At 3am, they reached Northside Boys High.

All of the lights were off. Not even the motion-sensor lights flicked on as the group trudged past.

"I've never been this scared of the dark," commented Aaron from somewhere behind Miles, suppressing a shudder.

Miles walked alongside Lia, straining his eyes to see through the darkness. "I don't know how we're going to determine which dorms are empty and which ones aren't," he said.

"Well, we'll have to figure it out." Lia was still leading. It had been a silently agreed-upon method; Lia would lead, because she knew the grounds of the school better than anybody else in the group. "The dormitories are one big building. Everybody should be asleep at this hour -"

"If they're not?" interjected Eira nervously.

Lia shrugged. "Then we move around them. Anyway, as I was saying, everybody should be asleep at this hour, so all we have to do is walk around the halls silently for a little bit until we manage to find a room that's empty. Preferably a room on the lower level in case we... need to get out for any reason." Her voice quietened.

"I'm sure it's possible to find one quickly," Aaron put in optimistically. "Most kids won't be here over the break."

"Right," agreed Miles. "So can we not all share a room?"

Lia put in, "The rooms are big."

"Sharing rooms with strangers is weird."

"We can't split up." Everybody was surprised when Luca spoke, and all of a sudden, all gazes were on him. He immediately shrank backwards. "It's not safe to split up."

"Point taken," said Lia before Miles could protest. "We're all going to stay together. It's safe and easy and logical."

Miles bit his tongue to avoid saying anything he'd regret and instead continued reluctantly plodding after Lia, falling a little behind. Beneath his feet, the grass crunched, wet with dew. His movements felt stiff, with both his own and Harvey's blood soaking his shirt.

Whenever the memory of finding Harvey's body resurfaced, Miles's head became a place of turmoil.

Until tonight, death hadn't seemed so real, so close.

Lia had killed somebody. One of Miles' friends had been killed. Miles, too, had found himself dangerously close to death.

The world had been turned on its head.

To think that he would never see Harvey again made Miles' eyes sting with tears that he immediately blinked back. His cheeks were already streaked with tears and dirt and blood - he didn't need to cry anymore. He could hardly help but wonder if it wasn't just the two Altered they'd seen tonight that might be losing their minds. It couldn't possibly be. The instructions the Unaltered had received and the apparent insanity of the Altered had to be interconnected, as frightening as that was.

Harvey had been Unaltered; he was only just younger than Miles. Why, all of a sudden, were the Altered attacking the Unaltered?

Miles' stomach lurched at the possibility that his friends, his family, might also be affected by this. All of his friends - bar Harvey - were already Altered, including Ty.

If they turned out to be going crazy, Miles didn't know what he'd do.

Miles was drawn from his pondering when he noticed that the group he was walking with was starting to slow. He was rather glad - his thoughts had been getting painful to listen to.

In place of his thoughts, the insistent agony of his shoulder resumed its throbbing.

"Everybody be quiet," Lia whispered as she tested the handle to the dorms. After a moment, she grumbled under her breath, "Locked. Anybody else have any idea how we could get in?"

Eira perked up, "I can pick locks!"

Aaron shot her a startled glare. "You can?"

She grinned sheepishly. "Yeah. I watch too much crime TV. Does anybody have something I could use?"

As Lia pulled a hairpin from her long ebony hair, she responded, "You're lucky that this school has been here so long. Most buildings by now don't have locks like this anymore. Thank God we're not standing out here trying to figure out a passcode combination."

Eira took the hairpin when Lia offered it to her and - after snapping the hairpin in two - instantly set to work on the lock. Miles folded his arms while he waited, shifting from foot to foot.

Letting Eira fidget with the lock, Miles turned around to face those who remained. "Does anybody have the time?"

"I thought you had a phone," Lia mentioned.

Miles shook his head, angry at himself for losing it. "I dropped it in the alley. I didn't pick it up."

Then, miraculously, Aaron produced a phone from one of the back pockets in his jeans. Lips quirking upwards, he held it out for Miles. "I picked it up for you."

Astonished that Aaron had thought to do that with everything else that had been happening, Miles took the phone from Aaron with a wince as he extended his arm, sparking a new ache of pain from is shoulder. "Oh, thank you."

"You're welcome." Aaron shrugged carelessly. "Now, what's the time?"

Miles, having forgotten that he'd initially asked that question, glanced down at his phone to check. "Five past three in the morning."

Lia yawned, stretching her arms up. "Damn, I'm surprised I've stayed awake this long."

"Aren't we all?" muttered Aaron. "I could go into hibernation right now, I'm so exhausted."

"No sleeping when we get inside." Lia nudged him with her elbow. "We've other things to do."

From behind the three, Eira triumphantly declared, "I've got it open!"

Luca shushed her at once, and she clamped her mouth shut apologetically, handing back Lia's broken hairpin though it was now useless. Eira pushed the door aside, then, and held it open for the others, who filed in swiftly and quietly.

Eira came in last, closing the door behind her.

It was almost darker inside than it had been outside. Miles heard Lia suck in a deep breath from somewhere beside him, and then all was silent.

A minute passed, then Eira brushed her way around the others and started walking. Without question, everybody else started to slowly follow. Near the end of the first floor was an elevator, but they strayed away from it.

Finding a room in the darkness was hard, since the walls were all a dark colour and it was difficult to distinguish whether rooms were empty or not with the door closed.

Lia tested the door of one room near the edge of the hall, and much to her surprise - and everybody else's - it opened immediately. "It's not locked," she whispered, but that much was already obvious, "so there mustn't be anyone inside."

As one, the group entered the room, all looking in different directions, moving quietly just in case Lia was wrong and there was somebody here.

Lia pulled out her phone and dangerously flicked on the flashlight, shining it around the room.

In unison, all children let out a breath of relief. "Empty," Luca confirmed. Miles shut the door behind them.

"Somebody get the blinds," Aaron suggested. "Moonlight's the best light we'll have access to for now."

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+1154 words.

((Banner credit to itsnothardtodreamx))

Eeee I didn't really like this chapter, but it gets the job done I guess. Thank you for reading! Please vote and comment with your thoughts on the chapter :)