They were waiting to see if shit went down while Riley was locked up.

  A part of him hoped it would.

  But another part of him wasn’t sure if it even mattered.

  Not after Hassan’s ring was found in Tamara Rutherford’s womb.

  He lifted himself from the flimsy mattress. His back and neck ached like shit. He couldn’t stop sneezing, the dust in here was so bad.

  But this time, after hearing the noise outside the cell, he covered his nostrils with his fingers. Did all he could to sneeze as silently as possible.

  He wasn’t sure what he was so afraid of.

  Just that there was something to fear.

  Something living inside these walls with them.

  Something none of them understood.

  Not yet.

  He stood. Crept over to the cell doors.

  And in the darkness, he saw a silhouette.

  It stood there. Stood staring in, watching him.

  “Hello?” Riley asked. His voice sounded surreal. Not like his. Like a younger version of himself.

  The person walked towards him.

  The shadows grew closer.

  The darkness grew more intense.

  And all of a sudden Riley couldn’t move. He was frozen. Paralysed.

  He didn’t want to look at the silhouette.

  He didn’t want to look into its eyes because he knew he’d seen it before.

  He knew what this was.

  He knew this—

  Red light filled the prison.

  A high-pitched squeal filled his cell.

  Standing outside the cell, Ted.

  Pedro.

  Anna.

  All of them bashing their bloodied fists against the metal.

  All of them turned.

  All of them trying to get to him.

  Tear him apart.

  Rip him—

  He woke. Woke suddenly, heart pounding, gasping for air. He looked around the cell. Still dark. Still the middle of the night. But no silhouette outside.

  Nobody there.

  All okay.

  He fell back onto his thin mattress, which was even less comfortable in reality than it was in dreamland. He held his hands over his warm, tired eyes. The taste of vomit lurked at the back of his throat.

  He was okay.

  Imprisoned, but okay.

  That was the main thing.

  He opened his eyes again. Stared up at the ceiling. No point going back to sleep. He’d do whatever he could to avoid it. ’Cause sleep meant nightmares. Nightmares meant Ted. Anna. Pedro. Anyone who’d died. Anyone he’d cared about.

  It was all fair game to the demons of the subconscious.

  So he just lay there. Stared up at the ceiling. He thought about Jordanna. About whether she knew the truth. About Hassan. About his ring being found inside Tamara’s corpse.

  He thought about James.

  Whether he knew Riley was locked up in here.

  What he’d do if he found out…

  He was considering the options when he saw movement in the corner of his right eye.

  His skin went cold. His muscles tensed.

  This wasn’t a dream.

  This was reality.

  He’d seen movement.

  He turned slowly. Looked over through the cell bars.

  No movement.

  No silhouette.

  Nothing.

  He closed his eyes. Rested them, just for a moment. He was tired. That’s all it was: fatigue. Exhaustion.

  He had to keep himself together.

  He had to get through the night.

  He had to—

  A screeching noise.

  Like a door opening.

  Somewhere inside this building.

  Riley went completely cold all over. He felt nausea building up inside, colours flickering around his eyes.

  Maybe someone was just coming in here to visit him. To check on him. See how he was doing.

  But then why hadn’t they turned the lights on?

  He waited. Waited a few seconds. Listened. In the silence, he swore he heard noises. Light footsteps. And outside, too. He thought he heard movement.

  He thought he felt that red glow of the blood moon inside him.

  He sat up on his mattress. Waited there a few seconds. When he heard nothing, saw nothing, he stood up. Walked over to the cell bars, legs like jelly.

  Figured it made sense to look outside.

  No harm in checking it out.

  No harm in…

  The noise.

  The footsteps.

  Definitely. Definitely outside this cell. Definitely pattering around the station.

  Riley leaned towards the bars. Looked to the right, arching his neck as far as he could. He couldn’t see anything in the darkness. At least the blood moon hadn’t shown its ugly face again. Bad things happened when the blood moon reared its head. Strange things happened—

  Movement.

  Movement, over by the main door; the tiniest source of light in this entire police station.

  Riley’s heart raced. His mouth was dry. He didn’t know what to do. Didn’t know what to say.

  So he did the only thing that seemed natural.

  “Hello?”

  He regretted speaking right away. Felt stupid, as his dumb voice echoed around the police station.

  The silhouette didn’t move.

  The figure didn’t move an inch.

  Nobody said a word in response.

  Riley thought about Tamara. He wondered if this was how she felt when the end approached. He wondered if after her blackout—if that’s indeed what happened—she’d woken up in the glow of the red moon with a figure standing over her, silent, watching.

  He wondered if she’d known what was happening to her.

  To her baby.

  He prayed to God she hadn’t suffered.

  He knew most prayers were futile.

  Riley started to move back. Move back towards his mattress. He was behind the bars of his cell. Maybe he was in the safest place in town.

  Unless someone had a key.

  Unless someone had a key and they were trying to kill him.

  But as he started moving back, he saw movement again.

  Heard rattling, this time from the other side of the police station.

  He moved back towards the bars of his cell. Towards the door. Just for a better look.

  When he pressed his hands against the cell door, something happened.

  He fell. Fell right through. The door swung free. He hit the police station floor.

  He didn’t understand what’d just happened, as he lay there on the hard, dusty ground.

  He’d been locked in that cell. Now he was out here.

  How had that happened?

  Was his cell unlocked all along?

  Was it…

  He stopped thinking when he heard the footsteps.

  He rolled over. Stood. Looked back into the darkness of the police station.

  He couldn’t see movement. But he could sense something looking at him. Sense something coming his way.

  Step by step.

  So he turned around and walked towards the police station exit.

  The figure was still stood there.

  Completely still.

  Riley approached it slowly. The fucker was blocking his was out of the police station. He hadn’t had much practice with his fists recently, but he knew he could still pack a punch if this guy wasn’t expecting him.

  And how could he be expecting him? He was still. Completely still. Like he hadn’t even noticed Riley.

  Riley walked closer. Held his breath. Kept his footsteps light. Grandma used to always tell him he could sneak into a bank and nobody would notice. Always a bonus because it meant he could creep downstairs and eat the mince pie they left out for Santa before Grandad got to it when he used to stay at theirs for Christmas.

  He kept on walking. Kept on moving towards the door. Slowly.

  Just a few more steps.

  When he got within metres of the figure, he saw something in the corner of his left eye.

  Movement.

  And then, he heard a groan.

  He couldn’t help letting go of his breath. Couldn’t help loosening his fists. Loosening his entire posture.

  It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be possible.

  He looked to his left.

  In the darkness, he saw another figure. He couldn’t make out its facial features. Could just about make out it was a woman.

  But he could also see a chunk was missing from the side of her neck.

  A chunk that blood spurted out of.

  Riley heard another groan. This time, from behind.

  The footsteps. The footsteps following him. Heading towards him.

  His head spun. He had to get away. Had to get out.

  So he turned.

  Went for the door.

  But the figure in front of Riley didn’t have his back to him anymore.

  It had its hands on Riley’s chest.

  Pressed its weight against Riley’s body.

  And snapped its teeth at Riley’s neck.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Riley felt the back of his head crack on the police station floor and knew he was in deep shit.

  He struggled around in the pitch darkness. Tried to grab the side of the creature’s head, push it away from him. All he could hear was the snapping of the creature’s teeth, the footsteps of its comrades edging closer, the racing of his own heart in his ears.

  The smell wasn’t bad. Wasn’t bad at all. Which meant they were probably fresh dead.

  Which was a bad sign.

  Fresh dead meant recently killed.

  And the only people alive around this place to be killed recently were the people inside the MLZ.

  Something terrible was happening to this place.

  Riley felt the creature’s teeth crack against his chest. He remembered what it felt like to be bitten. The burning sensation on each of his legs. The sense of defeat that crippled him. And although he’d been cured and immunised against the early form of the virus, although he’d bounced back once before, Riley didn’t want to take any chances. Not again.

  He pushed back against the heavy mass of the creature with all his strength. But it was just too difficult. Its teeth were pushing right down into Riley’s skin. On the verge of ripping it apart.

  He couldn’t push back. If he pushed back, the creature’s teeth would pierce his flesh.

  He had to do something else.

  He had to try—

  He heard something. Heard something burst somewhere above him.

  And then he felt lukewarm blood splatter down on his chest, over his face.

  He lay still for a few moments. The dead mass of the creature went limp.

  Something had happened.

  Something had happened to the creature trying to bite him.

  He didn’t have much time to try and find out what.

  The footsteps behind him were close, now. So close. So he pushed the creature away. Had someone shot it? Popped a bullet in its skull? Or…

  He thought back to Billy Warren.

  Thought back to the look in his eyes.

  The half-alive, half-dead look.

  And the way his head burst.

  Was it related?

  Was there a link?

  Riley scrambled away from the fallen creature. He could see the faint outline of a creature stumbling out from the back of the police station now. He had to get to the door. He had to get to the door and get away before they got to him. He had to get to his feet and get the fuck out of this place.

  He had to let the MLZ know what was happening here.

  He ran. Ran towards the door. Towards the dim light outside. Part of him wanted to stay here. To clear this place out. ’Cause if the creatures followed him outside, that put the entire MLZ at risk.

  He knew he needed to contain them. He knew that losing a single one of these creatures was asking for trouble.

  But he also knew he needed to get away.

  For his own safety.

  Let everyone know what was going on.

  When he reached the door, he realised he didn’t have much of a choice.

  More creatures were stumbling up the steps of the police station. Staggering towards the glass doors.

  The line of creatures went back further than Riley could see.

  But they were all so quiet.

  All so silent in this perfect darkness.

  Like they were learning some more.

  Adapting some more.

  Riley slammed the glass door shut. Looked around for some kind of bar, anything he could use to jam the door.

  But fuck. Maybe luring the creatures inside this place was the best option he had.

  So he turned. Opened the police station doors. Looked out at the mass of creatures, a line of them, unlike anything he’d ever seen.

  He hoped he was dreaming. Prayed this was just another fucking nightmare.

  But he knew he was just hoping for a miracle.

  “Hey!” he shouted.

  Some of the creatures tilted their heads. Looked in his direction.

  “Over here!”

  He heard his voice echoing through the MLZ and he wanted to run. Wanted to just disappear into a hole in the ground.

  But he had to do something.

  He couldn’t just disappear into the background.

  Not anymore.

  He had to lead.

  As much as he hated the idea, he had to lead.

  He turned around. Saw three creatures wandering towards him from the back of the police station. He waited for the first to get within a few inches, then dodged it. Pushed the second one back, sent it tumbling into the third. And as he took them down, outwitted them, Riley felt his confidence growing. Felt his determination growing.

  He could handle this world.

  He could deal with this problem.

  He could be the man he had to be.

  He ran past the fallen creatures. The echoing groans of the creatures outside were picking up now as they honed in on their prey. The closer they got to the doors, the darker the police station became.

  There could be anything in here.

  Hiding in the shadows.

  Watching.

  Waiting.

  “Shit!”

  Riley heard that voice outside. He heard shouts. Screams. And his stomach went hard.

  They knew.

  The people of the MLZ knew.

  It was a good thing, really. Good that they knew the truth. They knew this place was under attack.

  But hearing those voices, hearing the screams, hearing the gunshots peppering through the MLZ, it just confirmed the reality of what was happening. Confirmed the truth.

  Their home was under attack.

  Their safe place was safe no more.

  Riley reached the back of the police station. He checked all the windows. Tried to open them. Locked. Fucking locked.

  He scanned the station even more. There had to be another door. A fire door, or something.

  He didn’t look back.

  Didn’t look at the growing mass of creatures he knew were now inside the police station with him.

  Didn’t look back at them, blocking the only way out of here.

  He thought about going back to his cell. Locking himself in there. Laying low until someone else cleared this place out. A part of him wanted that so bad. Just go in there with a few Cobras and watch the world burn.

  But he knew that wasn’t an option anymore.

  He just had to get out of here.

  He just had to survive.

  No sooner had he had that thought than he found an unlocked window.

  It was small. Didn’t open up much. Even for his skinny frame, it’d probably not be wide enough for him to climb out of.

  But it was the only option he had.

  The only choice remaining.

  He took a few steadying—

  Oh, fuck the deep breaths.

  They never worked anyway.

  He climbed onto a desk. Heard the groans inching closer.

  Then he jumped.

  Grabbed the edge of the open window.

  Felt his fingernails snap as he landed on the ledge.

  He dangled there. Dangled above the oncoming mass of creatures. He tried to lift himself, but his upper body strength was nothing on what it used to be.

  But again, he didn’t have any option. He didn’t have any choice.

  He just had to drag himself up there.

  That, or die.

  He lifted himself towards the window. Felt the cool breeze from outside drifting in. And the more he inhaled it, the more real his potential safety got.

  He was getting out of this place.

  He was surviving.

  And nothing was stopping him.

  Nothing was—

  He felt a hand grab his left foot.

  He looked down instinctively.

  Big mistake.

  A crowd of creatures had swarmed around him. And further back, as far fucking back as he could see, even more creatures.

  All of them heading in his direction.

  All of them waiting to feast on his flesh.

  Riley imagined the sensation of being ripped to pieces by this unforgiving mob. A death like Pedro’s.

  At least it was better than Ivan’s death.

  Nothing worse than Ivan’s death.

  At least it was quicker than—

  No!

  He wasn’t dying here.

  No fucking way was he dying here.

  He tensed his arms. Kicked back at the creature. Kept on kicking and kicking until he was free, more outstretched arms reaching up for him.

  And then he stuck his head through the small window.

  Pulled his upper body through the gap.

  He had an image of himself getting stuck in here. Total claustrophobia. His legs dangling down above the creatures like a pig on a roast.

  But then he felt his body tilting forward.

  Felt himself falling to the ground below.

  He hit the ground with another disorienting smack. Took a few moments to recover from the nasty bang on the top of his head.

  And then he became aware of the creatures outside.

  The ones heading towards the police station.

  Never giving up.

  He ran down the alleyway. Ran in the opposite direction to the creatures. He could hear shooting. Shouting. Crying. Lights filled up the dark night sky. The moon was nowhere in sight, not this time.