Everyone just sat and stared at Sniper. His hand was wrapped in bandages again and it hurt a little less. He was seated in a chair in the infirmary, obviously nervous about what was to come of his right arm. Engineer was forming a plan and Spy just looked plain nervous. The Texan turned to face Spy.
"Should we take 'im to the BLUs?"
The Frenchman eyed Engineer like he was insane. Sniper seemed to agree with his rival.
"After zhe stunt we pulled?! We may as well surrender now!"
"We'll give 'em a deal. I don't know what yet, but it's gotta be somethin' those BLUs couldn't ever refuse."
"Like what?" Spy rolled his eyes.
"We could kidnap one of 'em tomorrow durin' the fight," Engie suggested.
"That ain't a bad plan, actually," Scout piped up. Sniper nodded. "Well, us Snipahs, Scouts, Medics and Demos can't fight at all t'morrow, since half of us're injured 'n' shit. It'll just be Engineers, Pyros, Spies, 'Eavys an' the Soldiers."
Spy's eyes widened a bit. "Zhat sounds like quite a lot to be missing. Maybe ve should take anozher day off, oui?" he proposed. Engie nodded.
"I can take Snipes!" Scout chimed in.
"Take 'im where?" Engineer looked up at him.
"T'the BLUs!"
"Vhat? Zhat's a horrible plan. Vhat, are you just going to waltz up zhere and ask zhem to heal Sniper?" Spy's voice grew louder, "After all, you did shoot two of zhem!"
"True," Scout agreed, "But I got a plan."
BLU Heavy had come to take Sniper to the kitchen. The bear of a man swept the Aussie into his arms and carried him bridal style to the room where Demoman lay on the long wooden kitchen table, as there wasn't a real medical table for examination. Heavy placed Sniper sitting upright so that Engineer could examine the wounds.
"We better fix this quick. I'll give ya what meds I got t'help this, then I'll get my tools and go into th'infirmary."
RED Scout led his way to the BLU base as quickly as possible. For now, he was just going to get some painkillers for the Sniper and some more bandages.
Tomorrow was when they'd snatch the Medigun. The Bostonian entered and dashed quick and silent through the corridors and to the infirmary. It was bolted shut.
Dammit.
He yanked at the door handle as hard as he could, not even noticing Heavy and Engineer approaching. The Russian pulled Scout from the door, scaring the living daylights out of the kid. Scout screeched and kicked, but he was no match for the tight grip that Heavy had on him.
"Let go a' me! I'm beggin' ya! Come on!" he cried, "Our Sni-" his yells were cut off when Heavy placed his hand over the RED's mouth and began dragging him down the hall.
"Y'ain't supposed to be here, boy," Engie said sternly. "Now yer comin' downstairs."
The two men led the thrashing Scout down to the place where they'd kept his Sniper. Engineer pulled the headset off his head and took it, and Heavy tossed him into the cell, which still had Sniper's blankets, hat and glasses.
"Please!" he called as the left, "Ah Snipah needs this!"
The door to the upstairs shut with a clang and everything went silent for the pleading RED.
RED Sniper sat with Engineer and Spy, all three waiting for Scout.
"Ya don't suppose they...?" Engineer suggested vaguely.
"Zhe couldn't have. Ve agreed. No deaths during ceasefire."
"That's not exactly what I meant. What if they caught the boy? What're we going to do with Sniper here?"
Engineer gestured to the man who sat, holding his bandaged hand to his chest.
"Zhat I do not know. Let us just hope zhat he returns."
The BLU Engineer had finally had enough time to grab his tools and work on the infirmary door.
He could hear the groans and moans of the contaminated from the other side, and tried to ignore it as his drills and torches drowned out most of the sound.
Their sickness was unnatural. Disgusting. The whole idea of its truth gnawed at the Texan's nerves like a ravenous rat.
-/-
At this point in the night, it was already two in the morning. Most everyone had gone to bed, excepting both Engineers, Snipers, the RED Spy, and the BLU Demoman.
And the RED Scout.
It was freezing down there in the cellar. A pile of hay was pretty useless in terms of warmth and comfort, and the pearly blanket was about as useful as a napkin. Scout could only wonder how the fuck cavemen ever survived.
Scout was wearing Sniper's hat. The BLU Engineer had taken Scout's headset and hat with him. When Scout was little, his ma had always told him that heat came out the top of his head, so he covered it with the pale beige hat that smelled like alfalfa.
Scout shivered and curled up into a ball like a hamster on the mostly-flattened straw pile. His stomach growled loudly and echoed slightly in the dark, damp, empty basement. Scout covered his face in his elbows and waited. He hoped someone would save him, or at the very least, feed him. He yanked the pinkish fabric closer to his body, the tiny square hardly enough to cover his torso. He let out a distressed moan when he saw his breath become a whirl of white mist in the chill of the air.
Suddenly, his body jerked in surprise. The clattering of something thick and soft tumbling down the stairs had startled him. He scrambled from beneath the blanket to look through the bars at the staircase.
A howling, cursing Engineer had fallen down the stairs, leaving a thick trail of blood behind him. His right calf was horribly torn and gushing scarlet liquid. A loud moan emanated from the top of the staircase, and Scout saw Engineer look up at it, terrified. A fainter grumble could be heard in the distance from somewhere else upstairs.
Suddenly, the BLU Medic came tumbling down the staircase, rolling onto his side and hitting the wall with a sickening crack. Engineer had scrambled to his feet and was scurrying over towards Scout's cell for cover. The green, diseased Medic was rising from the floor and beginning to step slowly towards the Texan, one foot lagging behind the other.
The doctor's pace increased as the injured Engineer stood in front of Scout's cell, mumbling and muttering nervously, flipping through his giant ring of keys to try and enter Scout's cell- the one farthest from the staircase.
Mortified, Scout had thrown himself back against the far wall of his cell, staring, horrified at what was coming for the Engineer.
Still shuffling through the key ring in a panic, the scholar was suddenly struck down violently by a tackle from the zombie Medic. Engineer screamed and Scout just watched in silence, tears running down his face, as the BLU was vigorously devoured by the undead monster on top of him.
Nevermind. It didn't matter what his stomach had to say about it. He wasn't hungry anymore.
