The slamming stopped, but Cas didn't lower her pistol. Despite her exhaustion, her injuries and the intensity of the screams that even the mattresses failed to muffle, the gun never wavered. Henna found herself out of breath as she tried to discern other sounds beyond the screaming, but they drowned out everything. If Cas had hurt Carla, Henna didn't know what she would do.

She edged closer to the mattresses covering the door, ignoring Cas' hissed warning, and pressed her ear against the material. Another slam rocked the door and the mattresses, knocking Henna backward, tripping her on the soft, bouncy floor, sending her falling to her back, the mattresses covering the door falling on top of her.

Carla ran into the room, her head still arched back, facing the roof, that horrifying scream erupting from a mouth that never closed, heading straight for Cas. Another gunshot reverberated in the room, but the bullet, whether it hit Carla or not, didn't stop her. Henna's girlfriend barrelled into her ex, fingers scratching, fists pounding upon her.

The gun, knocked from Cas' hand, bounced away as Carla continued her attack with such ferocity, Henna couldn't believe it was still the same woman she had fallen in love with. Both the women in Henna's life rolled upon the mattresses as Cas fought to survive against the onslaught. Fresh blood spattered from her nose as Carla's fist battered into Cas' face and Henna struggled to extricate herself from the mattresses atop her.

Once upright, she found herself in another struggle, uncertain what to do. Her hand fell to the grip of her own pistol, but she couldn't draw it. Not against Carla. And now the screams that ripped and lacerated the air from outside began to pound at her skull, crawling through her ears, despite the ear buds she still wore.

Carla had returned to the top between the two women, sitting astride Cas' chest, arms moving so fast as she attacked that Henna could barely keep up. If she didn't do something soon, Carla would kill Cas and, no matter how their relationship had ended, Henna couldn't let that happen. If she couldn't hurt Carla, she had to find another way, her eyes flickering around the room until they fell upon the mattresses that once covered her door.

She rammed into Carla with the mattress, pushing her from atop Cas' body, and landed on top, sandwiching her girlfriend between the mattress in her hands and the ones on the floor. It felt as though she rode a mechanical bull as Carla pushed and kicked against her, but she pressed all her weight down, squeezing her eyes closed as the pain of Carla's scream scratched and stabbed at her mind. What she could do now, she didn't know, but she knew she couldn't let Carla or Cas hurt each other anymore.

A click, barely audible over the screams, caused Henna to turn her head to find Cas holding her pistol once again. She rubbed a hand beneath her nose, wiping the blood away, before leaning forward, pointing the gun at Carla's screaming head. Henna moved her own head in the way, protecting Carla, her unnatural screams now hitting her right in the ear. Her head felt as though it were about to explode and she almost laughed to think she would need a whole bottle of painkillers if she survived this.

"Get out of the way!" Cas grabbed at Henna, trying to drag her away, but Henna gripped the mattress below with a strength she never knew she had. "I swear to fucking god, I'll shoot you too if you don't get out of the way! She's going to wake others!"

"Then you'll have to kill me, because I won't let you shoot her." Her head pounded, her forehead tight as she tried to ignore the pain, but she locked eyes with Cas. "She's my girlfriend!"

Cas hesitated, giving Henna another yank, trying to pull her aside, but Henna refused to move. She wasn't certain how much longer she could stand the scream that knifed into her ear, but even if it deafened her, she would never move her head and allow Cas to shoot Carla. She'd die first and maybe that wouldn't be so bad. At least she would stop hearing the screams.

"God damn it, Henna!" Cas tried to move Henna again before releasing the hammer on the pistol. She rubbed her forehead, squinting from the pain caused by the screams. "Then what do you suggest?"

"The duct tape, over there." She jerked her chin to where she left the piles of duct tape she used to seal the mattresses over the door. "And while your at it, get my ear defenders. I think I'm going to puke from the pain."

It took some work and Carla struggled like a wild animal the entire time, but Henna and Cas managed to fasten Carla's arms and legs with the tape. Even then, Henna wasn't certain it would hold unless they mummified her girlfriend in so much tape that a bull couldn't break out. No matter what they did, however, Carla continued to scream, the noise even penetrating through ear defenders and buds.

As they had wrapped the tape around Carla, Henna had noticed much about her girlfriend's condition. Carla's skin had become dry, almost desiccated. So thin, stretched over bones and receding flesh. Her eyes had become dry and crusted, pale, without any of the fire and warmth that Henna loved so much about her. She had never tried to look close at any other Screamers, and she couldn't face seeing Carla like this.

After she had realised Carla couldn't eat, Henna had left her in that room, all alone, hoping that someone would find a cure to this madness that continued to spread, day-after-day. More and more becoming Screamers. One day, she may forgive herself for hiding Carla away, but not today. Today, she could only stare at what Carla had become. A wizened corpse that howled her death to the heavens, yet refused to die.

Even bullets hadn't stopped Carla. Henna had felt some relief when Carla had resumed her attack, it had meant Cas hadn't killed her, but what she saw now made her wonder if Carla could ever recover. The bullets had hit. Not all of them, but enough to do damage, yet no blood flowed from the wounds. Henna had checked one in Carla's leg. The bullet had shattered the bone, but hadn't even slowed Carla down. If she could even call her 'Carla' anymore. This screaming thing held nothing to remind Henna of her lover.

"I can't stay. It'll only be a matter of time before more awake." Cas checked the magazine of her pistol and groaned. Henna could hardly hear the shout over the screaming and through her protective gear. "Do you know if the local police precinct is still intact? I need to rearm. Henna? Henna! What are you doing?"

She had pulled her medical supplies across to her and Carla, dressing the wound in Carla's leg. If, when, someone found a cure for this vile condition, Henna didn't want Carla bleeding out from the bullet wounds Cas had caused. The others were covered by the duct tape, if anything could keep those wounds from bleeding, that tape could. Once finished, Henna stroked Carla's hair. Once thick and dark, with a kink at the ends that simply would not straighten, the hair now looked dry and brittle.

"We need to put her somewhere safe." She wanted to hold Carla's hand one last time, but her girlfriend's fingers twisted and clawed as she tried to escape the tight bindings of the tape. She realised she had only spoken that, not shouted as she needed to. "Help me put her somewhere safe. The basement. No-one will find her there."

"Henna, you can go back to how you were once I'm gone. This door is fixable. After a while, if the Screamers can't sense me, they go back to sleep." Cas' hand fell on Henna's shoulder and Henna flinched. "I shouldn't have come here, but you'll be fine once I'm away from you and your ... your girlfriend. Just tell me if the precinct is intact, okay?"

"No. It won't be how it was. You think that ... whatever it is, is a cure?" Henna waved a hand toward Cas' chest, where she had found the mysterious taped object. Cas shrugged, noncommittal. "Well, maybe it is and maybe it isn't, but look at you. You're half-dead. You need help and if we put Carla somewhere safe, I can help you get to that extraction point."

"I don't fucking think so!" Cas shook her head, picking up Henna's backpack and stuffing half of Henna's supplies into it. "I appreciate that, I do, but you have no fucking idea what it's like out there. When they move, when they sense me, they're fast. They're relentless and they will kill anyone that gets between them and me. I lost ... A lot of people died getting me this far. I'm not going to let you die too."

"That's funny." Henna unholstered her pistol, popped the magazine, checked that she hadn't miscounted her six bullets and slammed it back into the grip, chambering a round. "You talk as if you have a choice. Give me a hand with Carla."

She returned the pistol to its holster before reaching down to lift Carla into a sitting position. Her head, tilted all the way back, mouth wider than it should be possible to open, didn't move as Henna shifted behind her girlfriend, slipping her hands under Carla's shoulders. She waited for Cas, tilting her head sharply toward Carla's feet and Cas moved, with reluctance, to grab them.

Of course Henna didn't want to leave Carla, but if she had noticed nothing else since all this began, it was that the Screamers didn't need people watching over them. They only stood there, their screams rending the day or night. Cas, however, didn't look as though she would survive another hour unless someone helped her. She had come so far, but still had so far to go and she would never reach it alone.

Besides, if there was a cure in that mysterious package, that could mean Henna could get her Carla back and, for that, Henna would risk anything. Even her life. Or anyone else's that tried to get in Cas' way.