Afflicted by Susanne Valenti

Author:Susanne Valenti [Valenti, Susanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-12-13T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Kaitlyn

A girl jumped in front of me as I let out another terrified scream and almost fell into the gutter. She had short cropped black hair, shaved up the righthand side but hanging to her chin on the left. For the briefest of seconds I was just glad that the man would reach her before me. Then my brain kicked into gear and I reached for her, hoping to drag her aside before he could make it to the end of the alley. If we could just get back to my friends he might back off. There were a lot of us and only a fool would take on a football team alone.

As the screaming man closed the distance between us, the girl raised her arm and sprayed something into his face.

He howled in pain and collapsed to the ground, clutching his eyes.

I grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back as he rolled towards us, screaming a string of curses intermingled with threats of what he'd do to us when he could see again.

My mouth hung open as I gaped at the man writhing on the concrete. He clawed his face so hard that blood slid down his cheeks. He was wearing dark pants but his shirt was gone and groups of four gouges marked his back as if he'd been trying to scratch his own skin off.

“What the hell-“ I began, unsure what I was even going to ask.

“Thanks for the distraction,” the girl said as she shoved the can of pepper spray back in her pocket and caught my elbow, steering me away from the alley. “He’s been following me for the last two blocks.”

I opened my mouth to respond but couldn't seem to find the right words for the kind of crazy I'd just experienced.

“Kaitlyn?” Ryan called worriedly as he rushed towards us and looked over my shoulder at the screaming man.

“He attacked me. I think he's one of the people who the water turned psycho,” I explained shakily. Tears started to prick the backs of my eyes and I blinked furiously to clear them before they could fall. No way I was going to break down in the middle of the street with Demi looking on. She'd have enough ammo to use on me for the next month if I let that happen. Not to mention what Reese would start doing as his next impression.

I let Ryan wrap a protective arm around me as we jogged back towards the rest of my friends, leaving the shrieking man behind us. The girl stayed by my side, her face grim as her eyes darted about restlessly. She reminded me of that possum I'd saved with Linc. Split between the desire to trust us or run for it.

“Thank you,” I said belatedly, realising I'd let her save my life without so much as giving her a hello. Everything might be falling to shit around us but my mom would be ashamed of me if she knew I'd forgotten my manners like that.

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