((Thank you so much for the encouragement! I hope that you continue to read and enjoy.

---So sorry it's taken so long! For some reason I haven't been able to update at all, I'll have to make it up to you guys.))

Chapter Ten

'This can't be-' Rochelle continued in her head, she had thought that it was all over and she would never have to face death again. 'This can't be happening!' She opened her mouth trying to call out for Coach. Everything went blank and all she could remember was seeing him reaching out to her. "Coach?" She managed to finally say, hearing the door open.

"Is that you Coach? What's going on?" Her arms were restrained to the bed as well as her legs and neck. "W-what's going on?!" The feeling of panic had returned.

"Ro, it's me." The man in a Hazmat suit looked down at her, but he was just a blur under the light. Rochelle squinted her eyes, watching as he removed the mask that kept his face hidden. "N-nick?" She started to smile, but her smile faded when she remembered what happened during her news interview. "Something horrible is happening."

"Yea, we know, we got here as fast as we could." Nick started to remove the restrains with the help of Ellis. "We ran into Coach along the way."

"Good timing too." Coach put his hand on Rochelle's forehead, "You okay? Did they hurt you?"

"Fine." Rochelle said softly, "Just really tired."

"Why would they tie a pregnant woman down like that?" Ellis frowned, "We're gonna get you out of here Ro, and some place safe."

"Safe?" Rochelle blinked, "Is it really that bad? What happened to that woman? I just...I just remember the screaming." She closed her eyes; she could feel herself growing weaker and tired.

"We'll explain everything as soon as we get you out of here baby girl, don't you worry." Coach picked her up.

Rochelle wanted to ask more questions, but was afraid of the answers. "What did they do to her?" She asked in a whisper, the woman's painful scream echoing in her head and images of blood appearing.

"And what did they plan to do with you?" Nick asked in a low whisper, watching her eyes close.

"Don't worry about that Nick, we need to get the hell out of here." Coach ordered, "Then I'll tell you all I heard."

Nick just nodded, putting the mask back over his head, "We need to find a way to get her out of here. Getting in was one thing, leaving-" He looked at the door, wondering what excuse they could come up with this time, "-That's another story."

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The halls were packed with mostly CEDA officials, the nurses and doctors were now covered up to protect them from the infection. "Uh, we're taking this one for samples." Nick quickly said when a nurse walked up to them, curious as to why they had Rochelle with them, "She's on her fourth month so she wont be as dangerous to test." The nurse nodded, obviously too busy to stick around and hear anything else.

"Well, that was easy." Ellis muttered, him and Coach holding Rochelle up by each arm.

"Let's just get out of here before they figure it out." Coach pointed to a sign, "We can should take the stairs."

"I never thought I'd hear that." Nick laughed, he knew it wasn't a time to laugh and make jokes, but it helped them survive in the past. Maybe even kept them hopeful.

Coach didn't even bother glaring, it was pointless when Nick couldn't even see his face. "Hang in there baby girl, we're going to get you out of here."

As they continued their walk down the halls, the rooms began to change. The lights had dimmed, and the stench of blood filled the rooms. "Restricted area?" Coach read out loud.

"Hear that? Sounds like a witch." Nick looked around.

"It's your imagination Nick." Coach simply said, though after what he witnessed anything was possible.

Nick froze, he looked through the window of a room, and sitting in the corner of that room was a woman with her arms wrapped around herself. She was on her knees, blood covering the ground under her. She kept opening her mouth to speak, but they couldn't hear anything from behind the glass. She looked up at them noticing them, her dark hair moving away from her face as she breathed louder, the crying turning into screeching.

"Stop looking at her, keep moving!" Coach pulled at Rochelle, trying to get Ellis and Nick to snap out of it. "Move it!"

Nick looked away quickly, going as fast as he felt Rochelle could go until they made it to the door. "What in the hell is going on here?!" Nick slammed the door, leaning with his back against it.

"That couldn't have been a witch..." Coach helped Rochelle down, "Sit on the steps and rest a bit."

"Did you not see the same fucking thing I did?!" Nick asked, near hysteria. He was sure they were done with this as soon as CEDA had released them, assuring everyone that the infection had vanished. "You know, the more I think about it, CEDA didn't tell us a damn thing about this infection. Why the hell did we believe them!?"

"Nick, just calm down man." Ellis put his hand on the man's shoulder, "We need to figure out how to get out of here safely first."

"Then I can bitch and moan about it later?" Nick said, "Alright, good." He moved past Rochelle, continuing down the stairs.

Coach shook his head, leaning down to help Rochelle back up, "Sorry." He wished he could have given her more time.

"I'm okay." Rochelle smiled, trying hard to stay optimistic.

"Hey guys?" Ellis asked, "Besides the whole keeping her locked up and stuff, is it really a good thing that we're takin' Ro away? What if those doctors are tryin' to help her?"

Coach wasn't sure if he wanted to say this in front of Rochelle, but he felt she needed to know the truth. "I heard that a lot of the little ones were born infected, and even the ones that seemed immune-" He figured they would understand.

"Aright then, what do you guys want to do about this?" Nick asked, "If we stay, the baby dreams we all had are doomed, but if we go there is a possibility that the child isn't immune and we're wanted fugitives from the law. Which isn't such a bad thing."

"I hope you're being sarcastic Nick." Rochelle narrowed her eyes on him, "We are all immune, so the chances of this child being born immune too, they are high."

"I don't think it works like that, but alright." Nick nodded "Let's keep moving."

"Good!" Ellis huffed, "Because if you would have said let's go back, I'd gone and kill you myself... Or at least punched you, not killed you." He nodded.

"We get it." Nick continued ahead, "Save it for the car trip."

"How are we going to make it out of this one guys?" Rochelle asked, searching for the answer in one of them.

"Luckily for you, I have friends in high places." Nick said as he reached for the door to the exit.