The Infection

Chapter 19

Tom was hauled up from his place on the floor, to against the door that led into the building. Ben was fuming with rage. "You shot her!" He screamed. "You fucking shot her! Why did you shoot her?!" Tom looked past Ben and to the roof Cassie was at. 

Chris and Rob were trying to aide her, while everyone else covered them and continued shooting at the ground. He looked back to Ben, but couldn't speak. He didn't know why he shot her. He didn't mean to!

Ben dropped Tom to the floor in frustration, then quickly grabbed his radio. "Chris, how is she? What's going on?" He anxiously asked. He was responded with, "It's not looking good, Ben, she was shot in the chest."

Ben slammed his eyes shut and screamed, "Fuck!" He took a deep breath, then said into the radio, "Get her out of here! Now!" He waited, then heard, "We can't! We're surrounded! We wouldn't make it halfway across the street if we tried!"

That wasn't acceptable. Ben quickly put the strap of his gun around his shoulder, then put a hand gun in each of his holsters. "Are you mad?" Tom asked. "You can't go out there, it's war zone!" Ben ignored him and went over to Sebastian, who was tied up at the corner of the roof. 

"You're coming with me," he snarled. He hauled him up, then shoved him towards the ladder of the roof. Ben freed his bound wrists so he could climb down. "You won't get away with this," Sebastian told him, as they went down the ladder. 

"Wanna bet?" Ben asked. The hopped down and Ben immediately put a gun to Sebastian's head and grabbed the back of his shirt. He pushed him forward, as he walked out into the street. Tom was right, it was a war zone. The infected were having a feast with all the dead bodies that were on the ground. 

Sebastian, who hadn't got to see this before, as he was tied up and unable to move, was staring in shock. "How's that bet looking?" Ben asked him. "Move." They continued walking, until they heard Gary scream, "Sebastian!" 

They both looked and saw Gary barely getting away from the infected. Sebastian tried to get away from Ben, but he was too strong and filled with rage. "No," he muttered. "No, no...dad!" Ben gave him a double take. 

Dad? "He's your father?" He asked. Sebastian glared at him and said, "Step-dad, but the only one I ever had!" He suddenly, elbowed Ben in the stomach and got out of his grip enough to grab one of his guns and sprint off to Gary. 

Ben coughed and tried to get back his breath, but then saw tons of the infected running towards him. He shot each one, then ran as quickly as he could to the other building. He was on so much adrenaline, he didn't notice the soreness in his leg. 

He knew there wasn't a ladder up to the roof of this building, so he had to run inside...where there was hundreds of the infected just waiting for someone to run in. They all screamed and run towards him, but he quickly shot several down and made enough of a space for him to run through. 

They all chased him and tried to grab him as he bolted up the stairwell. There were more waiting in there. He shot and shot, until he ran out of bullets. He threw away his hand gun, then pulled his sniper around and kept shooting.

The ones that were behind him, he smacked down the stairs with the barrel. He was on his last few bullets, when suddenly they were all being shot down by, what sounded like, a machine gun. He ducked and covered his eyes and mouth as the bodies rolled down and blood splattered everywhere. 

Before he knew it, he was being hauled up by Tony and Rob. "The son of a bitch made a machine gun," Tony laughed, as he looked to Rob. Rob shrugged and said, "Because I'm the best and because I can."

Ben would have been more impressed if one thing wasn't on his mind. "Cassie," he said. They quickly led him up until they got on the roof. The moment, he saw Cassie's limp body, he nearly fell to his knees. 

"Cass!" He ran over, pushing Chris out of the way, and knelt down next to her. "No, no, no, no, no," he kept muttering as he frantically ran his hand over her hair and rested his hand by her wound that Chris had tied a cloth around. 

Doing the only thing he could think of, he picked her up and started running to the door. Chris didn't try and stop him, but said, "Tony, go with him!" Tony ran behind Ben and went quickly down the stairs. 

Ben didn't even stop to think about what was waiting outside the building. He ran right past the doors and didn't stop, not even when Tony shouted for him to. He didn't hear the gun shots or the infected, or even Gary shouting for his few remaining men to follow Ben. 

He just kept running. 

He held Cassie close to him, her blood going all over his shirt and hands. At one point, he looked over at her and thought she might have been dead because of how pale she looked. But he only used that as motivation to run faster. 

"You stay with me!" He shouted, which attracted numerous of the infected, but he managed to dodge them and kept running. He wasn't thinking about how it took them two hours to get from the camp to those buildings, he didn't hear the footsteps of the infected or Gary's men behind him, he didn't know that he had lost Tony. 

He just kept running. 

Tears started going down his cheeks when he felt more blood flow into his hands. He grunted and picked up the pace. Because he was running, it took him just thirty minutes to get halfway back to camp. 

He could hear Cassie groaning and felt her start to move. "Almost there, we're almost there," he muttered. He actually screamed when he felt the burning in his muscles. "Come on, come on," he told himself. "Don't let her die, don't let her die!" 

It took him another mile, but he finally saw the camp. "Open the gates!" He screamed. "Open the gates!" The gates started to open as gun shots flew past his head from Richard shooting at the infected that were hot on his tail. 

"Get help!" He shouted. "Cassie's been shot!" Richard quickly shouted that to the crowd of people looking ready to fight and there was a gurney being quickly pushed through the crowd of people by Sharon. 

As soon as Ben got through the gates, he set Cassie on the gurney. "Help her, help her please," he cried out of breath. Sharon immediately checked her pulse, but then listened to her heart beat. Ben anxiously watched her do this for a few moments. 

She then pulled away and looked at Ben with sad eyes. "I...I'm so sorry, Ben," she told him. He shook his head. She nodded and told him, "She's gone." He kept shaking his head as he backed away. 

"No...no, you're lying," he said. "She's...alive. She's alive, I know she is." Mark came walking slowly out of the crowd and looked at Cassie. He, too, checked her pulse and listened to her heart beat. 

When he looked up at Ben, he didn't even have to say anything. Ben screamed in pain and fell to his knees. Richard and Adrien were quick and got down next to him. "Come on, let's get you out of here," Richard told him, but Ben pushed him and Adrien away and ran to Cassie.

He put a hand on her cheek and the other in her hair. "Please come back," he painfully whispered. "Please come back to me. Please, baby, please. I love you, I love you so much." He let  out a horrific sob and buried his face into her neck. 

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," he mumbled in between tears. "You can't leave me!" He pulled his head up and cried, "Oh, God! No!" He held her as close as he could and scrunched her hair up tightly in his hand. 

He could still smell her, feel her, so she must be there and alive...right? "Don't leave me," he begged. "Don't be so far away from me, please!" He held her and cried and cried and just kept crying. 

But then he suddenly heard something...they all did. "Everyone get back!" Mark shouted. Richard pulled Ben away from Cassie as they saw her body start to twitch. "Cassie," he said and tried to get over to her, but Richard was still holding him. 

"Stop, Ben!" He shouted. "She can be infected!" Ben stopped fighting and watched her eyes. They were still closed, but they were starting to slowly open. He and everyone else gasped when she opened them. 

"Ben," she painfully whispered.