L4D AU: Boss and Minion

7 - Hear Rabbit out

You sigh to yourself. You can't fully trust this kid, or even trust that he knows what he's doing, but even with your powerful muscles and freakishly large body you know that two is always better than one. He could really help you if his plan is at all rational.

"Explain." you reluctantly tell him.

"Look, I have a shiv with me. I can stab the first guy that comes in here, you grab his gun and we both start trying to break out of here-"

You roll your eyes and cut him off. "We'll both die before you manage to get the stab in. And how do you even know that we aren't, in fact, going to a shelter and that you wouldn't be just ruining any chance of us making it to safety?"

"Are you really that naive? Do you seriously think I haven't heard the conversations from the soldiers taking me here? And do you really have that much faith in the cops that they wouldn't just throw us in an overcrowded shitfole and let us starve?"

"Let's just get inside, look around and try to work from there." You agree with everything Rabbit is telling you, and you know by firsthand experience that the cops aren't exactly the type of people you should be naive enough to trust in. But, no matter how you spin it, you know that the plan Rabbit is going for is too looney to even hope that it could possibly work in some way. Neither of you can see each other in the pitch black room, but you both feel a sense of agreement with each other. You both come up with a passcode, "Chickpeas". That way, if by some stroke of luck you manage to see each other again, you'll know exactly who it is.

The vehicle comes to an abrupt stop and the both of you try not to lose your balance and fall onto the floor. The giant door of the military vehicle slowly lifts up to reveal soldiers, armed to the teeth with an intense disposition. "Both of you out with your hands up, now!"

You look to your right as you make your way outside of the truck, and you finally know what Rabbit looks like. You can see a determined look in his baggy brown eyes as he returns your gaze. The both of you step outside, hands raised as they frisk you both. You sigh as the man takes away the shiv you'd kept inside of your shirt, and you can see that same frustration on Rabbit's face. Well, at least you'll both be safe in military hand... right?

And as the soldiers are leading you both to the facility, you can immediately tell you're not in a safe haven. Giant military compound... no other survivors than you around as you watch the bulldozers clean up piles of infected bodies. How long has this been going on again? Nevermind that, what do they want with you and what are they planning to do to you?!

"What's going to happen, sir?" Quizzes Rabbit, with a tense body as he brings up his bruised hand to tuck in his stray curls for comfort.

"Testing." The soldier's reply is curt and emotionless.

"Tested for what? A-And if we pass?" Rabbit looks at those infected bodies and his big round eyes shoot even wider, "Nevermind, I get the idea."

You feel relieved when you both are taken inside the building for a split second, relishing the safety of the (hopefully) fortified building and the air conditioning you were deprived of when the power went out back at the prison. But then you remember you're probably going to be treated exactly like a prisoner all over again when you pass by other people locked inside reminders in the form of tiny rooms guarded by more soldiers. And you don't feel any less fearful when you're taken into a clinic, with another soldier standing next to a doctor who holds out a dish for you to spit in.

"Spit in the dish." The soldier barks an order at him.

"Bud, we aren't infected!"

"Spit in the dish."

"I was stuck in that prison for two days! I've gotten my ass kicked, bitten, spat at, thrown up on and I feel perfectly fine! We're both immune!"

"SPIT, OR I WILL SHOOT!"

Rabbit sighs, seeing no other choice than to do what they're telling him. You both glance at each other, nodding as Rabbit spits inside the petri dish. "There, happy? Watch, you're not going to see shit on that dish-"

"Step out of the way." The soldier hisses at you as you get up close to the man.

"Chickpeas!" You shout.

Rabbit snatches the gun out of his hand and hits him with the butt of the gun. The man yelps as he is knocked to the ground, immediately coughing up as he tries to pull his as mask back down. "Don't... Don't breathe on me please!"

The doctor looks at you both with wide eyes, pleading with the soldiers not to gun you down as the incapacitated man on the floor is carried out by a stretcher, likely into isolation. "W-What the fuck..." Rabbit blurts out. All he did was hit the guy.

"You might have killed him." The doctor shakes his head. "Look, I can explain what's happening."

The doctor explains to you that you and Rabbit are both asymptomatic carriers, which means that you both still harbor the virus despite not having any symptoms. This realization makes you look back to the hours before when you were inside the infirmary. How many people did you infect?! How much of the ensuing outbreak was your fault?! Your stomach churns and your heart races as you look pleadingly at the doctor, pleading him to tell you that what he just said was some kind of sick joke or something. Rabbit seems to be going through a similar realization, looking around and glancing at his hands. Honestly, it made sense considering all of the old scratches and bruises on him, and you could have sworn you saw a bite on his wrist.

This breaking moment is then interrupted when the both of you are ushered back to your isolation chambers, and you curl up into a corner while Rabbit starts pacing around.

Continue to 12