"What?" I asked, wondering who exactly was there.

"Get me out of here," he said, ignoring my question.

Get him out of there? Why would I do that? But at the sound of gunshots, it seemed like if I left him there, he would be dead meat. And I still had many questions to ask him, so I decided that I would have to risk it. I examined the exterior of his cell, and to my disappointment, found a keypad. "I..I can't." I began. "I don't have the code for- "

"It's 6742. Hurry, they're getting closer."

"They?"

"Just come on! I'll tell you later when I get out of here!"

I snapped to attention from his shout, and typed the code in. Surprisingly, it worked. I wondered how he even knew the code, but then again, he had been in jail before. So he probably had learned some handy tricks. But then again, if he knew the code, why hadn't he escaped? Maybe he had thought the gaurds would shoot him on site, or he would be sentenced to prison for longer.

Cope stood up from his the low bench and started toward the bars. I backed away, still a little afraid of him. He had tried to kill me before, maybe he would try again, but it didn't seem like that was on his mind at the time. So I swung open the bars, letting him slip through and slide past me towards the gaurd door. I observed that he hadn't even looked at me once; he didn't care about me, he cared about getting out.

"Hey, wait up!" I hurried to catch up to him as he swung the door wide open; revealing the scene that lay beyond. I gasped. The station contained a significant amout of havoc than before. People jostled past each other, screamiing and shouting as they went. They trampled over each other, being callous of their peers. Gunshots added to the chaos, but I couldn't see where they were coming from. It must've been the police force and the gaurds, since they were nowhere in sight.

"Girl, come on!" Cope shouted, and grabbed my wrist, surprising me. He maneuvered us skillfully and quickly through the dense crowd. I craned my neck at the crowd; searching for Eve and Xavier, but it was like searching for a needle in a haystack, a moving haystack that is. Plus, Cope was moving at a quick pace, making it harder for me to get a glimpse of my surroundings. And soon, we made it to the door, where people pushed and pulled at us. But with Cope's stealth, we made it out in less than a minute.

"Do you have a car?" He asked me as we spilled out into the parking lot.

"No," I mumbled, catching a breath. "But my friends do. I just don't know where they are."

"Where'd they park?"

"Over there." I pointed to the far left. "The tan one. But they might still be inside. I'm not exactly sure."

"Okay, well let's check the car first. And let's hurry."

I suddenly got an idea that Cope was using me, using us. He was so fixated on getting out of there, and the only way he was going to do that was through me. But I didn't quite know his intentions, so I couldn't judge. Without warning; Cope jerked me harshly toward the car. What was clear was that he wanted go get the hell out of there, but he didn't have to do it violently. It had to stop.

"Woah, woah, woah," I said, jerking my arm from his hold. "Why am I even helping you? And why are you so eager to leave? What's up? Who's here?"

He groaned in frustration and looked over his shoulder, then back at me. "We don't have time for this. We have to go." A gunshot sliced through the silence, making me jump. He was right. I didn't want to encounter whoever, or whatever, was there. And I was sure he didn't want to either.

"Okay, come on." I jogged in front of him to the car. But it wasn't empty. Xavier and Eve popped out of the car with a relieved expression on Eves' face. I smiled at the sight of them together and in one peice. Eve smiled back and pulled me into a tight hug. Too tight.

"I can't breathe," I mumbled against her shoulder. She pulled away quickly, but continued holding me by my shoulders. Her eyes roamed over me, checking for any injuries.

"I'm sorry," said Eve. "I thought you were lost to us. What happened to you anyway?" I motioned at Cope, who stood stiffly behind me. Her gaze traveled past me and fixed on him; her eyes widened. "What is he doing here?" She spat the 'he' out in disgust, and it looked like she was going to kill him.

"He's with me, Eve." Her firery gaze rested onto me again. I could tell she thought I was stupid, and crazy, but she didn't know why I had him with me. "Eve, chill. He knows more about any of this than we do. So we need him. Okay?" She nodded stiffly. More gunshots fired in the distance.

"Lets go," Xavier commanded. He hadn't seemed all too excited that I was safe, but it might've been because Cope was with me.

"Okay, come on," I said to Eve and Cope.

We filed into the car, with Eve sitting shotgun. She had refused to sit in the backseat with Cope, so she had made me. I wasn't too excited about it because Cope smelled like cow shit, but Eve would've kicked him out of the car, and I couldn't risk that. I tried to breathe in the air closest to the window, for relief from the stench, but it didn't work so I began to roll down the window, but Cope stopped me. His hand clamped down on mine and he shook his head. I didn't understand what he was shaking his head at first, but then he nodded to the window, so I quickly put it up. I guessed he thought a window was better protection than nothing at all.

"Oh my God. Look at all this traffic. We're never going to get throught this," Xavier muttered. I looked at the street in front of us, conforming his statement. Ahead was a mess of cars; all honking and beeping, but it didn't help lessen the traffic. In fact, it made it slightly worse.

"Drive around them." Cope's voice was slightly monotone, and he was staring straight ahead.

"Well, as you may notice, there are no roads 'around' them, so I can't-"

"Do you think the grass will poke holes in your tires?" Cope interrupted. "Do you care that much about this piece of junk?" I winced at the harshness in his voice.

"Okay, that's it." Xavier turned around to face Cope. "Get out." Cope didn't even budge. "Now," Xavier added.

"Xavier..." I began. I still needed Cope, and he wasn't useful dead.

"No, Lucana. He tried to kill you. And now he's insulting my beauty when I did nothing to him!"

I almost laughed when he said beauty. His car was one of the oldest, ugliest, things on the planet. And he knew it, or should've. "Just give him a chance." I sent pleading looks to him with my eyes, and he gave in.

"Fine, but if he messes up again.." He didn't need to finish the sentence. We all knew he would either abandon him, or kill him.

"Thank you," I said. And I meant it. He didn't have to do anything for me. He still barely knew me, but it seemed like he cared. Even if it was just a little. "And going around wouldn't hurt," I added, making him groan.

"You agree with that guy?" He sounded aghast.

"No. But I think it would be smart to go around. We shouldn't waste valuable time sitting here, when we could be gone. So, do you want to stay with the danger, or get the hell out of here?" My eyes widened at how harsh my own voice came out, and I instantly regretted it. It was true, Xavier was being crude too, but only because he cared of our safety.

Xavier mumbled something I couldn't make out, but he obediently began to drive around the cars.

"Oh and Xavier?" I didn't wait for him to answer. "Go to NSRF... Please."

Since that was over, I turned to Cope for answers.

"Okay Cope. Now's the time to tell me what's going on. And no excuses," I said.

He hesitated. "Well, actually, I don't know what's going on." Before I could freak out and kill him, he went on. "I mean, I do, but I'm not completely sure."

"Then tell me what you think."

"Okay, but you might not like it. You remember how I told you about my son?" I nodded. "Well, he wasn't the only candidate. There were at least 20 of 'em; all ending up like him. And I fear that they might've escaped."

"And what effect does it have on us exactly?" I asked.

He frowned. "I'm pretty sure the disease can spread through a single bite. But that's not all. The Unconsecrated long for human flesh. I guess you could say they're cannibals."

"Unconsecrated?" I didn't understand why he called them that.

"Yeah. Unholy, ungodly. You know, the usual." It wasn't the usual. "But there also might just be a gang trying to kill the police." I snickered at how absurd that sounded. Why would anyone want to kill the police?

"We're here," Xavier said, coming to a stop. I glanced out the window to see NSRF rising above us. The lights were on inside, meaning someone was in there, and looking around the parking lot, I saw my mothers car parked there, waiting for her.

"Let's go," I said, and got ready to open the door, but suddenly something banged into Cope's window.

I jumped and turned and found myself staring at a hideous human man. Or what used to be a human. Blood seeped out from multiple open wounds on its' pale, flaking, skin. It's face was covered in warts and sagged;its hospital gown hanging in tatters. There wasn't a single hair on its' head and its' eyes had sunken in. I even caught a glimpse of bone on the bare skin. My stomach turned in disgust, threatening to empty itself. The creature was a catastrophe, it was Unconsecrated, it was-

"Marcus."