Thin Walls

III. Bath Salts

The three of us stood there on that roof, rooted to the spot, watching, waiting. Vinny nudged me in the rib, "Look!" A man in a business suit stumbled out of the alleyway, his image slowly coming into view, it couldn't have been him. The sounds coming from the alley were too feminine, too high pitched. It was hard to make him out in the dark, he was hunched, face out of view, maybe eating something? Either that or throwing up, his shoulders heaved as he held his hands close to his face.

"What.. " I squinting my eyes, willing them to work better in the darkness.

"Yo!" Vic shouted, hands cupped around his mouth.

The man turned his head in our direction, I could just make out his face, appearing to be covered in some dark liquid. I looked him over, shoes missing, hair a mess, his suit jacket, ripped and frayed. Quite frankly, he looked like shit. He looked around, his movements jerky and sudden, with arms outstretched.  His jaw suddenly snapped open, and to my bewilderment he let out an almost animalistic roar. His movements were feral, rabid, as he crept towards our building, seemingly searching, arms stretched back in a grotesque way.

"Is.. is that..?" I squinted, leaning forward on the railing.

"..blood?" Vinny finished.

"You don't think..."

He heard us, stoppeding mid-stride to looked right up at us. Standing just feet below us, the light illuminated his face, smeared crimson, blood. He growled, monstrously, eyes locking with my own. I backed up from the edge of the railing, my heart beating frantically against my chest as I suddenly found it incredibly difficult to breathe. What the hell was going on today? I fumbled in my pocket for my switchblade.

A horn diverted his attention. "Hey man! Get out of the road!" A taxi driver shouted from the window of his cab.

Letting loose another growl the man cocked his head with an audible crack, turning on the driver. The cabbie held up his hands in a placating motion and began to talk to the man.

"Listen, I don't want any tr-" He was pulled from his window, the guy was on him, face buried in the cabbies neck. The cabbie screamed in horror.

"Fuckin' bath salts," Vic muttered under his breath.

That broke me out of my reverie and I shouted at the twins, "Call the cops!"

Vinny scrambled to get his phone out, hands shaking. I didn't wait, scrambling down the stairs almost falling in my panic. I reached our floor to find Finn sticking his head out of the window, eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"Did you hear that?" He asked.

"Yeah..." Another scream pierced through the air, cutting me off. A woman ran  clumsily down the street, screaming and crying. Behind her, at least half a dozen people chased her at in an absolute frenzy. She fumbled with a set of keys in her hand, hitting a button that unlocked a car just a few paces ahead.

"She's not going to make it," Finnley stated, eyes wide.

He wasn't wrong, three men were closing the gap. I watched in horror as they just tore into her using their teeth and nails, pulling her insides out, it was barbaric. She was overtaken by the mob, her screams softening to whimpers in seconds.

"Tell me you still have your gun." I whispered to Finn.

"Finn.." I whispered again, he shook his head.

"Shit!"

He grabbed a fist full of my jacket, yanking me into the apartment. "Pack it up, now!" Fynn rushed over to secure the deadbolt on the front door as I just stood there.

"Shi, get your shit! We can't stay here!" Finn shouted from his room.

I nodded, taking a deep breath. In a bizarre moment of clarity I felt as though my whole life had prepared me for this moment. Having unpacked and repacked all of my things thousands of times it was automatic. I grabbed my hiking bag and had it packed with my meager things in seconds. In the living room, you would think we'd just entered into a war zone with the sounds of sirens and screams emanating from outside. I found Fynn in the kitchen stuffing water bottles into a bag.

"Grab whatever food we have in the cabinets." He ordered. Three dusty cans of green beans lay in an otherwise barren cub board, with a sigh I stuff them in my bag. In the other cabinets i managed to scrape together a box of nutrition bars and a sleeve of cookies.

"No luck" Vinny and Vic chimed in unison from the doorway.

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"It just keeps giving me a recorded message, I tried four times."

In all the confusion I'd forgotten about the 911 call. I pulled my cell from my pocket and dialed myself putting it on speaker.

"*All 911 Operators are currently busy, please wait on the line and someone will answer your call in the order it was received. If this is not an emergency please hang up*.."

I hung up and stared at the phone in disbelief, turning to Fynn.

"We gotta get out of this shit-hole, there's no way we're safe here, not with.. whatever the fuck that is.." Finnley pointed outside, "going on. Guys, pack whatever you can think to take and let's get the hell out of here."

I went over to the window, below the mob had started to disperse from the woman. Some were ambling, stumbling, dragging their feet along, they were clumsy and slow. Others seemed to be more aware, more active, searching, then running off towards whatever caught their attention. They were the ones to worry about. I took my lighter out of my pocket, flicking it open and closed, open and closed as my mind wandered. A loud thump made me jump, the lighter falling from my hands as I turned towards Vic. He had dropped a large duffel bag on the floor, clad in all black, with an aluminum baseball bat in hand. Vinny walked up behind him, dressed much the same and carrying a machete.

"Where'd you get a machete?" I asked in awe.

"Wally World!" He grinned, sticking his chest out and giving it an exploratory swing. "Like it?"

"You don't happen to have another one, do you?"

A door slammed out in the hallway, followed by footsteps, then three distinct gunshots.

"The window." Finnley pointed.

We all turned towards him and nodded.