The door clicked softly open. He stood <strong>the</strong>re for a moment in <strong>the</strong> doorway, watching h<strong>is</strong> sleeping prey,fingering <strong>the</strong> blade in h<strong>is</strong> hands. A small smile, <strong>the</strong>n he stepped forward.Jonathan was in <strong>the</strong> upper bunk, completely given over to sleep. One small slice would do it; straightacross <strong>the</strong> jugular just like that...Eyes open wild in choking death, unable to make a sound; David Allen Griffin calmly holding down anarm that yearned to flail as spurting blood spotted pale skin. It <strong>is</strong> an interesting experience, killingyourself.And <strong>the</strong>n a sound from <strong>the</strong> lower bunk revealed that Eddie Kasalivich was up.Griffin released Jonathan’s arm and gazed idly down at Eddie.He chuckled."What are you looking at?"The screaming got <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>rs up.Officer Traven did not look happy.****Griffin did not quite like being yelled at, but conceded that Officer Traven was probably justified in doingso. So he didn't say anything and attempted to look happy in <strong>the</strong> hopes that it would give o<strong>the</strong>rs <strong>the</strong>impression that he knew more than he was letting on. Alternatively, it might give <strong>the</strong>m <strong>the</strong> impressionthat he was not completely all right in <strong>the</strong> head, but you've got to take some r<strong>is</strong>ks sometimes.Jjaks came tentatively into <strong>the</strong> room and stood by <strong>the</strong> two corpses looking traumat<strong>is</strong>ed and nauseated.He saw dead people.Neo was still fast asleep. Staying awake all night on <strong>the</strong> computer tends to make one oblivious to <strong>the</strong>sounds of death.Meanwhile, Alex sat up in h<strong>is</strong> bed in <strong>the</strong> dark, groggily wondering what all <strong>the</strong> commotion was about.Above him, he heard <strong>the</strong> bed creak and <strong>the</strong> shuffle of legs freeing <strong>the</strong>mselves from a blanket."Are you awake?" Paul asked."Yeah." Alex stood up and opened <strong>the</strong> door a crack, blinking in <strong>the</strong> sliver of light that shone through. Itwas hard to make out <strong>the</strong> exact words of <strong>the</strong> ra<strong>is</strong>ed voices, or just how many were speaking. O<strong>the</strong>rdoors were opening; a small crowd was growing near <strong>the</strong> end of <strong>the</strong> corridor.Alex heard an overly-loud thump behind him as <strong>the</strong> barely-awake Paul underestimated <strong>the</strong> heightbetween <strong>the</strong> bunk bed ladder and <strong>the</strong> carpet. They left <strong>the</strong> room to join <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>rs, Paul limping a little."Congratulations," Griffin said, glancing out at <strong>the</strong> crowd. "You just woke up everyone."Jack continued yelling at him.
"I did you a favour, Jack," Griffin said calmly. "I thought you didn’t like him. You know you would havedone <strong>the</strong> same, if you had <strong>the</strong> chance...""No!" Jack shouted. "No. That’s where you’re wrong, you don’t-""...it's all h<strong>is</strong> fault, remember? He was taken as representative of all of us, got us accused of beingbadly-acted parod-"Jack grabbed Griffin and slammed h<strong>is</strong> head against <strong>the</strong> wall.Griffin winced. "That hurts.""What about Eddie, huh?" Jack hollered. "Why him?""He didn’t look too happy with me when he saw Harker. It wasn’t one of my neater jobs, I must admit-"Conor shoved h<strong>is</strong> way into <strong>the</strong> room, swearing."Are we going to go through all th<strong>is</strong> again?" Griffin queried.Jack punched him in <strong>the</strong> face.**Roughly shoved into <strong>the</strong> room, hands shooting out to break h<strong>is</strong> fall as he hit ground; <strong>the</strong> door slammedshut before he had time to get back to h<strong>is</strong> feet and stop it. The super-Superglued bolt shot home on <strong>the</strong>o<strong>the</strong>r side."All of you go back to bed," Jack said tiredly, sitting down by <strong>the</strong> door to do voluntary guard duty. "I'llmake sure he doesn't get out."The time was 1:50 in <strong>the</strong> morning."Are you going to stay here all night, Jack?" Griffin asked through <strong>the</strong> door.Stony silence."If you’re feeling lonely out <strong>the</strong>re, I’m open to conversation-"Angry swearing."All right, I’ll start. How’s your day been?"Stony silence."Life of <strong>the</strong> party, aren’t you?"A pound on <strong>the</strong> door. "You stay in <strong>the</strong>re and you shut <strong>the</strong> fuck up!""Hey, hey. Calm down, Jack. You don’t need to get all riled up like that. I can’t do anything to you whileyou’re sitting against <strong>the</strong> door.""WHY, huh? Why did you do it? What did <strong>the</strong>y do to you?""You know something? I’ve been observing you, Jack. Every single time someone new arrives on th<strong>is</strong>floor you get a little more stressed. I got concerned for you, seeing you like that. So I thought that if Ilowered <strong>the</strong> local population by a little-"Angry swearing."It’s not my fault, you know. Mr. Reeves made me th<strong>is</strong> way."Indecipherable swearing involving Reeves and a ribcage and a heart and rending out and a spatula.Griffin chuckled. "I don’t think you know what a spatula <strong>is</strong>, Jack."Silence for a while.
- Page 5: "Your behaviour these past few mont
- Page 9 and 10: Neo sank down on the sofa.He looked
- Page 11: "By a friend of one of the others w
- Page 14 and 15: Next morning62nd Floor. Arrival Lob
- Page 16 and 17: It is in fact at the cafeteria that
- Page 18 and 19: 'There is no exit here', read the h
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- Page 22 and 23: Griffin glanced back at the three p
- Page 24 and 25: Alex looked up."...That's Paul, tha
- Page 26 and 27: The floor hackers stared at their l
- Page 28 and 29: "Okay," Conor continued. "Situation
- Page 30 and 31: "We want to get out as much as you
- Page 32 and 33: Yawning, Paul pushed open the door
- Page 35 and 36: Jack lunged at his neck. Both of th
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- Page 41 and 42: "That's one," Neo said helpfully, p
- Page 43 and 44: New guy gave a start. "Uh," he said
- Page 45 and 46: His mom made better waffles than th
- Page 47 and 48: Tommy reluctantly handed over the b
- Page 49 and 50: It is after a day or two living at
- Page 51 and 52: There had existed for a time an Ame
- Page 53 and 54: he was pretty sure was a broken nos
- Page 55 and 56: Night. A shortage of actual beds me
- Page 57 and 58: Neo yanked his finger away to safet
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- Page 61 and 62: Splash.The sudden rush of cold shoc
- Page 63 and 64: The stairwell door opened and the b
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- Page 67 and 68: Human beings have a strange tendenc
- Page 69 and 70: Jack shrugged. "Suit yourself." He
- Page 71 and 72: "-but we won't know for sure either
- Page 73 and 74: **"We were just trying to get home!
- Page 75 and 76: "It's John, assholes."John Constant
- Page 77 and 78: The mob surged through both doors o
- Page 79 and 80: "What?"A sudden telepathic message
- Page 81 and 82: At the rear, not-Tim turned to face
- Page 83 and 84: The lift dinged and opened its door
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- Page 87 and 88: "Nah," Jesse said. "Might n-... - h
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The teen shrugged. "I don't know."
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"NO!" Shane yelled, running towards
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He smiled and vanished; leaving not
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"That wasn't really nice of y-" Dem
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"What? Hey, I just woke up.""...Dav
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"What-" Conor said, surveying the s
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"D'you have any food to spare? We'r
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Group C: Griffin, Kevin, Scott, Jul
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"...Er," said Dem. He put the most
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Group D: Neo, EddieStanding about d
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The cornflakes guy looked at him.Je
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"At least it meant we had heat," Ha
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Group B: Shane, Perry, Tommy, Chris
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"I can't bring them back to life,"
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Someone running after him from behi
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Then a ripple in the air; and sudde
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Nelson smirked and walked on to the
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"Yes sir," Ludlow hissed into his e
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Alex got slowly to his feet. He dim
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The face that looked up at him held
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First Combined MeetingThomas Ludlow
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- Reeves clears throat.- Utah shuts
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Griffin isn't the only one in the r
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He realised that he was not standin
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Ludlow smirked. "Thank you. Now I k
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Seventeen suspicious-looking, mostl
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Scott emerged from the alley he had
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Julian finished the stitches, close
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Stuck in House: Chris Townsend, Mat
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Loose in Kenselton Holding Facility
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Paul and the kids stared back at hi
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"Arctor, Robert," Dem said. "Get on
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With measured reluctance he tries t
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0704270/006/GRA"There are two kinds