"TJ..." I muttered. "Come on, come on! Wake up! You have to wake up!" A familiar voice shouted, shaking my body. I groaned. I'm so tired. Why can't I just sleep. Isn't there something I still have to do?

I feel like I'm forgetting something important. "Farah, get up! We have to get out of here!" The voice shouted again. Oh, that's right. TJ. I have to protect TJ. But I got shot. I have to get up.

She most likely won't leave me behind and that puts her in danger. I won't allow that. My eyes flew open. "Let's maybe crack some heads later. We need to get the hell out of here." I wheezed.

My throat was hurting badly, probably because I had just almost been choked to death. TJ chuckled. "Glad you can make jokes at a time like this. We need to get you out of here before you bleed out." TJ said, giving me a worried look.

He pressed the back of her hand to my forehead. "Shit, she's burning up." TJ said, looking at Arthur. "We need to move, now. I doubt she has much longer to live by if we move then we may be able to save her." Arthur replied.

"But how do we move her? She doesn't look like she can walk on her own." Steph asked. "TJ, you used the gun and knife to protect us. Steph, we'll carry Farah." Arthur commanded.

They both nodded. Arthur put one of my arms over his shoulder and Steph did the same with my other arm. They stood. I groaned. "Fucking hell..." I muttered in pain.

"Let's move." TJ whispered. Around me, I could still hear gun shots. We made our way to the back exit. "Where do you think you're going?" A voice asked.

We turned around to find another dude in a skull mask pointing his gun at us. "I suggest you-" he began but fell to the ground unconscious. Behind him stood Mike. "I'm going with your three." He said. "Only if you carry me, big guy." I muttered.

He nodded. He took me from Arthur and Stephanie's arms and easily lifted me bridal style into his. I sighed. "Thanks. This is much more comfortable." I muttered. He chuckled. "I'm glad." He replied, his face bruised and swollen. "Sorry about your face." I mumbled.

He smiled at me. "I deserved it." He replied. I nodded. How can this guy be so caring and understanding? It just makes what he did at the house that much more unbelievable.

Now, there's no doubt in my mind. Whatever attacked us there wasn't him, not really. Arthur took the pistol from the unconscious guy. "Let's move." TJ said. We made our way quietly out the back exit and down the alleyway.

All around me I could hear shots ring out along with screams and shouts. "Alright, the hotel is only about a twenty minute walk but if we run, we can probably make it in eight. We need all the time we can get if we want to help Farah." TJ told Mike.

"Let's not waste any time then." He replied with a nod. Arthur loosened his tie and Stephanie took off her heels. "Ready when you are." She said, looking at TJ.

TJ nodded. "3..." She began counting. "2..." More gunshots sounded off in the distance. "1... GO!" She said. Mike and the others took off running. I groaned in Mike's arms. "Fuck. This hurts like hell." I mumbled.

Mike gave a tired chuckle. "You only have to endure this for seven more minutes. You'll be okay, I promise." He said, giving me a smile despite the sweat dripping down his face. I nodded my head weakly.

I groaned. Getting shot fucking sucks. "We're here!" Shouted TJ. She opened the door and everyone ran inside. The sight before us was quite horrific.

Multiple men and woman wearing skull masks were laying deas on the ground while the receptionist guy just gave us a smile. "Ah, welcome back." He said, giving us a small wave. TJ gave him a confused and nervous smile as she surveyed the dead bodies. "Do you... have any medical supplies?" TJ asked.

He nodded. "Why yes, I do. Just one moment, please!" He replied. He walked through a door behind the desk and came out a moment later with a plastic box that had a large white cross on it.

"Here you go." He said, handing TJ the box. "Thank you." She told him. He nodded. We ran towards the elevator and it slowly moved upwards. TJ tapped her foot. "Why do elevators have to be so slow?" She said, thinking aloud.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Mike carried me down the hallway to TJ and I's room. TJ led the way and opened the door. Mike immediately set me down on the bed. Steph took the medical box from TJ.

TJ glared at her. "Don't glare at me. My mom was a surgeon, I took anatomy in my sophomore year, I was a life guard and a registered nanny in the U.S. nanny association. I have more medical knowledge than all of you combined." Steph said.

She lifted up my shirt just enough to see the wound. She breathes a small sigh of relief. She gave me a smile. "Looks like he bullet missed everything important." She said. I sensed a but. "But?" I asked.

"But, I'm going to have to remove the bullet. It's gonna hurt like hell." She replied. I gulped but nodded. "Do it. Quickly." I told her. She nodded. She opened the plastic case and grabbed a pair of gloves.

She slipped the gloves on and wiped the gloves down with an alcohol wipe. She grabbed the tweezers in there and wiped them down too. "Mike, Arthur, hold her down. If she moves, I might nick something important." She said.

Mike and Arthur nodded and got on either side of me, holding me down. TJ paced back and forth, her eyes never leaving me. "Here we go." Steph muttered. She carefully inserted the tweezers into my wound and my body thrashed and I screamed.

"Stop! Your hurting her!" Shouted TJ. Stephanie turned and glared at her. "Shut up or leave. If I don't do this, she might die." Steph said. TJ nodded and left the room. Steph continued to dig around in my room and I screamed and thrashed.

"Fuck!" I shouted. Finally, she removed the tweezers. In the grip of the tweezers was the bullet. She set the bullet to the side. My vision blurred but I blinked it away. No way in hell am I passing out.

Steph grabbed a needle and some three and began stitching up the wood. I groaned in pain. I fucking hate needles. When she was done, she cleaned the outside of the wound with an alcohol wipe.

"There, I'm done. You can let go now." She told Mike and Arthur. They nodded. "I'll go get TJ." Arthur said. Steph nodded. She threw away her gloves and used alcohol wipes and closed the medical case. "I'll take the case back to the desk guy." Mike said.

Mike left and TJ and Arthur walked back in. "Hey, TJ." I said, giving her a weak smile despite the pain. "Hey, Farah." She replied, her smile even weaker than mine. She shifted her focus to Stephanie.

"Will she be okay?" She asked. Steph nodded. "She'll be fine, I think." She replied. TJ didn't look quite reassured but was a little more relaxed than a moment ago. "I'll leave you two alone." Steph said, walking out the door and shutting it behind her.

TJ sat on the bed beside me. "You look pale. How do you feel?" She asked. I scoffed then winced at the pain. "I'm always pale and I feel like a sack of shit." I replied. She smiled. "So nothing's out of the ordinary then." She said. I chuckled.

"Asshole." I replied. She smiled again. "We need to find Eliza and Grace. With the skull mask people, we should enter the tower early." I said. "There is no we. Your still injured. Arthur, Mike, Stephanie, and I will find Eliza and Grace. You need to focus on healing." She replied. I scowled.

"Eliza is my sister. I'll be damned if I'm not the one who finds her." I muttered. I sat up and winced. Holy fuck. TJ grabbed both my shoulders and pushed me back onto the bed.

"Try that again and I'll tie you to the bed post." She said, glaring at me. "Is that an offer?" I asked, smiling. Her face turned red and she slapped my shoulder lightly. I laughed. "Dumbass." She said, shaking her head.

"Hey TJ, we found Grace." Mike said, opening the door. "More like I found them." A familiar voice said, walking in behind Mike. "Hello, Grace." I said, greeting her.

She gave me a nervous look. "Hey, Farah." Grace replied. "How are you? Is whatever made you do what you did... gone?" I asked. She nodded. "I'm fine and... yes." She replied. I gave a sigh of relief and smiled at her.

"That's good. Now give your best friend a hug." I told her. She smiled back and walked over to my bed side. She gave me a gentle hug, mindful of my wound. "Thank you." Grace said. "For what?" I asked, confused.

She just shook her head and smiled. I sat up, despite TJ's protests. "I'm fine. Besides, I have things to do." I told her. She shook her. "Anything you think you have to do can wait." She replied stubbornly.

I gave her a sharp look. "I'm fine." I insisted. She sighed. "Then let's get the hell out of here." She replied. "Where are we going?" Grace asked. "To the tower." I replied. She nodded. Arthur, Mike, and Stephanie ran in.

"Hey, we gotta get moving. We went to the roof and surveryed the city. It's worse than we thought. The skull masked guys opened the gates to the city and didn't close them. All that loud gun fire has attracted every infected in the vicinity.

The city is being overrun with infected. We have to go, now." Arthur said. I nodded and stood. My legs were shaky but otherwise fine. My stomach was still painful but I could bare through it. "Then let's go." I said, giving him a nod.

"Do you need me to carry you?" Mike asked. I shook my head. "No, I can take care of myself." I replied. I walked over to the closet and grabbed the backpacks andthr guns. "I'll be taking that." Arthur said, taking my backpack from me.

"You shouldn't be carrying anything while your injured." He explained, giving me a reassuring smile. I sighed. These bastards are all as stubborn as me. There's no way I'm going to get them to budge unless I try really hard and frankly, I'm too tired to fight with them about something as small as carrying a backpack.

"Fine." I replied. I shoved my gun into my holster and handed everyone else a gun as well. Out of the window, I could see the sun go down as rain clouds began to storm. Tonight, blood will spill on these streets, I'll make damn sure of it.


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