The Infection

Chapter 2

Five Years Earlier

This has got to be the most depressing room Cassie had ever seen. She expected to have something a little better, but it would do. The small, two-bed room that crammed one desk and two small drawers was her new home. She left her old one back in Los Angeles to join the Marines. 

Once she got accepted, she went through one week a boot camp in San Diego, then told she was being stationed in London. She had to leave the next day, so she barely had any time to say goodbye to her friends and family. 

She had to go through three more weeks of boot camp here, then she'll most likely be stationed here for good. She hopes she'll get to go back home at some point. It's only been a day and she misses them terribly. 

She was the oldest of her five siblings. There was her younger brother Matt and his twin Harry, her younger sisters Vivian and Kayla, and then the baby of the family was Michael. She grew up taking care of them and being away so far from them was painful. 

As she was setting down her bags on one of the beds, there was a knock on the open door. She turned, thinking it was her roommate, but instead saw a tall, handsome man. He gave her a charming, lopsided smile and said, "Hi, um...I hope I'm not interrupting?"

Cassie gave him a warm smile and said, "Not at all. Come on in." The man walked into the room with his hand stretched out to her. "I'm Benedict, but you can call me Ben." She shook his hand said, "Nice to meet you, Ben. I'm Cassie."

"Nice to meet you, Cassie," he said. "It looks like we're going to be across the hall mates. Not quite sure who my roommate is yet, but I'm glad to be acquainted with someone here. You're here from San Diego, yes?"

She nodded and told him, "Yes, sir. Just got word yesterday that I was to be here today, so it was a quick move." He gave her a warm smile and said, "Well, we're glad to have you here. I hope we'll get to work together."

Just then, there was another knock on her door. They both looked to see (yet another) tall and handsome man. "Hi," he said. "Sorry, but I'm not sure if I'm lost. I'm looking for room two-thirty-eight?" 

Ben's smile lit up the room as he said, "Your Tom!" The man looked at him questionably and said, "Um...yes." Ben went up to him and said, "I'm Ben, I'm your roommate. Our room is right behind you." Tom turned around and started laughing. 

"I can be such a tit sometimes," he laughed. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Ben. And, I'm sorry, but who..." He looked questionably to Cassie, who came up to him and introduced herself. "And a pleasure to meet you as well," he said. "I'm going to go ahead and get settled, then."

He walked across the hall and went into his and Ben's small room. Ben turned back to Cassie and said, "Well, it was lovely meeting you. I'll be seeing you around." She smiled at him and said, "I hope so." They stared into each others blue eyes for a few moments, until he broke their gaze and walked back into his room to get to know his roommate a little better. 

Cassie sat on her bed and let out a deep breath. Damn, those two were good looking. But there was something about Ben that really caught her attention. She wasn't exactly sure what, but she wanted to find out. 

Just as she started thinking about his amazing eyes and cupid lips, there was a large thud! right next to her. Her roommate had come in and dropped all of her bags to the floor. Cassie looked up at her, just as she introduced, "I'm Rachel."

This girl...she didn't look Marine material. She was wearing nail polish (which was against protocol), had designer bags, and bedazzled her white t-shirt with a large R on it. Again, that was against protocol.