Infectious Love

Chapter 11: Needed Measures

"There we go," 3 muttered, helping Jeremy sit on a hospital-like bed with handles on the sides.

"Thanks..."

3 looked over to Cat, who was setting an unconscious 8 down on another bed.  When walking out of the bathroom 3 had ran into Cat, after taking 8 down, Cat had carried him to the nurse's room so they could examine him.

"I'm gonna go find something to tie him down with," Cat said, turning around and walking out of the room. On the way out, she said a quiet 'hey' to Leo and Cassie, who were standing at the entrance with questioning looks on their faces.

"What happened?" Leo asked, looking between an injured Jeremy and an unconscious 8.

"8 attacked me," Jeremy answered, still holding his shoulder. "He dislocated my arm."

"That explains that, but what about the text you sent all of us?" Cassie held up her phone, showing the group text that Jeremy had sent.

Jeremy looked to 3, who gave him a tight nod.

"8's infected," Jeremy said with a dread-filled voice.

Leo and Cassie's eyes grew with shock and disbelief. Leo cursed under his breath while Cassie gave 3 a look of pity. 3 turned away from them and walked over to 8's bed. 8 looked so pale, resembling that of a doll, but he was breathing normally. She gently grazed 8's cheek with the back of her hand. In response to 3's warm touch, 8 turned his head toward her hand, letting her fingers brush against his face even more. A small happy smile covered 8's unconscious face. 

3 smiled and gave him a tired sigh. That was 8, always a sucker for 3's contact and praise.

"What did you mean by 'I figured out how he did it'?" Leo asked, with Cassie standing behind Jeremy. Jeremy was facing Leo, so he wasn't paying much attention to Cassie.

"8 wasn't infected with regular sludge. He was infected with commander's sludge," Jeremy replied. As Cat walked in carrying some rope, Cassie gave Leo a knowing nod.

3 withdrew her hand and took a step back to let Cat work. Cat proceeded to tie 8's wrists to the arms of the bed, with 3 turning away, not wanting to watch. 

"This commander's sludge let tar-tar control the sanitized army. The regular sludge was just the building block-" Jeremy's explanation was cut short as Cassie grabbed Jeremy's arm and shoulder.

"This may hurt a bit..." Leo said with a plain tone to a startled Jeremy.

Holding Jeremy's arm and shoulder, Cassie processed to pop his arm back into his socket; Jeremy let out a pain-filled scream as his arm popped back into its socket, making everyone in the room flinch from his pain-filled screaming.

"Leo, can you check the drawers for a sling?" Cassie asked, examining Jeremy's arm and shoulder.

Leo nodded and then began digging through the drawers. 

Cassie faced Jeremy, "Your arm will have to stay in a sling for a few weeks. You're gonna have to do things one-handed, deary."

"Cas, how do you know this much medical stuff?" 3 asked as Cat finished tying 8's wrists to the bed's handles.

"My dad was a doctor, and my mom was an ER surgeon, plus I grew up surrounded by medical books." Cassie chuckled, thinking about her parents. "Those two would fuss over every little cold or scrape that I got."

Cassie sadly smiled as the sparkle of joy faded from her eyes as Leo helped Jeremy into the sling. 3 could see the sadness in all their eyes, a blanket of sorrow covered the room.

3 couldn't imagine what the Lab Team had gone through both mentally and emotionally. One minute, they were in their own time with their other friends and family. The next, they were thrown into the future with just each other and the few items that had belonged to family members.