The Infection

Chapter 25

"Ben slow down!" Richard shouted. "They need to open the gate, slow down!" But he couldn't slow down. Ben just ran faster and faster the moment he saw the gate and he couldn't stop. Luckily, Adrien saw this from his perch and got the gate open just in time for Ben to run through. 

That's when he stopped. 

Blood. Everywhere. It looked like a massacre. Bodies spewed everywhere, either shot down or gutted. A lot of people tried to fight. A lot. "Ben, over here!" Tony's voice called. Ben looked around and his face pressed against the window of the map room. 

He quickly went over and got everything that was blocking the door out of the way. The moment he opened it, several people fell out, including Tony. "The cell," he panted from lack of oxygen cause of the mass amount of people in that small room. "More people...in the cell."

"I'm on it," Rob said. Ben helped up Tony and a few others, before Tony put his hand on his shoulder and said,"They took Mark. I don't know where they went, but they took him and I couldn't stop him. Listen, I'll gather a team and we'll--."

"Mark's dead," Ben told him. "Gary, he shot him. There wasn't anything I could do." Tony looked stunned, but then Ben told him, "Help the others. Get the injured into the infirmary and to Rob." He then quickly jogged over to the infirmary and saw Cassie in the same place he had left her. 

He went up to her with his backpack and bags in hand. He didn't know what to do with all of these medical supplies. He didn't know how to save her. So he dropped the bags at his feet and leaned over her. 

"Wake up, Cass," he said. "Please, darling, wake up. Please, I don't know how to save you. Or our...our baby." He put his hand over her stomach and let out a shaky breath. "Come on, Cass." He started to gently shake her, when Rob's voice said, "Give me a minute, Ben, I'll get to her. 

Ben looked over and saw tons of people trudging into the tent. They were either shot, stabbed, or wounded in some way. After Rob got all of them in, he quickly went to Cassie. "I need you to stand over there and give me space," he told him. 

Ben did as he said and stood in the corner. He watched in amazement and curiousness as Rob hooked up I.V.'s and put a tube in the tank and that tube went into Cassie's nose, how quick and diligent he was with it all. 

Apparently, while they were in the hospital, Rob grabbed a couple sonoline dopplers, which measured heart beats. He put one to Cassie's heart when he was done and watched the numbers of her heart rate on the screen.

"She's steady," Rob said. "She'll be out for a few more hours because the medicine needs to kick in and wake her up. Luckily, it wasn't as serious as Sharon had thought." He started to put away the sonoline, but then Ben said, "Wait. Can you...can you check heart beats of, erm...unborns?"

Rob put the sonoline to Cassie's stomach and Ben immediately walked over. "It might be too early to tell," Rob said. "It depends on how far along she is." They both watched the tiny screen as he moved the wand around her stomach. 

Numbers appeared on the screen when he hit a certain spot. "There's your kid," he said. Ben let out a soft "oh" and a wide smile appeared on his face. "Heart rate is perfectly healthy," Rob said as he took away the sonoline and put it away. 

"I know Sharon had an ultrasound machine in her lab," Rob said. "I'll see if I can find it. In the meantime, stay with her in case she wakes up, then come get me. I have to attend to these people right now."

Ben has never seen Rob so...not narcissistic. It was interesting to see him care about other people the way he was right now.

It was like a wave of exhausted suddenly rushed over Ben and before he knew it, he was sitting on a chair next to Cassie with his head in her lap. He took her hand in his and closed his eyes. He immediately saw Mark getting shot and he jolted awake. 

He sighed, then put his head next to her stomach. "Are you mine?" He softly asked. "Or are you Tom's? Either way, I will raise you as my own, but...I just have to know."

**

The next time Ben woke up, things seemed to have calm down. It was pitch dark with only a lantern giving them light with a tiny flame. Rob just finished patching up his last patient, then flopped on to one of the unoccupied beds. 

Ben searched the room for familiar faces and saw Adrien, Chris, Tom, and several others. Tony had come in while he was looking around and sat next to Ben. "They shot Adrien and made him sit on the perch. They were hoping he would die before you got here, that way no one could open the gate, but you had to look at him. Sick bastards."

He sat back in his chair with a sigh and closed his eyes. Ben looked over to Cassie and tears started to well up in his eyes. "She's pregnant," he quietly said. Tony's eyes shot open wide and looked over at him. "What?" He asked. 

"...She's pregnant," Ben repeated. "I feel like I should be happy and I am, I just...I don't know if it's mine. I don't know how far along she is, so I can't tell. This could be Tom's child for all I know." He shook his head and put his hand over her stomach. 

For now, this was his baby. His and Cassie's child. He won't let his fears and doubts get in the way of that thought. His other fears and doubts are raising a child in this world. Around violence and chaos. No, it's not much different from the other world, but with the infected running around...what if the baby cries? They'll hear and won't hesitate to tear down this camp. 

"Well, I can go get Sharon's ultrasound machine," Tony said. "Only you'll have to wait a bit. We're clearing her body and some others out of her lab. We want to disinfect it before we start using anything from their again."

Ben nodded and stroked over Cassie's stomach with his thumb. He sighed and closed his eyes. This time, he saw himself in his dream again. The dream where he and Cassie got away, started a family. Maybe that will happen. 

Maybe this will be a dream come true.