The Infection

Chapter 3

Present Day

Cassie paced and sighed, then paced and sighed. He was late. He was always late, though she could never understand why. They basically had the same routine in the mornings, but Tom always had to do something to make himself late. 

As she continued to pace with her gun resting in her arms, pointed towards the ground, she heard footsteps approach her. She turned towards the noise and saw Tom walking over to her...with Ben. She painfully noted how Tom wasn't geared up for the watch...but Ben was. 

"Thomas," she warned. "You better be severely ill." Tom chuckled and told her, "Fortunately, that's not the case. No, you two need some bonding time, so I gave Ben my shift." Cassie scoffed and shook her head. "I don't want to walk around an abandoned city for twelve hours with this guy," she said. 

Ben rolled his eyes and asked, "You really think I want this, too? Only reason I'm doing it is because Sharon agrees and threatened to not sleep with me unless I went on this with you. So, Hansen, it seems my sex life lies in your hands." 

She couldn't believe this. This man that she loved - loves - her former best friend, turned biggest jerk in the world and she has to spend twelve freaking hours with him. The most she's spent since he's changed was maybe an hour. Each day. 

"Fine," she huffed. "Let's just get this over with." Tom smiled and said, "Great! I'll be waiting for you both when you get back!" He was way too cheery about this. His sex life will falter more than Ben's, she wickedly thought. 

Tom looked up to the security details that had to stand guard on top of the gate. "Tony!" He called. Tony looked down from his station and called back, "What's up?" Tom pointed to Ben and Cassie and said, "Keep an eye out for this two, will you? Then call me when you see them coming down the street!" 

Tony put a thumbs up and called, "You got it boss! Richard!" Richard, who was across from Tony, looked at him. "We're opening it up! Where's Adrien?" Suddenly, Adrien came running up from the side. "I'm here, I'm here!" He called. 

He climbed up the ladder to the top of the gate, where he stood with Tony. Adrien huffed and said, "Ready." Tony looked at him questionably, then just shook his head. "Alright," he called, "open her up!" 

The three of them pulled down a wooden crank; Tony and Adrien pulling one, as Richard pulled the other and the gate opened into the city for Ben and Cassie. "Be safe, you two," Tom said. "Especially you, Cass. Come home to me, alright?"

Cassie was confused. What was Tom doing? Come home to him? They were supposed to have a no-strings attached relationship and he's pulling this shit? 

Ben was looking at Cassie's expression and couldn't help but notice her looking uncomfortable. Hello, what's this? He thought. Are sparks not flying anymore with Hiddleston? The thought made him smile. 

"Um...yeah. Sure," she told him. "We should, uh...we should get going, Ben." Ben nodded and said, "Agreed. Let's go." Tom tried to tell Cassie something else, but she quickly moved away from him and started walking out of the gate, ahead of Ben. 

He watched her curiously and slowly followed. He gestured to Tony to close the gate and waited until it was completely shut before continuing to follow after Cassie. He had eventually caught up to her when she stopped to look down at something on the sidewalk. 

Ben went up next to her and saw what she was looking at. It was a kid. She couldn't have been more than five years old with a bullet through her head. Her body was decaying, but it was going a lot slower since she was infected. 

Sighing, Ben gently took ahold of Cassie's arm and said, "Come on." He pulled her along and they kept an even pace, walking side-by-side. It was quiet for a few moments, until Cassie decided to make small talk. If they were to work together for eleven and a half more hours, they needed to speak.