Crawlers

9:34pm

'This is ridiculous,' said Ben, getting up. 'We can't just sit here. There's got to be something we can do. Something else we can figure out about this situation - or some way to get word to the outside.' 

'Like I said before, mate,' said Josh, looking at his fingernails, 'I'm open to suggestions. If you've got something to say I'm sure we'd all be happy to hear it. But if you don't, I'd just as soon you sit down and keep quiet, if you don't mind.' He smiled - or at least, the corners of his mouth lifted: the smile didn't reach his eyes. 'Help will be here soon enough. No sense rocking the boat.' 

'I want to have a look at those monitors,' said Ben, advancing towards the door. 

'Be my guest,' said Josh. 'I'm sure Hugo could use a break, anyhow.' 

'Why, thank you, Josh,' said Ben, but he didn't wait to see if Josh caught the sarcasm. 'Hugo,' he said, closing the door to the monitor room behind him, 'what's going on?' 

Hugo looked up from the screens and blinked. 'What? Oh... nothing.' He gestured. 'See for yourself.' 

On all the screens except one, the scenes the cameras were looking at were empty: empty passageways; empty stairwells; empty rooms - no people at all. But on the screen showing the view in the passage outside...

This was the first time Ben had seen what was waiting for them, guarding their only exit. These had been ordinary adults on a night out: they were now standing absolutely still, like mannequins. 

'How many of them are out there?' he asked, stifling a shudder. 

'Twenty-seven of them that you can see there,' said Hugo. 'There are probably more behind, but I counted all the ones I could. Three times, actually.' 

'Not much else to do in here, huh?' said Ben. 

'You're not wrong,' said Hugo drily. 

'That's not all of them out there, though, is it?' asked Ben. 

'How d'you mean?' 

'You think all of the bitten people are out there in the passageway? What about the ones who went out to meet the police? Were they from out there?' 

'Not that I saw,' Hugo answered. 'If they did come from the crowd outside, it wasn't from the front row. No one's twitched a muscle in that lot since they stopped trying to break the door down.' He made a face. 'It's freaking me out, frankly.' 

'So maybe,' said Ben, 'not everybody who's been bitten is there.' 

Hugo shrugged. 'Stands to reason, I guess.' 

'Well, if they're not out there,' Ben wondered, looking at the empty screens, 'where are they all?' 

'Beats me,' said Hugo. 'I just work here.' 

Ben looked down at the desk at which Hugo was sitting. As well as the congealed remains of a mug of milky coffee and an impressive (and obviously long-lived) collection of empty sweet wrappers left by its usual occupants, the desk contained a black angled console covered in numbered, grey rubber buttons with, at its centre, a small joystick. 

'This looks like it controls the cameras,' said Ben, reaching for the buttons. 'Why don't we take a look?' 

'Now hold on a second,' said Hugo, turning on his chair and putting himself in between Ben and the console. 'I don't think that's a good idea.' 

'What? Why not?' 

Hugo pursed his lips. Ben could tell that he didn't like being put in the position of having to stop him - but Ben didn't care.