Innsania 2C /Lucy pov/

Innsania 2C Chapter Eight

I didn't remember much after finding out Ben was awake. Many hugs and warm smiles were shared. It felt like a home. Not an empty area with me and Theo. It was a warm place you know, but not home. I gave Kasey the couch last night and set up a bed for her, I'm sure she wouldn't want to sleep with Ben. She thanked me and went to bed. I walked upstairs to check on Ben. I had heard a muffled conversation from upstairs. I opened Ben's door and looked in from the crake. He seemed to be talking to himself... was this from the monster attack? I shook my head and pulled the door fully closed. What am I thinking. I can't do that to Kasey. I went back to looking for a spare blanket and a few pillows. When I found them I made a makeshift bed on the floor next to Kasey.
I woken up by the sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs. I shot up and stared at Ben. He seemed scared by my actions... Kasey said they don't feel emotions? I waved him over to the table. I stood up off the floor with my back cracking painfully. I shook my head trying to stop the images from flashing through me. Ben was mumbling some words under his breath.
"Hey Ben I'm Lucy."
"Hi Lucy." He turned around and sat at the table with his head down. It was like he hadn't gotten enough sleep. I giggle at that thought.
" Would you like some coffee?"
"Oh god yes."
I went over to the coffee beans and put them in a cup and light the fire. I placed the bowl of water back on the fire and watched the water bubble. I gave Ben his coffee and took out the leftover steak on the fire.
"Ben?"
"Hmm."
"Would you like some steak for breakfast?"
"Sure Lucy."
I placed the bowl of steak in the middle of us. We drank the coffee and ate some of the steak, telling each others jokes and stories from our childhood. Kasey woke up and seemed happy.
"Hi bud," Kasey smiled. She crouched down and began to scratch behind his ears, causing him to tilt his head back and forth.
I smiled at Kasey, She was finally accepting of Eddie.
"We're eating some leftover steak for breakfast and we have coffee. You want some?" I lifted my cup and took a sip. Feeling the hot liquid going down my though "It's good," I laughed.
Kasey gave Eddie a fleeting grin before getting up to sit at the table with us.
"So, Ben, how are you feeling?" I stood up and told Kasey I'll go get her some coffee. She turned lightly and smiled to thank me. Her and Ben were having  conversation. I shouldn't have been listing but I did.
"Well... I feel sort of out of it. I don't really remember what happened to end up with me passed out on the ground. I remember surviving in the woods for a bit. I remember... what happened at the ship. I thought everyone else was dead. I'm happy you're okay."
I couldn't  see Ben's face  but it sounded like he was smiling.
"I'm happy you're okay too," Kasey said warmly. I came over with  her coffee, and Kasey thanked me as I sat back down.
"We need to get the engine today," I started, "so I think we should go out fairly soon. Ben, you should stay here. We don't know the extent of your head injuries yet, so you should rest."
"How about we make sure the pod is all finished first? Just add some tightening and finishing touches." Kasey suggested. I looked upwards in thought before nodding with a smile. Me and Kasey had just reached the basement stairs when Ben started mumbling... His eyes seemed unfocused. 
"Can't, no, no more, no more, stop-"
    "Ben?" Kasey yelled but  he didn't respond. His eyes rolled backwards until only the very bottom of his iris was showing.
    "Ben!" Kasey took his shoulder and shook him, hard.
    "...Huh?" His eyes rolled back, focusing on my face.
    "Are you okay?" Her brows furrowed in concern.
    "Yeah... yeah, I'm just a little... out of it..." Kasey watched him for a couple more seconds before continuing to head down to the basement.
    "Call us up if you need anything, or come down if you're bored!" I yelled as we walked down the stairs.
Everything was in the same spot, nothing moved nothing new. The tools where everywhere reminding us both of the fun we had. Kasey let out a giggle when she looked at the tools.
"Let's tighten everything to make sure it'll stay in place," I said, picking up a wrench. Lucy followed suit, picking up another and standing beside me.
"This one could be tighter,"  I twisted the tool around, strudying the pod. We went around each nut and bolt making sure it was tight enough.
"Hey, Lucy?" she gained attention causing me to look up and stop working. "How is Ben going to get home if there's only one pod?" I looked at the cryobed before turning to Kasey.
    "Well, it's long enough for one person, but you two would fit if you laid on top of each other." I laughed at my response and continued working. At some point, each member of the house had migrated to the basement.
Theo sat at the back of the room, stretching his long legs and licking his paws. I wanted to yell at him for it. He knows no to lick his paws. The dirt from being outside, god knows what's in it. Eddie ran from person to person, greeting them and resting his head on their thighs. He was silently begging for pets. Ben was in another corner, only observing. It felt good. It felt like a family again. I started thinking about Kasey going back to Innsania. I'd be losing my family again. I mean they told me I'd be keeping Eddie but still. Ben was talking again. Me and Kasey snapped my head in his direction. He was talking to himself, repeating words over and over. His eyes rolled back again and he stood up.
"Ben?" Kasey said softly. He began laughing, softly at first, but it built. It built into a roar, sending chills down our spines.
"BEN'S NOT HERE! BEN'S NOT HERE!" He was laughing between words, his iris' fully disappeared to the back of his head.  Kasey and I ran over, shaking him. He didn't budge.
His arms flew up, grabbing at us. We pulled them behind his back and pushed him to his knees on the ground.
"Ben! Stop!" We held him there for what felt like an eternity before he slumped completely to the floor. We pulled him up.
"Are you okay? Ben, are you awake?" Kasey looked him over a hundred times. His eyes slowly opened and focused on us. He seemed disoriented and confused. It must be the head injury.
"I... I don't know what just happened." Ben confessed, shaking slightly. We completely let go of him. I looked over at Kasey my face held an expression of concern. I thought I knew what this was but it was going to kill her... I looked at Ben then at Kasey again."You should go upstairs to the bed. You need to rest." I practically dragged him up the stairs, leaving Kasey in the basement in a state of confusion. When I got back downstairs Kasey's hand was buried deep in Theos fur it made me smile
"Let's go get the engine."
I was scared of what it could be, I need to tell her. She needs to know. It was warm outside, the sun being bright and shining through the trees. It felt nice. We entered the forest, Eddie and Theo taking the lead right away. It smelt like wet grass. It was a comforting sent.
"So... what do you think is up with Ben?" Kasey glanced over at me then went back to looking ahead of her.  I sighed and looked down.
"His body might just be having a bad reaction to the concussion, or it could be something worse. Much worse." I didn't want to go into detail right down I didn't want to upset her. We followed Eddie and Theo until we reached the edge of the trees. We reached the crash site and dug through the wreckage like before. We didn't see or find anymore bodies we wear both thankful for it. "The monsters must've eaten them," I explained. Thank god i thought bitterly.  "I found it!" I went over there and looked at the engine. I smiled sadly at it.
"Good. Let's go back then." We once again followed the dogs, their tails wagging ahead of us, their paws hopping through the trees. We glanced up at the sky through the leaves, it was looming over us with a marvelous blue color. The patter of heavy footsteps caught our attention. We stopped dead in our tracks.
Thump... Thump... Thump, Thump, Thump! Thump! THUMP!
We both looked at each other and yelled "RUN!!" we dashed towards the house knowing how close the house was but it feeling Ten kilometers away. The burning set in my lungs right away letting me know I'd never ran this fast in my life. I was mentally preparing myself for a fight. The dogs ran too. Ran faster then we could. They were helping us navigate through the branches.  I{t was hard to follow the speed they were going. I looked up seeing the house finally. I took in a last deep breath and sprinted to the door. The door flew open and we all tumbled inside. Our panting breaths filled the room while we collapsed onto the wooden floor.
"That... was... close..." I huffed out. I flashed Kasey a worn out smile.
"Yeah..." We sat in silence, catching our breaths. The dogs were laying on the floor, panting. We only got up when we heard Ben yelling.
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD! SHUT UP!  I'M NOT KILLING THEM!" We heard a bang, It sounded like a lamp being thrown or worse broken. Maybe both. And then the sound of someone running down the stairs the stairs.
He stared, crazed and unfocused, directly at us. His body was blocking the doorway. His eyes were bloodshot and his lips were pulled back in an animalistic snarl.
    "Ben, what are you doing?" Kasey tried to stay calm and rational. It was just a concussion I keep repeating in my head. He would be fine.
"Ben's not here..." He said, "Ben's gone." He lunged towards us, and Theo pushed him back. Eddie jumped in front of us, growling and baring his teeth."Get... OFF!" Ben was punching and kicking to free himself from Theo's grasp, but to no avail. Theo had him pushed firmly against the wall, his paws apart in a sturdy stance. Lucy walked towards them, and I followed suit.
"Kasey, grab him. I need to check something." Theo backed up once Kasey had Ben's arms firmly secured behind his back. He thrashed, whipping his head back in forth in an attempt to headbutt Kasey. But Kasey held strong. She had been trained for this. He eventually stopped fighting, and merely stared at me. A disgusting smile plastered to his lips. He was whispering to himself, all nonsense, and laughing like a child. Kasey watched as I pulled up his pant legs. Not finding anything. Moving onto his arms I instructed Kasey to give me his right arm. I pulled his sleeve finding what I  was looking for right away. There it was. The purple and swollen bite. I  sighed deeply before giving the arm back to Kasey. She secured it once again.
"Kasey, listen to me. You're not going to like this, but I have to tell you. There are different types of monsters out there. The most common are the tall ones you've seen. The ones with black eyes. But Ben here, has been bitten by another type. They have a sort of venom, that infects the host. It slowly starts poisoning their brain. Taking over their body. That's why he's been acting so weird. It just keeps getting worse and worse until the host is entirely consumed by it. That's how it spreads." I could see her heartbreaking, she couldn't hide this pain.
"So... how do we fix him?" Kasey asked. I looked down. I couldn't see her face when I said this.
"Kasey... there's no cure. We have to... we have to kill him." I looked up to see Kasey freaking out.
"Kasey?"
"NO!" Kasey pushed Ben forward and stood up in time with me. We stared face to face.
"I am NOT killing Ben!"  Kaseys face was scrunched up in rage and fear.
"Kasey, it's the only-"
"SHUT UP!" Ben stood up behind her.
"Listen to me, that's not Ben anymore!"
He approached Kasey and jumped onto her back, he was baring his teeth at her
."Stop!" she  jumped against the wall, smacking him to the ground. He groaned and then laughed, his eyes rolling back again. She walked up to me, leaving Ben on the ground. I handed Kasey a hammer we had left it on the kitchen table. She turned to Ben  and dropped to her knees and lifted the hammer.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled. He was still laughing. I had to look away when she slammed it into his head to the sound of a breaking bone was enough to bring tears to my eyes .

"Sometimes, dead is better."