Infectious

The Warehouse

The only thing moving in the living room is the grandfather clock, ticking away our precious time.

"Do we kill him?" my mother asks everyone.

"We don't have much of a choice, do we?" Natasha says uncertainly.

"I'm going to kill him," I declare.

"What, no, that's too much for you to handle sweetie. Besides, I highly doub-" my mother starts to protest.

"Mom, it would give me a chance to redeem myself. Dads death was mine and that mans fault," I say angrily as I point to the ceiling, motioning to the guard's whereabouts.

I complete my argument, "So yes mother, I do need to do this."

"Okay, fine, you do whatever you want. All I need to know is if we should be leaving or not," my mother says in an I-don't-approve-of-this way.

"We leave tonight," I decide.

"We head to the outskirts of the city where they have warehouses," I explain.

"Why there?" Tom inquires.

"Because, one- we get rid of all the boxes which gives us an enormous amount of space. Two- we can use the boxes and pallets to seal up all the doors and windows. Three- there's always a kitchen. Four- there's always roof access," I explain. I glance over at Griffith who bats his pretty little stashes at Mia. He says something to make her smile and she giggles her flirtatious laugh. I look back to Tom and he nods.

"I know right," he says, reading my facial expression.

"He's a total asshole. Although the guy knows how to work a beanie, I'll give him that much," he jokes. I let out a one syllable laugh and can't help but begin to rant.

"I just don't get him. He's so full of himself, so self assured," I say.

"I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. Most guys who act like that do it as a way to boost their self esteem because they barely have any," he tells me.

"Humph," I let out a grunt of annoyance.

"Anyway, I don't think we have enough cars to carry everyone to our destination," Tom gets back to my plan.

"Well, we have the four-by-four, a van, and a motorcycle," I say. There's a loud thud upstairs and everyone falls silent. I dash up the stairs and throw open the door to Riley's room. I glance around the room and everything is still in its place. The unnerving man sits in the chair, dead centre of the room. He stares at me and there's a moment of serene silence. I notice what dropped, the tool box which is somehow at his feet. I slip my gun out of my pocket and shoot him exactly where he shot my dad. The ring of the gun shot echoes through the house. I watch a cherry red liquid seep onto his blouse in a circular shape.

"This will haunt you forever," he manages to say before he slumps in the chair. There's the clamour of footsteps coming up the stairs when everyone spills into the room.

"What the hell?" Tom asks, exasperated. He smacks a hand to his forehead.

"I thought we were going to wait to do that!" Griffith exclaims.

"There's no time like the present," I say and push past them and into the hall. I pace up and down the narrow pathway, practically creating a dent in the hardwood floor. I rub my temples in an attempt to wrap my head around my actions. Am I really going mad? Tom shoots me a concerned look from the doorway. I hear shuffling inside the rooms and a few surprised gasps.

"RAINE!" my mother yells.

I dash back into the room, "What is it?" I ask.

"Loo-look,"she stutters in fear. I look over and see what she's pointing at. The guard is moving again as though nothing has happened to him. He meets my eyes and I see what's wrong. His eyes are blood shot and his lip is turned up into a snarl.