“Rolen, wake up!”

Nathan yelled as he roughly shook the young man by the shoulders, panic driving his grip almost to the point of bruising while adrenaline surged through his veins.

Only when Rolen’s eyes fully opened and his breathing steadied did Nathan stop shaking him, his panic-stricken expression softening ever so slightly in relief.

Lexa sat on the edge of the bed, arms crossed over her chest as she watched the scene unfold, worry evident in her expression.

“Rolen—fuck, you scared me,” the combat medic exclaimed, his grip loosening on the engineer’s shoulders before releasing him entirely. He took a step back, forcing himself to take a breath.

Rolen looked around slowly, taking in the obvious stress on the other two.
“W-what…?”

“You were going nuts in your sleep.”
Rolen’s gaze snapped toward Lexa. Her body was tense, fingers gripping the hilt of her blade tightly enough to turn her knuckles white.

“Red eyes over there tried everything,” she said, jerking her chin toward Nathan. “Looked like you were being possessed or something. Scared the piss outta me.
”
Rolen blinked and wiped some of the sweat off his forehead, his white hair sticking to his skin like he had woken up with a fever despite feeling fine. A bit shaken — but fine.

He looked down at the warm, oversized jacket that covered him like a blanket for a moment, his piercing blue eyes taking in the texture as his fingers caressed the rough pattern. All in an effort to ground himself, the echoes of the nightmare still sending shivers down his spine.

“Well, at least we are all awake now,” Lexa stated with a sigh as she got up from the bed. “So, what’s the plan?”

“We have to go back to the city…”
Rolen’s voice came unexpectedly after a minute of silence in the room, yet his tone left no room for argument. The only reason they were in this godforsaken building was because he had driven the car out to the middle of nowhere instead of going back to his apartment.

“Damon is still out there—”

“Damon?” Lexa interrupted, clearly intrigued. “Is that your dog or something?”

“No, he’s my boyfriend,” Rolen replied.
The words made Nathan tense. The soldier suddenly turned around, annoyance and frustration making his presence almost look menacing.

“Rolen, we don’t even know the cause of the infection! Five minutes ago you were convulsing like a fish on land, and you want to go back to the heart of the problem to look for a man you don’t even know is STILL ALIVE?!"

With every word, Nathan’s voice grew louder. With every sentence, he took a step closer until he was towering over the goth, the redness in his eyes seeming to flare for just a moment before he realized what he was doing and quickly backed away a step or two.

Rolen stayed quiet, his heart pounding in his chest. Despite his fear, his eyebrows furrowed in anger, his face turning slightly red as blood rushed into his cheeks.
Just as the young engineer got up from the bed and opened his mouth, Lexa quickly stepped between him and the combat medic.

“Okay, ladies, that’s enough,” she said, pinching the bridge of her nose and letting out a sigh. “Regardless of this mystical boyfriend, the city has supplies and possible answers as to why grandma suddenly gained a new diet.”

Nathan glanced down at Lexa, his jaw tightening ever so slightly before he took another deep breath and forced his tense muscles to relax once more.

“Then it’s settled.”
Rolen’s tone was sharp. He had wasted enough time as it was. Whatever was going on with Nathan — whatever this infection was — it had done more than make the soldier stronger and turn his eyes red.

The goth still gripped the warm jacket Nathan had draped over him, the fabric scrunching in his fist. Stretching his arm, Rolen handed the jacket back to the combat medic and walked past them toward the door.

Nathan’s eyes followed the white-haired engineer before his body did. He put the jacket back on.
“Right. Stay behind me. More of them could’ve gotten in.”

The hallway felt longer than before.

Even with the morning sunlight peering through the broken windows, the place seemed sadder somehow. The floorboards creaked under their weight as the trio made their way downstairs, the sound bouncing off the walls and cracking the silence beneath their footsteps.

Rolen flinched when his eyes landed on the corpses of the old couple lying in front of the door, their bloody, mangled bodies draped over one another while their glossy red eyes stared wide open.

Almost like they were still looking at him.

Lexa nudged him with her elbow.
“I’m sure they’ll find you just as delicious as soldier boy over there,” she teased, earning another eye roll from the combat medic.

Rolen attempted to laugh at her humor, but it came out more awkward than anything.

“Stop terrorising him with your awful humor,” Nathan grumbled. He didn’t spare the couple a second glance, simply shoving the bodies further aside before forcing the hallway door open. The wood scraped against the floorboards, filling the silence with a terrible screech.

“Yeah, well, I’d like to reach the car without you terrorising my ears,” the engineer replied, pushing past Nathan to get out of the situation, earning a rewarding grin from Lexa.

“Kid has some wit. I see why you like him,” she teased, moving past Nathan as well to follow Rolen outside.
“I call dibs on the backseat!” Lexa said loudly as the fresh, quiet outside air hit Rolen’s face.

He hadn’t even realized the rain from the night before had stopped until the clear sky greeted him the moment he stepped outside, morning dew still covering the landscape and roads in a cold white blanket.

Nathan appeared outside last, looming behind Rolen like a bodyguard before resting a hand on the smaller man’s shoulder.

“Come on,” he said more softly this time, guiding the goth toward the car.
Rolen sighed and opened the car door, leaning down and fiddling with the wires until the engine roared back to life. He then crawled into the passenger seat.
“We need to hurry,” he said. “I don’t think this car has much juice left, and I don’t want to be stuck out here.”

Nathan climbed into the driver’s seat, adjusting the rearview mirror as he watched Lexa open the back door.

“FOOD!” Lexa exclaimed with wide eyes the moment she saw the rifle and supplies they had left in the car the night before.
Rolen turned his head and smiled slightly.

“Right, I’m starving,” he said, grabbing a protein bar scavenged from the military truck and handing one to Nathan before taking another for himself.

Lexa shoved the supplies to the seat beside her and grabbed a protein bar as well, nearly drooling over the packaging.
Once everyone was seated, Nathan turned his attention back to the road. He took a bite of his food and gently drove forward.