Felcey yelled, causing Lewis to yell back, "KEEP IT DOWN UP THERE, FREAK."

When he got off the bed Felcey noticed the puddles of liquid footprints in his room. It was early evening and the sun still blazed up high, it hadn't rained for days. So where did the puddles come from? Felcey thought. He rubbed his fingers together and they were still wet, he sniffed and squeezed them and more liquid trickled out. Scratching again he put his fingers back to his nose and gingerly put them to his lips, his tongue probed around his forefinger with the liquid on it. Felcey snapped his lips and his eyes blinked a few times as he thought he recognised the taste in his mouth, thinning out the traces of the moustache he thought was growing above his lips he tried it again. His eyes slowly widened. "No way, man."

Kimberley loved the water and she knew the water felt the same, it was a love/hate relationship and even as her lungs filled with water and craved oxygen she didn't panic, she couldn't see as the chlorine stung her eyes but she kept them shut and kicked hard and let her hands pull the water behind her with authority, the very thought of giving up was not an option and with one final push she burst through the water's surface.

Her lungs ached and she gasped and spat out the water, she had been underwater too long and coughed longer than usual, but after a while she recognised the sounds around her, the kids splashing around, the parents shouting, she spat out the chlorine water and looked around. She was still at her local swimming baths and the glorious sun even in the evening still shone brightly. Treading water, Kimberley made her way to the pool's edge and heaved herself up onto the side. Reaching for her phone that lay upon her towel, she wiped the water from her eyes and began to send a text.

HEY GIRLFRIEND WOT U DOING? @ SWIMMING POOL AT THE MO, WANT TO HOOK UP L8R? SEE A FILM MAYBE? COULD BE FUN L.O.L!!!!!.

After a few moments Kimberley's phone lit up and vibrated and she read Ca.s.sandra's reply.

HIYA. AT WORK RIGHT NOW AND HAVE TO GO TO LIBRARY TO RETURN A BOOK AFTERWARDS BUT SHOULD BE OK. TEXT YOU L8R...AND DON'T CALL ME GIRLFRIEND :( Kimberley hid her phone back under her towel and returned to the pool, her arms were itching again like this morning and she scratched them both and hoped the water would soothe the rash on them.

It didn't and the water now seemed to make it worse, as she bobbed up and down it was harder to use her arms to stay afloat and scratch them at the same time. Kimberley felt hot as well now, her head was hot, she was burning up and her throat was sore; everything was spinning. She coughed out water from her mouth and wiped her eyes. Looking over her shoulder no one had noticed her coughing fit and in a swimming pool it wasn't exactly unheard of to cough after an intake of water. Panic was beginning to set in.

For a moment she swore her hands had turned yellow, she gasped for breath and her hands had definitely changed colour and they were boiling the water, a scream from behind her told her that someone else had noticed the water getting hotter and the sight of Kimberley's glowing yellow hands had something to do with it, as the frightened girl came back up for breath amid all the shouts one little voice she heard perfectly, a little boy's. "Mummy look, she's burning the water."

The little lad was right, Kimberley's hands glowed bright red and were boiling the swimming pool water, the heat had no effect on her but the other swimmers had to get out or else they'd be boiled alive.

Families, couples, children crawled up the side of the pool as pandemonium broke loose, men and women fighting each other to get through the exits.

The panicking crowd screamed their way from the bubbling swimming pool, a teenage boy ran along the pool's edge and lost his balance and fell heavily to the ground, he split his head open and groaned but the sight of a girl with yellow hands boiling up his local swimming baths, spurred him on to get up and turn to the frantic Kimberley.

"YOU FREAK, LEAVE US ALONE, YOU STUPID FREAK!" The teenager joined the other swimmers in their hurried exit of the local baths leaving Kimberley to haul herself out of the steaming swimming pool, she wept as she looked around to see the entire complex deserted, she looked down at her hands to see that they had returned to their normal fake-tan colour and her black nail-polish came back. Kimberley was shaking as she picked up her towel and her phone. The yellow glow had left her body and she trembled as she fiddled with her phone, she began to text.

PLEASE COME.

Kimberley still shook as she looked around to see if anybody else remained from the pool, the steam still rose as she vomited into it. Her phone vibrated as she had her head over the side.

STILL AT WORK. WOT NO LOL??!!.

Kimberley pressed another b.u.t.ton to ring her friend, wiping the water from her eyes and the sick from her mouth...waiting nervously for a reply, Ca.s.sandra finally answered her phone.

"h.e.l.lo?"

Kimberley took a deep breath. "No, I'm not laughing." She cried next.

Ca.s.sandra couldn't stand her job, it was only part-time to give her some extra cash and keep her parents off her back but she hated it nevertheless. She was a waitress at Kebe's Chicken Shack, a small chain of restaurants specialising in cut-price poultry.

The original name of the shops had the word *cheap' in front of the chicken but it was attracting the wrong sort of crowd according to the owner and it was dropped, but they kept their tradition of singing to any customer whose birthday it was and this really got on Ca.s.sandra's nerves. At least three times a shift, she was wheeled out with the rest of the serving staff and made to chimp around to sing and dance to every teething toddler and acne-filled face teenager.

She thought about making up an excuse to leave work early as she thought about Kimberley's text and subsequent phone call afterwards, the poor girl sounded like she was close to tears, but said she couldn't speak and would tell Ca.s.sandra when they met up later.

Seeing as Kimberley was already on her way down Ca.s.sandra thought is was probably better to stay at work anyway. She shook her head to empty her thoughts, an empty head was a prerequisite for working in the chicken shop, Ca.s.sandra was on greeter duties today and a family of four had stepped through the doors.

"Hey there," she beamed falsely. "What can I do for you?"

It was a father, mother and two children. The dad, bright-eyed and happy seemed to be more excited about being there than his family were.

"Hiya, table for four, please."

Ca.s.sandra smiled back, this time with warmth as she saw how buoyant his mood was, she manoeuvred her way through the taken tables and chairs to find four empty seats by the window, and sitting the family down, Ca.s.sandra gave each of them a menu and took their drinks order, the father got her attention once more before she left.

"It's my son's birthday too, can we get the *Mega bigger birthday bucket bonanza' please?"

Her fake smile came back. "Of course you can."

"But we didn't reserve a table," the dad said.

"It shouldn't be a problem."

She lifted up her sleeves and frantically scratched her arms, without even noticing the mother looking at her with a puzzled look on her face. The mother spoke in a cold, tired drone. "Something wrong with your arms?"

Ca.s.sandra dropped her hands to her side. "Nope, I'm fine, thank you." She turned to the child sitting closest to her. "So is it this handsome boy's birthday then?" The boy nodded and blushed. Ca.s.sandra leaned closer to the boy and spoke softly. "Then we'll have to give you a special birthday treat. What's your name?"

The boy spoke barely above a whisper. "Muskrat."

"Seriously?"

The mum glared at her.

"Do you have a problem with the name I gave my son?" Ca.s.sandra shook her head. "No, I think it's a lovely name." The girl made an effort to look into Muskrat's eyes to rea.s.sure him. "Right, now I'll leave you to order your food and get your drinks for you." Walking through the kitchen doors she threw her arms up in the air in exasperation. "WHERE DO WE FIND THESE PEOPLE?" The kitchen staff chuckled.

"We have a birthday, table five, boy's name is Mudflap...no sorry, Muskrat." She smirked at her colleagues' shocked expressions. "Yeah, tell me about it."

Another waitress breezed in with eyes transfixed on a piece of paper, she shouted too. "BIRTHDAY; TABLE'S FOUR, SEVEN, NINE, FIFTEEN, KIDS' NAMES ARE; AUBREY, KEENE, LINUS AND ZARA."

With military precision Ca.s.sandra and a handful of other servers grabbed some comedy hats and went back into the restaurant. They went from table to table singing the *Birthday song', children cheered and banged on the table when their birthday server approached, more kids entered the chicken shack and had to be entertained too, it seemed that day was every kid's birthday and they all had a song sung to them accompanied by a special chicken dance.

Table five, with Muskrat and family hadn't had their birthday song yet, the father waited patiently while his wife rolled her eyes and tutted while sipping her white wine. She filled her gla.s.s again and tapped at her watch to her husband who smiled back apologetically.

"I know, but they'll get to us eventually, I'm sure they will, they're just busy."

Ca.s.sandra had sung her heart out to at least a dozen tables, but she had forgotten her original table five. Her arms were itching beyond belief and she scratched and sung repeatedly, she was growing more tired as each song pa.s.sed and was feeling hot too.

Muskrat stuck his tongue out to his younger brother as he waited for his dinner, his mother sighed loudly and clicked her fingers.

"EXCUSE ME, EXCUSE ME, YOUNG LADY." Ca.s.sandra carried on singing to another table, putting her hands on her shoulders, mirroring the lyrics to the birthday song. Grabbing a fork the mother started banging it hard onto the table. "I SAID EXCUSE ME, YOUNG LADY, I'M TALKING TO YOU."

Ca.s.sandra started to sweat and was feeling faint, but still persisted in scratching with her song. The mother fidgeted uneasily in her seat. "WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR AGES."

Another waitress came to the table to find out why this particular diner had raised her voice but the mother shooed her away and grunted loudly, "I WANT HER, SHE SHOULD BE THE ONE SERVING US."

A strange energy pulsed though Ca.s.sandra's body and it shook her, she stopped singing and wiped her brow cased in sweat, her eyes were as wide as saucers and she turned her attention to table five. Her voice trembled. "I'm sorry, what is it?"

The mother's voice boomed, "IT'S MY SON'S BIRTHDAY, AND THIS SILLY WOMAN HASN'T DONE ANYTHING."

Ca.s.sandra swayed as she meandered over, her stomach turning cartwheels and her eyes glazed over.

The husband patted his wife's arm to try and calm her down, but she wasn't having any of it.

"NO, I WILL NOT LEAVE IT, THIS WAITRESS IS USELESS."

All of a sudden the powerful energy in Ca.s.sandra pulled her quickly to table five, in a few quick steps she was at the table, she flicked her head round and roared, "WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME?"

The restaurant dropped into silence instantly, swiftly followed by the sounds of screams and chairs hastily being sc.r.a.ped along the wooden restaurant floor, tables were overturned as diners scrambled through the exits.

Only table five remained as all the family sat rooted to the spot staring up at Ca.s.sandra, one side of her face had changed, on her right-hand side her eye was no longer brown but a metallic green, half her mouth had grown razor-sharp teeth, her head resembled a now crimson reptile which looked rough and leathery, a forked-tongue slithered out, which she was oblivious to.

"WHAT YOU LOOKING AT? HAVE I GOT SOMETHING IN MY TEETH?"

The mum nervously pointed to a mirror opposite them hanging on the wall. Ca.s.sandra looked around and let out a shriek of terror as she saw her terrifying reflection, the young girl, still screaming, fled out of the chicken shop. Muskrat and his brother beamed with excitement.

"DAD, THAT WAS WAY COOL, CAN WE COME BACK TOMORROW?" The father stared at his wife shaking in her chair, slightly dribbling with fear, he then looked his son squarely in the eye and smiled. "Did you get that on your phone?" Muskrat nodded. "s.h.i.t YEAH!"

Ca.s.sandra ran down the street feeling her face as she went, her fingers ran all over her head to see if the traces of the creature she saw in the chicken shack were still there. Pausing briefly she checked her reflection in a shop window, her tear-stained face had reverted back to its white self.

She smeared her tears and continued running through the restaurant district, the people leaving and entering various eateries were apparently unaware of her transformation in the shop a few blocks down.

Ca.s.sandra turned into an alleyway and collapsed into a heap, rolling on the ground she crawled on all fours and pushed her back up against the brick wall and cradled her head in her hands. Moments pa.s.sed that seemed like an eternity with her thoughts all over the place. Still sniffling and trembling she stood up and threw up behind some bins.

Remembering she was meeting Kimberley and fighting to maintain her composure, Ca.s.sandra ran around the corner...b.u.mping straight into her friend. Kimberley threw her hands around Ca.s.sandra and held her tight, resting her head on her shoulder. Ca.s.sandra cried into her friend and the two between sobs recalled their respective incidents.

Kimberley's voice rose in alarm. "SO WHAT DO WE DO NOW, WHAT'S HAPPENING TO US?" Ca.s.sandra wiped the remnants of snot dribbling from her nose and shook her head.

"I haven't got a clue, I don't know what's going on but I don't like it." She looked around at the people heading to various restaurants and suddenly felt vulnerable.

"Come on, let's go back to my house and work out what the h.e.l.l's going on." Kimberley nodded in haste and fumbled with her phone.

"Shall we call our parents?"

"No, we'll keep them out of this until we know what's going on, I don't even know who to tell, THIS THING IS CRAZY!"

Kimberley wiped her eyes still red from crying.

"Ok, let's go to yours."

The two locked hands and started to run to the direction of Ca.s.sandra's house, as they raced around restaurants with their heart pounding, they managed to keep their heads up until they both ran headlong into Felcey.

All three of the cla.s.smates lay sprawled out on the ground, Ca.s.sandra pulled Kimberley to her and looked at the guy who literary swept them off their feet.

"FELCY!" Ca.s.sandra yelled. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

The scruffy comic collector rubbed his arm, for once not because of the itching but because he had fallen awkwardly on to it. "I came out to get some fresh air and to get some dinner from the *Chicken Shack', my stepdad ate mine."

"You should look where you're going, Felcey," Ca.s.sandra glared.

"My arm hurts," was his reply.

Kimberley got to her feet and pulled the sleeves down from her top, since she boiled the water in the swimming baths her itching had stopped, she rubbed her aching back and smiled for the first time that evening.

"Hey Felcey, are you hurt?"

"Hi Kimberley." He muttered under his breath about his arm being broken. "I'm fine."

Ca.s.sandra slapped her forehead a couple of times. "b.u.g.g.e.r! I forgot my library book."

Kimberley threw her hands in the air. "Is this really the time to be worrying about a library book?"

Before Ca.s.sandra could answer, armed police following proper procedures swarmed around the alleyway. Kimberley whirled around to see loads of men in uniform aiming guns at the three of them, her face dazed with confusion at the oncoming officers. The first line of policemen moved closer to the teenagers with their weapons aimed high, the officer at the front barked an order.

"ARMED POLICE, STAY WHERE YOU ARE AND PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR."

Terrified and confused, all three of them did so. The people who were about to dine out for the evening ran away or were shepherded away by police.

Felcey stood absolutely still but managed a glare at Ca.s.sandra. "So this library book...how late is it?"

The door on the cubicle rattled again. "Are you ok in there?" Sabrina knocked once more. "Aphrodite are you coming out?"

A few people in the ladies' toilets laughed at something, which made Sabrina turn her head for a moment. Realising that they weren't basing their merriment on her, she focused on the locked door again. "Are you feeling sick?"

From inside the cubicle Aphrodite pulled the sleeve from her wrist and looked at the redness on her arm, it had been scratched red raw from the early hours of that morning right through till now.

Shuffling footsteps, the young girls giggling and the revolving door of the bar toilets made Aphrodite stay in the cubicle longer than she would have wanted, she was always very self-conscious, but it was the appearance of the hideous rash on her arms that was the reason she was wearing sleeves in the still hot evening.

Sabrina's knocking continued. "Aphrodite, open the door."

She finally answered. "ALRIGHT, I'M COMING."

The latch on the door clicked and Aphrodite, wriggling her nose, emerged. "I'm fine, just a bit tired that's all."

Sabrina moved aside and let her friend pa.s.s, as she did so it gave her a chance to scratch her own arm which like Aphrodite's was itching, but unlike hers it wasn't red but green. Sabrina walked behind her friend still feeling her arm, it wasn't just turning green but small scales had started to appear, Sabrina gave them another rub before pulling down her sleeve and walking beside Aphrodite.

She couldn't take the itching and pulled Aphrodite to a corner in the bar. "Listen, I have something to show you, I should have told you earlier but I didn't know what to do."

Aphrodite raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Sabrina rolled up her sleeve to reveal her arm; it had started turning green. Aphrodite hid her shock and craned her eyes. "Are they scales?" Sabrina nodded and wiped away a tear.

"It's been itching ever since we were knocked out in that nightclub."

Aphrodite gave her a quizzical look but she knew exactly what her friend was talking about.

"All day my arms have been itching and now their turning green, WHAT SHOULD I DO?"

Aphrodite looked to see if anyone had taken notice to her friend's raised tone athey hadn't. She then simply continued to stare at her friend's arm.

"Oh Sabrina," she whispered. "I don't know what to say." Aphrodite hugged her friend and took a step back. "Wait, maybe my dad can help, he knows stuff and knows people who know people."