, it’s alright, Juliet, I’ve got you.”

My feet leave the ground, and I’m in his arms, my head bouncing gently against his chest as he carries me off somewhere. Everything is blurry and distant, and I don’t have it in me to fight. All I’m aware of is Silas murmuring, “I’ve got you. I’ve got you.” Over and over again.

CHAPTER11

SILAS

“Fifteen dead.”Sam throws a file across the table, papers scattering onto the floor. She slams a fist into the table, throwing herself back into a creaky swivel chair. “What the fuck is going on?”

We all exchange glances, which infuriates Sam even more.

“Well?” Her eyes move from one to the next, her hands spread. “Hmm? Well? I thought we have patrols, and guards on the gate, and fucking security cameras? Maybe a fucking alarm or two? You want to tell me a horde like that didn’t triggeranything?”

Goldman clears his throat and steps forward. “They didn’t trigger the alarms,” he says slowly. “I don’t know how, but it seems they disabled them. Or something did.”

“You mean to tell me the Afflicted have suddenly become hacking experts?” Sam laughs out loud, getting out of her chair so suddenly it tips onto the floor behind her. Her gaze is venomous as it’s cast over us. “I have to go and explain this fucking failure to the higher ups now, and it’s my fucking ass on the line. So thanks for that. Now, if you’d all be so kind and go and do your fucking jobs, and see how the fuck this could happen.”

She storms out of the room, slamming the door with such force it cracks clean up the middle.

Goldman laughs nervously, and I clap him on the shoulder. “I’d shut the fuck up, man. She has excellent hearing.”

The laughter immediately stops, and Goldman swallows hard.

“How the fuck could this happen?” Wallace, one of the older vamps, shakes his head. “Those alarms, I mean, can they even be hacked?”

Goldman nods. “Yeah, of course, with the right equipment.”

“If someone hacked those alarms, that means the Afflicted have company. Company that wants us dead.” All eyes in the room turn to me. “Either it’s rival vamps that are after the bloodbags, or it’s humans trying to take us out.”

Wallace guffaws. “Come on, humans? You think they’d be able to control the zombies like that? Enough to target an attack?”

I shrug, aware of the soot clinging to my skin. “I have no idea, but something’s going on, and until we know what it is, this compound isn’t safe.” I roll my shoulders and sigh. “Goldman, put extra patrols on the gate, and another lookout on the obs tower. If anyone else is coming towards us, I want to know about it sooner rather than later.”

Goldman nods and hurries out of the room, the broken door creaking loudly.

“Fifteen dead.” Wallace echoes Sam’s words. “That’s a big loss. Wonder if they’ll send us any more expended bags from the breeding farm.”

I’m not prepared for how much his words have my hackles rising, and my face must betray my emotions too readily, because Wallace’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

“You good, man?” He asks.

I huff out a breath and nod, rubbing the back of my neck. “Yeah, think I’m just a little worn out.” I wave him off as he starts to talk again. “I should check sick bay. There’s a few bloodbags there.”

“I’ll go and see how the dorm relocation is going,” Wallace calls after me as I leave.

The air is heavy with smoke and death, the edges of the horizon coloring orange as dawn begins to break. This was bad, the worst hit we’ve had since the early days of the affliction. My shoulders shudder a little as I recall the relief I felt when I realized Juliet was OK. No bites, no blood on her.

Of course, she’s the reason I want to go to the sick bay. She’s there with two or three others, all shaken more than anything. They’ll be fine. She’ll be fine. But I need to reassure myself that she’s alright.

The harsh overhead lights in the medical block flicker as the generators stutter and struggle. The grid is being tested, for any sign of intrusion, any sign of where they could have been hacked. Uneasiness snakes its way down my back. I don’t fucking like this.

I pass two curtained bays, where the humans are sleeping peacefully. I round the corner into the third one, and Juliet’s head jerks in my direction. Her eyes are filled with fear, and she shrinks in on herself on the bed.

I stop at the foot of her bed, giving her a smile. “How we doing?”

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