It’s now or never.

You scrabble to your feet and take three steps forward before the creature catches you.

A strong clawed hand wraps around your neck and lifts you clear off the ground. The creature is cloaked, the concealing hood pulled forward to cast its face into shadow. A long forked tongue flickers forward, tasting the air.

“Interesting,” it hisses, turning you this way and that. “You are not what I expected.”

You open your mouth to reply but can only emit a strangled gasp.

“Why attack the theatre?” it continues, unconcerned. “Why endanger your own people?”

You clutch at the long fingers around your neck, shake your head as best you can. You’re not who it thinks you are. You’re not an infected. “No,” you manage to say, and then you cannot help but look towards the secret door on the wall.

The creature’s eyes follow yours, and then it goes utterly still. “Interesting,” it says again, but now there is an undercurrent of menace that sends shivers down your spine.

“You have served your purpose,” it tells you, and then it brings its other hand up to snap your neck in two.

THE END. (Try again?)