The Infection

Chapter 14

"Ben," Cassie giggled, "stop it! Seriously, someone can walk in any minute." Ben hummed against her neck as he kissed it up and down. "But I want you," he told her. He ran his hand up her body and cupped her breast in a firm grip.

She gasped and bit her lip. They couldn't be caught like this. They were in the "Map Room", which is basically just a big room with a map of San Fransisco and the world on the walls with pins dropped on them on where the infected are and where the most infected places in the world are.

There were also some weapons, food, anything in case of an emergencies. It was also the go-to place for her, Ben, Tom, and even Chris, Mark, and Rob. So anyone can walk in on them really. Cassie just went in there to mark up some places on the map that involved the Alcatraz group and Ben followed her.

"I wish we didn't have to hide this. Us," he said. She leaned back to look at him and said, "I know. But Tom is already going insane about me not loving him and Sharon is just...crazy." Ben wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close.

He put his nose to her hair and breathed her in. "I love you," he said. She smiled and said, "I love you, too." She turned in his arms and he leaned down and kissed her. "I never thought you would be mine," he told her against her lips. "I always imagined us like this."

"What, kissing and hiding a relationship during an apocalypse?" She asked. He chuckled, "No. I just mean being with you." She hummed, then slowly leaned up to kiss him...until an alarm blaring in the room, caused them to jump apart. 

They looked around, but didn't see anyone. "Is that coming from the control room?" Ben asked. Cassie took a step outside and looked around. She saw people running and screaming and she noticed the alarm was coming from the gates. 

"Grab the guns!" She shouted at Ben, as she ran back inside. He quickly grabbed a couple assault weapons, putting one around his shoulder and preparing the other to use. Cassie did the same. "It's coming from the gates," she told him, as she hooked a line of grenades around her belt. "I think they're here."

Her and Ben sprinted out from the room and through the crowd of their screaming community. When they got to the gate, Tony ran up to them and shouted, "Someone is inside! He shot Adrien and Chris when they tried to stop him!"

Cassie and Ben looked at each other. "Where did he go?" Ben asked. Tony pointed towards the lab. "In there. I tried to stop him, but I have to help Adrien and Chris." Ben nodded to him, then gestured for Cassie to follow him. 

They both ran to the building that the lab was in. "If we're lucky, he can't find it," Cassie whispered, referring to the underground lab. Ben nodded in agreement. "And if we're lucky, I can kill him for shooting you," he whispered back.

They carefully, but quickly went down the stairs of the building, until they reached the lab. "Shit," Cassie breathed, when she saw the glass on the floor from the lab door. They stepped through it, the crunching noises echoing through the halls. 

When they reached the lab...nothing was touched. Everything was exactly how it was. Curiously, they each took a side of the room to examine. It was completely quiet, until someone groaned loudly. Cassie jogged over to the noise and saw Sharon on the ground, her head surrounded by a pool of blood. 

"Ben!" Cassie called. Ben ran over and saw her hunched over Sharon. "Sharon," she said. "Hey, I need you to wake up and tell me where he went." In a groggy state, Sharon lifted up her arm and pointed to the room where she kept samples the infected's blood and Cassie's notes on their survival. 

Without taking her eyes off of that dark room, Cassie reached back for her walkie, then said quietly into it, "Tony, do you copy?" She got a quick and quiet response, "Yeah, go ahead."  She glanced up to Ben, who had his gun pointed at the room. 

"I have Sharon," she said into the walkie. "She's hurt and needs help. Think you can get down here?" It took a moment, but Tony responded, "Already on my way. Over."  She set down the walkie next to Sharon. "You use this in case we get into any trouble," she told her. "Got it?"

Sharon weakly nodded. Cassie gave a nod to Ben and they started slowly moving towards the room. The glass was broken to that door, too. Cassie timidly put her foot inside, then reached around the wall for the light switch. 

As soon as she turned it on, an infected tackled her to the ground! It snarled and screamed in her face, as she held it back from her with her eyes and mouth tightly shut. Ben was quick to react and smacked it in the head with the barrel of his gun, but then he was tackled...but not by an infected. 

It was a man he's never seen before. He could have sworn all of this was Gary or Sean...but who was this guy? He couldn't even ask because this guy hit Ben hard in the face, before springing up and sprinting away. 

With his nose gushing blood from the strong blow, he got up and saw Cassie still struggling with an infected. He hit it over and over again with his gun, until it fell to Cassie's side and he shot it. As quickly as he could, he took out a bandana and wiped her face free of any of the infected's blood. 

"Come on," he said, as he was getting her up. "He ran that way." They were both running out, as Tony was running in. Cassie and Ben were in hot pursuit of this guy and was on his tail in a matter of minutes. "Stop!" Ben shouted, before firing a shot at him. 

The guy dodged it, then started running faster. Ben and Cassie didn't think they could run any faster, until the guy took out one of the viles he had stolen from the lab with the infected's blood in it...and threw it at innocent bystanders. 

In a matter of seconds, the blood that had gotten into their eyes and mouths, started making them turn. "Fucking run!" Ben shouted, as he pulled her along. They were officially running for their lives once their friends were sprinting after them, aiming to eat them. 

As the infected got closer, they ran faster, which made them catch up the guy who was aiming to infect everyone. As soon as they got close enough, Ben grabbed the man by the back of his jacket and shoved him inside a building. He and Cassie ran inside and quickly locked the doors.

Ben turned around to see the guy on the floor, so he immediately kicked him in the stomach, then pointed his gun at him and shouted, "Who are you!" Cassie took Ben's walkie and shouted into it, "We have a code red! I repeat, we have a code red! The infected are inside the gates, do not hesitate to shoot!"

She got a series of chatter as an answer, but she ignored them and put down the walkie. She pointed her gun at the man and shouted, "Answer him!" The guy groaned at the pain in his stomach, then sat up against a wall. 

He looked up at the two, but didn't say a word. "You're uniform," Ben said, "where did you get it? Where you in the Navy?" Again, he didn't answer. With his gun still pointed at him, Ben went over and checked the name on his jacket. 

"Stan," he said. "That's you're last name, so what's your first?" He still didn't say anything. "Fine," Ben said, "I guess we'll just have to find out." With that, he took the barrel of his gun and smacked it against "Stan's" face.