The Infection 2

Chapter 6

Derek and I walked out into the hallway. Lights flickered and the toxic stench grew. When the tall man left, he went outside. Derek and I slowly walked to the doors that lead outside and peeked through the small caged windows. The man and two others were lifting the large bottled water onto a truck. 

I didn't know how to stop it, and I could see that Derek didn't either. If we walked out there we could get her. This man could have a gun, a knife, anything for defense. He obviously really wanted to spread the infection again if he'd go through all of that trouble of infecting and breaking into an entire bottled water system.

Once the water was on, The man got into the truck while the two others started walking back towards the warehouse. Derek and I hid in the dark closet next to us. The two men had cloth over their mouths, probably to avoid infection from that water. We waited until the men went into the lab.

"Derek, I think they're gone," 

I waited, he wasn't responding. Just staring at the wall.

"Hey, it's okay now," I said give him a pat on his shoulder.

He slowly turned his head towards me, "We can't stop him ... Can we?" His voice was quivering.

"I don't think so. We have no way of following him. Even if we did, it would be too risky," I tried to sound comforting, but that came out a little coldly. I just didn't want to deal with this anymore.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "You're right."

"I'm sorry." I said, he didn't really deserve this. He tried to fight back, and he has a family. I can't help but feel a little pity for him.

He gave me a small smile, and turned to the door and walked out.

I came out after him. "Hey, where are you going?" I said once I caught up.

He looked at me confused, "I thought we were done here ... He got away. Game over."

"Yeah, but I mean we could still try to help each other. I still have one more problem, and this doesn't mean we can't find more ways of trying to stop this or prevent it from happening to anyone we love," I replied sounding a bit rude.

"Okay, okay. I get your point. What else do you need help with? I've already been hiding you."

"Wait, how did you know who I was and what my past was about but not the reason why I'm here?" I asked, this man has to be joking.

"Is this about your friends children? What was their names ... Marilyn and Mason was it?"

"Yes, of course that's my problem," I said rolling my eyes.

"Yeah that's a problem for sure. I don't know where they are. I'm not supposed to know. No one besides that man does. I doubt they're here. If anything, they'd be at that mans house. But no one knows where he lives, or anything about him. Not even his name. He's very shady and secretive," He said, as softly as he could.

I stood there, thinking about this all. What if he doesn't even have them? What if he killed them, or just left them somewhere. I doubt he cares about anyone besides himself.

"Derek, we need to leave. We need to find that man, we need to stop this, and we need to find those kids."

Derek smiled. "Thank you ... There is another van we have, it's for the researchers, though. Scientists like me aren't supposed to drive them. C'mon, I'll get the keys."

I followed him to a large cabinet with a lock. He took out a key chain that held several old, rusty keys. He slid one in and grabbed the keys to the van.

"Wait, we need some sort of weapon. I can't fight, I don't think you can either ... No offense." I said as nicely as I could. 

"Wow thanks," He said "But you're right."

He took my hand and guided me to a different, smaller looking lab. It was the size of a large walk-in closet. He walked over to a table with various types and sizes of needles. 

"This is the medical lab for employees here, and the are tranquilizing needles, in case of another break out or break in," He said laughing, amused by his "clever" word play.

I smiled and shook my head. He put caps on them, handed my a couple, and I hid them in my back pockets and covered it with my shirt.

We slowly peeked our heads out the closet and walked outside to the van. We got in, and he started the car. 

The two men that helped the tall man ran outside. They chased after us but we soon lost them.

"Well," Derek said "Guess I'm not keeping that job ..." 

I laughed. "Do you even know where you're going?"

"Oh, yeah. There's only one water factory in this city. It'll be easy to find it."

I shrugged and sat back.