Infection- Book 2

Chapter 12- Lab

Hey hey, I'd just like to say before you start that this is a LONG chapter, so buckle up. Enjoy!

I'm gonna have to find that cure on my own, then find the others. My thoughts were buzzing. You've been through worse, Jade. You can do this, I reassured myself. I crept down the hallway deeper into the lab, praying that I wouldn't encounter whatever the hell I had just seen.

I didn't expect the lab to be tiny, but I never would've imagined there being an entire
basement with different power generators, machines, and substances. It was deathly quiet, too. All I could hear was the engines keeping the machines running, creating an even creepier
environment.

I took a few turns, examined a few rooms, and grabbed a couple files I found interesting regarding the infection before stumbling across a wing in the basement with huge holes blown through the ceiling. I ducked and squinted to see the barricaded door above, and quickly began
stacking crates to reach it. Odd, I hadn't seen that door when I was exploring upstairs.

"Mimi," I mumbled through the radio she gave me before I was trapped inside. "See if you can get us some help, work your magic with this radio. I'm gonna keep looking for that cure."

I pulled myself out of the floor with a grunt and stood up to check through the door. And there it was, right before my eyes. A vial was set in a tube holder and was just presented there on the table with the light-blue cure contained inside. After a few quick kicks and shoulder jams, I screamed out in frustration when the door wouldn't budge. That was, until I saw a colored keypad installed next to the door. Nine grey cubes were all sorted out, and the top three lit up green.

An idea suddenly sparked when I remembered a few certain rooms I'd encountered before. I jammed the button at the end of the hallway as another sliding door opened up and revealed the rest of the lab, and the huge power core rested in the middle of the room. I pressed the button on the side as it lit up to life, then returned downstairs to the patterned section underneath. The room was separated into nine cubicles, and a power lever was deactivated in each cubicle. I lined up the furthest three and activated them, hearing a very noticeable click sound. Climbing back up the boxes, the door to the cure shot open, revealing the substance.

Before I could even pull myself through the floor, Tigry and Willow stumbled their way into the small room. I hurriedly kicked to get back up to see Tigry being slammed against the wall, falling to the floor. He crumpled and dropped his head, mumbling, "Finish it."

"Willow, enough!" I shouted. "If you really have been suffering, then direct your anger towards the infected!" She turned to me and her expression softened lightly. "Taking each other
out like this isn't how we survive. We need to help each other out." She lowered her hand and stood up straight, relaxing herself. "At the factory, you were so focused on getting revenge on me
that you didn't notice everyone around you in trouble. You really want to make a difference?
Start by ending this!"

Tigry coughed, looking up at Willow. "You and I are alike, Willow. We keep our pain buried inside." Willow turned away from him and stared at the floor. "We both are alone, separated from our friends and family." He paused for a moment before continuing. "When we first met, you listened to me. I talked endlessly about how I felt, but you never interrupted. You listened." He dropped his head and let out a sigh. "I just wish we could go back to the way things were."

I glanced back and forth between the two as they started talking again before someone set a hand on my shoulder. I jumped, screaming out in shock. Mimi took a step back and the others
turned to look at me in disgust. "Sorry to interrupt," she started, "whatever's going on here, but you're gonna want to come see this." I grabbed the cure off the table and followed her out, and the other two trailed behind shortly after.