"We're all going to die," Aaron said positively.
"We're not going to die," Miles responded.
Kano cocked his head. "Declan did."
Miles might have said something in response, if Kano hadn't looked to be halfway to tears. Instead, Miles said, "Do we have everything we need?"
The sun had just set. Since Bri's group and the others from Miles' group had returned to the library, they'd spent the time planning and packing. Miles had been sure to jam anything that seemed important to him in a backpack. Well, almost everything important to him - Aaron couldn't fit in a backpack, though, so Miles had just anchored himself to Aaron with a grip on his hand.
The thought that today, they could end all of this, that the Altered could become normal people again, was terrifying and wonderful. What would happen afterwards? Miles glanced up at Aaron, but Aaron was distracted making sure Eira had everything.
"We have the e-Screen, right?" Aaron asked.
Eira responded with a glare. "You think I'd leave it behind?"
Aaron didn't seem to have the confidence to confess that that's exactly what he'd thought, so he looked away from Eira. When his eyes fell to Miles, Miles bounced up and down once on the balls of his feet. "We're really doing this."
"We're going to save the world," Aaron decided forcefully.
Miles sure as hell hoped they were.
Miles' group and Bri's group were currently gathered by the bottom of the escalator on the lower floor, preparing anxiously to make their way to the door. Aaron was swinging his bat in one hand, and most others had some kind of weapon too.
"We need to leave now," Claire insisted, nudging Bri with her shoulder. "It's getting dark. That's good."
"Keep in mind," Lia warned, "that although we can use the darkness to our advantage, the Altered can too. We're still at risk."
"Obviously." Claire had seemed particularly tense since she'd gotten to the library, and Miles had no doubt in his mind that it was courtesy of Declan's death. Out of everybody, Claire had seemed closest with Declan when he'd been alive, and she appeared the most impacted by his loss. Her hands were shaking, and though her voice somehow remained unwavering, that was compensated for by the prickly tone she'd been using to accompany everything she said.
Miles knew what it was like to lose somebody, but that didn't meant he knew how to talk to Claire about it. Even if he wanted to reassure her, what could be done? He watched her thoughtfully until she caught his eye and glared at him, and he dropped his gaze.
"Okay, then," Lia breathed, letting her hands find the pockets of the pants she wore. "Let's go."
Lia started walking first, and when everybody else started moving, they moved as a pack. It stayed like that as they all moved towards the door, Lia falling back into the group so it felt almost like they were a single being, all walking as an individual. They reached the exit to the library and left as if the shattered door wasn't an obstacle at all. Nobody glanced once over their shoulder to look back at the library as they left.
Buddy, who'd fallen asleep on the carpet, didn't follow them out. Thankfully.
Nobody stopped once they were out of the library, but they all became hyperaware of their surroundings. Miles was suddenly straining all of his senses, trying to locate sounds or movements in the corner of his vision that could indicate the presence of an unwelcome guest or multiple. After seeing Angelina's group earlier, Miles was realising how easy it was for people to pass the library by, not even realising it was inhabited - rather, had been inhabited - by Miles' group.
As they made a turn onto the nearest street, Miles felt suddenly exposed to danger. Which was valid to feel, considering how dangerous it was moving as such a big group on Altered-infested streets. Any sounds in the night made Miles jump involuntarily. Sometimes, there would be a brush of Aaron's hand against his own or a soft smile from Lia, but it didn't take long for both of them to get distracted by other things and Miles didn't have anybody to shake him from his fleeting fear any longer.
For the most part, the group walked silently and carefully. The times they'd done this before had been their practice. They knew how this worked. Stick to the shelter of buildings, keep their eyes up and on constant alert. They didn't shift positions, much. That was, until Miles found that somebody was beside him who hadn't been before, and he looked up to notice Percy's figure alongside him.
"Percy," Miles hissed, "what are you doing?"
"Can't I just walk here?"
"What the fuck do you want?"
"To apologise."
Miles tore a hand through his hair. "Now is really not the time."
Percy gnawed on his bottom lip. Through the darkness, Percy's expression was almost impossible to make out, but Miles could tell Percy's want to apologise was sincere. There was some part of Miles that despised the thought of reconciling with Percy, but the majority of him didn't want any more enemies. He'd previously had little reason to hate Percy, and earlier today he'd only jumped on the easiest chance offered to him to finally have a reason to hate the other boy. That wasn't to say that he hadn't been offended by what Percy had been intending to say in the conversation they'd had earlier in the library, but it did mean he was willing to brush it off. As somebody who said mean things too constantly for his own good, Miles understood that it didn't take much more than a slip of the tongue sometimes.
"No, really," Percy insisted, keeping his voice low as to avoid furious stares from the other group members. "It was a shitty thing to say."
"Yeah," said Miles. "It was."
"I didn't mean it," Percy pressed. "Sometimes I just forget that I'm not with my school friends, you know? This is way more serious. Death... is way more serious. I can't joke about it. I wish I hadn't. Besides, I really want to be your friend, man. Really."
Miles was surprised and in disbelief. "Percy, we are friends."
"You said we weren't, earlier."
"You were mad, I was mad. I say things like that when I'm mad."
Percy blinked once, twice, in sudden realisation. Before he could say anything in response, however, there was a sudden noise from nearby and the entire group stilled in unison. Footsteps were approaching them. In a scramble, the group fell utterly quiet and rushed to the nearest shelter of a building, which was a few paces behind them but the best option they had. One of Aaron's hands shot to Miles' mouth to silence Miles after he gasped, and Aaron's other hand slid around Miles' waist to drag him back to safety with the group. Miles was too distracted by the sensation of Aaron's hand so firmly against his lips that he didn't even think about being pissed that Aaron had found the need to drag Miles backward instead of just letting Miles do it himself.
The group of Unaltered was a tangled mass of heavy breathing, hands clutching hands, and desperate peers around the corner of the building to see what was approaching. Judging by the awkward pace of whoever was approaching, it was somebody Altered; but there couldn't have been more than one. Aaron's hands stayed where they were on Miles, which kept Miles' body on fire the entire time the group waited for the footsteps to recede. Thankfully, the Altered moved passed the building within a matter of moments, and soon the Unaltered eased their way carefully out from behind the building again.
"Is it gone?" whispered Luca.
Kano muttered back, "I think so."
It, Luca had said. As if the Altered weren't even human anymore.
"Let's keep moving," Miles muttered, manoeuvring his way to the head of the group as they re-emerged from their hiding place. That momentary scare had been what Miles had needed to remind himself that there were still Altered people everywhere, and even though hiding was easier in the dark, it was also easier to miss movements in the corner of his vision. Regardless, they were being so careful already that there wasn't much more anybody could do to ensure they stayed hidden.
"How much further is the tower?" Aaron, who was clutching Eira's sleeve nervously, whispered.
Miles didn't glance back over his shoulder as he replied, "A while, at this rate. But we've just got to keep going. The tower is basically in the middle of the city, so once we get there, we'll be closer."
"It'll also be a hotspot for the Altered," Percy stated. "The middle of the city is the most populated normally, so I can bet there'll be more Altered there than anywhere else."
Percy wasn't wrong - even Miles had no way to argue. "Percy's right. The closer we get, the more at risk we are."
Nobody responded, and Miles could guess why. This was already far more frightening than Miles had anticipated upon leaving the library, and it was only getting worse.
As the group proceeded in the direction of the tower, Miles tried to shut down all of his doubts. The chances that they were headed the wrong way were high. The chances that they'd be attacked on the way were also high. Miles rubbed his face and exhaled sharply, only dirtying his face more. Just thinking about what he and the group would have to do if this trip was unsuccessful was a devastating thought in itself, but thinking the fact that there were no other ways to solve the problem with the Altered was an even more worrying thought.
Miles had to come to terms with the probability that if this didn't work, they were all going to die.
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