Subjects

38 - Almost There

A/N

This one is a little longer than my normal ones, hope you enjoy it!

Ben is being extra carful as he is walking down the stairs. The Captain can be anywhere, Ben just has to find him first. He sees the corridor that leads to the infirmary on his way, and continues on to the next staircase at the bottom of which are the cargo halls, and the monsters. Ben knows that if the Captain is after them this is the first place he'd go.

The place is emptier than usual, probably because everyone is busy looking for Angie, just like the Captain would want. That is why Ben is so surprised to hear distant talking. He walks to the voice, it is coming from the place where they were trapped with the beast.

"Did you do this?"

Ben freezes when he recognizes the Captain's voice.

"But why? You had very specific orders."

He understands that the Captain is not talking to him. He gets a little closer, now he can see the metal wall they had to break through to get out. He can't see the Captain but it is very clear that he is talking to the creature.

"Never mind, I will deal with you later. Stay here."

Ben realizes a tad too late that the Captain is now heading in his direction. Having no other options, he starts to run. Did you ever run in an empty corridor? In case you haven't, I'll tell you this, it is absolutely impossible to do it quietly.

The Captain, having a more or less average hearing, takes about 0.783 seconds to understand that someone is running from him. "Who is this?" He calls after Ben.

Before he knows it, Ben is already at the bottom of the stairs that go up to the decks. He runs up and pauses when he passes next to the infirmary. He decides to turn and more or less jumps into the infirmary.

His sudden entrance wakes up a sleeping patient and makes two nurses glare at him. At least Jeff is there to welcome him. "You look like hell, Ben," I mean... Maybe not welcome, more like acknowledge. Ben doesn't reply as he is running across the room up to Jeff's bed. "Seriously, are you okay?" Jeff straightens in his bed.

"Quiet," Ben shushes him and kneels next to the bed. "Listen," he looks up to Jeff. "No matter who comes here or what they say, you haven't seen me since this morning, got it?"

"What's going on?"

"Later. Now, you got it?"

"Yeah," Jeff assumes that this is another one of Ben's weird things, he may not know him very long but he does knows that unexpected is Ben's normal. Ben ducks under the bed and lets the sheets fall around it and hide him. Now he waits.

"Jeff," Ben hears the Captain's voice and holds his breath. "Was Ben here?"

"Yeah," Jeff makes Ben's heart skip a beat. "This morning."

The Captain makes an uncoherent sound and starts walking away.

"Captain, wait!" Ben hears Jeff saying.

"What?"

"Do you know when are they going to take me to the hospital? It keeps getting worse every day, I can fee-"

"I don't know, the helicopter should arrive soon."

The Captain walks away before Jeff can say another word. Ben lets out the air he was holding and carefully crawls out from under the bed.

"So you're running from the Captain?" Jeff asks.

"Sort of," Ben stands up. "Thank you for the help, I need to go now."