𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐑| 𝐋.𝐂.

43: Antibody

"Stop the drilling!" I shout, almost breathless and I see Ales turn to me as I keep limping.

"Valerie?" Alex says, his jaw dropping.

"Valerie!" I hear mom squeal a her, dad, Carter and Alex come running to me.

I begin to cry as my parents and brother hug me. I look up at Alex and hug him tightly.

"Where's Leo?" I trail off, my knees feeling like jelly.

"He's okay." Dad tells me and I sigh.

"Okay, good." I slur as my eyes shut and I begin to fall.

"Val!" I hear Carter exclaim as he picks me up in his arms and I open my eyes.

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"Here you go, sweetie." Dad says, handing me a cup of water.

"No, I'm fine. Take me to Leo. I wanna see him." I pant, leaning my head back against the ambulance bed.

"Will you stop worrying about other people and worry about yourself for once?" Carter says, peering down to me.

"You don't have to worry about me. I'm fine." I breathe.

"You fainted, Val. Just drink some water, please." Alex says and I slowly nod, taking the cup from dad.

"Where did you even come from, Valerie?" Mom asks me.

"I don't remember. I crawled from a tunnel over there." I say.

"A tunnel? This whole toke we thought you were in the cave." Alex says.

"I was." I say.

"How?" Carter asks me.

"There must have been some lower cave." I tell him.

"Did you know about this?" Dad asks mom and she shakes her head.

"It's probably a natural cavern that's wasn't connected to the cave we knew until the first blast made an opening." The construction worker says.

"I tried to yell to stop the drilling but no one could hear me. Then I saw an opening in the rocks, and I crawled in just as it collapsed. Then I was free. I can still hear it, it's like the drill is making a hope in my head." I say, holding the side of my head as I set my water down.

"Like a prison break." Alex says and I chuckle, nodding at him.

"Mom, where's Leo? Dad said he was fine but I wanna know where he is." I say, looking up at her.

"Oh, honey, he's in the hospital." Mom says.

"What? But I thought he got out. I told him to run." I say as the medics bandage me up.

"He did, but, uh...he's sick. He contacted some sort of virus." Mom tells me.

"But he's gonna be okay, right?" I ask as she doesn't say anything and neither does dad.

I look back at Carter and Alex and the just look at me in a blank.

"I wanna go there. Please. Now." I state.

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"Can I get you anything?" Mom asks me.

"No, mom, thanks. I just really wanna see him." I say.

"Valerie, he's unconscious. Potentially contagious. We know so little about what he has. You, however, really do seem fine." The doctor says and I shoot her a grin.