Chapter 16

"This tea is kinda weird. I didn't know green tea was supposed to be... lemony," Holden finished his mug and set it down.

Elise was holding her mug in both hands, holding it up to her face and smelling it in with a peaceful look on her face. "Enjoy it. It might be the last cup you ever have."

"Whatever, it's time to move," Holden got up and Elise nodded, finishing her tea. "What's the plan?"

"The plan hasn't changed. We go to the Tower, and Meagan will do the same thing."

"How do you know?"

"Because she wants to blow it up."

"Wait-what?"

"Time to go!"

"Steve's friends are weird," Holden muttered as they grabbed their gear and cleared out.

Once outside they kept low in the side streets, trying to stick as close to Queen Street as possible. The giraffes were everywhere, but it seemed that they didn't group up unless they were on the attack. The biggest groups they encountered were about five strong, and they were all easily avoided. They were now heading slightly north of the Tower, but Elise wanted to keep their route as simple as possible to avoid losing each other. Besides, she had a plan.

"What do you mean you want to take the Path???" Holden nearly screamed at her.

The Path was a notorious underground shopping mall that connected most of the downtown core together. People going down there for the first time easily lost their way and constantly had to resurface in order to get their bearings.

"That's the worst fucking plan I've ever heard."

"I am downtown every day. I know the Path like the back of my hand."

"But just being underground is not a good idea."

"It's a brilliant idea, because these things are smart."

"Sorry?"

They stopped behind a dumpster while four giraffes crossed in front of them.

"Were you even listening to yourself back at Starbucks? If they do communicate and plan, it stands to reason that they have some understanding of human behaviour. I mean hell, they're driving us out of buildings like cattle."

They made a quick dash across the street and found cover once again.

"As far as their tiny giraffe brains think, nobody's stupid enough to go back underground. So if no one's underground, there will probably be little to no giraffes around."

"A lot of this is hinging on the fact - a fact we don't know for sure - that these things are intelligent."

"Honestly, at this point I just feel safer being underground where I know the hiding places. Being out here in the open gives them too many chances to spot and swarm us."

Suddenly a window shattered across the street and a man fell onto the sidewalk, screaming and kicking as a stream of twenty or so giraffes followed.

"Shit!" Holden dove for cover, but Elise grabbed her gun and started aiming.

"HELP ME!!!" The man, no older than Elise, spotted her and started hollering in pain.

"Leave him!" Holden hissed, but it was too late. The giraffes had already seen her.

She crouched down, took aim, and before Holden could figure out what was happening tiny giraffe heads started exploding with nearly every shot she took.

A minute later no giraffe was left standing and the man scrambled to his feet and ran over to the two, tears streaming down his face.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD!!! When did you become Rambo???" Holden looked at the giraffes.

"I was in cadets, we fired guns a a lot."

The man reached Elise, wrapping her in a sudden embrace of gratitude.

"Get off," Elise struggled and soon the man let go of him and went to hug Holden - who held out his hand to stop him.

"No fucking way. You gotta leave. You can't come with us." Holden shook his head, looking around anxiously for the giraffes he knew would soon be drawn to this place.

"Wha?" The man looked confused.

"He can come with us," Elise rolled her eyes.

"He's covered in blood!" Holden protested, and Elise noticed that Holden looked genuinely afraid.

She turned to the man who was still shaking.

"Are you all right?" Elise asked.

"I was hiding, but they chewed their way through the wall."

"Did they bite you?"

"How did they do it man? How did they eat through a fucking wall?" The man was too distracted to notice their questions.

Holden pulled out his gun. "Did they fucking bite you!?!"

The man took a step back, his hand grabbing something on his arm. "N-no." Then he turned to Elise, his blue eyes pleading with her. "Please, don't leave me here."

"He's been bitten!"

"Everyone needs to calm down!" Elise tried to stop Holden advancing. In the distance, they heard the wail of the giraffe.

"He's going to turn into one of them! He's like a sleeper cell!"

"Please, my name's Jeff Hicks, I'm 26, I-"

"Wait-"

Holden shot him in the eye. The pellet wasn't enough to kill him, but Jeff immediately started screaming in pain, covering his face as blood gushed out of the socket. Realizing the gun wouldn't finish him, Holden grabbed a piece of wood from a broken window frame as Jeff's skin began to take on a slightly translucent tinge.

Then Holden began bashing Jeff's head in until he stopped screaming, slumped to the ground, and was still.

Elise stared down at the dead body in horror. He was dead, his skin melting off his body, but the transformation had clearly stopped.

"This is why we can't save people!" Holden screamed at her, and as the wailing of the giraffes got louder they both took off running.