The cafeteria smelled of grease and disinfectant.

Aden stood in the lunch line. He didn't take a tray. He didn't take food.

He reached into the bin of cutlery.

He grabbed a heavy, tarnished, silver-plated spoon. He slipped it into his pocket.

He scanned the room.

The parasites were clustered at tables near the exits. They were watching the doors.

Elise was sitting at a round table in the far corner. She was alone.

No one dared to sit near her.

She was drinking from a red thermos. It wasn't juice.

She saw Aden. She raised an eyebrow, challenging him.

She expected him to cower in the shadows.

Aden took a breath. He was tired of being afraid.

He walked past the tables. He didn't go to the dark corner.

He walked straight to the floor-to-ceiling windows on the south wall.

It was noon. The sun was blazing.

Aden stepped into the beam of light.

He sat on the window ledge, bathed in sunshine.

Elise stood up. Her chair scraped loudly against the floor.

She stared at him. Her face lost its composure for the first time.

She waited for him to burn.

Aden stretched his legs. The sun felt good. It warmed his bones.

He pulled the silver-plated spoon out of his pocket.

Elise walked toward him. She moved fast, but she stopped just outside the patch of sunlight.

She flinched as the edge of the light touched her shoe.

"What are you?" she hissed. "Daywalker? That's impossible. Only the Progenitors..."

Aden looked at her. He held up the spoon.

He put the bowl of the spoon in his mouth.

He bit down hard.

SNAP.

The metal sheared off.

He crunched loudly. It sounded like he was chewing on gravel.

Elise's face went from shock to disgust. Her nose wrinkled.

"Gods," she said, her voice dripping with contempt. "You... you eat metal? What kind of silver-eating freak are you?"

She looked at him like he was a cockroach.

"I thought you were a threat," she scoffed, regaining some of her composure. "You're just a scavenger. A genetic mistake."

Aden swallowed the metal. It slid down his throat, warm and energizing.

"You still want to meet at the field, Princess?" he asked.

Elise's eyes flashed red. "Don't call me that. I can still gut you, sunlight or not."

"Try it," Aden said.

The intercom beeped.

Wooooop. Wooooop.

The emergency alarm. It was a sound that drilled into the skull.

"Lockdown. This is not a drill. All students seek cover immediately."

Boom.

The floor shook. Dust fell from the ceiling tiles.

Through the window, Aden saw a plume of green smoke rising from the industrial district a few miles away. The chemical plant.

"What did you do?" Elise asked, looking at the smoke.

"Me?" Aden stood up.

In the cafeteria, the students who were infected stood up in unison.

It was perfectly synchronized.

They stopped talking. They stopped moving.

Then, they opened their mouths.

A shriek tore through the air. It wasn't human. It was the sound of tearing metal and screaming pigs.

Chaos erupted.

Students screamed.

They rushed the double doors.

Aden saw the infected students near the exits move. They didn't run. They blocked the doors.

"Chadwick!" Aden yelled.

He grabbed his friend by the collar of his shirt and yanked him behind a concrete pillar.

"What is happening?" Chadwick screamed, clutching his head.

"Stay down," Aden ordered.

Elise was standing on a table. She looked calm. She was watching the infected.

"They're sealing us in," she muttered.

Aden pulled Chadwick's phone from his pocket. His own was destroyed.

"Unlock it," Aden said.

Chadwick fumbled with his thumbprint. "Okay, okay."

Aden started dialing 911.

A gloved hand shot out, grabbing his wrist. Elise.

"Don't," she said, her voice low and urgent. "It's a trap."

Aden's desperation outweighed his caution. He yanked his arm free. "We need help! They're killing people!"

He finished dialing and pressed the phone to his ear. The line clicked open instantly.

It rang once. Twice. Static crackled on the line.

"911, what is your emergency?" The operator's voice was calm. Too calm.

"Argent High School," Aden shouted. "Terrorist attack. Biological weapon. We're trapped in the cafeteria. Send SWAT!"

Silence on the line.

Then, a sound. Slither. Crunch.

"We are already there," the operator said.

The voice changed. It became the raspy, distorted voice of the parasites.

Aden froze.

"Don't worry," the thing on the phone giggled. "We are coming to collect you."

Before Aden could even react, the phone was snatched from his hand.

Elise.

She crushed the device in her fist without a second thought.

"Are you insane?" Aden yelled, the horror of the phone call mixing with rage. "That was..."

"That was a beacon, you idiot!" Elise said coldly, tossing the pieces aside. "I tried to warn you. The network is compromised. The police, the emergency services... they're gone."

"How do you know?"

"My family has been monitoring the chatter. The city fell an hour ago."

She reached under her skirt and pulled out two silver batons. She flicked her wrists, and they extended.

"There is no rescue," Elise said. "There is only the hunt."

At the doors, the infected students began to change.

Their faces split open. Skin peeled back like a banana.

Tentacles lashed out.

A boy near the door tried to push past them.

A tentacle wrapped around his neck and snapped it.

The screaming in the cafeteria reached a fever pitch.

Students scrambled under tables.

Aden saw Chloe Lane. She was huddled under a table near the salad bar. She was sobbing.

Jessie was walking toward her.

Jessie's face was gone. In its place was a maw of needle-teeth.

Aden felt his blood heat up. The silver he had eaten was pumping through him.

He looked at Elise.

"Help her," Aden said.

Elise glanced at Chloe. "She's prey. It's natural selection."

"She's a person!"

"She's meat."

Aden cursed.

He looked around. He grabbed a heavy metal chair.

He didn't think. He didn't calculate.

He charged.

Aden ran.

He swung the chair like a sledgehammer.

"Hey! Ugly!" he screamed.

Jessie turned.

Aden slammed the chair into her side.

The metal legs bent.

Jessie screeched. She stumbled back, her tentacles flailing.

One tentacle whipped out and slashed Aden's arm.

It burned. Blood welled up.

Aden ignored it. He slid across the polished floor and kicked Jessie in the knee.

Crack.

The leg bent backward. Jessie collapsed.

Aden grabbed Chloe by the arm. She was frozen with terror.

"Move!" he roared. He shoved her toward Chadwick. "Get to the kitchen! Go!"

Three more monsters turned toward Aden. They hissed.

Aden raised the bent chair. He was strong, but he was outnumbered.

A blur of silver flashed past him.

Schlick.

A monster's head slid off its neck. Green blood sprayed the wall.

Elise landed in a crouch. Her silver batons were now tipped with blades.

She stood up and flicked the green slime off her weapon.

"You fight like a drunk toddler," she said.

"Nice of you to join the party," Aden panted.

He looked at his arm. The cut was already closing. Silver steam rose from the wound.

Elise noticed. Her eyes narrowed. "Regeneration? That fast?"

Another monster lunged.

Elise didn't even look. She side-stepped and thrust her baton backward. It pierced the creature's chest.

"Don't get used to it," she said. "I'm just clearing the path."

Aden saw a massive oak table flipped on its side.

He grabbed the edge. It weighed at least two hundred pounds.

He lifted it with a grunt.

"Cover me!" he yelled.

He charged forward, using the table as a shield.

Elise moved with him. She was a whirlwind of steel. Anything that came around the side of the table lost a limb.

They plowed through the crowd of monsters.

They reached the kitchen doors.

Chadwick and Chloe were already there, holding the doors open. A dozen other students scrambled inside.

Aden threw the table at the pursuing monsters. It crashed into them, buying a few seconds.

He dove into the kitchen.

Elise followed, locking the heavy industrial doors behind her.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The monsters threw themselves against the metal. The doors buckled.

Aden grabbed a mop handle. He jammed it through the handles.

Then he pulled out his bent silver fork. He wedged it into the locking mechanism.

"That won't hold forever," Elise said. She wasn't even out of breath.

The kitchen was silent except for the sobbing of the survivors.

There were about twenty of them. They looked at Aden. He was covered in green blood. His shirt was torn.

But he was alive. And he was healing.