Something else slammed against the building, closer to our windows. Each of our heads snapped in the direction of the sound as a woman laughed loudly, the sound of her voice echoing with the wind. "Enrique, baby, won't you come outside, please!"

Enrique bared as teeth. One of his fists hit the wall as he aggressively shook his head. "We need to hide," he said, looking at each of us. "We need to get to the biggest room that can keep them out."

"The library!" Becky blurts out. "Our campus has the biggest collection of books in the state, and it has two floors."

I nodded, quickly agreeing with her. That was our favorite place in this college, our room to escape to. It could be our salvation. "The second floor entrance is broken," I said, thinking about the lock that had jammed on Becky and me months ago. "But if we run back to the first floor, we can get there before they get in."

"Right, before them." Jorge nods and opens the bag he had taken from our pile. Two gas cans flipped in his fingers before he gripped them in his hands. Then he started down the hall. "Let's barricade ourselves before they break in."

"Enrique!" Yolanda screamed.

What started as a fast walk turned into a run. Jorge sprinted down the hall and we followed after him. The sounds of shrill laughter beat against the building, echoing in the vast emptiness. Paired with our slamming, hurried footsteps, it made the terror even stronger. That feeling exploded once we jumped onto the lowest floor, and the sound of shattering windows and doors opening echoed behind us.

I looked back as my backpack slipped off of my shoulders but Becky grabbed me before I could see if anyone got inside. She pulled me down the rest of the way, just as Jorge reached the library doors, swinging them open. He rapidly fanned for us to hurry inside with him. "Let's go!" he shouted.

The crowd of cackles grew louder but quieted once he and Enrique forced the doors closed. Enrique swiftly grabbed one of the larger tables and pushed it against the door. The extra tension and weight would help us.

Muffled voices echoed in the halls. Low yet audible. Like hers.

Enrique slowly stepped away as Yolanda's voice drifted through the cracks like a ghostly whisper. "Mi amor, baby, we've been separated for too long, can't you see?"

Enrique dropped his backpack and rubbed the back of his neck. "That's not her," she whispered. "I don't... I don't know if she's infected or so brainwashed that I've lost her forever."

The pain in his voice ripped a hole in my heart. I immediately reached for Becky's hand. It wasn't difficult because she did the same to me. We stared at each other with what felt like mirror reflections—her brows creased as I did mine, she bit her bottom lip just as I did.

The snickering grew louder. They were right outside the door, weren't they?

Jorge grabbed his best friend and squeezed his arm. "Look at me, can you hold it together?"

Enrique pursed his lips. "I can, can you?"

My brother let his hand drop. "Me? I—"

A different tension suddenly settled in our group. Enrique held my brother in the same manner. He pulled Jore closer. "I've noticed a change in your face," he said quietly. "Your eyes are darker and your hair—"

"Hey." Jorge pushed him back. "I'm okay. I'm in here with y'all, aren't I?"

"Yeah, but what happens when you're next to them, hm?" Enrique's brows lifted. "What then?"

Multiple fists slammed against the library doors on both sides. My heart hammered violently as both men backed away from it, and each other.

Becky tugged at my hands. "Let's go upstairs," she whispered. "Hide like we used to do, okay?"

I followed her hand as she pointed at the upper rows of bookshelves. The library's double levels were obviously in our favor. I never counted how many shelves there were, but on the first floor, one side of the library was a maze-like collection of fiction, nonfiction, and study guides. The second floor had balconies, love seats, and shelves filled with hundreds of romance novels and fantasies. We'd be safe up there.

"Go!" Enrique hissed at us as he noticed our attention had shifted away from the door. We nodded, slowly walking, backward steps, behind the thin, winding stairs that reached the upper balconies on the right. He looked at Jorge as soon as we started to move. "They're going to get in if they all hit this door, man. If we're fighting them, what's the plan?"

"Don't die," Jorge said, steadying a can in his hand. He passed the other to Enrique. "It's the best plan we have."

My hand wrapped around the stair's banister as soon as the pounding outside the library grew even louder, but Becky and I stopped climbing when Jorge and Enrique screamed, "Shit!" at the same time.

A knife had pushed through the wooden door.

"Oh my god." Becky pulled me up the last few steps and we huddled together at the very top. Our faces pressed between the spaces in the golden balcony as we watched the library doors forced open and the chair Enrique had put in front of it as purposeful weight screeched loudly across the wooden floor.

I held my breath as hands from outside in the hallway pushed the door the rest of the way.

I knew it was my imagination but it felt like a fog came with them. Ten people slowly entered the people, but I knew there were more, possibly somewhere in the school, creating destruction in mayhem within the safe haven we'd created for ourselves. Those that were infected were obvious, sticking out like sore thumbs at the edges of the group. Wearing black, the color of their clothes helped blend the dark patches on their skin, much like the growth on Jorge's forehead. Their dark eyes scanned the library as their mouths drew back in malicious grins.

My stomach clenched as three people wearing white took center stage. The curly-haired woman was in the middle of them—Yolanda.

Those in white were women, and their sweaters had lacey hoods and sleeves. Yolanda was the first to break from her group with her bat in hand and immediately walked to Enrique. Her red-painted full lips puckered as she blew him a kiss. "How are you, baby?" she asked him.

I watched as Enrique slowly stepped back, shaking his head. "Yolanda, don't—"

"No." She gently tapped her bat against the floor. Jorge tried to reach for it to take it from her, but she quickly lifted her hand. "Jorge, aren't you glad we're here? We promised that when you found your sister, we would help you. Did you forget?"

My eyes widened. I knew he had said this cult had cared for him, but was it actually her? The fact that they were aware of this promise he had made me, that he would kill me and everyone else—and they wanted to help him complete that. Tears rimmed my eyes. I knew the threat my brother had made was real, and for the longest time, it was a thought in the back of my mind, but I hadn't felt it since I saw him again. If he wanted to kill me, he would've done it at AJ's. No. The vaccine was keeping my brother true to his humanity. Planique did nothing but change the way he looked.

Then Jorge rolled his head around his shoulders and glanced up at me. I bit my tongue.

"Hey, hey!" Enrique snapped his fingers at him. "Pay attention, we had a plan, we—"

Yolanda quickly reached out and held Enrique's chin between her fingers. "Papi, don't." She shook her head. "You need to remember that what he wants is what's important. Beatrice would have wanted the same."

"Bea?" Enrique's voice cracked. The gas can fell from his hands. "Where is she? Is she—"

Yolanda shook her head as she shushed him, and without that distraction, Jorge pivoted to face my direction. I fell back on my hands. "Shit," I hissed.

Becky grabbed my hand. "We need to run." She pulled me away from the balcony. "Let's go! Now!"