Everyone drew back startled, when the man who had so recently been talking to them, took another bite out of Julie’s face.

Will recovered first, if only vocally. “How can this be possible? I saw that man die!”

Dead or not, Julie’s screams assaulted their ears and Rollie figured they had to act. He rushed forward and began to smash the former bartender on the head with his makeshift club. Will moved to help him with a wooden chair and together they forced the snarling man off the wailing woman.

She fell to the floor. “My face,” she cried. “My face!”

The bartender still growled and fought toward Rollie and his boyfriend. “What do we do?” Rollie asked.

“He’s like the others. I’ll hold him back, just kill him!”

But before Rollie could move in, Steve rushed forward and stabbed the end of the mike-stand through the bartender’s face.

This brought forth several screams and Sammy started to cry.

The men eyed Steve.

“What, he had to be put down. I mean, this is getting crazy.” He stared at the weeping woman at their feet as her cries grew louder.

“Will someone help her?” Diamond asked.

Raquel had been trying to comfort Sammy, so Steve’s girlfriend Zoe moved to help Julie.

“Stop right there. I don’t want you going anywhere near her.”

“What, why?” the big bouncer asked.

Steve faced him. “All these people are going nuts.” He jerked a finger toward Rollie. “This guy thinks it’s a chemical spill, but then wouldn’t we be infected too? Nothing happened to any of us until the bartender was bit.”

“The bartender was killed, man” Will pointed out.

“Yeah, maybe, but he only went mad after the bite.”

Julie stopped her weeping and stared.

Diamond took a step forward. “So what, you think I’m gonna go ape-shit like them?”

“I don’t know,” Steve said while tried to wipe some blood off his shirt. All he managed to do was create a larger smear. “I’m not saying we toss you off the roof or anything, but who knows what type of germs those things might have? If you want her taken care of, maybe you should do it.”

“Maybe I will. Come on honey,” Diamond said and helped the injured woman over to the sink.

As soon as they had left, Steve turned to the rest of the group. “I think we’ll need to keep an eye on them.”

“Let’s table the bite situation for a moment,” Will said. “This is the first time we’ve been able to stop to breathe for what seems like hours. What should we try to do now?”

The constant banging prompted Rollie to say, “Maybe we should at least be securing the doors.”

“Good idea,” Will agreed. “And we will do that, but what next?”

The group stared at each other, looking for hope, but finding little.”

The Raquel raised her hand. “Something Steve said gave me an idea. He mentioned throwing Dai off the roof.”

Sammy looked aghast. “What you want to do that?”

Raquel actually found the strength to laugh. “No, but I doubt those things could climb onto Scallywag’s roof. If we could get up there, we could at least see what’s going on, or maybe signal someone to help us. Right now no one would even know there are still normal people in here.”

“Good idea,” Steve said. “Maybe we could even find a way to get to a car.”

“Okay,” Will nodded. “Sounds good. Let’s fortify these doors and then find a way up there.”

“Oh, there’s a skylight back stage,” Raquel said.

“Even better.” His lover eyed Julie and Diamond. “Come on. Let’s make it happen before something else slows us down or gets to more of us.”

“What if it is a chemical spill and going out there exposes us?’ Sammy asked.

Will picked up a piece of plywood and said, “I guess that’s just a chance we’ll have to take.”

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