Infected

A Mental Battle

You aren't sure what to do when Dark steps toward you. Your first instinct is to take a step backward, but there's a giant pit of acid behind you.

Suddenly, Dark's expression changes a lot. He's no longer angry, but instead, scared. Anti drops to his knees and clutches his chest. That's when you realize, they're no longer Dark and Anti at the moment. Sean and Mark are trying to take over.

"You guys can't be here," Mark warns when he's stable. "Go. Run!"

Sean gets to his feet. "You have to listen to him. They're only going to come back."

"No, I'm tired of running from you. We're not leaving without you guys," you say firmly. "At least, I'm not."

"I'm with you," Nate agrees.

The other guys voice how they aren't leaving either. Sean and Mark lead you guys away from the ledge, but they don't get far before Sean doubles over again.

Mark tugs on your arm. "Anti's stronger," he says. "Because of that, Sean switches a lot more than I do."

You see the fear on his face. It quickly switches to anger, then back to fear again. Dark's fighting, but Mark is doing a good job keeping him in. Sean grabs at his hair.

"Alright, listen to me carefully," you say in a low voice. "There's a lot of damage that can be done here. You need to fight as hard as you can to get rid of Dark. Not just keep him in check, actually separate from him."

Before he can answer, Mark cries out in pain. You knew this was coming, so you step back calmly. Glancing back at the other guys, you see that Nate and Matt are clearly unsettled, and Dan and Felix look close to completely freaking out. You pull the four of them into a huddle.

"We need them to separate," you state.

"But how do we do that?" Felix asks. "Look how powerful they are!"

"We do exactly what we talked about," you say. "We have to make them feel something strong. Remind them who they're fighting for."

"Any examples?" Nate asks.

"Their girlfriends," Dan suggests.

Sean lets out glitchy cry of pain behind you.

"And their families," Matt puts in, trying to ignore what's happening.

"Exactly," you say. "Mark has his mom and an older brother, as well as some other non-blood family. Sean's the youngest, of what, five?"

"Five or six I think," Felix answers.

"The threat of an injury to someone they love is enough to push them over," you continue. "So we have to get them back into the same condition that they were able to merge."

"Got it," Nate confirms. The other guys nod.

"Let's do this," you say.

"Good idea."

You turn and see Dark standing behind you, suit and all. "I know what you're trying to do," he says. "But they're not coming back."

Anti's standing upright now, but his eyes are behind you. He's watching the guys. You feel them beginning to space themselves out behind you.

Just then, Dark lunges for you. You dive out of the way. Anti begins to glitch all over the place, like he's teleporting. Dark comes after you again. You realize that you'll have to distract them, but they might have to be restrained a bit first.

You swiftly dodge Dark's punch. You lift your leg to kick him in the face, but he grabs you by the ankle and pulls. In an attempt to keep yourself self upright, you flail, but to no success. Your head smacks the ground first.

"Mark, you have to separate from him!" You turn toward the owner of the voice. Felix. "Look what they're doing to your friends!"

Anti tackles Felix, but the other guys seem encouraged by him trying to help. As Matt rushes to rescue Felix, Nate calls out to Sean.

"Sean! Think about your fans! And your family!"

"Be more specific!" Dan calls. "Sean, what about your brothers?"

"No!" Anti cries. But you notice that his voice is becoming more garbled.

Dark still has a grip on your foot. However, he isn't paying attention to you as much. He's looking toward everyone else, with a confused expression across his face. You take that moment to intervene.

"You're feeling something, aren't you?" You try. He looks back down at you, but doesn't make a move. "The second he mentioned fans and family, you eased off. He's fighting you, isn't he?"

Dark responds by twisting your leg, literally. But as your face twists in pain, you notice that his does too.

"Mark!" Matt yells. "You have to separate! Think about what might happen to Amy!"

That does it. Dark tosses you to the side as his knees hit the ground. You have to turn away at the bright flash. When you look back, you see not only Dark, but the Host as well. The Host gets up, shaky, and moves toward the door. You realize that he knows that he doesn't have enough power to keep fighting. It's written all over his face.

You feel someone plop down next to you. It's Nate. "Mark merged with both of them?" He asks.

"I guess so," you answer. "But that must mean that Schneeplestein is merged with Sean and Anti."

"We're gonna have to work harder," Nate says. He gets up and rushes to hold down Dark. You can hear him trying to get to Mark again.

You shift your attention elsewhere. As you watch Anti glitch, then toss Dan away from him, an idea forms. The viruses only want to be merged so that they can force Sean and Mark to destroy everything. They could do it on their own, except Mark and Sean have been too good at stopping them. Not only that, but some might think they have multiple personalities, if they're merged.

"Sean!" You call. "If you don't separate, think about what Schneeplestein's gonna do to your fans! And if he does it while you're still together, everyone will think it was you! And Scheeplestein has access to more chemicals than you--"

He catches what you're implying before you finish. That possibility seems to be too much for Sean. As if someone had punched him, Anti flies to the ground. The same blinding light emits as they become two. Schneeplestein and Anti lay on the floor.

Schneeplestein looks embarrassed as he slowly stands. "I must tend to my injuries," he says sheepishly.

As he leaves the room, Anti mutters, "He's weak. Even weaker than Sean himself."

You realize that's probably a good thing. Anti jumps at you, but is stopped when Matt and Nate jump in front of you. Dark gets up, but Dan and Felix jump him before he can make a move. You notice that Anti's voice has become more glitchy and garbled now that Schneeplestein is gone, and Dark's movements are a bit slower and less effective.

Schneeplestein and the Host must have been working with Anti and Dark respectively. And now that they were gone, the other two viruses were on their own. You sigh and glance toward the doors, where the Host and the "doctor" had left.

Two down, two to go.
  
  
   
 
Hey guys! I'm so sorry about the lack of updates on any of my books. My schedule had been absolutely CRAMMED lately. Things are starting to slow down now, so I should be back on track for the next few weeks. Unfortunately, things are going to pick up again next month, so there's a chance that updates may be scarce at that point. Until then, I will do my best to keep things together and to keep updates coming. One of my books should only have a few chapters left (I'll let you guess which one☺), so I'll be able to focus on some of the others that I've neglected. Thank you guys so much for your patience, feedback, and encouragement!!

-Junebug227💖