Infectious Love

Chapter 16: Don't Go

3 sighed, checking her messages. She was sitting at a table at a cafe, waiting for 8. She wore a green hoodie, shorts, Hero Runners, and a Bucket hat. It had only been a day since the Metro trip and recovering the patient, but things had been more chaotic than ever. 

In the briefing room, Cat, Jeremy, the Squid Sisters, and Off the Hook sat around the long table as 3, and Leo was filling the others in on what had happened and what to do next. Jeremy and Marina were typing something on their laptops, Leo and Callie were carefully flipping through the old binder while the others looked over some papers on the black table. Bec and 4's absence was due to preparing the treatment for the patient.

"So sanitization was the punishment for treason and traitors in Octo society?" Jeremy asked Marina, glancing up from the screen.

"Y-Yeah..." Marina replied, her voice small and trembling as she remembered the past. "I was one of the lucky ones to get out unscathed."

Sensing her partner's distress, Pearl hurried over and held her hand. Pearl shot a glare at Jeremy, who raised his hands in defense.

Marina smiled at Pearl, squeezing her hand. "It's fine, Pearly."

"S-Sorry, it's just that I tried running a background check on the patient you guys brought back. I used her fingerprints and the small birthmark we found on her left shoulder, and I think I found out who she is."

Jeremy turned his screen toward the others. Everyone froze when they saw the bold "Missing" letters and the picture above it. The smiling Octoling in the photo looked exactly like the ponytailed Octoling in the hospital bay, save for the sanitized coloring and the tentacles being a little longer.

"She was abducted?" Cat whispered, covering her mouth in horror.

"Tar-tar was already getting free manpower, but that wasn't enough?" 3 thought with disgust and anger, her hands turning into fists, thinking of all the Octolings dragged into this.

"We'll have to find her family after treatment," Marie said coldly before returning to the papers.

"We got a long road ahead of us," Leo added, not looking up from the book.

The Splatoon discussed the next course of action, working on a cure for 8, and the talk on how to deal with the sanitization. 3 didn't care as long as the team got a cure for 8 and was ready as soon as possible. A small plush dusted her cheeks, realizing the thought she just had. She cared about 8 and liked him; 3 started to feel hot around her ears. 

"We still haven't got anything on the cameras from the old subway station in the square," Pearl said, looking up from Marina's laptop. "So we won't have to worry about the sanitize getting into the city."

"That's good. Should we call it a day?" Cat asked, noticing 3 and Leo's tired faces. 

"I second that," Jeremy raised his hand now, noticing 3 and Leo's tired faces.

"We got pretty far today," Marie said, looking at the papers on the table and then over to Cat. I guess we can call it today."

3 wanted to see 8 after the day she had, but 8 had the closing shift that day, so they couldn't meet. And here she was, at a cafe that wasn't 8's workplace, waiting for 8 to show up. Checking her messages, the message she sent to 8 was marked as read, but there was no reply. 

"Where is he?" 3 thought, checking the time on her phone.

Taking a sip from her drink, she gazed out the large window, trying to spot 8 from the crowd outside. She couldn't stop thinking about her weird feelings when hanging out with 8. But she would become a flustered mess and didn't know why she kept doing it.