Subject A7

Chapter Twenty-Three

Nick's POV
"I won't let that happen..."
Hunter was talking about what Avery saw in her delusions. "Hunter, I am fine. No bite marks. Remember everything that she saw was because of a drug, it was not real."
Hunter shakes his head. "Whether it was real or not Nick, you are not immune to this infection. Once you get it, that's it."
"But... Evelyn can give me some blood to stop it from spreading," Nick says trying to ease Hunter's fears.
"But it won't stop it, Nick..." Hunter lowers his eyes. "I've lost so much to this infection and the last thing I need is losing you, I don't think I could live through another loss."
Nick takes Hunter's hands off the railing and gently held it and stroked it a little, Nick smiled at his boyfriend.
"We've both lost people to this infection Hunter. You more so than I but ... it just means that we can't keep living in fear, we have to live our life to the fullest... if I do become infected, I want you to be the one to kill me if there is no cure... and I want you to promise me that you won't end your life because of it, you have to live on for the both of us."
Hunter looks away.
"Hunter, I cannot promise you that I won't end up becoming an infected but I can promise you that no matter what, I would have lived a happy life no matter how short it may have been."
Hunter meets his eyes, his eyes shone in the light from holding back tears.
Nick had no other words to say, he pulled Hunter into him for a tight hug. Hunter grabbed him hard as if Nick would have vanished into thin air.
"I don't plan on leaving you any time soon Hunter, that I do promise," Nick whispers kissing Hunter on the cheek.
"I will hold you to that," Hunter replies before pulling away.
"Hunter? Nick? Brandon is here, you coming in?" Dylan calls from the room.
"Yeah," Nick calls back. "Coming?"
Hunter sighs and looks back out. "No, I'll stay here a little longer. You can fill me in on what I missed later."
"You'll be all right?" Nick asks him feeling worried.
"I'll be okay Nick, we can talk about this more another time."

Nick went go back inside giving Hunter one last longing look before meeting with Brandon.
"So you're saying who don't know who it is?" Dylan asks

"I have no idea Dylan," Brandon says "it could've been anyone but these are the only two who were drugged which means someone knows that they were Arcane property."
"In my hallucination... Linda says that they were coming for me... are they?" Avery looks at Brandon with dread in her eyes.
"If they knew you were from Arcane then yes. If they knew you were immunes, that would be a yes as well but if it was a random act..." Brandon shakes his head. "We better warn the guards in case there is to be a fight."
"We can't stick around here," Dylan says "we infiltrated them a few days ago, they would have no immunes within their grasp so whether they come for just the two..." Dylan looks away running his fingers through his hair.
"There could be more immunes here," Nick says, "we can't let Arcane have them either."
"Unfortunately you cannot save them all," Brandon says. "Sometimes it is better to quit while you're ahead."

Dylan sighs and looks at Angus. Brandon also notices Dylan staring and says, "Angus was keeping an eye on things, that is why he got you lot back into this room."
Dylan looked surprised. "I know now that he is definitely on your side but thought he would have been the spy."
Brandon chuckles. "No, he is just very good at acting."
"So what's the plan?" Nick asks wanting to get back on track.
"The plan is that we leave tonight," Dylan says, "better we make a head start just in case."
Nick nods and remembered two very important things.
"Tegan and Branson," Nick says his eyes widening. "If they don't find you, they're supposed to meet Hunter and I here."
"If they see this place being under attacked, I am certain they'll meet you at the tunnels."
Avery frowns. "You have a backup spot?"
Dylan nods. "You should always have a backup meeting spot," he says "you never know when shit will blow up in your face so if option A is not available to make sure you have option B and C already planned and make sure everyone knows it."
Avery nods. "Noted."



Avery's POV

The effect of the drug was wearing off, I was able to stand and move around and found myself helping Dylan who gave me a stern look but I ignored him.
"Don't overdo it," he tells me.
"I'm fine," I tell him. "If I feel uneasy I'll go sit down."
He gives me a look.
"I promise Dylan," I tell him slowly.
He seemed to have liked that and went back to packing. He got a couple of guns from Brandon and some ammo in case we run into any unwanted people or things.
The plan was that Angus was going to take us through their secret route that'll lead us to the bridge which isn't far from the campsite where Noah, Vincent, and the others will be. We will be there most likely there this time tomorrow, hopefully. So as soon as everyone within the bar is either passed out or have left was when we'd go, it was almost three o'clock in the morning.
"I'm sorry," I say to Dylan.
"For what?"
"For the way, I acted tonight, I was not in the right state of mind but I should've known better did something that I should not have done..."
Dylan looks at me, my stomach decided to do some backflips so I started to fiddle with my fingers.
"You are safe now, that is all that matters to me."
Not wanting to get all awkward, I smiled and told him that I wanted to go speak with Nick for a bit.
"Don't be long, we're leaving in ten minutes," Dylan reminds me.
I found Nick on the balcony with Hunter, Nick was relaying to Hunter what was spoken about during the meeting.
"Hey," I say softly joining them.
Nick smiles at me, Hunter did not even look in my direction.
"Hey, how you feeling?" Nick asks me, his tone of voice was rather cheerful considering the situation we may or may not be.
"A lot better, thank you," I tell him.
"That's good, what about that Colin boy?"
Colin was packing a bag full of food and other supplies we might need, least he was being useful.
"He's good."
"How'd you meet him?" Nick asks.
"We were chased by an infected deer, Dylan and I jumped off a waterfall to get away from it and we found an abandoned house. When Dylan was checking to make sure it was safe, the kid climbed through the window."
"He was following you?" Nick asks.
"Apparently so," I roll my eyes.
"You don't like him?"
"No way! He was a scaredy cat and when we needed him, he just shouted at me and I did all the work to get us to escape... Dylan was busy shooting a level five infected."
Hunter turned to me looking surprised. "Level five?" he asks confused.
I quickly explained to them about the secret room, the notebook and what was in the cage followed by who the infected thing was. Nick and Hunter both had their mouths opened listening intently, I even pulled the book out of my hiding spot (which was the back of my pants) and showed it to them.
Nick flipped through it with Hunter leaning on his shoulder looking as well.
"So much information," Hunter says.
"So much more to learn," I grinned.
Nick gave the notebook back, I tucked it back into the spot.
I leaned against the railing sighing. "You know... I never had the chance to thank you both for coming to Arcane to save us."
"You don't have to thank us," Nick says.
"No, no, let her finish," Hunter elbows Nick. I smiled at their interaction.
"Just wanting to say thank you, you guys risked a lot and yeah..." I trailed off blushing.
"You're welcome," Hunter replies looking away and back to gazing at the distance.
"Oh Avery," Nick says, "you were so lucky that you did not have to go through the shit we went through" Nick starts laughing, Hunter elbows him again but I could see a small smile appear on Hunter's lips.
"Am I missing out on an inside joke?" I ask him.
"You know what?" Nick says still smiling. "When we return to the campsite, we will have a nice bonfire, a nice hot meal and we can talk about it."
"That would be great."
Hunter rolls his eyes looking back out into the distance.
"What is that?" he asks.
Nick and I looked to where Hunter was pointing, in the distance there appeared to be lights.
"Lights..." I whispered.
"No," Nick replies. "Arcane is coming."