Page 43 of Afflicted

Matt scoffs, rising to his feet. “Fuck you, you fucking freak!”

Gina eyes him with alarm, and I try to pull him back down onto the bench.

“Matt, shut up,” I say urgently, but Matt shakes me off, rounding the table to join the men who are throwing bowls.

“You fucking freaks are leaving us out here like lambs to the slaughter,” Matt says, and more people get up from their tables, agreeing and sweeping bowls off the tables.

Silas watches Matt approach, and his gaze is lethal.

“Everyone needs to calm down!” The red-headed feeder climbs up on a chair, her hands held up. “We told you all, we’re going to protect you!”

Someone hurls a bowl directly at her, and she jerks out of the way. Suddenly it’s like the room explodes, and everyone is throwing everything they can at the feeders. Everyone is yelling at the same time, a symphony of fury and anguish that’s so loud I cover my ears with my hands.

Matt rushes at Silas, who bares his fangs.

He’s going to fucking kill him.

I try to fight my way across the room, feeders grabbing humans and wrestling them to the ground. By the time I reach Matt and Silas, Matt is against the wall with Silas’s arm pressed against his throat.

I grab Silas’s shoulder, and his head snaps around to look at me.

“Stop!” I plead. “Please stop! Don’t hurt him!”

Silas’s eyes are blazing red, but his face changes as he looks at me. I wrap my hands around his arm, trying to pull him away from Matt.

“Please, Silas.” I shake my head. “Please, don’t hurt him.”

He sucks in a breath when I say his name.

Matt looks back and forth from Silas to me, then gunshots have us all ducking. A feeder has an assault rifle in their hands, and is firing at the ceiling. They’re probably blanks, but the sound has me instantly on the floor with my hands over my head. Someone is over me, shielding me with their body, and I turn my head, expecting to see Matt’s face.

But it’s Silas, covering me, arms caging me in as he looks around the room. “Stay down,” he barks at me as the gunfire continues.

I huddle underneath him, clutching my hands to my mouth to stop myself from screaming.

Finally the gunfire stops. There’s shouted commands of “get up” and “move”, and I peer out from underneath Silas to see feeders hauling people to their feet, shoving them out the door. The two men who started it all are being held against the wall next to the doors.

Silas gets up into a crouch and pulls me into a sitting position. He clutches my face in his hands and looks me over.

“Are you OK? Did I hurt you?” He runs a hand over my head.

“I’m fine, you didn’t hurt me.”

He gives me a weak smile, stroking my cheek gently. “Good.”

He’s thrown to the ground and away from me as Matt starts pounding his fists into him. “I told you to stay the fuck away from her!” Matt’s voice is shrill with fury, his fists flying.

“Matt, stop!” I try to pull him away, even though I know Silas doesn’t need any help. But one of Matt’s punches misses, and his elbow smashes into my cheek bone as he pulls his arm back to lay into Silas again. I’m thrown flat on my back, cloudy white stars floating in my vision.

I’m aware of Matt over me, asking if I’m OK, saying sorry over and over again. I blink rapidly, trying to focus through the throbbing pain in my face.

“I’m OK,” I murmur, letting him help me up. “I’m OK, I’m fine.”

“I never meant to hurt you,” Matt says, clutching me to his chest. “I’m so sorry.”

I lean into him, my head feeling fuzzy. “It’s OK, really.”

Silas is standing next to us, his face dark with anger. He wants to kill Matt, I can see it in his eyes. But he says nothing, backing away from us as other feeders herd us out of the cafeteria and into the yard.

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