Casie wakes up to someone pushing her. She looks next to her to see it was Teagan who has a worried look. Casie moans as she sits up.
"What is it?" Casie asks softly.
"I had a bad dream." Teagan replies and Casie sighs, for once she didn't have a nightmare.
"It's okay Teagan, it was only a dream." Casie tells her and Teagan nods. Casie looks at the window to see it was still dark. Teagan lies down and Casie sighs. "Go back to sleep." Casie tells her. Teagan slowly nods and Casie got up. She grabbed her gear and sighs as she looks at Teagan. She was asleep again. Casie smiles as she heads down stairs and sits by a window. It was starting to get light. She then felt a hand on her shoulder so she looks back to see Mason. "Mason, why are you up?" Casie asks.
"I heard you walk down." Mason replies as he sits next to Casie.
"Sorry." Casie said.
"Don't be." Mason tells her. "Why are you up?" Mason asks worry.
"Teagan woke me, she had a nightmare. She's asleep now, but once I'm up, I can't get back to sleep." Casie explains.
"Same here." Mason said and Casie smiles. They then heard banging on the door so they got and headed upstairs. Casie runs into the room Teagan is in to see her awake.
"What is that noise?" Teagan asks scare.
"Don't know, but we have to move." Casie tells her. Teagan got up and grabs her bag. The pair run out to see Mason and Tyler waiting.
"It's infected." Mason tells them.
"Great, how did they find us?" Casie asks.
"Who cares, we have to move." Tyler tells them.
"We need to fight through them to the back door." Mason said. Casie pulls out her hunting knife and walks down first. She saw a lag regroup of Stalkers and sighs as Mason walks down. They fought through with Teagan and Tyler close. Once at the back, Casie runs to the fence and boost Tyler and Teagan over. Mason jumps over and Casie sighs as she saw Bloater. She then jumps over and sighs.
"We have to move." Casie tells them and they started running. Teagan grabs Casie's hand and they headed off. They found an old car dealer. They ran in and they hide in the back offices.
"That was close." Tyler pants.
"So what now?" Casie asks as she looks at Mason.
"I have no idea." Mason replies. "But we have to keep to the plan."
"Leaving is the only choice we have. I'll go and look around. Make sure it's safe, then come back to get you three." Casie tells them.
"No, we go together." Mason tells her and Casie sighs. They headed off and Casie walked ahead. A Stalker jumped out and Casie stabs it in the head.
"Damn Stalkers." Casie whispers as they kept going. They headed out of town and Casie fell back. Mason looks back worried and Casie sighs as she pulls the scarf up as a hoodie. The sun started to rise. This was the earliest they have started walking. Casie sighs as she remembers when she was bitten when she was 15.
A 15 year old Casie is fighting off a group of Runners. She then climbs up a ladder and looks down. They were everywhere. She kept climbing up in hopes she can find another way around them. Then a Stalker jumps out of the window and Casie pushes it back. It then bites Casie who punches it and sighs as she kept climbing. She crawls into a room and looks at her left hand, seeing the bite mark between thumb and index finger.
'Great, that's the third one I have.' Casie thought as she kept climbing. She then climbs into a room and looks around for anything she can use. She then found black fingerless gloves and chuckles as she grabs them. 'Talk about luck.' Casie thought as she puts them on and kept going.
Casie sighs as she puts her hands in front of her and smiles. She then takes off her right gloves and sighs. She never takes her gloves off.
"Casie, behind you!" she heard Mason shouts. Casie stops and turns around as a Stalker jumps her. Casie punches it, but it jumps up and knocks Casie down. It had Casie's pinned. Casie was doing her best to keep it off her. She couldn't get to her knife. Mason runs over and kicks it off Casie, then shoots it in the head. Casie crawls back and sighs as Mason puts his hand out. Casie grabs it and Mason pulls her up.
"Casie." Teagan said as she runs over with Tyler.
"Are you okay?" Mason asks worried.
"I'm fine, just shaken." Casie replies.
"We better move." Mason said and they started running. They then saw a group of Stalkers chasing them and Casie sighs. This was her fault. Casie puts her right glove into her pocket, she didn't have time to put it back on.
"We can't outrun them!" Tyler shouts and Casie sighs as she stops and turns around.
"Casie!" Mason shouts.
"Go! I'll buy you time!" Casie shouts.
"No, we stay together." Mason tells her as he walks over.
"I said, go." Casie tells him.
"No." Mason said pulling out a hunting knife. Casie sighs as she pulls her sleeves up a bit. There was around nine Stalkers. Casie stabs one in the head and sighs as they kept fight. Casie stands on in the neck and twisted the knife. Then other bites her wrist and Casie punches it, then stomps on its head. Casie sighs as she looks at Mason who walks up to her. All the Stalkers were dead. Mason grabs Casie's hand and sighs. Casie pulled her arms free and sighs as she puts her glove on and pulls down her sleeves.
"Casie." Teagan said worry.
"Stay back Teagan." Mason tells her. Tyler grabs Teagan and Casie takes her bag off, pulling the map out.
"Here." Casie whispers as she puts her arm out. Mason grabs it and Casie puts her bag back on. She then walks off with tears in her eyes.
"Casie!" she heard Teagan shout, but she kept going. She then felt someone grab her so she stops and looks back to see it was Mason. Teagan and Tyler then caught up. Casie pulls her hand free and sighs.
"What have you been hiding Casie?" Mason asks. Casie sighs as she pulls her hoodie down and takes her scarf off. The others look at her shock.
"When I was 13, I was exploring an office building. Little did I know, it was full of infected. As I went to run out, a Stalker grabbed me and well, gave me this. I lied to you about my family. I have a brother, he's name is Alex. He doesn't know I was bite, I just ran. For six years, I have been running. I have six bite marks now. I have one on either arm, one on my left hand and one on my ankle." Casie explains.
"You're immune." Mason said smiling.
"I didn't ask for this." Casie said with tears in her eyes. "I have spent the last six years running from my fears." Casie whispers.
"That's why you travel alone." Tyler said and Casie nods. Mason sighs as he pulls Casie into a hug. Casie looks at him shock, but sighs as she closed her eyes.
"It's going to be ok Casie, we'll keep you safe." Mason tells her and Casie smiles.
"Thank you." Casie whispers. Mason lets her go and Casie walks back.
"I'm guessing we aren't the first you told." Mason said.
"No, the first was when I was 14. I saved a little girl and the group took me. I didn't have my neck covered so yeah." Casie explains. She then puts her scarf back on and pulls it up as a hoodie.
"We better move." Mason tells them and they headed off. Teagan takes Casie's hand and Casie smiles.
'Turned out better than I thought.' Casie thought. They walk through the day and didn't stop. After a while, Teagan walks off and Mason slows down. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner." Casie said and Mason smiles.
"Don't worry about it. I understand." Mason said.
"Yeah, well people think I'm humanity's last hope. I hate it when people say that." Casie said with anger in her voice.
"Don't worry." Mason said
"You know, once in Wyoming, I won't be able to stay." Casie tells him.
"Don't worry, we won't tell them." Mason tells her.
"Mason, I have six bite marks. How am I going to keep the hidden all the time?" Casie asks and Mason sighs.
"We will worry about that when we come to it." Mason tells her.
"Okay." Casie whispers.
"And no matter what Casie, we will stay together." Mason adds and Casie smiles.
"You have no idea how much that means to me." Casie said and Mason takes her hand. By nightfall, they were at the next time. They looked around for more supplies then found a place to hide. They found a small house. They bordered it up and all sat down. Casie takes her gear off and pulls her hoodie down. Mason then started cooking.
"What I don't understand is, why you have so many bite marks." Tyler said.
"It just happened and they all were Stalkers." Casie told him.
"That's why you hate Stalkers so much." Teagan said and Casie smirks.
"Yeah." Casie said. After a quick meal, Tyler and Teagan went to sleep. Casie was staring at her new mark and sighs as Mason walks over.
"How is it?" Mason asks.
"It stings still." Casie replies and Mason sighs. "It's going to be like this till tomorrow. I hope." Casie added.
"Why haven't you look for anyone making a cure?" Mason asks.
"Fear." Casie replies. "I'm scared of dying Mason and I fear they will kill me to get the cure. It's stupid, I know, but that's how I feel." Casie explains.
"That's understandable." Mason said and Casie yawns as she leans into Mason who smiles as he wraps his arm around her. Casie slowly closes her eyes and Mason leans back, closing his eyes.