AJ walked down the traffic filled street, phantom echoes of the day pulsing in his brain. Brightly coloured cars raced down the road, their headlights flashing in a continuous nauseating blur. People hustled past him in both directions, their faces indistinguishable from one another.

 

The silver watch on his left arm caught the light as he tilted it toward him, the same timepiece his parents had presented to him on graduation day. He shook his other wrist, sliding the steel kara bracelet back down his forearm where it had ridden up, settling the sacred band into its familiar groove against his skin. 9.09.

 

9pm, I better put my overtime in tomorrow - He thought, making a mental note. He removed his wallet from his pocket, and tucked his ID badge away.

 

Today he had learned a lot. A hell of a lot. The Office of Urban Safety and Resilience’s office building receded behind him with each step, its windows still glowing with fluorescent light, despite the late hour.

 

I thought the job would become easier once my clearance came through.

 

The new systems his boss had introduced were overwhelming at best. Without slowing his pace he glanced up and noticed a cluster of cameras perched on the traffic light like mechanical vultures, each one aimed at a different office building entrance along the street. He raised his index finger, connecting invisible threads from camera to doorway, mapping the web of observation that had

become his job.

 

I can’t believe I had every CCTV feed in Leeds in my face. How do they expect me to see anything in that mess…

 

He felt a forceful yank on the back of his coat, sharp nails grazing the skin of his neck. That, and the blare of a car horn interrupted his thoughts, followed by the crystalline crash of glass breaking somewhere in front of him. Extremely close to him, as it happened. So close, that another step forward, he would have been slammed instead of the delivery truck.

 

“What the…” he turned around in a vortex of chaos, his eyes fixing on a young woman, her fingers uncurling from where they’d gripped him.

 

“Sorry…” she muttered, “you just looked as though you were gonna die…”

 

“No…no need to apologise… I mean…” he brushed his neck and traced the shallow grooves she’d left on his skin, “thanks… for not letting me die…”

 

The woman blinked and smiled widely. For a split second, he could have sworn her smile revealed something pointed, predatory. He blinked hard, focusing on her mouth. Just ordinary teeth.

 

“Are you OK?” she asked, cocking her head. Her smile widened.

 

AJ's mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. "Sorry, I just… your teeth looked…" He gestured vaguely at his own mouth, feeling heat rise to his face. "Never mind." She was already turning away from him, the conversation clearly finished.

 

“Watch yourself on the way home!” she called over her shoulder, already melting back into the crowd.

AJ stood for a moment, perplexed.

 

Man, today’s really done a number on me. Of all the things I could’ve hallucinated…fangs… - he thought, continuing his walk, ignoring the two drivers who were face to face, their expressions twisted in anger.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. Digging his hand into the folds of his coat, he retrieved it. It was a message from an online friend, regarding a game they both played.

 

“You on tonight big man thought youd be about by now” it read, crude and lacking grammar.

 

I really dunno if I can be bothered with it tonight - he sighed, replying to the message with the negative response.

 

“Shame. Catch yu tomoro then.”

 

The rest of his journey home was less eventful. Trudging up a staircase to his flat, he dropped his bag in the hall and made a beeline for the fridge. Last night’s pizza looked particularly inviting, as he yanked the cardboard container out he collapsed into his desk chair, leaning back in it as far as it would allow. The glow of his monitor lit up his face. He pressed play on the show that was paused.

Not even one bite into the pizza his eyelids started drooping, the cartoon figures on his screen dissolving into smears of light.

 

Man…it’s really done a number… the pizza flopped to the ground, followed by the dull thud of cardboard meeting carpet. The muscles in his neck relaxed and his eyes closed heavily.

 

He dreamed of the road outside of the OUSR building, except there were no cars, no people.

Well… one person, a girl. The girl? She wasn’t facing him but he was sure it was the girl who’d saved him.

“Why do you have fangs?” AJ called out to her. She started walking away, each step widening the gap between them.

 

He half-remembered something from late-night forums; rumours about the city’s feeders, how they drained without killing, left you light-headed, happy, and hollow. Urban myth stuff. Still, the thought of being someone’s midnight snack sent a chill through him.

 

“Where are you going?” he asked, starting to walk after her. Is that rain?

 

“You’re going to get wet!” he called out again. He realised she was walking into his workplace. In the lobby, glowing numbers on the wall displayed 3:03 AM.

 

“Do you work at OUSR too? Why haven’t I seen you here before?” his pace quickened, trying to catch up.

“Stupid question actually, this place is bleedin’ huge,” he whispered, chasing her up the stairs. She passed through the metal detector's curved frame, triggering a wailing alarm as the overhead lights shifted from sterile white to an eerie purple glow.

 

Finally, she turned to face him, her lips parted in that same life-saving smile from the street.

 

Her face cracked like porcelain, fractures spreading across her cheeks as if she was being consumed and burned from within. Her skin abandoned her, flaking away in sheets until nothing remained but her bleached skeleton, jaws locked in the same smile.

 

The terror jolted him awake, sending him flying off his chair, careening head first into his keyboard.

“Shit!” he hissed through clenched teeth. He stood up to reset his keyboard, cursing the pain and himself, the whole time. His eyes darted to his wrist. 4:14.

 

4 in the morning… - a knot of pain pulsed on his forehead.

 

He lifted his hand and brushed the back of his neck. He could no longer feel the scratches from the strangers nails, yet it throbbed with a phantom pain, as if the wound was fresh.

 

AJ caught himself staring into nothingness, thoughts absentmindedly lingering on the stranger's smile, now imprinted in his skull.

 

I got it bad and that ain’t good - a small chuckle escaped his lips, as he got up and made for the bathroom.

 

A few hours passed, and the morning symphony of the city rose to full volume. The darkness, however, had not yet lifted and wouldn’t do so for a while. Despite how active his nightmare was he found himself unusually awake. He grabbed his workout bag from beside the door and headed out.

 

After reaching the gym and changing into his gear, he strolled spritely over to the Olympic bar.

 

Deadlift time!

 

It was his favourite exercise. Loading up the bar he squatted down into position, grasped the bar and braced his breath.

 

OK… one… two… lift! - he urged himself. The bar reached its apex at his hips; in that suspended moment of triumph and strain, the gym mirror revealed not just his contorted lifting face, but behind him, unmistakably, the girl from the street.

 

“Yaaah!” he screamed, as he dropped the bar. He whirled around, finger extended accusingly, his mouth opening and closing like a fish gasping for air.

“You… I mean… what… why? Are you following me?” he said, stumbling over his words.

 

“Nice dream last night?” she asked, innocently. AJ felt a chill race from his hands to his core, then flush hot hot with panic.

 

“How did you know I dreamed of you?” he asked.

“I didn’t,” the girl chuckled. He could feel his cheeks flushing, his dark skin only betraying a hint. The girl's nostrils flared slightly as she drew in a long breath through her nose, her eyes never leaving his.

 

“Who are you?” he asked, feeling calmer than he did before. Her eyes continued to bore into his skull, the smile ever present. Her blinks were slow. Almost too slow.

 

Confusion spread across AJ’s face, his eyebrows drawing together.

 

“Hello?” he asked. It was her turn to be confused, face crumpling like discarded paper.

“Interesting… you didn’t react…” she trailed off, brushing her fingertips across the bridge of her nose.

 

“To what… I mean come on, who are you?” AJ reiterated forcefully.

 

“Eliza,” she replied. The name hung in the air, but explained nothing for AJ.

 

I don’t know anyone called Eliza, online or off…

 

“I saw you coming out of that building, the government place,” she blurted out. Her smile had faded slightly, like a magician whose trick had failed in front of an audience.

 

Is this one of those things I've been warned about? Should I tell someone...am I in danger?

 

Noticing his sudden shift in demeanour she laughed playfully and said “I’m not going to hurt you.” Her eyes, clear green and unblinking, slid over AJ like sunlight through water. “I have a few questions,” her smile thinned to intent. In one hand, between her fingers, a pound shop lip balm twirled hypnotically, its label worn from frequent use. The other held a bottle of what he assumed was water.

 

AJ's shoulders eased down from his ears, and an unfamiliar warmth spread across his chest as he took in Eliza properly for the first time. She looked different up close, not just some fleeting shadow from the street or a nightmare figment. Her auburn hair caught the gym's harsh overhead lights, waves tumbling like they'd been styled by someone who didn't care about perfection but got it anyway.

 

And those green eyes…

 

She waved her hand in AJ’s face.

 

“Are you listening?” she teased, the smile returned to full mast. He nodded. “The Office of Urban Safety and Resilience, that sounds like a boring place to work right?”

 

He nodded again. All of the training told them to make the job sound as tedious as possible. Accountants but for urban safety.

 

“You know about cameras right? The CCTV ones they have on the streets?” her eyes remained locked with AJ’s, unwavering. Unblinking. AJ’s own gaze faltered as he swallowed heavily. He nodded faintly.

 

I’d be so shit under torture, a pretty girl asks me a question and I melt like… last nights chocolate. That’s not even a good metaphor...

 

“So, why is it that some streets never seem to have working CCTV?”

 

That’s it? That’s what she wants to know? Why can’t a council maintain infrastructure? Has she seen the potholes? - He felt his body relax further.

 

“Well, the council are, you know… mobbed with more pressing stuff like bin collections and… museums, so yeah… there’s a backlog, probably, of things which need fixing. And CCTV, we find, seems to still deter people from committing crimes and stuff, even if it doesn’t work per se…” he stopped his stream of consciousness in realisation he was starting to say too much. “I mean… you could’ve got that information off the net or from a local council office, you didn’t need to stalk me for it,” he finished, letting out a nervous laugh.

 

“Ah right, so the City is meant to fix them, not you guys, huh?” she continued, “seems a bit strange though doesn’t it? Like, the same streets are always dark to whoever is meant to be watching?”

 

“Sure, I guess, but it’s not like an entire street will be dark or anything, maybe just one camera…” he leaned on the weight rack, folding his arms.

 

“I just walk a lot at night. It’s funny, you start to notice which places stay quiet and which ones never make it onto camera. Like someone decided the dark should stay dark. Last night I was near Jimmy’s, it felt like that there.”

 

“Yeah I kind of see what you’re saying, the bad guys gather near the cameras that are off,” he smiled as Eliza nodded.

 

“What about you… sorry I don’t know your name…”

 

“AJ,” he interjected, extending his hand. When she took it in hers, her grip was surprisingly firm and her fingers felt cold, presumably from the drink she was holding.

 

“What about you, AJ? You must have questions?”

Apart from your presence in my life at this moment? - he smiled to himself.

 

“Of course. It’s my job as an analyst to see things that others might not. Like yesterday night…” he trailed off, realising he was opening another door he shouldn’t.

 

“Come on, you don’t strike me as the ‘say nothing’ type,” she goaded, playfully.

 

I guess it’s not really all that secret. - he convinced himself.

 

“I’m pretty sure I saw a guy disappear. The camera cluster I was watching covered every inch of that street and somehow, in the middle set of CCTV he just wasn’t there!” AJ’s internal security alarm blared out in his mind. “But look, that’s… I was tired… I mean God, I almost walked into the road… I thought you had fangs! And anyway that wasn’t anything to do with your issue of the… uh… broken cameras…”

 

She examined him for a moment, applying lip balm before continuing. “Sometimes those ‘broken cameras’ aren’t always broken. They’re turned off… someone wants them that way.”

 

“I mean sure, if we were planning a honeypot or something, but those are rare,” AJ said with nonchalance.

 

“What happens if one of the cameras turns itself off?” Her tone shifted slightly, enough for AJ to notice.

 

“Erm, they don’t? I don’t think a camera would have that level of autonomy, they need to be controlled.”

 

“Would you recognise it if you saw it?”

 

“A self-aware camera? I… maybe?”

 

“Right,” she glanced outside before turning her attention back to AJ, “Sorry. I’ve probably read too many thrillers.”

 

Why do I want her to continue talking?

 

“If you ever find out why some of those cameras don’t work, tell me first before you tell anyone else. I’ll buy you a Rainbow Latte?” she hesitated slightly, “Or something stronger?” she pivoted on her heel and started walking off.

 

“How will I find you,” AJ blurted out.

 

“@elizuhh,” she spelled out to him.

 

“What platform?” he called.

 

“You already know!”