Infected

Honest

You open your eyes, not wanting to get out of bed. Maybe just a few more minutes...

Wait. This has happened before. Your ears are ringing, and your vision is fuzzy. Your head is throbbing. You're in bed, but it's not yours. It's lumpy, and hard. The sheet laying over top of you scratches your skin The room is cold and dark. A single window allows moonlight to shine in.

You panic and try get out of bed quickly, but you're stopped by someone sitting on the other end of the room.

"Shh, you'll only hurt yourself." A voice says.

You freeze for a brief moment. When you realize that the person speaking to you may only hurt you, you begin to panic again. Somehow, you're tangled in the sheets and struggle to get out of the cocoon you've wrapped yourself in. Your ears ring more, and your headache becomes worse.

"Relax," the voice says again.

You see a shadow get up and begin to move toward you. Unable to listen to the voice, you try to get away. The owner of the voice sighs from the other bed across the room. The person walks over to you. You fight, but the person sits behind you and grabs your wrists.

"Shh," the person says. "That's enough for now."

Anti. You feel him speak against your head. You make an attempt to pull your wrists away, but his grip is so strong that you barely move. With a few deep breaths, you feel yourself begin to calm down, even if it is against your better nature.

"There, isn't that better?" Anti says into your ear. "Just calm down. You'll be fine. There you go."

"What do you want from me?" You ask in a quiet, shaky voice. Before you realize it, you're leaning against him.

Anti chuckles. "I think the drugs are still affecting you. Normally, you wouldn't fight me this much. But then, you also wouldn't let me get this close, either."

Drugs? What drugs? You shiver when you remember. Dr. Schneeplestein and Madpat. What did they do to you? The memories flood your brain, making your head ache a bit.

"What's going on?" You ask in a quiet voice.

You feel Anti smile against your head. He leans back and releases your arms. You turn your head to look at him as he got up from behind you.

"Are you finished?" Anti asks. "I need to know that you won't jump up and try to attack me. Drugs make you do weird things. And you were quite aggressive even before they sedated you."

"You make it sound like I'm a wild animal," you say. You tuck your knees up against your chest and stare at your feet. "I don't need to be caged up."

Anti watches you for a minute, then says, "You do when you're around me. And Dark, and Natemare. Of course, we haven't seen how you are with the others."

"I'm aggressive, because if I'm not, you guys will kill me," you protest.

Anti laughs. You look at him, confused. "You still think that's what this is all about?" He asks. "I thought you might have figured it out by now."

You stare. "What are you talking about?"

"If you don't know, I can't help you." Anti shurgs and walks toward the door.

"Anti!" With a burst of energy, you get up from the bed.

He turns around. "I thought you said you weren't going to get aggressive with me."

"You know, you've said a lot of things to me, and I'm positive that you've never once been honest with me." You say.

"That's where you're wrong," Anti replies. He grabs you by the arm and spins you around, pressing your arm in between your shoulder blades.

"I'm honest with you," Anti whispers, "You've just never noticed."
 
  
Nate runs through the halls, out of breath, heart pounding. He doesn't know where he's going, he just has to get there fast. As he dashes down one of the corridors, a door to his left opens. He barely stops before hitting it. Nate stumbles backward, fearing the worst.

"Whoa, are you okay?"

Nate looks up at the man he had almost crashed into. "Matt?"

"Nate?"  The two embrace in a hug, before quickly separating.

"What happened to you?" Nate asks his friend.

"I'll explain later," Matt answers, "Right now, we need to get out of here and find the others."

  

"Argh!" Mark collaspes face-first into the snow again. Sean sits only about seven feet away.

"Forget it, Mark, there's no point," the Irishman says. He plays with the device around his neck. "These shock collars aren't gonna let us get any farther."

Mark sits up, body still stinging from the electricity. "I--" he puts his head in his hand, "I don't know what else to do anymore."

Sean sighs and looks back at the castle, which is only just less than sixty feet away. "Well, there's only one thing we can do."

Mark looks up as Sean continues, "Our friends our in there. They're at the hands of our arch-enemies. These shock collars are obviously being controlled by Anti or Dark. Or maybe even one of the other viruses."

"I wouldn't put it past them to force (y/n), Nate, or one of the others to do it for them," Mark mutters.

"My point is," Sean continues, "Maybe our only other route, is inside."

Mark looks back at the castle now. "It's worth a shot."
 

Just a quick heads up: My schedule is changing a bit. Updates will probably be less frequent for the next little while.