Hi again! Cutting to the chase, this chapter I wrote differently than others, and I need to know if I should keep it this way. I wrote a small section of it in Erica's point of view, because I personally like hearing things from more than one person. I like it, but I don't know about anyone else, so please comment and tell me what you think! Okay, I hope you enjoy, and have a great long weekend!

Chapter Twelve

Infiltration

CROATOAN headquarters

Montreal Quebec

December 31

2300 hours

I had to fight to hold in my scream of terror.

I knelt on the ground next to Erica, and then listened to see if her heart was still beating. Thankfully, it was. Then I placed my hand on her forehead. It felt like it was 1000 degrees. A definite fever; I knew I would have to continue on without her. Once that fact settled in, I knew there was now a super high probability that our mission would fail.

I took Erica's hand, and tried to recall her giving me good luck. My brain was too rattled for that usually settling thought to help. I knew I couldn't leave her out in the open. If anybody came, and they saw her there, they would know somebody was infiltrating the building. And then I'd be a sitting duck.

So, I took both of her hands and dragged her around the building. Then I dug around the snow for a bit until I found a few decent sized branches and covered her.

From there, I went back around the corner and into the building. I didn't want to do it. I wanted Erica to wake up and come with me. Actually, I wanted Erica to do it all. I glanced furtively around me, took a desperate look at the corner around which I could find Eric, and then stepped through the doorway. I gulped in the hallway beyond.

The lights in the ceiling were out, casting everything in a shadow. I heard something crunch under my foot, so I glanced down.

Broken glass.

I gulped in fear, and then continued on. I felt hollow inside, despite the feeling of all my guts twisting and squeezing. My heart had seemingly disappeared, which made me realise how nerve wracking this was. At the beginning, the hall was just four sides. Two walls, a floor and a ceiling. But once I was deeper, doors started appearing. Every once and while, there was a ladder leading up to a trap door in the ceiling. All openings gave no extra light. Until I saw a light ahead. Then the doors on either side were open, and the lights were on.

I chanced to look into one. It was newly furnished, with a mahogany coffee table in front of a leather couch and a tv. The walls were painted faint blue, almost white, and there were pot lights in the ceiling. The floors were stone tiles, and there was an animal skin carpet in the center of the room. There were no windows, I couldn't see a remote anywhere in the room and anything connecting to life was gone. But nevertheless, it was homey.

More than the wet cement hallways at least. I turned away from the room, and continued down the hall. I didn't know exactly what I was looking for. But when I came to it, I would probably know that it was what I was looking for.

And that was exactly what happened.

I glanced into every room, making sure no one else was in there. But even so, I made sure to keep my footsteps as quiet as possible. The end of the halway breached off into other hallways, and I couldn't tell which to take. Trying all of them would take hours, and I could get lost. But there was still one more door in the first hallway to try.

It looked just like all the other doors. Wood, a metal doorknob, and a plate with a name at the top. All the other rooms had names like 'Room 228', which could mean anything. But this one was different. The plate said 'Testing Center #1'. And the door was closed. On the wall hung a bag of masks and gloves. Above that was a shelf with 10 different types of hand sanitizer. And a sign telling the people who go in to put on a mask, sanitize their hands, put on gloves, and then sanitize the gloves.

"That's excessive," I muttered, shaking my head. But then I changed my mind. I was better safe than sorry. So, I followed all the steps, and then opened the door a crack. No lights were on, but nobody was in there. So I went in.

? ゚メᆪ?

Erica's POV

I squinted my eyes, aware of the dim light above me.

Everything was fuzzy. I wasn't in my bed where I should have been, and nobody was around. Ben wasn't at least.

Ben! I suddenly remembered everything. The mission, the infiltration; everything. And suddenly, I became aware of what had happened to me. The needle puncturing the skin on my shoulder, the man standing guard, punching my weakest spot, and then a club bearing down on my skull. Followed by the painful collapse on cement. Then everything else left my brain.

Which led to my belief that Ben had either continued the mission without me, or he was still standing still against the wall. This is where his skill was required. He would tell me how long I had been out, and which way I should go to find him.

I felt a sensation I hadn't felt in a long time. Reliance. I had never realised how deeply I relied on Ben. And then a pang of guilt and remorse. I had led him straight to the wolves. Because of me, he could be lying, torchered, on the floors of a chamber somewhere that was practically impossible to find. I scrambled up, ignoring the sincere pain in my shoulder and in my chest. I ran as fast as I could over to the spot I had left Ben. My best hopes… they failed me.

Ben wasn't there.

My heart fell to my knees. If I had the time, I would have sat down right then and there and cried. But I kept my bold face on, not allowing my normal emotions to overcome me. I turned, and went back to the front entrance. Wet footprints led through the door. I didn't hesitate. I ran in, and down the hall. I made sure I kept my steps relatively quiet, and instinct told me to draw my weapon. So, as I advanced down the hall, following the footprints, I held my hand gun drawn in front of me.

The hall came to an end, and so did the footprints. Before I entered the door, I considered the consequences. These footprints might not have been Ben's. But it was worth the chances. I opened the door, and found myself in a large room, filled with shelves and in the middle was a table, and a bright light, and then the silhouette of a human leaning over the table. At the sound of my entrance, they turned around. Every muscle in my body clenched. I had no idea who it was, or what I was in for.

? ゚メᆪ?

Ben's POV

"Erica!" I cried, throwing myself into her arms. Then I recoiled, realising what I had done.

Surprisingly, she only smiled weakly, although I am sure I saw some sort of relief in her eyes. She took in the room, her eyes bouncing north, east, south and west, all in a matter of seconds.

"This room is quite something," She whispered. Then she walked over to the middle of the room, where a syringe filled with something lay on a table, deflecting the light of 1000 tiny LEDs above it.

"There's a label," I told her, going and standing by her side. "But it's too small for me to read,"

"That's not an issue," She replied, snatching up the needle, and holding it in front of her face.

"Case number one. To Leo. S" She said thoughtfully.

She put it down and looked at me. I shrugged. She rolled her eyes, and then said it again.

"Leo. S. Case number one. Nothing there rings a bell?"

"Well, Leo S could be Leo Shang, but case number one?"

"Dude. Use your brain," She smacked the side of my head, and then continued. "Case number one. The first case of the virus. It's so obvious,"

"You're just trying to prove to me that your conspiracy theory is right," I said, super annoyed.

"No, as I told you before, I don't lie unless it's absolutely necessary,"

Without realising it, we both started raising our voices. And then we heard footsteps coming down the hall.

Erica stopped talking abruptly, and whirled around to stare fervently at the door. She had gone stock still. Then she started sprinting around the room, taking as much as she could grab, and shoved them into a hidden pocket on her utility belt. I took the cue, and ran in the opposite direction, taking as much as I could as well. Then, Erica took a fake syringe prop, and put it on the table.

"With any luck, the person's an idiot, and won't realise it's gone for a tiny bit," She whipped the door open, and ran at the speed of light down the hall. I was right on her heels. Neither of us had time to look to see where the person was coming from. We just ran as fast as we could. We didn't stop until we flew out the door. And then we kept going. The chanced a look over my shoulder, and realised with horror, that Clarice, Dane Brammage and Brane Damage were all hurtling after us, and they were picking up speed.

The town was coming up fast. I thought once we got there, we might have a chance.

Oh how I was mistaken.

The roads were narrow, and they quickly had us interjected. Erica had something else in mind though.

"Hands up, weapons down," Clarice ordered, pointing her gun from Erica, over to me, and then back to Erica.

I quickly put my hands in the air, but I didn't drop my weapons. Erica didn't move. I glanced at her, hoping she would just put her hands up and see what would happen. But she didn't. Instead, she came to my side, and whispered something into my ear.

"In three minutes, prepare to bolt,"

Then, she walked away from me, and I noticed she had also grabbed the gun from my utility belt. She now overruled Clarice with two weapons.

When your life is at stake, time crawls slower than the slowest snail, slug or turtle.

"Agent 226, Benjamin here needs your assistance," Clarice continued, a smug look descending on her face.

"I'm just fine on my own thank you," I snapped, flinching as Brane placed his massive hand on my shoulder.

He steadied me, and then held my arm firmly. I didn't know what Erica's plan was, and I felt useless.

"Get up," Clarice ordered Erica. Erica didn't budge. In fact, she smiled.

"You can't tell me what to do," She said smugly.

"I can force you to do it," Clarice muttered back.

Two minutes and nine seconds. Slowly, the time ticked down. One minute and forty one seconds. With each second, I grew more and more defeated. Erica grew more and more defiant.

I was surprised at how little our enemies did. We all just stood there, looking at each other, not moving. 12 seconds. 9. 5. 3. 2. 1.

And then everything happened at once.