As they retraced their steps to the stairwell, Noah leaned over to Brian and whispered, “You know, we’re never gonna be cured, not with them pretending their completely functional treatment is ‘insufficient’ or whatever.”
“Well, obviously,” Brian muttered in reply. “We’ll have to take it upon ourselves if we ever want to get out. And I don’t know about you, but I’m planning on leaving at the soonest opportunity.”
Noah glanced over his shoulder to see Phil glaring daggers at them, too far away to hear them properly but clearly disapproving of their private exchange. Noah pulled a face and was gratified to see him flinch.
They descended one flight of stairs and came out into a corridor that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a commercial hotel. The walls were still blue, but the lighting was softer and more tasteful, small rectangular sconces affixed to the walls rather than the harsh ceiling panel lights that were present throughout the rest of the building. Two broad-leafed potted plants were placed to either side of the stairwell exit. There was even a thin carpet with a gray-and white spotted pattern covering the floor.
“An Insight employee will pick all of you up tomorrow morning at eight AM for your appointment,” Phil said to the group of students after they had come to a halt. “Any questions?”
He was met with silence, so he smiled and turned to follow his assistant back to the stair entrance. As the man turned his back on them, Noah was completely caught off guard by the sudden overwhelming instinct to rush forward and simply tear into his unprotected neck. He staggered forward, helplessly propelled by the force of the compulsion.
The doctor was completely oblivious to his impending death, but Noah’s friends immediately caught on to the danger he was in.
“Stop!” Leah shouted, and thought Noah did nothing of the sort, Phil paused and looked back with raised eyebrows. The expression morphed into surprise and then horror at the sight of Noah’s quickly approaching form.
Noah lurched to a halt as the doctor made eye contact with him, freezing several feet away and gazing forward expressionlessly.
Internally, he was debating whether he would be able to silence the man before he yelled for help and his assistant reappeared from the stairwell. Before he could come to a decision, someone yanked him backwards from behind, and he unwilling stumbled back a few steps. The doctor was already backing away, within reach of the stairwell now, and Noah unhappily realized that he would not be able to satisfy his hunger at this moment. He simply stood there, not putting up a fight, resigned to the loss.
“Stupid zombie,” Phil mumbled, fear coloring his face. He shakily hurried into the stairwell and pulled the door shut behind him. He must have been confident it would keep the students confined to their designated floor, but all it took was a keycard to unlock. If Noah weren’t surrounded by his fellow students, it would have been an easy matter of following the unsuspecting man.
“What was that?” Brian hissed angrily. “You’re not even injured!”
Noah stared mutely at his friend, struggling to center himself. Despite his numbness, he could somehow feel his stomach complaining that he had let an easy meal get away. His hands were still shaking in anticipation.
“Maybe he got too much dust taken out when he got his treatment,” Clarissa offered. Both she and Violet were looking awkwardly at Noah. They had known their infection made them susceptible to rather unseemly behavior, but there was a large difference between being told something and seeing it play out before their eyes.
“That shouldn’t matter!” Brian spat out. “Apparently, Noah literally killed and ate a man between then and now! I think my concern for my friend is justified!”
“I only ate a little bit of that guy,” Noah mumbled. “Just a bit of his arm. And his throat.”
Mark shuddered. “My man, you’re crazy.”
Noah shot a glance at Elias standing quietly to the side, hands jammed in his pockets. “How come you were able to resist?”
The kid shrugged. “You said I should wait until one of them was alone. He wasn’t alone.”
Noah scratched his neck. Holding himself back would have been utterly impossible; it simply hadn’t been an option. “Maybe it’s because I’ve been infected longer,” he said to himself.
Brian and Leah looked at each other doubtfully.
“You might want to think about hitting Insight up for one of those devices to keep your hunger under control,” Mark suggested.
“You heard the doctor, that would only make it worse in the long run,” Brian said, shaking his head. “And as bad as Noah seems now, trust me, it can get worse. It wouldn’t end well.”
Mark shrugged. “It might be an acceptable stop-gap measure until we actually get cured.”
“That depends on how soon they drop the pretense that they can’t cure us in the first place,” Leah grumbled.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“How about we get out of the main corridor before another person comes along,” May proposed before anyone else could add their opinion.
“Good idea,” Noah said, relieved. He didn’t want to sit around while everyone told him how badly he needed help.
“Wait, before y’all disappear, let’s make a group chat,” Clarissa suggested. “In case anything happens.”
“Oh, yeah! We can use it to coordinate a plan for tonight,” Brian said enthusiastically.
“A plan?” May asked warily.
“Sabotage,” Brian said with an evil grin. Clarissa smiled with almost exactly the same expression.
“That might not be the smartest idea,” Violet piped up. “I mean, they’re the ones who can cure us.”
“Psht, we could do it ourselves,” Brian said. “All it takes is a freaking vacuum. Everyone has a vacuum.”
“I don’t,” Violet said pointedly.
“I’m sure you can borrow someone’s.” Brian waved her protests aside. “And if you don’t want to participate, I don’t care. Do what you want to do.”
She stared uncertainly at him. “I’ll join the chat, but I’m not committing to anything.”
Brian and Clarissa both shook their heads. “Can’t have you selling us out,” Clarissa said.
“Fine. I’m out, then.”
“Me too,” Mark said after a moment. “I don’t want to get on Insight’s bad side.”
“Suit yourself, but I’m pretty sure there’s no ‘good’ side when it comes to Insight,” Brian shrugged. “Everyone else is in?”
Nods all around.
“I’mma turn in,” Violet muttered, glancing at her room card. “Not sure what I’ll do for the next ten hours, but anything is better than messing with Insight.” She trudged away towards her room.
“See you guys around,” Mark said, stepping away as well. “Please be careful.”
Once both deserters had disappeared into their respective doors, the remaining six students turned towards each other with burgeoning excitement.
“So, what’s the plan?” Leah asked, eyes shining.
“Well, I definitely want to blow up those vats Noah found,” Brian said. “I’m afraid of what Insight has in mind for all that dust. Better to take it off their hands. It’s gotta be super flammable, right?”
“Energy sources generally are,” Elias agreed.
“It’s easy enough to check,” Clarissa said, pulling a matchbook from her pocket with frightening speed.
Everyone except Brian stared at her in alarm. “This might not be the safest method-” Elias began, but Clarissa looked him dead in the eyes, hacked up a cloud of dust, and struck a match just outside the hovering blob of darkness.
“You can back up if you want,” she said casually, and gave them about half a second to backpedal as fast as they could before she held the flame up into the viscous cloud.
A loud crack and a flash of orange filled the air, and the cloud was gone.
Clarissa was left with a coating of char across her face and outstretched arm. She slowly turned to the other students with wide eyes.
“Okay, that was stupid,” Elias said. “You could have burned your face off. And you wouldn’t even be dead, you’d be an insane zombie.”
Clarissa rubbed her neck. “Yeah, that was kind of impulsive. Sorry.”
“At least it answered our question,” Leah sighed. “Looks like as long as we can get to those vats we’ll have an easy way of destroying the dust. The only problem will be getting there.”
“And getting out,” Noah added. “At that point, it might be better just to leave Insight altogether, if we can manage it.”
“It’s great that the plan is coming together, but can we get into our rooms now?” May interjected. “We’ve been out here too long. Someone is bound to pass through this hallway sooner or later, and not all of us have the best self-control when it comes to eating strangers.”
“Oh, yeah,” Clarissa said, glancing at Noah. He just crossed his arms and stared back, unable to deny the accusation.
“We can finish planning over the group chat,” May said. “Everyone’s in it, right?”
They all nodded. Leah checked her phone and swore. “Geez, my phone is nearly dead.”
“Do you need a charger?” Clarissa asked hopefully, already reaching into her coat.
Leah cracked a smile. “Nah, I got my own. I just haven’t had a chance to use it.”
“Well, let me know if you need another one,” Clarissa said pleasantly.
They started to drift apart, peering between their cards and the room numbers along the wall. Before anyone had successfully found their quarters, a door halfway down the corridor clicked open and a woman stepped out.
Both Noah and Elias looked discreetly towards her, waiting to see if anyone else would emerge from the room.
“Don’t even think about it!” Leah yelled, rapidly approaching from behind.
“I’m not. She’s infected,” Noah said flatly. Elias nodded.
“Is she?” Leah asked suspiciously, coming to a halt beside them and peering down the hall at the startled woman.
Noah rolled his eyes. “Can’t you tell?”
“No, and I still have no idea how you can.”
He just shrugged. “Me neither.”
The woman was headed towards them, though her steps were hesitant. “Are you all okay?” she asked as she came within conversational range.
“We’re great,” Noah said. “Are you here for the same reason we are?”
She raised her eyebrows. “I doubt it.”
The rest of the students drew up behind them, curious about the clearly non-Insight affiliated person.
“Well, you’re obviously infected. Aren’t you here to be cured?” Noah asked.
“Don’t be pushy,” Brian muttered beside him.
The woman smiled. “I actually came to Insight specifically to be infected.”
She laughed when she was met with six disbelieving faces. “A friend of mine who works here said they’d found some kind of miracle cure. I figured I have nothing to lose, might as well give it a try. So long story short, I showed up this morning and they had me inhale some kind of smoke, and now I’m supposed to wait for a few hours for it to take effect. If the doctors are to be believed, by the time I wake up tomorrow, I’ll be cancer-free for the first time in four years.”