Crawlers

10:08pm

So that was how Ben found himself kicked out of the monitor room for the second time in less than half an hour. Only, instead of continuing to get on the wrong side of Josh, this time he seemed to have blown things completely with Jasmine. 

What she'd said about him being 'smug' had stung him badly. He was all too aware of the privileges of his fee-paying education. He did go to a posh school - and, to his shame, some kids at that school did think less of people who weren't so lucky. That was why Ben had flinched when Josh had called Samantha a 'pleb'. It was exactly the kind of obnoxious, arrogant attitude that he most hated to be associated with. And now Jasmine had apparently classed him squarely in the same category. 

Standing once again with his back to the monitor-room door, he looked at the rest of the group. 

Robert and Hugo were simply staring into space. Ben supposed they must have zoned out; gone into some kind of mental holding pattern while they waited to be rescued. But their expressions, he noticed, were every bit as eerily blank and vacant as those on the faces of the adults outside. 

The silent, mousey girl - Ben had almost forgotten her name again... Lisa, that was it - just sat on her chair. Her hair still hung over her face and she was still hugging her knees, rocking herself back and forth, again and again. 

Samantha and Lauren were huddled over their phones, whispering about something. 

And lolling in a chair, looking up at Ben, was Josh. 

'Back with us so soon?' Josh asked - with what Ben considered a textbook example of the ultimate 'smug grin'. 

'Er-' said Ben. But he was saved from having to think up some lame excuse for why he wasn't next door with Jasmine by a sudden interruption. 

An explosion of sound resolved into beats. There was a bar of tinny keyboard intro from a mobile phone's built-in speaker. Then Samantha and Lauren started to sing. 

'OOOOOOOH baby babe...' they crooned, then looked at each other and burst into giggles as everyone turned to stare at them. 

'Er... 'scuse me?' said Hugo, who'd turned round in his chair. 

'OOOOOOOH baby babe,' they sang, 'I'm a slave to your love!' 

'Excuse me,' Hugo repeated. 'Do you mind?' 

'Mind what?' Samantha asked innocently. The music continued, sounding incredibly loud after all the relative quiet in the room. Lauren too had stopped singing, but her grin was wide and her eyes gleamed in gleeful anticipation. 

'The music,' said Hugo. 

'What about it?' 

'Could you turn it off, please?' 

'Why?' 

'Because it's rubbish?' Hugo suggested. 

Samantha's eyes widened as she pretended to looked shocked for a moment. Then she shrugged. 'That's just your opinion.' 

Hugo stared at her, nonplussed, as the music continued. Samantha stared straight back. 

'Look,' he managed eventually, 'I really, really don't want to have to listen to this stuff.' 

'Cover your ears then,' said Samantha. 

Hugo blinked. 'You... you're not the only person in the room, you know!' he spluttered. 

'Well spotted,' said Samantha serenely. 'So?' 

'So... why should the rest of us have to put up with your horrible racket?' 

'Why should we have to turn our music off?' Samantha asked back. 'Just because you say so?' 

'But... can't you listen to it on headphones or something?' 

'Don't have none,' said Samantha, still staring at him. 

It was a challenge, Ben realised. This was a game that Samantha had obviously played many times before. And now it was Hugo's move. 

What could he do? Ben watched Hugo's face as the possibilities slowly percolated through the brain behind it. He could try to grab the phone from the girls, but that was very physical: Hugo was reluctant to push things that far. Ben watched him look to Josh for guidance. 

But Josh shook his head. 

Now Ben could see that Hugo was really confused. Hugo always relied on Josh. But while being mates with Josh might count for something at their school, apparently that meant nothing here. 

Hugo was out of his element. He was helpless. 

'Well, I think it's very selfish of you!' he said finally. 

Samantha's grin was triumphant. 

Ben just watched. An ugly thought had occurred to him. 

He was in the same position as Hugo, he realized; worse, probably. He knew next to nothing about the people in the room with him. Even the ones from his own school weren't much more than strangers to him - or enemies. And yet here they all were, trapped together, reacting to the situation in their various unpredictable personal ways. 

What if Jasmine was right? he thought. What if one - or more! - of the group had been secretly bitten and taken over? Suddenly it didn't seem like such a ridiculous idea after all, for one simple reason: 

How would he know?