We pulled onto the exit to take us to downtown Chicago, and what we saw amazed us. There were military vehicles everywhere, and armed guards standing at every entry point of all the buildings. There were lines of people outside of the buildings stopping at the door for a brief moment. The guards were raising something to people’s eyes and a flash would light up their face and then they would enter the building.

“They must be checking for the virus. Remember when I was telling you our eyes change color around people after you’ve been past your breaking point? I think that’s what they are testing for. While there is room for error for those that haven’t been past their breaking point, like you, Susan, and Annabelle, it can be accurate enough to those that are a threat.” Jasmine said.

I nodded, and tried not to stare and give ourselves away. We kept driving through downtown and drove north of Chicago. We stopped at a gas station in Waukegan, Illinois and the four of us stepped out of the car. We all stretched, and Annabelle’s stomach growled. I looked at Susan and Jasmine and the same concern crossed their face. If Annabelle got too hungry, she will go after people. We needed to find a John Doe, or maybe even someone who has died in the last 24 hours. If it is any older than that, the nutrition we need is gone.

We went into the gas station to relieve ourselves, and saw a man leaning against the corner, propping his foot up against the glass of the soda shelves. I nodded to the man and walked to the bathrooms with the girls. All three girls went into the ladies room at the same time, while I walked into the men’s bathroom. I went into a stall and locked the stall door behind me. I started to unzip my pants when I heard the bathroom door open again. The clinking of the shoes came closer to me, and stopped right outside my stall. The lock started clicking against the stall frame as the person on the other side tried to open it.

“Occupied” I said, while my hands turned to fists in case he tried to come in.

The person didn’t respond, and kept trying to open the stall. I turned my head around, and saw the person looking through the crack at me. I quickly turned and jammed my whole body against the stall door, and it cracked the locking mechanism, swinging the door the opposite way it opened. The person stumbled back into the wall, and I jumped out ready to fight.

The man that was in leaning in the corner raised his head at me and smiled.

“That was surprising to say the least. What are you doing here?” he said.

“I could ask you the same thing” I said, my fists raised ready for a fight.

“I’m just doing my job man, I was hired to find meat heads like you and your girls in the other room” he said wiping blood from his mouth.

“How did you know we were infected? We have no signs of being infected” I asked.

“You’re kidding right?” he said laughing. “Man where have you been? The government has been installing these eye things for the last week all over the US, they scan your eyes every time you walk into a building, enter any public transport, taxi’s, everything man. There is no hiding out anymore.”

So Jasmine was right, the guards we’re looking at people’s eyes for the virus. I had to find out if it triggered from me, Susan, Annabelle, or Jasmine.

“So which of us did it trip on? I have a feeling it wasn’t all of us, was it?” I asked.

He hesitated, and I knew my answer. They knew the system wasn’t flawless, but wanted to scare people that were infected into staying out of the public. I quickly stepped towards him and swung at his jaw. This guy had to be taken out, and so did the cashier because he could turn us in or worse, try to take matters in his own hands. I connected with his jaw and sent him flying to the floor.

I grabbed his head with both hands, and thought to myself “I’ve only seen this done in the movies, I hope it works”, and twisted in both directions. I could hear the man’s bones cracking, but he still moaned. I quickly did it again and he stopped groaning. I checked for a pulse, and could feel it slowing down until it stopped.

I pulled him into the broken stall and sat him on the toilet and closed the door, hiding the body. I ran out of the bathroom and ran into the women’s bathroom. Susan, Jasmine, and Annabelle were all facing the wall opposite of the stalls. A man was pointing a gun at them and was in mid-sentence when I busted through the door. He turned and pointed the gun at me, and Jasmine took her shot. She kicked the man in the back of the knee, and he fell to the floor holding his knee.

“You fucking bitch! I’ll fucking kill you last! I’ll make you watch your friends bleed out before I put a bullet in every hole except the ones in your head. I’ll…” he screamed. I interrupted his rant by kicking him in the face, spewing blood across the floor. I bent down and grabbed the man’s head with both arms. I looked at Jasmine, and she ran to hide the death from Annabelle. I twisted the man’s head, and this time I twisted as hard as I could to ensure the man wouldn’t feel any pain.

I felt for a pulse, and felt it slowing down to nothing. I moved the man to one of the empty stalls, and told the girls to run out to the car. The cashier yelled after them, and I walked casually to the counter.

“Listen, there was two men that tried to attack us. If you’re with them, you’re dead. If you’re going to snitch, you’re dead. We will take care of the bodies, you just act like we weren’t here. You know why they came after us, and we WILL do the same to you if we even THINK you told on us.” I said calmly, “Do you understand?”

“Y…yes sir. I won’t tell anyone, but sir….we have cameras, and I don’t know how to delete the videos” he said.

“Don’t worry about that, we’re already fugitives for having a virus that the government gave us. Do the cameras have audio?” I asked.

He shook his head and I leaned over the counter hiding my lips from the camera saying “I’m going to have to knock you out so the cops don’t think you’re cooperating. Don’t nod or anything, I’m going to grab you before I punch you. If you don’t pass out, act like you are. Either way, you’re going to have a nasty bump on your face.”

I jumped over the count and punched the cashier in the face and he went down. I could see he was in pain, which meant he didn’t pass out, but he played the part right. I saw a shotgun under the counter, and I grabbed it along with the ammo that was beside it, and jumped back over to counter. I ran out to the car, and told Jasmine to come help me take care of the bodies.

We carried both of the bodies to the back of the car and stuffed them in the trunk. If we were going to feed off of them, we would need to do it rather quickly. Any leftovers would be buried in a field somewhere. We kept the guns on the floor to try to confuse the cops. We pulled out of the gas station, and Annabelle complained she was hungry again.

We drove until we could find an abandoned house and broke into the back door. The back yard was fenced in, and there were still some appliances and some furniture in the house. It looked as if the people that lived there just up and left the house. The electricity didn’t work, so when we dragged the bodies into the kitchen, it was already dark.

“Well I guess it’s time to feed the kids” I said comically. And we ate.