Infection |Infected Book 1|

Chapter 20 (original version)

My scream cut off into a sob as I realized what was going to happen to me now. Cody's teeth tore deeper and deeper into the nape of my neck, and I could feel the blood oozing down my shoulder and back. I kicked my legs and punched his back, trying to break myself free, but my body eventually went limp and I looked up at the clouds that refused to quit pouring rain. The world around me started to become fuzzy and I thought I heard voices yelling from the camp.

The pressure on my shoulder suddenly released making me gasp for air. I saw Cody's head out of the corner of my eye start to lift. Time felt like it had completely stopped, including my heart. I heard and saw nothing else as Cody's eyes met mine. I watched his eyes slowly turn from black to his familiar silver.

My blood dripped off of his face as the rain attempted to wash it away. He lifted his arm to his face and wiped it across, leaving only a little red here and there. But I was still fading away. My vision blurred and I found it hard to keep my eyes open.

Cody brought his hands up to my face, cradling it gently. “No,” He whispered. A tear escaped out of the corner of his eye and fell down the bloody trail the others had flowed. “No, no, no, no...” His voice trailed off as he laid his forehead against mine.

“Cody,” I whispered. “You're okay.” It took so much strength to even talk and I panted for air.

“Because of your blood,” Cody whispered an inch away from my mouth. “Because of you.”

“I love..” I tried to say, but my voice wouldn't allow me to go any further. I vaguely saw around us a circle of combat boots. The soldiers must have come out from the camp.

“I love you,” Cody said to me, kissing me on my lips. “This is not goodbye.” I could hear his voice raw with emotion. “You're going to be okay.”

Suddenly, Cody's weight was lifted off of me and he was yelling. I tried to lift my arm out to him, to bring him back to me, but it fell down on the wet grass next to me. I moved my head slowly side to side, trying to figure out what was going on. I saw blurs of green and brown as soldiers moved left and right, some coming to me, others going to contain Cody.

I could hear him yelling and screaming over the stream of other voices in my ear. My head started to ache as I tried to cipher through the two. I saw a fuzzy outline of a woman next to me with red hair that I knew must have been Vivian Hoff. Something that she was holding in her hand gave me a sharp prick in the arm and made the world around me melt away before I fell into darkness.

Cody's POV

Firm hands held my arms behind my back as other hands grasped at me trying to hold me still. “Get off of me!” I yelled, kicking one in the stomach, making him fly backwards. “What the hell are you doing?!” I screamed frantically when I saw Vivian Hoff stick a syringe in Desi's arm. Desi's face fell peaceful and her head fell to the side limply.

“What we need to do to keep her alive,” Vivian said handing the syringe to soldier behind her. She stood up and brushed the grass off of her knees. “She was wasting too much of her energy.” Stepping over Desi she walked towards me. “And how are you feeling?”

“I'm fine,” I said, shaking the soldier's hands off of me. “But what are you going to to with her?”

“Well,” She said thinking it was obvious. “We're going to close the wounds in her neck, give her some blood and nurse her back to health.” She gave me a smile that seemed too practiced. “She's a very special girl. We need her blood. She's the only B Positive person who has come here. The blood type is rather rare you know.”

I didn't like the tone in her voice. I flicked my gaze back down to Desi whose shoulder was now being wrapped up so that the bleeding would stop. I lifted my foot to go to her when a line of soldiers blocked my view. My fists clenched at my sides as anger boiled through me.

“Where are you going to take her?” I growled through my teeth.

“To the medical tent of course,” She said flicking her wet hair away from her face. “You need to come too anyways and get checked out.” Her eyebrows tilted down and the smile fell from her face. “But then we need you to leave the girl alone.”

“What?” I asked, confusion in my voice. “Why?”

“She needs to focus on what needs to be done for her country,” Vivian recited. “Not focus on some romance that means nothing.”

“You have no clue what you're talking about,” I stepped closer to Vivian and looked down at her face.

She didn't flinch with intimidation as I thought she would. She held her ground and looked me deep in the eyes. “I know exactly what I'm talking about,” She spat at me. “And she's not going to be staying here anyways. There is another camp that is in more need of her and her blood.”

Fury swept through me and I felt my face hot with anger. “You can't make her do anything or go anywhere!” I yelled into her face, my arms flexed.

“Oh,” Vivian laughed. “The world is a new place. We can do whatever we want.” She turned and started to walk in a circle around me. “You see, there is no government, no police, not anymore. Us who run the camps, run everything.” She stopped to face me. She leaned in so that only I could hear her. “And there's not a damn thing you can do about that.”

Stepping away she turned to face the soldiers. “Take both of them to the medical tent,” She ordered. “But keep him far away from our precious Desiree.” Her head flipped back to look at me. “I don't want him ruining her departure.”

Vivian spun on her heel and started to lead the group back towards the camp. This woman had looked so friendly and inviting on the TV, but to me she was worse than the infected. I glanced around for Desi and saw that she was on a stretcher being carried by two soldiers. I took a step towards them and was shoved back to where I was.

My head fell back and I looked up at the clouds that were now starting to reveal the sun. My hair had begun to dry when we walked through the gate of the camp.

People were everywhere watching with wonder in their eyes. I saw Dad standing with Aundrea and saw him wipe away tears that had fallen from his face. I was happy that he was alive, but I could not take my mind away from Desi.

Vivian and the soldiers led us into the biggest tent in the camp. There were individual rooms, closed off by sheets and lit by lanterns. I sat in my own as a doctor stitched up my leg and checked my vital signs, making sure I was normal. I was brought water and some bread as I waited for someone to come tell me I could leave.

I was escorted out by a soldier and was practically thrown out of the tent. Dad saw me and ran up to me, but I only ignored him as I heard a sound I had been dreading to hear. A hellicopter.