Chapter 7

12:30am Kidneys, Frank City

Toxin and Thrax had found an old abandoned apartment to lay low in for the time being, they'd just about managed to escape Shane City without being spotted by any of the SPD's patrolling the area. They knew soon enough the PD's of Frank City would be warned of Thrax's escape, so they needed to be smart and sneaky about their movements when they decide to venture out into the city.

Thrax was growing agitated, not wanting to be confined in one place any longer, but he too knew it wouldn't be a smart idea to wander off without a solid plan first.

Toxin looked at him, sensing that he was troubled. "So... We made it to Frank, now what? What's the plan big guy?" she asked, leaning her elbows on the table and staring at Thrax.

Thrax furrowed his brows. "That's what I'm trying to come up with now - a plan. I need to take down this body once and for all but it's not gonna be easy this time. I don't give a shit about setting a record, there will be other bodies for that - this time it's personal. That fucking Jones and the rest of his crew need to die."

"Even Leah?"

Thrax paused. "I'll have something special planned for her, and when I get my hands on her...she's gonna wish she never betrayed me. Besides, the poison I injected in her should be starting to take form now.."

Toxin rolled her eyes. "We gotta get started on making a plan then, you obviously can't go about killing Frank the way you did before, it'll be way too obvious. I think we need help with this."

"Yeah, you're actually right. We can't do this with just the two of us, we need to suss out where the scum of this city are - and I'm not talking about the pathetic kind. We need the worst. The strongest."

"Suppose we find them, how are we going to convince them to join us?"

"I'll figure that out later, for now let's pin point all the possible areas where we might find them..."

12:35am Diaphram, Frank City

As Leah had expected, the rest of the guys didn't take very well to the marks on her neck and arms, and she didn't blame them. It was terrifying not knowing why they had come back after a year, or why they were even there in the first place. Kayley and Carl both exchanged worried looks while Jacob just sniffed disapprovingly.

"I don't like the look of this at all, not one bit. How do we know you won't turn into a virus if you're infected?" Jacob asked hotly.

Leah stared at him. "What are you even saying? I'm NOT gonna turn into a virus! Don't say things like that!"

"But we don't know that, how can we be certain it won't happen?"

"So what are you saying we do? Lock me up?" Leah snapped.

"I'm not saying anything - I'm just saying if it did get to that point we may have to consider that for the safety of everyone here and Frank. You may not react well."

"I can't believe this."

Everyone stayed silent for a bit until Hayley spoke. "Jacob sort of has a point to what he's saying, if you are infected and you DO become a virus, there may be a chance we'd have to lock you up until we find some sort of cure for you."

Leah sighed. "But... What if you can't? I don't even know what this is for certain but it's really freaking me out. What if Thrax has some sort of vaccine for this?"

"That we won't be able to find out considering he's escaped."

"Shit, I forgot about that..."

Ozzy slammed his hand on the table. "Look, we're gonna do ANYTHING we can to try and get rid of this before we even think about you turning into a virus and what have you! So can we all stop being so negative?!"

They all looked at each other and nodded in agreement. "I suppose you're right, Jones. Maybe you'd ought to go get a check up and see what this is anyway? Maybe they can find something." said Kayley.

"I've considered it, but I got too afraid. I'm afraid of knowing what this is and if it's really what I fear it is. But maybe...maybe they can find a cure for it if I let them check me?" said Leah.

Carl nodded. "Yeah I'd say go, it may give us a clearer idea on what we have to do here. Until then - Ozzy, you need to alert the FPD about Thrax's escape, there's no doubt in my mind he's here and we can't have him trying to kill Frank or anyone around here again."

"I'm on it, Carl!" said Ozzy, getting up off his seat. "Drips, let's head down to the station."

"It's...whatever, let's go." said Drix, getting up also and following Ozzy out the door.

Roxy had been silent for most of the conversation until she piped up. "God I wanna kill that bastard...I can't believe he did this to you."

"I know, Roxy. I know.. But we can't really do anything about that now."

"I know, but God... I really wish you hadn't kept him alive."

Leah was starting to think she shouldn't have either, but part of her was happy she didn't kill him - up until his escape. She was just so afraid of bumping into him, the things he'd do, the things he'd threatened he'd do. It was all too much to take in.

"Hey, you won't mind walking with me down to the doctor's Roxy?" Leah asked.

"Of course not, you know I'm not letting you out of my sight until that maniac is captured!"

"And we'll come too! You'll need all the protection you can get!" said Carl, Kayley nodded in agreement.

Leah smiled at them both, "Thanks guys, all right then - let's get going."

They made their way out the door and hopped into Roxy's car (actually trusting her to drive for once since apparently she's gotten better), it was a bit of a dull day in Frank City as Leah looked out the window, Roxy started the car and soon enough they were making their way down to the Kidneys. Roxy was blasting heavy metal music loudly and, obnoxiously, singing along to it. Both Leah and Kayley exchanged weird looks as Roxy continued to belt the lyrics while thankfully remaining in control of the car as she also bobbed her head along to the music, Leah hoped it would be a good distraction from this problem she was having, but to no avail. It constantly played on her mind, Thrax's escape, the cell, Toxin missing and this...this thing that was going on with her body. She hoped it was all going to be ok and that Toxin wasn't hurt; wherever she was.

1:00pm Kidneys, Frank City

They arrived at the Kidneys and pulled up in the parking lot outside the medical centre, Leah and Kayley hopped out of the car - their ears still ringing from how loud Roxy's music was. Roxy turned to them.

"Hey, hope the music wasn't too loud for you guys!" she said, grinning.

"Um, n-no, not at all!" Kayley lied.

"It was...catchy!" said Leah, also bluffing.

"If you say so! Now, let's head on in shall we? Ladies first!" said Roxy, gesturing towards the entrance.

Kayley and Leah walked ahead while Roxy followed, they walked into the building to find a miserable old red blood cell sitting at reception, frowning at something on the computer; not even acknowledging their presence. Roxy cleared her throat loudly, the old cell looked up with a face like she'd just tasted something sour.

"Yes, what can I do for you ladies?" she asked, her voice deep and rasp.

"We just wanted to see a doctor today? It's just I have this...cold you see," said Leah, uncertainly.

The woman narrowed her eyes. "Have you been in contact with a cold virus or anything?"

"Um, maybe, look I just want this sorted as soon as possible," said Leah quickly.

"All right, take a number and a seat, someone should be right with you soon."

Leah took a number and went to take a seat with the others, they were waiting
about 20 minutes before a nurse finally called their number.

"Yes, that's me," said Leah, getting up from her seat.

"Follow me," said the nurse, walking towards another room.

Leah turned to Roxy and Kayley, "I shouldn't be too long, be back in a bit," she said, and followed to nurse to the room.

Inside there was a rather young cell, who she quickly guessed was the doctor, he thanked the nurse and turned to Leah once she'd left the room.

"Ah, Leah is it? I'm Dr. Michaels, what can I do for you today then?" he said, gesturing towards the seat in front of him.

Leah sat down, "Um, it's kind of an awkward situation doctor..." she started.

"Ah, I'm sure it's not as awkward as you think," said .

"I think it is...see...I've been getting these strange marks on my body."

"Marks? Can you show me?"

"Yeah, hold on," said Leah, she removed the scarf from around her neck; revealing the now larger black marks that had spread further around her neck and towards her chest. looked taken aback.

"Oh dear...what caused this do you know?"

"It's a long story...but about a year ago I was injected with some kind of venom from the virus that...that almost took down Frank. But for some reason this has started happening and it's only getting worse, I don't know what to do, I get these sharp pains in my head and cold spells and I don't know what's happening here, doc." said Leah worriedly.

paused for a minute, looking at the marks. Leah felt self-conscious with him staring at her like this. He then sighed, "I'm not sure what I can do really, I can run some tests and figure out what this is and try and help you from there but I've never seen anything like this before."

Leah's heart sank, but she couldn't give up. "Yeah, tests would be great."

He took out a needle, "Now this is gonna sting a little," he said, he held up the needle to her arm and slid it in; Leah winced as he drew some blood out from her. quickly covered the small wound with a piece of cotton wool and got up from his chair.

"I'm gonna go run some tests on this, I shouldn't be too long so make yourself comfortable, I'll have Nurse Joyce bring you some coffee," he said, and disappeared out the room.

Leah waited what felt like a long time, the nurse coming back twice with more coffee, until finally came back with a puzzled look on his face.

"Everything ok, doc?" Leah asked, watching his expression carefully.

He shook his head. "I...I don't know. It's some kind of infection but...I have no idea what I'm afraid, I've never seen anything like it...I've no idea how I can help you, dear."

Leah felt herself beginning to panic. "Are you sure there isn't anything you can give me that would help?"

"I'm sorry, Leah. Even if I prescribe you with pills that I can only guess might work, I can't even guarantee it will. It's too much of a risk if, they're the wrong ones you'll only get worse."

Leah nodded, "I understand...thanks for trying, doc."

"You're welcome...I'll have to send this up to the lab to look into it further, if you don't mind. Maybe then we can try and figure out what this is and see if we can help you."

"Thanks, hopefully you'll find something soon enough."

"Hopefully...just...be careful, and look out for yourself ok?"

"Yeah, I will, thank you."

Leah got up from her seat and walked out the door to join the others, they all looked at her hopefully but could tell from her expression it wasn't good news she was about to tell them. They followed her out to the car and got inside, Roxy started the engine but made sure to keep the music off this time.

Little did they know, someone else had spotted them heading out from the medical centre...

1:45pm Kidneys, Frank City

Thrax spotted Leah, Roxy and Kayley heading out of the medical centre towards the car, he had been relaxing on top of an old abandoned building; trying to figure out how he was going to go about finding other viruses that were willing to help him. Toxin was sitting across from him, oblivious to the fact that her "friends" weren't far away from her; she'd been too busy touching up her makeup and admiring herself from a piece of broken glass that she had been using as a mirror.

Thrax smirked, "Well, well, well, seein' quite a few familiar faces down there," he said, chuckling; catching Toxin's attention.

She turned to him, "What, some germ hoes you hooked up with in the past?" said Toxin, raising an eyebrow.

Thrax frowned at her. "No, more like old friends of yours."

Toxin froze. "You mean..Leah?"

"And that red-headed bitch, featuring the stuck up little bitch," said Thrax, grimacing.

"Roxy and Kayley?" Toxin replied, her eyes wide.

Thrax grinned, "Bingo, baby."

"Oh my god no, they can't be here! What if they see us?" said Toxin, panicking.

"Relax baby they ain't gonna see us, not yet anyway. But seeing as they're here how's about we have a little fun with them? I know the road they're taking back, there's a bridge just above there. Suppose we could give them a bit of a scare..." said Thrax, smirking mischievously.

Toxin looked back at him, also smiling. "I like the way you think, darlin'."

They both got up and rushed off towards the bridge Thrax mentioned, thankfully ahead of Leah and the others as they'd just pulled out of the parking lot. They climbed on top of it and looked ahead to see how far the others were, when they got a bit closer Thrax smiled and turned to Toxin.

"Just watch this," he said, there was a bit of the bridge that had been slightly worn down; making it very delicate. Thrax brought a foot down on top of it, giving it two hard kicks until it came loose, sending large boulders hurtling down towards Roxy's car.

"I don't know, I just hope they DO find out what it is so I can just know what's wrong with me," said Leah irritably.

"Me too, I mean they have to find something-"

"ROXY LOOK OUT!"

Roxy looked up in time to see the boulders come crashing down, she quickly swerved to the right, trying to avoid them; but lost control and sent the car tumbling down over the edge.

"SHIT!" Roxy screamed, trying to regain control but to no avail; she tried frantically hitting the breaks to stop it speeding down and turned the car sharply, smashing the side into a large boulder and causing Roxy to whack her head against the wheel; knocking her unconscious.
Leah and Kayley were sent flying forward, smacking their heads hard against the seats and also knocking them unconscious; all three lay limp as smoke emerged from the engine.

Thrax and Toxin watched from the bridge.

"Shit, Thrax. We gotta go see if they're ok!" said Toxin, anxiously.

"Relax, baby. They'll be fine," said Thrax, jumping down with Toxin and heading towards the car.

Toxin grabbed open the front door and dragged out Roxy's unconscious body, pulling her as far away from the car as possible while Thrax took care of Leah and Kayley. He pulled Kayley out first and propped her body up on over his shoulder, then grabbed hold of Leah and walked towards where Toxin had lain Roxy.

He placed Kayley and Leah down on the ground beside her, he paused for a moment; looking at Leah's inanimate self. Her face twitched a bit, and she opened her eyes slightly to see a blurred Thrax in front of her.

"Be seein' ya soon, baby," said Thrax, grinning wickedly.

"Thrax...?" Leah groaned.

Everything suddenly went black again...