**Disclaimer/warning: This story may contain content that may be disturbing for some readers. Reader discretion is advised.

Stage 3: Denial

As Dean and Seth made their way back to the locker room they slowly stopped once they began hearing those unsettling noises. This time the groans were loud and fierce but there was another sound mixed in there.

"You hear that?" Seth questioned as he looked at Dean and slowly walked.

Dean nodded in silence as they approached the sound of a woman struggling.

"Ugh, leave me alone!" They heard her shout. Without a thought Dean sped up and followed the woman's voice as she continued screaming. Seth quickly followed behind.

Dean stopped in his tracks at the sight of the former divas champion, Nikki, struggling to keep not one- but two of the infected off of her. She had a cart as a barrier between them and her body as she held them against the wall. Their hands reached in an attempt to grab her as she pushed the cart against them.

Both Dean and Seth watched for a moment, quite amazed by her strength. Both of them snapped back to the present moment when they heard Nikki scream in frustration as the wheels of the cart began rolling towards her. Either she was losing strength or the infected were pushing harder. Either way, the cart wouldn't hold them much longer.

Dean looked down at his hand when he remembered the rod that he broke out of the locker room. He quickly approached Nikki and raised the rod up above his head.

"Dean! You can't hurt them-" Seth shouted before Dean could make the move.

"Argh! Just do it!" Nikki shouted as she struggled.

Dean quickly looked between the two before Nikki yelled at him again. At her command and without much thought process, Dean took the metal rod and wacked it on the top of one the infected's heads a couple of times and Seth looked away as blood flew everywhere.

Dean stopped as his hands trembled while he observed the blood that splattered on the wall and slightly on him and Nikki. Dean swallowed hard as he raised his arms again and repeated his actions onto the second infected one until all of their movements were stopped, allowing Nikki to let go of the cart.

Beads of sweat traveled down Nikki's dolled up face as she breathed heavily and stood in silence and observed the bloody scene.

"What the hell, Dean?! Why- how could you do that?! Are you fucking insane?!" Seth shouted.

"Me, insane? Did you not see what they did earlier? What they're capable of?" Dean shouted back.

"They're just sick!" Seth argued.

"What was I supposed to do, huh? Let 'em kill her front in front us and do nothing-" Dean stopped shouting back when he noticed Nikki walking away from them from the corner of his eyes. "Hey!" He shouted as he took hold of her arm and swung her around. "Where the hell are you going?"

Nikki gave him a sour look as she yanked her arm out of his grip. "To go find Brie and get out of here." She responded as if it was supposed to be obvious.

Seth shook his head. "She's with Roman. They're stuck in a closet that's surrounded by a handful of infected people. We were on our way to find help-"

"Okay, well you found me. Let's go help them." Nikki stated.

"Three of us ain't gonna be enough, sweetheart. Let's go." Dean announced before walking off and leading the way to go gather more superstars.

As Roman and Brie crawled through the vent space, they eased their nerves through conversation.

"I don't think these people are... people." Roman stated as he crawled behind Brie.

"What does that mean?"

"I think- I don't know. I don't think they're alive anymore. Once they became infected, I think they died and somehow turned into those things." Roman explained his thoughts then waited for her reaction.

Brie furrowed her brows. "Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds? I heard what was on the radio, they're just sick and I'm sure there's a cure out there-"

"I think you're wrong." Roman informed her.

"Yes, because your theory that they're basically zombies makes more sense, right?" Brie retorted with intense sarcasm.

She began to feel slightly bad for her choice of words when she didn't hear anything from Roman for a while. "I didn't mean-"

"Let's just focus on getting out of here. Keep moving." Roman directed in a stoic tone.

Brie did as she was told and kept crawling until they saw a light coming into the vent. They both approached it and it was an exit into another hall. However, probably not the best one.

They both peeked into the holes of the vent and watched in disgust as one of their coworkers was attacked by an infected.

"Oh my God," Brie said as she looked away and covered her mouth in shock and terror.

"Come on, let's keep moving. There has to be a way to get outside through this thing." He said as he looked away from the scene below them.

Brie nodded as sniffled as tears began forming in her eyes again as she continued crawling.

Soon they stopped at yet another opening in the vent that they were crawling in. Roman looked down and found that it seemed clear. As he observed, he also noticed that there was an actual exit of the arena right near them.

"Alright, this is it. There's an exit. Are you ready?" Roman asked.

"No, Roman, wait." She grabbed his forearm as he began attempting to open the closed vent so they could get out.

"What?" He looked at her and waited impatiently.

Brie shook her head. "I can't leave this arena without them."

Roman looked down at the exit, knowing exactly who them was. Nikki Bella and Daniel Bryan.

"We'll find them. But we can't do that in here, so you're gonna need to trust me." He said as he watched her.

Brie wiped her eyes and looked down at the exit again.

"I promise you, if you get out of this vent with me and get out of this arena to the car, where it's safe, I'll get Seth and Dean and we'll go back in for them. Right now, I just need to get us both out of here. Do you trust me?" He asked with the most sincerely tone he could manage.

Brie hesitated but eventually gave him a nod. "Okay, yes. I trust you."

After getting the vent to open, Roman took the lead and exited feet first, this time making sure to remove the vest that covered his black tank top. He landed on his feet but lost his balance and ended up down on his hands and knees. He stood to his feet and brushed himself off as he scoped out the area to make sure once again that it was clear. He looked up to Brie and nodded to give her the okay to jump.

Brie closed her eyes tight and exhaled deeply to calm her nerves. It was a high jump but she knew she had to do it. With her eyes closed, she let herself slip through the hole.

Roman watched as she came down and made sure to be there to catch her when she landed. She landed onto her feet but like Roman, it was hard to keep her balance. Roman managed to catch her and keep her up in his arms before she could fall onto the ground.

Brie took a deep breath of relief and opened her eyes was she realized she made it safely.

"I told you, you can trust me." Roman reminded her as he released his hold. She looked at him and nodded. Roman placed a hand on the center of her back and began leading her out of the arena.

Meanwhile Dean, Seth, and Nikki headed back to the men's locker room to try to round up some more people. However, when they got there, they realized they were in a world of trouble. The locker room door was wide open, and they came to the conclusion that someone had tried to exit, but was instead met with the infected as soon as the door opened. They watched behind the corner as their coworkers walked around the locker room area, clearly now infected as well.

Dean quickly broke his gaze from the sight and began quickly walking back- nearly running. "We need to get the fuck out of here." He announced.

Nikki and Seth ran and followed after him. "What? What about Brie?" Nikki asked as she followed. "We can't just leave her." Dean didn't respond and just kept going. "Hey! Ambrose!" She shouted after him.

Seth's phone began ringing and pulled it out of his pocket as he ran. He looked at the caller ID and immediately stopped to answer it. "Hey, are you guys still-" Dean and Nikki stopped assuming it was Roman calling.

"Where the hell are you guys? I told you to wait out in the car!" Roman shouted through the phone.

"We went back to try to get help." Seth informed the angry Samoan.

Nikki gave him a pleading look, asking him with her eyes to find out about Brie.

"Uh, is Brie still with you? Is she alright?" Seth asked.

"Yeah she's good, but we still haven't found Daniel or Nikki-"

"Nikki's with us. We're gonna head out to the car, we're close the exit. Don't move." Seth said before hanging up.

"They got out." Seth informed Nikki and Dean. They sighed with relief before the three of them made their way to the exit.

They eventually made it out of the arena and entered the gated parking lot area. As soon as Nikki laid eyes on her sister she called her name and ran to her before pulling her into a tight hold. Finally, they were reunited and knew that the other was safe and healthy.

Nikki pulled away and looked around. "Wait, where's Daniel?"

"I don't know." Brie responded as worry clouded her existence once more.

Seeing the look on Brie's face caused Nikki to worry also and made her think of John. She quickly pulled her phone out and dialed his number. She brought the phone to hear ear and waited, but there was no answer. She tried to remain calm and keep herself together in an attempt not to give Brie even more reason to worry. But inside she was panicking.

Roman got in the car and turned on the radio, loud so everyone standing near the car could hear. They all listened to the warnings and instructions for citizens to stay inside and not to leave their homes under any circumstance. The city was being placed under lock down. All entries into the boarding cities were blocked off and CDC was working fast to find a cure for the fast spreading virus.

Roman got out and looked to the rest of the group. "We need to go."

Brie furrowed her eyebrows as she looked at him. "No, you said we'd go look for Daniel." She reminded him. "I'm not leaving without him."

Nikki looked at the guys and awaited a response. They could see in her eyes that she knew it was a bad idea.

Roman sighed, "Brie, it's too dangerous, we can't go back in there."

Brie gave him a look of fury before shaking her head in disappointment. "You know what? Fine, I'll go alone if I have to. I don't even know why I thought I could trust you in the first place. The entire time, clearly all you cared about was finding your guys and making sure they're okay. Well now I need to go find my guy."

"Do you not remember how difficult it was to find a clear way out of the building? You go back in there alone and I promise you, you won't make it out." Dean said bluntly.

"I can't leave without him, that's my husband in there." Brie pleaded as she looked directly to Roman. "You promised." When none of them budged she looked to Roman again. "What if it was your family still in there- your wife, your daughter? Wouldn't you go back in there for them?"

Roman released a deep breath as he rubbed his face with both of his hands. "I don't even know if they're okay." He informed her.

Brie slightly nodded. "Okay, so you must know exactly how I'm feeling right now." She made her point.

Roman listened to her words and finally gave in. "We have to go back."

"You're out of your mind." Seth declared before Dean nodded in agreement.

Nikki looked over to Brie and could see the desperation on her face. "Brie, what if he already left-" She began trying to reason with her sister.

Brie shook her head. "No, I know he'd never leave without me."

"You guys can leave if you want, but I'm going back in with Brie." Roman announced, putting an end to the conversation before leading the way back into the arena.

"God damn it, wait." Dean forced himself to stop them. Roman and Brie both turned to face him. "I'm coming with you."

"You're what?" Seth was baffled.

Dean ignored Seth and popped open the trunk of the car. "But we're gonna need some extra back up. Here." He said as he pulled a few tools out of the trunk. Tools that had been in there in case the car broke down on the side of the road or they popped a tire. He handed a large wrench to Roman and then a screw driver to Brie. "If they come anywhere near us, we attack-"

"Attack the head. It's the fastest way to stop them" Roman finished his sentence. Dean nodded.

"You want me to kill these people?" Brie said in disgust as she examined the weapons in their hands. "I can't- I won't do that. They're ill-"

"They're not ill, they're infected and probably suffering anyway. All we're doing is putting 'em out of their misery. Think of it that way." Dean informed the woman before pulling out a couple of more weapons from the trunk. He turned to look at Seth and Nikki as he held them out in front of them. "Are you two coming?"

Nikki looked at her sister again as her eyes begged and pleaded. "Okay- yes." She finally gave in before grabbing the tool out of his hand.

Without giving Seth the option anymore, Roman grabbed the tool out of Dean's hand and pushed it against Seth's chest. "Let's go." Roman instructed to Seth. Seth rolled his eyes as he took hold of the tool that Roman roughly shoved against him.

They entered through the same way that they exited and it was still clear. They kept going and it was pretty quiet aside from the corners they turned and saw some of the infected. The amount of detours they were making was beginning to get exhausting. They opened each door they passed, carefully and slowly, in search for Daniel.

They arrived back at the men's locker room area again and witnessed the same infected ones from before lurking in the area.

"Look," Nikki whispered and pointed from behind the corner as they observed the area.

"Oh gosh, that's Orton." Brie whispered back in horror.

"And Ryback." Seth observed with a whisper.

"Let's keeping moving." Roman instructed quietly. They followed his order and continued through the halls of the arena, watching each other's backs. There was still no sign of Daniel and Brie was becoming more and more anxious.

After a while longer, they reached another clear hallway and Dean came to a stop. "This a waste of time. We've looked nearly everywhere we could get to. I think it's time to leave-"

"No wait, we haven't gone by the woman's locker room yet." Brie argued

Seth released a breath when he realized Dean and Roman were giving in to Brie's pleas once again. He unwillingly followed as they all began headed towards the locker room. They continued until they found a way to their destination. When they got closer to the locker room they all stopped and quickly hid behind a few equipment boxes. There was no way they could get any closer to the locker room, the entire area was occupied by what looked like to be about ten of the infected.

Brie kept her eyes peeled as she looked around, hoping maybe Daniel would be there somewhere. But nothing. She was becoming hopeless. She turned back around and started walking back, following the direction they came from.

"I don't know where else he could be." She said with despair as she walked away from the group. They followed closely behind.

As she moved to turn the corner, she suddenly stopped when she heard the grating groaning sounds close by. She knew there was an infected right there behind the corner.

She turned to look back at the others, but before she could say or do anything, Roman pulled her back and stepped in front of her, taking the lead.

"Stay here." He warned those behind him. He peeked around the corner and froze. "No..." He said under his breath.

Brie furrowed her eyebrows, knowing instantly that something was wrong.

"What?" Brie and Nikki asked in unison.

Roman turned and looked at them. He had this look of worry on his face, it was different than the looks Brie had observed before. "We should turn back, go another way."

"Why?" Brie questioned as she attempted to move past him to take a look. Roman put his arms out, causing her to walking into him and stop in her tracks.

"Let's just go." He said, almost in a begging tone. Seth, Dean, and Nikki looked at him with curiosity wondering what was behind the corner as well.

"Okay." Brie finally agreed. Roman released a breath of relief as they all began walking back. Brie walked but something in her gut was telling her that she needed to know what was behind the corner. What could have possibly freaked Roman Reigns out so much that he felt the need to run and protect everyone from seeing it? Her curiosity was taking over her judgment.

Before Roman had a chance to react, Brie quickly turned around and maneuvered past him.

"Brie!" He shouted as he went after her.

Brie finally looked behind the corner and her entire body turned to ice. Her mouth slightly dropped as she felt her heart sink in her chest. Roman ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head.

"What's going on?" Seth questioned.

Roman didn't respond.

Brie didn't say a word. She just stood there, as tears formed in her eyes.

It was Daniel. He was infected. He was one of them.

Author's Note:

Big thank you to those who have continued reading and to those who have favorited and left reviews! I really appreciate the feedback and I'm excited for you all to read what I have in store for you!