The Infection

Chapter 8

Two Weeks Later

They were running low on the supplies they were given; the medicine, the food, the water. They were told to make it last as long as possible because they weren't getting anymore after it was gone. Cassie sacrificed most of the water and food to Ben since he needed it more than she did. Now that he's getting stronger, they've been rationing it evenly. 

Every so often, Sean would stop by to see if they were still alive or to see if they were planning anything. Of course, they were. Ben's ribs were healing, but his leg was still in bad shape and Cassie's knee was getting stronger.

They decided that once they felt they could run a few miles, they would attempt something. In the meantime, they were making a plan on how they can escape. They usually spoke about it late at night or very early in the morning. 

"Do you think the guys are looking for us?" Cassie asked one night. "Tom, Chris?" Ben nodded and told her, "Yeah, I do. If they know us, and they sure as hell do, they know we're alive. Though...I don't think they'll find us. We're in the middle of a goddamn ocean."

He attempted to move himself up on the bed, but winced as he did. "Ben, don't strain yourself," Cassie begged. "You need your strength or this will never work. What we're going to do is going to require a lot of of our body strength."

Ben huffed, then stopped moving. "We'll get out of here," he told her. "I don't know what their plans are for us, but I don't want to be here to find out." Cassie sighed and looked to the wall at the other side of the room. 

"What's wrong?" He asked. She shook her head, then told him, "I didn't see this coming. I should have seen this coming. My job is to read people, but Sean...I couldn't read him. It's my fault we're here." Very painfully, he sat up and positioned himself next to her on the bed. 

She looked concerned about his state, but he simply put his hand up to her her know he was fine. "Cass, this is not your fault," he told her. "We didn't have a choice. Well, actually, you did. You could have run, even with your knee. But you didn't. You stayed with me. Why?"

She scoffed and looked at him like he was being ridiculous. "I couldn't leave you," she told him. "I don't care what bad blood is between us...you're still my best friend." He smiled warmly at her, then sighed. 

"Well, I'm sure Tom would have protected you better than I did," he mumbled. Cassie shook her head with a light laugh. "Don't start blaming yourself, too," she said. "We had just gotten done running from the infected, we tired and running on fumes. This isn't on either of us. And for the record...I would much rather be in this with you than with Tom."

Ben gave her a double take. "What?" He asked. "Why?" She sighed and bit her bottom lip, before saying, "He loves me. I know he loves me and I know he thinks I do, too...but I don't. I don't love him, I can't."

He couldn't help the tugging smile on his lips. "Well, you know he's going to expect something when we come back," he pointed out. She gave him a pointed look and said, "Same goes for you with Sharon. She loves you and you don't. Why?"

"Why don't you love Tom?" He asked. She sighed and looked down. Both of them clearly couldn't answer the question...or just didn't want to. "Anyways," Cassie said, breaking the silence, "we should get some sleep." 

Ben looked away as she started to lay down on the bed. They've taken up positions on opposite ends; her head on one end, his on the other. They didn't have blankets or anything, so it got quite cold, but they manage. They've been through worse. 

After a few moments, Ben got himself to lay down as well. It was dark, besides the dim lighting in the hall and it was way too quiet. That's what bothered them the most out of all the uncomfortable things they were around; the silence. They could hear a pin drop and it drove them mad. No noise, no windows, no light. Just a small jail cell that used to belong to Whitey Bulger.

**

"Hey! Hey, you sons of bitches come in here!" Cassie had been shouting and shaking the cell bars for a good ten minutes now. They were completely out of food and water and they were just about to the point where they could pass out if they didn't get any soon. 

Cassie continued to kick and shake and yell, but nobody answered. "What if they're not out there?" She asked Ben. "What if something happened; they got overrun?" Ben sat on the floor with a grunt and leaned back against the wall.                     

"Then we'll starve before they can get to us," he told her. "We're in a prison cell. An old one, but I don't think the infected are so smart as to grab the keys and open it. We'd be safe. Anyways, I don't think they got overrun. I think they're just ignoring us." 

Suddenly, they could hear the creek of the doors open down the hall and footsteps rushing towards them. Cassie went up to the bars to see who it was and saw some of Gary's henchmen coming towards them. 

"Jesus Christ, will you shut up?!" They shouted. Before Cassie could back away, one of the men reached through the bars and grabbed her around the neck. Ben quickly sprang up and took ahold of the guys arm and squeezed it to a point where the guy was screaming in pain. 

"Let go of her!" He shouted. The guy just squeezed Cassie's neck harder, choking her. Ben then lifted up the guys arm and broke it against one of the horizontal bars on the cell. "Son of a bitch!" The guy screamed as he brought his hand out of the cell. 

Cassie fell backwards and started coughing her lungs and struggled to breathe out as she held on to her throat. Ben got down next to her and saw bruises already forming on her neck. "I should have done a lot worse than a little broken bone," he said to the guy outside the cell who was cradling his arm. 

His friend pointed a gun up at Ben and said, "I should shoot you!" Ben ignored him and looked back to Cassie. "You're alright," he said to her. "Just breathe, Cass, come on." He put a hand on her chest and had her breathe with his hand as he moved it slowly up and down. 

She breathed with it and eventually got her breathing back to normal. "There we go," he said with a smile. "Brace yourself." He picked her up and carried her over to the bed. He put her down, then turned back towards the cell in time for Gary to be walking up to the man who got his arm broken. He looked to Ben. 

"Did you do this to my men?" He asked. "Behind that cell?" Without any regret in his voice, Ben told him, "Yes. He attacked Cassie." Gary looked back over to his man, then started laughing. "He did that to you behind a jail cell," he laughed. He suddenly stopped laughing, then looked to the other guy. "Get him out of my sight."

As the guy was helping up his friend, Gary shouted, "Pathetic! You're pathetic!" He turned to Ben and asked, "You want a place here? You'd make a great asset." Ben huffed out a laugh, then said, "Not on your life. We're starving, we need food, water. You can't let us starve in here."

"Oh, actually I can," Gary said as he approached the cell bars. "I can make you starve, make you freeze to death. You will die how I tell you to die. But you're both too valuable at the moment. I have plans for you two and you'll need your strength. I'll send you two weeks worth." 

He started to walk away, but Ben went up to the bars and called, "If any of your men pull that shit again, I will kill them!" Still walking, Gary shrugged and called back, "Let me know when because I would love to see it!" 

The doors closed and it was silent again. Ben turned back to Cassie, who stopped coughing and was now trying to sit up. He went to her side as he said, "Don't. You need to relax." She waved him off and said in a hoarse voice, "That pansy ass bitch doesn't know how to choke someone."

Ben smiled and let out a light laugh. He ran his fingers over her bruised neck, then over her cheek. "You are something else. That's why I--...never mind. Come on, rest. I'll wake you when they bring the food."