Page 42 of Afflicted

“Not like a piece of ass?”

My rage is so incandescent for a second I can practically smell it, ashen and scorching straight down to my lungs. I want to jump across the table and claw his fucking eyes out. I want to rip his fucking tongue out.Piece of ass. That’s my fucking girl he’s talking about.

“With all due respect, sir, you’re way outta line.” I’m almost proud of myself for swallowing down all that rage. “I’ve not touched a human, not once. I’ve never given you reason to doubt me. I’ve never given you reason not to trust me.”

Anderson cocks an eyebrow. “No, I suppose you haven’t. But that doesn’t change the fact that you need to watch yourself.”

“I amwatchingmyself, sir.”

We stare at each other for a moment, as though daring the other to make a wrong move. Instead we both just watch, until Anderson dips his head.

“Alright, King, you take it easy on yourself. You’re a good officer. Keep it that way.”

Keep it that way. The words pursue me through the rain, all the way back to my cabin. They’re a thinly veiled threat.

I’ve heard what happens to vamps who break the rules before. Stripped down, chained up with silver, and injected with ever-increasing doses of silver nitrate. Eventually you’re nothing but a heap on the floor, screaming and begging for the pain to stop. They starve you of blood. They starve you of light. They leave you there to rot until you’re a ragged corpse. Then they feed you. And then they start it all again.

It doesn’t happen often. The very idea of it is so monstrous that no one dares bend the rules.

But I’ll bend the rules. I’ll bend them till they break and shatter around me. And if I crawl out of this a withered corpse on bloody hands, then so be it.

CHAPTER14

JULIET

Since the attack,things have been different. Everyone is much quieter, more aloof, less smiley. Not even sunshine can cheer us up.

The feeders have been busy laying new alarm lines, rigging up new security cameras, putting reinforced metal bar locks on the dorm doors. There are bars on all the windows now, not just the dorms. The doors are locked while we eat. Armed guards stand at the door while we shower. I feel less and less like that free range chicken, and more like a battery hen. It’s only a matter of time before they won’t let us out anymore.

I stare at the bowl of ice cream on the table in front of me, watching as it melts slowly. They’re giving us better food, trying to distract us and cheer us up. Like we’re toddlers who’ll be sated with a bowl of chocolate ice cream.

Matt puts a hand on my leg, and when I look up at him, he smiles at me.

“You OK?” He asks.

I nod, shoving my spoon into my bowl and pushing it away. “Yeah, just not hungry,”

Gina eyes me from across the table with all the concern of a worried mother. “Sweetie, you’ve barely eaten in days.”

I shrug. “I’m not hungry.”

I can practically feel that she and Matt exchange a glance, but I don’t lift my gaze until I sense movement at the door. I look up, and Silas walks into the cafeteria. His eyes land on me straight away, and where a few months ago I’d have hated that he’s looking at me, the way his face melts as he looks at me just makes me want to cry. He looks so worried. He looks like he really cares.

Matt’s arm is instantly around my shoulders, and I drop my eyes back to the table. He told me he didn’t want Silas around me, and I need to respect that. I know that.

“That fucking guy,” Matt mumbles.

“He’s just worried,” I say quietly.

Suddenly there’s a shout, and something smashes at the other end of the room. We all crane our necks to see what’s going on, and two of the men at the far table have gotten to their feet and are hurling the bowls of ice cream against the walls.

The feeders are yelling at them to stop, but the men keep going.

“You think you can buy us off with fucking ice cream?” One of them yells, throwing another bowl at the window, which smashes around the metal bars that now sit against it. “We’re all here at the mercy of those fucking zombies and you’re here feeding us fucking ice cream?”

Silas approaches them with out-stretched hands as more feeders rush into the cafeteria behind him.

“Hey man,” Silas says, “I know you’re frightened, but we’re doing everything we can.”

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