The Altered.

Chapter XLIII.

Lia looked at Miles, and he looked back at her, taking in her disbelieving expression before finally blurting, "If we die, you can blame me, okay? But we'll be fine."

This seemed to be good enough for Lia, for she turned away from him again. When they reached the back door of the library, Miles had to stop and just try to figure out how to open it. Unlike the doors at the front of the library, these ones weren't automatic, nor glass. "How the fuck do you even open these?" Miles muttered, pacing up and down alongside the door, patting it up and down to try and find some kind of mechanism that could open it. There were no identification or passcode screens, nowhere to insert some type of card, no flashing light.

"Miles," Lia said.

"What?"

"Is that a handle?"

Miles stopped walking and turned to where Lia was pointing. Sure enough, there was a simple turning knob to open the door. "Fucking old-fashioned doors," Miles grumbled as he grabbed the knob and turned it. It wasn't locked, and the door swung open at once.

"Take the lead," Lia said, but Miles was already doing that. It was colder, outside, with the chilly wind and his wet shirt. Where the Unaltered pair stood currently was under an old mosaic roof and a paved ground. Unlike the front of the library entrance, the back entrance looked like it hadn't been changed since some time in the very early 2000's, which at this point was more than fifty years ago. The worn look of the place might have been charming to others, but it only annoyed Miles. The wooden cafe chairs and rustic tables that sat on the pavement outside their respective coffee shops looked just as old as their surroundings.

Though the state of the place irked him, he was grateful for the shelter that the colourful roof provided. "This way." He moved towards the footpath that came away from the patio area and prepared to be hammered with the heavy rain once more. "It doesn't look like anybody else is around," he commented when Lia caught up.

"Like you said," she put in, "it's easy to hide in this rain."

That didn't make Miles feel any better, but he knew she was right. There could be Altered anywhere nearby and through the fog, they'd be essentially invisible. Miles winced as left the shelter behind and started along the path, buckets of rain immediately reminding him that there was no way he could've hoped to stay dry.

Miles felt Lia grab his hand and then shout over the rain, "I don't want to get separated!"

Miles didn't provide a verbal response, but tightened his grip on her hand to acknowledge that he'd heard her. He ducked his head against the icy bullets that fell relentlessly as he tried to navigate his way to where they were going. He lifted his head every time they passed a store to check what it was. They passed a souvenir store, a bakery and a second-hand bookstore before Miles finally located the small clothing store through his hazy vision, and he quickly pulled Lia towards it.

The glass door was already shattered. That made Miles immediately uneasy, but he didn't hesitate before stepping through the doorframe and guiding Lia in after him.

At once, being out of the rain was a relief. Miles sucked in a breath of air and shook out his hair like a dog, letting go of Lia's hand.

Lia pushed wet locks of ebony hair from her forehead. "Somebody else was here."

Miles narrowed his eyes as he eyed the shattered glass all over the floor. "Or is here."

"Do you still have your knife?"

Miles nodded and lifted the weapon to show her.

Finally, he took in his surroundings, taking a few more steps away from the doorway. The shop was small and Miles was immediately annoyed to find that there would be no clothing his size here. It was all adult clothing, and though he was sure most of the others in his group would find a fit in these he doubted his low height would let him. As bothersome as that was, he tried to be glad about the fact that they'd at least found this place and they'd have warm clothes.

"Let's get more than we need," Lia suggested.

Miles was about to respond when, from behind the checkout desk, something rattled. He froze. "What was that?"

Lia shook her head helplessly, also glued to her place.

Miles took one cautious step forward, then another. "Hello?"

Nothing happened.

He turned back to Lia. "Let's just get what we need and get out of here."

She nodded immediately, snatching up a translucent shopping basket to put the clothes in and then started walking. Miles followed her, falling into step by her side. Examining the racks and shelves as he passed them, Miles was searching mostly for sizes that would fit him, since Lia was already starting to stack tops and bottoms into the basket that would fit everybody but him. Slowly, he started to drift away from Lia, getting graphic t-shirts that caught his eye. He tried not to pick anything up that he wasn't going to put in Lia's basket, for he was still saturated and didn't want to get anything wet. Not that it would matter much.

"I'll be back in a second," Miles said to Lia, and without waiting for her answer he pulled away and moved towards the either side of the shop, where he was hoping to find sizes that fit him. It was hard to move from place to place quietly when his wet shoes squeaked on the linoleum floor, but he tried to anyway. Winding his way around racks and shelves of men's clothing, Miles tried to focus on things that would actually be suitable to wear instead of just what caught his eye first, which wasn't so hard considering his usual regulation was to prioritise comfort over style anyway. He reminded himself also to search for shoes that would fit him - he wouldn't be able to stand these soggy shoes for much longer.

Miles had had his attention caught on pleated skirts when there was a soft noise from behind him that almost sounded like footsteps. Miles stilled.

He turned around, but the lighting was dim and there didn't appear to much out of place. He could still hear Lia moving around the other side of the store, so he trusted that it had just been her that he'd heard.

Probably. Hopefully.

Miles moved away from the skirts - they'd be too impractical to wear during the predicament the world was in right now - still trying not to get his wet hands all over the clothes, though he was drying off a little bit over time. He located shirts in the smallest size offered and started sorting, coming to terms with the fact that he was probably going to end up wearing something too big for him. It was only occurring to him now that it would have been more convenient to have a basket of his own, but he hadn't been prepared to split up with Lia.

There was another noise behind him, and this time Miles knew it wasn't Lia, for it was close to him. Close enough to be unnerving. Miles stopped moving, feeling his heartbeat accelerate.

He didn't turn around to look this time.

There was another movement close to him - so close he practically felt it.

Then, a voice.

"Are you scared?"

________________

+1914 Words.