"You want to come with me?" I asked Lily once I pulled into the parking lot of the library.

  Lily shook her head. "No...I just want to rest, if that's OK with you Sarah." She replied wearily.

  I gave her a sympathetic nod. "Alright but keep the doors locked and call me if anything happens. And uh, try not to get any of that gross blood on my seats." I joked, hoping to lighten the mood somehow.

  She didn't respond. Instead, she curled her knees to her chest and buried her head between them without even giving me a gnce.

  I winced in defeat.

  Smooth Sarah strikes again, as my brother calls my awkwardness. Wrong moment, wrong time as always. I frowned and closed the door lightly.

  As I jogged towards the library, I felt an eerie breeze crawl up my spine and something made me look up at the windows.

  Well that's weird.

  The lights were off. My concerts usually ended way before this pce closed and when I checked the time on my phone, it was only 9:45, still fifteen minutes before it did. So why does it look like they were already closed?

  I started to panic. My ringtone suddenly went off and when I pulled out my phone, it showed the hirious picture I saved of Ray with his face swollen from the time his peanut allergy acted up. I swiped to answer it.

  "Ray, where are you?"

  "Sarah?" There was static when he spoke. The reception here was shotty at the least, but even through it I could hear my brother's voice shaking. "Hey, you're not going to believe this, but there was this poor guy outside being chased around by a group of people! He was bleeding badly, I think they really messed him up but then some cops showed up and they...they shot all those people sis! They shot all of them! They killed all of those people in cold blood Sarah!"

  "Slow down Ray, I think the same shit was happening at my concert too. Everyone was acting up tonight like it's some sort of mad cow disease. Where are you now?" I asked while running up the flight of stairs to the rear entrance. I froze when I spotted two police officers standing over by the front. They had their guns out and were guarding the area. I ducked down low and snuck over to the single back door.

  "Sarah, I don't know if they'll let me out. The police put the whole pce on lock down and they said they're not letting anyone out or in until they know what's going on. I hid inside the boys bathroom though, so I could talk to you."

  "Good to know," I responded sarcastically, "but can you find a way to sneak out back? I'm here now."

  "I don't think so," he whispered. "There's a few cops in here barking orders and saying that they're not letting anyone go. They even held this one girl at gunpoint who kept arguing with them."

  "Are you kidding me?"

  "No and there's...something else."

  I ran my hand down my face and took a breath. Is there going to be any good news tonight?

  "What?"

  "Don't be mad okay, but....I kind of sort of...lost my gsses." He sighed.

  "Are you shitting me!?"

  He quickly added "It wasn't my fault! Everyone started freaking out when the lights went out, including me. We all tried to make a run for the exits but someone elbowed me in the head and knocked them off."

  I felt a vein in my temple throb. He was always losing those damn things and of course today wouldn't be an exception. "Well do you have another pair at home?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Then forget those for now, we have bigger things to worry about. Try and find a way to the back exit for now. I'm already here."

  There was a pause on the other end and I pressed the phone harder against my ear to listen in closely. "Ray?" Through the static, I heard two loud popping sounds and startled screaming coming from the other end. "Ray? Is that gunshots?"

  His voice was completely distorted when he spoke and I shook my phone like it would fix it. "Ray listen to me, come meet me around back just like always, I'll find a way to get you. Don't-." Before I had a chance to finish my sentence, the phone call disconnected.

  "Shit, could this night get any worse?" I growled irritably and waited at the exit for him.

  I sighed in relief when he came running out from the darkness. His face lit up when he saw me and we met in front of the sliding gss door. There was a caution sign on it saying that it was automatic but even with both of us standing right in front of it, it stayed firmly shut.

  "Is there a lock you can turn or an emergency button you can push to open it?" I asked.

  "Huh?" His voice was heavily muted by the door and he raised a hand up to his ear with a confused look on his face.

  He tried to say something back but it was so faint I could barely understand him.

  "TRY. TO. UNLOCK.THE. DOOR!" I mouthed while using my hands to charade it for him.

  He shrugged helplessly at me and I shook my head before taking out my cell phone to call him.

  As he stared dumbfounded at me, he jumped in surprise and pulled out his phone to answer it.

  "Smart idea." He commented.

  "Thanks. Now, do you see anything to trigger the door open? Any locks or buttons?"

  I pced the phone on speaker so I could toy with a handicap switch to see if it would make the door open but it didn't.

  My phone beeped abruptly, notifying that it had a low battery. Of course I would forget to charge my phone tonight too. It also expins the shitty reception I was having.

  "No I don't see anything," Ray sighed, "there's not much here. Just a bunch of flyers and pamphlets."

  "Okay just keep looking around for anything useful. I don't have much battery life left on my phone but-"

  I saw a quick fsh behind Ray and we both froze. I could hear a loud bang and a burst of white light flicker behind him each time, illuminating the room he was in for a second.

  "Uh Sarah? Can you get me out of here now?" He stammered, his eyes wide with fear and started banging his fist against the door frantically. "Come on, this is serious! Those are gunshots!"

  "Tell me how to get to you?!" I cried out as worry washed over me.

  "I don't know! Just please do something!"

  Out of nowhere a kid about Ray's age appeared. His body was hunched over and his arms were almost long enough to reach the floor. His eyes were focused solely on my brother and he started walking closer towards him.

  "Sarah! Why is he growling at me?!" Ray's fist banging on the door grew louder but I was somehow glued to the spot, unable to act.

  "Stop! Get away from him!" I screamed when the kid suddenly lunged at my brother like a wild animal. Ray's head smmed against the gss door when they hit the floor and I watched in horror as he started ripping apart Ray's shirt, turning it into shreds in front of me.

  "Hang on Ray!" I cried. "I'll get you out of there, don't worry!" I gnced around for something, anything I could use to break the gss but there was nothing. Ray's terrified screams grew louder as he tried to fight the kid off. "Hang on Ray! I'm coming just-" I screamed, my mind racing as I dashed back to my truck for any ideas. I didn't see the cops when I raced back down the stairs.

  When I got to my truck, I forced open the back door which caused Lily to jump in her seat.

  "What?! What's going on?" She shrieked wide eyed.

  "Ray needs help!" I spat out quickly.

  "Why can't you get inside? Is it closed?" She asked.

  "No, but there's a kid in there who turned into one of those things and Ray is locked in there with it."

  "What?! Don't tell me it's spreading here too? Wait a minute." She stopped and turned around in her seat and pulled my guitar case over her p. "Why don't you use this to break in?"

  What the hell?

  I really despised that she was even considering using my beauty against the door. But I wasn't finding anything else useful in my truck. I stared at it hesitantly debating it, searching my mind for other options. I was in love with my instrument but..I knew it wasn't worth losing my brother over. I sighed and unzipped it open before tossing the case over Lily.

  "Ah! Jeez Sapphire, how about a thank you?" She scoffed.

  "Thank you!" I shouted over my shoulder as I ran back to Ray. But by the time I got to the door both my brother and the kid who attacked him were gone. My heart plummeted when I saw a spot of blood and a small crack where Ray hit his head.

  "Shit." That thing is going to pay for this.

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