STATIC → newt , tmr [EDITING ; VERY SLOW UPDATES]

chapter viii

"I'm sorry," Brenda heaved, "I'm sorry."

"What's goin' on with her?" Vince asked, kneeling down as well. Tiago was immediately defensive, a dark look overtaking his features.

"I don't know," Jorge answered. Tiago shoved his hand through Brenda's hair, not taking his eyes off Vince. "Brenda, are you alright? Brenda, talk to me."

"The hell ..." Vince was lifting up Brenda's pant leg.

"What are you doing?" Tiago asked sharply, going to shove Vince away until he saw it.

A bite. It was infected for sure. Tiago's breath caught in his throat and his gaze snapped up to Brenda's face. When was she bitten by a Crank? How? Tiago's eyes then locked onto Thomas, a glare forming on his features.

"Oh, shit." Vince pulled himself up, pulling a pistol from his hip. "Crank! We got a Crank!"

Jorge immediately yelled, and Tiago placed himself in front of Brenda, in the line of fire. There was a loud commotion as Thomas launched himself towards Vince. Everyone was yelling. Jorge sounded distraught; it was hurting Tiago to hear the older man so upset. Tiago felt hands on him, but he'd clenched his eyes shut in preparation for a shot to be fired. He was yanked up from the ground, and only then did he open his eyes. He and Jorge had been pulled off the ground, away from Brenda. Jorge was yelling at the men who had grabbed him. Tiago couldn't feel anything, his eyes trained on Brenda's limp form gasping for air on the ground.

"This just happened, okay, she's not dangerous yet," he heard Thomas explaining.

"Well you shouldn't've brought her here!" Vince yelled.

"I know, I―"

"We let Cranks in here now, Safe Haven doesn't last a week. Step back!" Vince cut Thomas off.

"Let me go!" Jorge kept yelling.

"I understand, okay?" Thomas said calmly. "I understand, alright? Just―Just listen to me, please. Please, okay, I-I told her you could help. Okay? There's gotta be something you can do."

There was a pause. Tiago could hear Brenda's panting, Jorge's heavy breathing, his own heartbeat.

"Yeah, there is," Vince said quietly. There was another moment of near silence until a gun cocked. Tiago's head immediately snapped up towards Vince. He pulled forward as hard as he could, but with two men holding him back, there wasn't much he could do. He shot a despairing look down at Brenda. "I can put her out of her misery."

"NO!" Jorge shouted immediately. "No!"

"Vince! That's enough!" A woman was running over. Tiago felt like he couldn't breathe. "Let them go. Let them go!"

The men holding Tiago released him, and he immediately dropped to the ground, crawling towards Brenda again.

"She's infected, Doc," Vince said, a hard edge in his voice. "There's nothing we can do for her."

"No," the woman replied, "but he can." She was looking at Thomas.

"Tiago?"

Tiago froze. He felt his entire body seizing up. He slowly looked up from Brenda's sickly face, and he immediately lost whatever breath he had left.