'-and slide it away from you.'

It was like looking at a ghost.

It was harrowing because that was when I knew- that was the moment I realised that no matter what happened Tom was too far gone to survive it. I put the phone down on the table beside me like he'd said then pushed it away and it slipped all the way across the surface until it was out of reach. My gaze flicked down to his wrist where an old shirt served as a makeshift bandage. Going off what Duncan had said earlier I knew that was where the bite was.

'Tom...' I said softly.

'I need- I need your help,' he croaked back.

I nodded my head, pulling the curtain aside like an invitation but my movement prompted his own, he took a big step forward until he was standing right in front of me, his own hand coming to rest very tentatively just above my own on the edge of the plastic.

I didn't dare move.

I didn't want to spook him now because his instinct would either go one of two ways.

1. He would bolt.

2. He would attack.

I didn't want either.

'Tom,' I repeated. His voice was a mantra, an identity to him that I hoped would help remind him who he really was. His other hand was shaking at his side, moving slowly towards me until it stopped right next to my cheek. I thought he was going to grab hold of me but he outstretched a finger and pointed up to the ceiling.

'Are they watching us now?' he asked.

I shook my head. 'No. No-one's watching.' I looked again at his wrist. 'Let me see where it bit you,' I said. Maybe it wasn't as bad as I imagined, maybe it was only a little scratch, the parasite hadn't spread as much as I thought and I could do something to help him. But his forehead was already covered in sweat and the way he moved made him look almost drunk, and I was afraid his symptoms were a clear sign of the progression.

He suddenly ripped the curtain back and stepped past me to point at the dodo.

'What's really going on with these things, Anna?'

I couldn't reply.

'Huh?'

But my lips wouldn't open. I couldn't say anything that he'd believe– not in this state anyway.

'Tell me!'

His shout echoed off the walls and I flinched, ducking my head into my shoulders like the next thing that was going to come at me was a fist, and, like he knew that, Tom immediately held up his hands in surrender.

'Anna. Anna, god, I'm sorry. I... I don't feel very well okay.'

'I know. That's why I want to look at you, please...'

My feet moved, I took a half step towards him but again he threw his hands up between us and shouted 'don't' and I froze. 'Whoa!' he continued, 'don't, don't come near me because I don't want to hurt you. Not you, Anna...' Tom continued. 'And I will...It's not my fault.'

'No,' I agreed.

I watched something pass behind his eyes, a strain of sanity slipping through him like soap through greasy fingers and his jaw locked, his nostrils flaring as suddenly he jolted froward. 'What have you done to me!'

There was a noise that came out my mouth between a whimper and a cry- not from fear–because even now I wasn't afraid, but the grief- the idea- that this wasn't my friend anymore.

I retreated but I wasn't looked where I was going and my back hit the wall.

He caged me in, his arms either side of my head and it would have been a lot more effective at trapping me there had he not been over a foot taller than me, but I didn't try to escape.

I knew I needed to keep my mouth away from his.

Saliva was the quickest way he could infect me- especially with a cut inside my mouth.

I pressed my head back into the wall. 'You're scared,' I said hurriedly, despite the pounding in my own chest. 'But I'm not gonna hurt you Tom. You know I couldn't.'

'Am I going to die?'

I shouldn't lie to him. Never lie to a dying man.

'Maybe. Definitely, if you don't let me help you. But I'm not going to just let that happen.' I was speaking so fast I didn't even know if he could distinguish the words from any sounds I was making but my desperation was transforming into panic. I needed to stay calm. I took a deep breath, curled my hand to a fist at my side– just in case– but I knew I would need to wait to retaliate.

'What are they growing inside me?'

'You've been infected with a parasite. When the Dodo bit you–'

'Do you think I'm stupid,' he hissed, 'Dodos are extinct.'

I tried to steady my breathing. 'You're right. They are. But look Tom, it's right there, so there must be another explanation, right?'

Craning his neck around to peer over his shoulder through the dimness to the dead bird on the table, I took the opportunity to duck beneath his arms and retreat, still facing him, but now backing up towards the door to the lab. And even though I'd only put a little distance between us, I felt my heartrate crescendoing in my chest. I held up my arms so that when Tom looked back he knew I wasn't going to run.

'Just, tell me the truth...' he pleaded. He looked back, found I'd gone and desperately searched for me with his gaze.

'You already know the truth. Connor told you. The anomalies, the dinosaurs, everything he said it's all real.'

'You expect me to believe that?'

Sighing again, I tilted my head, 'I can't tell you what to believe Tom, but that's the truth. That's what you wanted. Please let me take you to the hospital.'

'So you can put another thing inside me?' The thought of the parasite made him angrier and he lunged, reaching out to grab a hold of me more forcefully than before but I just managed to duck out of the way.

'Don't Tom,' I said.

But he came at me again and caught a hold of my wrist in a bruising grip carrying my momentum back until I crashed down onto the floor. He straddled me and pinned me down.

'Do you want to see what it's like Anna?'

I pulled against him, trying to release my arms from his grip but he just took both my wrists in one hand, yanked them up above my head and leant down to level his face with mine. His gaze dropped to my lips, just for a moment, before they dipped lower, down my chest and the v of my t-shirt pulled tight across my chest. He exhaled, and his breath fanned out across my skin. It made me shudder, and as I squirmed beneath him I heard his breath hitch.

Suddenly I was still.

I'd never even realised. Oh god suddenly it made sense. All the times he'd held my gaze longer than necessary in conversation. All the times he'd laughed at my jokes. The lingering hands on my shoulders. The underwear beneath his bed.

'Tom...'

It scared me more than anything had so far because now it was something else. Tom could fight the parasite but his body was already starting to give in.

His eyes moved back to my lips.

'You're hurting me.'

Almost instantly, the grip of his hand loosened and I circled my wrists gratefully even if his body weight didn't shift from my already bruised and aching stomach.

'You say it's real, then show me.'

I nodded my head. 'I can.'

He kept one arm around me as we crossed the campus back towards the car, hand on the back of my neck whilst his fingers reached round almost all the way to my jugular. The weight of them felt like tentacles around me.

We must have looked almost sweet. Tom's face was pressed into my hair to shield his eyes from the light. No one looked at us twice like the supposed affection of it made them uncomfortable.

He kept his hand around my neck the whole way.

A polite reminder I would have called it, had it been something like a cough to show someone they were using the wrong fork at the dinner table, and not the impression that he could kill me if he so desired, if he wanted to, if he didn't need me.

He was still holding on when we got to the stadium.

The noise of my seat-belt rattling back into place at the top of the door seemed unusually loud. Tom finally removed his hand, reaching over into the back seat where he'd tossed the bag containing the dead Dodo, and stroked a crocked finger down its neck.

'Poor thing.'

I peered through the windscreen, searching the surroundings for some way of escape- somewhere I could run to and get away without him following me- and my attention fell on a gate.

'Did you kill it?'

Without removing my attention from the path I was tracking with my eyes I responded. 'We didn't kill anything Tom. You know I couldn't do that.'

'Don't lie to me, these things don't just happen. It's all connected.'

'I'm on your side, I'm always on your side.'

The strength of my voice surprised myself; I had never realised just how good I was at telling people exactly what they wanted to hear. And still, I wasn't even lying to him. He was my friend, he had been my friend almost as long as he had been Connor's and yet he seemed so far removed from himself compared to the boy I had met in that A-Level physics class.

'You can trust me,' I said.

He looped his arm around my shoulders, hand back around my neck like he thought it belonged there. He had some sort of obsession with it. It occurred to me that Tom probably used to think about this. He probably imagined choking me when he was jerking off. Maybe he'd always wanted to do it.

Not to be defeated, I lifted my chin, trying to pull myself away as he leant in closer to me again. My head hit the window and without anywhere else to go I was left powerless as his lips stopped mere centimetres from mine and I could feel his breath fanning out across them.

'Why?' he hissed.

I swallowed a lump in my throat. 'Because you know me.'

His eyes glazed over with the consideration. I hadn't given him any reason not to trust me before and now wasn't any different.

'Yes,' he finally resolved.

'Come with me.'

I could feel my heart in my mouth as we approached the fence, the gate– the one that should lock behind me. A football stadium was big enough- I figured- if I found somewhere to hide and got a hold of a phone to call the others, he probably wouldn't be able to find me.

This was the only chance I had.

Upon reaching the gate I waited, but like I thought he would he gestured for me to go first. I stepped through, reeling around with my own momentum to slam it shut behind me. I heard it click locked.

Tom groaned. 'Anna!' i heard him yell after me. But my feet were already pounding against the concrete, the fence rattling and shaking behind me. I glanced back expecting Tom to still be trapped on the other side but he was climbing over and already he was halfway up.

The 400 metres never felt like this.

I used to be good at sports; something about tiring out my body the way I never quite could with my mind always used to appeal to me but now– out of practise– I just felt panicked like I was sure he was closing in.

Tom screamed my name again. It wasn't his voice anymore. The anguish, the rage of desperation from the parasite was surging through him and had twisted his mind. It had taken over.

He was catching up with me. I turned round corners, quickly proceeding to turn through more in hope that in all the changes in direction would help me shake him loose but– out of nowhere– he slammed into me and we collided.

We hit the ground hard.

Tom's weight crashed down over me, the air was quashed from my lungs so I had nothing left to scream with when my mouth opened. He immediately slammed one hand down over the top of it. The sounds died in my throat and I almost bit into his finger.

In any other occasion I would have done. Had there been someone else, some attacker atop me with his hand over my mouth I would have sunk my teeth in hard enough to tear the skin, but his blood was infected. It would be just as stupid of me to do that at this point.

I felt his fumbling hand slide along the waistband of my jeans, the buttons popping like they were too scared to face the adversity and my own hands were suddenly around his wrist, pushing, trying to get it away from the direction it was sliding down to the apex of my thighs.

'Tom!' But my voice was muffled from his hand. 'Don't.'

Angrily, he caught both my wrists in his again, pushing them down over my own neck and using his body weight to cut off most of the air supply to my lungs. Enough to keep me quiet at least. And with my mouth redundant anyway, he moved that hand down to resume the fumble with my underwear.

He didn't say anything. His eyes didn't blink or move from their intended destination between my legs and, in some weird way that was better. It was better than him trying to tear off my clothes and look at me and speak using Tom's voice with words that I should never have heard coming out of Tom's mouth.

Long fingers slipped across the crotch of my underwear, caught the hem of the fabric and pushed it aside to push one finger into me.

And it hurt. Obviously. There was no arousal so there was nothing to ease him in, nothing to spread across his fingers to make them slip inside me.

He had been hard since he held me down on the floor of the lab half an hour ago, but now, now his cock was straining against the front of his jeans begging for some sort of attention and I knew he'd have to take his fingers out of me to pull it out. But he didn't stop. He pushed another finger in and I felt my face twist from the pain. My mouth opened again but nothing came out, just moved as though it could cry in pain or scream for attention.

He worked his fingers in and out like he was searching for some sort of slick that didn't come so he pushed them further and this time a short expression of pain pealed from my lips as I shifted back against the concrete floor beneath me. My eyes started to water.

Like some part of him was frustratedly impatient at this deviation of imagination, he pulled his hand back from my neck, I gasped in a lungful of air as the burning stretch of my walls was released. But then he dug his hand into his jeans, not even bothering to pull them down over his ass he just pulled his cock from the waistband, hips lifting and slamming against mine.

I felt it, not saw it, the smearing of his pre-cum around my entrance. I hoped it would make it easier, that maybe it wouldn't hurt as much to drag his cock through me now, but when he pushed in and a scream cracked through my lungs, I realised I'd been wrong. Annoyed by the noise, he just grabbed my neck against and shifted more weight onto it. I tried to breathe in but nothing happened.

He leant forward and slammed his mouth over mine. I tried to turn my head, tried to keep my lips firmly together but he sunk his teeth in and I couldn't hold out. His mouth moved desperately against my own. My nose wrinkled. Tom pulled out and pushed back in. His hips clashed against mine, but I couldn't concentrate on the pain– an uncomfortable stretching of my vaginal walls around him that made me want to keep moving backwards up the floor to get away– because I was too focused on trying to get air. He pulled his mouth off mine and sat back upright.

His cock was big. The depth it reached inside me only furthered my desire to get back. I moved my hips, trying to curl them back to ensure it wasn't the right angle to push in as far and avoid my cervix but again that proved to be a mistake; he started moving harder, hips punching against mine. A yelp of pain came out of me, my back shifted from the momentum against the cold floor before the hand around my neck then slackened to the point I could get enough air into my lungs to make another attempt at getting Tom's attention.

'Please, Tom, stop.'

He suddenly slowed. I caught his eyes, slowly he started to blink as if his consciousness found its way back to the surface of his mind. 'Anna?' But I couldn't breathe to respond and as my body was tight with rigidity and I clamped down around his cock. Realisation washed over him, he saw his hand around my throat, followed my body down to where we were joined and that was enough to make his cock twitch inside me.

My eyes widened. 'No, no!'

But he couldn't stop, his lips began to quiver, parting to suck in a breathy gasp on a moan and he came inside me. This resemblance of reignition and clarity only lasted a few seconds like it was the afterglow of his orgasm before his jaw set again, a snarl echoed through him and his mouth slammed back over mine with a growl. He started to thrust into me again.

He went even harder.

Then came the hammering of footsteps, an echoing noise reverberating through the corridor and throwing my head back into the concrete I looked up over my head to see soldiers running down towards us. I couldn't tell how long I'd been on the ground but it suddenly felt like forever. 'Hey!' Ryan's voice washed through my ears. 'Get away from her!'

Tom pulled out, yanking me up by the neck and a gush of fluids flooded came out of me, down my blue jeans as my underwear snapped back into place around my cunt and my t-shirt hung down over the open zip of my trousers. Tom stuffed his cock back into his pants and dragged me away with him.

The light hit my eyes, Tom hissed from the pain as we emerged at the end of the corridor out onto the football pitch.

And as he dragged me onto the grass I barely had enough time to register that someone was there to help, before he tackled me down onto the pitch and pressed himself against me. His lips crashed against mine.

I tried to turn my head away from him and saw everyone following us out. I saw all the men with guns pointing them in my direction, Nick's face– broken and horrified– peering up over Ryan's shoulder.

Tom looked back over his shoulder to finally face the others.

'No!' I shouted tearing an arm free to hold up to them, 'don't shoot him.'

Connor, presumably having the exact same idea, bumbled down the bleachers and stood in front of us, arms up.

Tom's hands were moving again, trying to wrestle somehow under my t-shirt and back to where he'd been but I brought up a knee and tried to push him back, batting his hands away with my own. It didn't really work but ultimately kept his wandering ministrations at bay.

One hand grabbed my neck and started to squeeze. I took short shallow breaths and kept trying to push his other hand away.

'Connor,' Ryan demanded, 'what are you doing.'

'Don't,' he replied commandingly. 'Don't point those at her. I don't care if you're aiming at him, you can't point those at her, and you can't shoot him. Please.'