I look down and back, my face inches away from the sewage.

The man groans, his arm shaking. He hauls me back up and stumbles away.

I collapse to my knees, chest heaving. My eyes shift up to him.

He leans over his knees, then wheezes, and drops.

I hurry to his side, digging an oxygen mask from my safety equipment. I settle it against his face.

He greedily sucks down the oxygen, then coughs, spitting phlegm onto the pathway.

"Slowly," I order. "Deep breaths."

He tries to obey, sucking in shaky and labored breaths.

"How long have you been down here?" I murmur.

"Too long," he wheezes.

"That thing must be keeping you alive," I murmur.

His eyes snap to mine, no longer glowing. "You know about it?"

"I'm a Hunter."

He flinches away from me. He winds up to throw the mask at me. "Why bother helping me, then? You're just going to kill me."

I put my hands out. "We're not going to kill you," I assure.

He hesitates to throw the mask. "That's protocol," he snaps. "I'm Infected."

"We'll figure it out. This infection is different. The people that got infected before you made a recovery once the thing left their system."

He runs a finger along his black veins. "So, I might survive?"

I hesitate, but offer a nod. "If I can help it, yes."

He drops his head back, revealing a tattoo on his throat.

I frown at it.

When he notices, he covers it with his hand. He scowls past me. "Don't."

"You were a-."

"I said 'don't'."

I clear my throat and nod. I look back down the path I came from. "I should alert my team that you're alive. We need to get you quarantined and out of here." I stand, but the man catches my arm.

"Please," he rasps, "I don't want to be alone down here anymore. Don't-don't leave me here."

I pat his hand. "I'm not leaving you. I'm just getting my team so we can escort you out of here. Can you walk? You can come with me."

He shakes his head, blinking back tears. "I used the last of my strength to pull you up."

I nod and kneel in front of him. I place the oxygen mask back against his face. "Just close your eyes and rest. I'll call them."

He hesitates, but slowly lets his eyes drift closed.

I pull my phone out of my pocket, but the sewers are blocking any signal. I start to stand, but the man's hand is still coiled around my wrist. I sigh and settle back at his side.

They'll come looking soon enough. Then we can all get this man out of here and into quarantine.

"What's your name?" I ask.

The man's eyes flutter open. "Jesus."

I nod. "It's nice to meet you, Jesus." I offer the flyer Tae handed me earlier. "Your family has been looking for you."

He holds the flyer in his hand, gently. Tears gather in his eyes. "Tomorrow is my daughter's birthday," he whispers. "I promised to take the day off work for her." A cough wracks his entire body. A tear drips down his cheek. "Now, I may not even survive to see her again."

I shift my hand to his forearm and squeeze. "We're going to get you out of here. We're going to help you."

He shakes his head. "You will never make it as a Hunter, young man." His eyes are lingering where my gun is holstered. "It's protocol. You can't risk the city."

I rest my hand on the gun, narrowing my eyes at him. "I'm not. You're going directly into quarantine after this. We're going to help you."

"It attacked me that day," he rasps. "It will do the same to someone else once I'm out of here. You cannot let me leave."

"That's enough," I snarl. "I'm leading this mission. I don't take orders from some old man who's been sucking in methane gas for over a week. You listen to me, got it?"

His eyes flash to mine. He chuckles and drops his head back. "I thought you looked familiar."

A chill goes down my spine and I look away.

"You sound just like her when you're mad, you know?"

I grit my teeth. "Don't."

"I was on her team." He shakes his head and reaches for the tattoo. "She was a fierce Hunter."

I squeeze my eyes shut. "Please-."

His hand leaves my wrist and his body slams into mine.

I cry out as I hit the ground.

He scrambles for my gun, then lunges away from me, placing it to his chest.

"NO!" I shout. I sweep my foot under his legs and he drops like a stone.

The gun fires, but the bullet doesn't hit either of us.

I lunge and wrestle the gun away from him. Once I have it, I punch him in the nose.

He cries out, grabbing at his face. "Shit!"

I stand and back away from him, holstering the gun and keeping the hip it's on pointed away from him. I put my finger up. "That was uncalled for," I growl.

He glowers at me. "You're not thinking things through."

"No! You're the one not thinking things through! The disease you have is different than any we've faced before. You have no idea what happens if its host body dies, do you? We need a chance to study it before we make any rash calls! Do you understand me!?"

He blinks, then nods. Blood drips onto his hands. "I understand."

"Mason!"

When I turn, my light shines on Amari.

Tears stream down her cheeks. She stops running, her chest heaving. She squints into my light, then bends over and grabs her knees. "I heard-I heard gunfire. I thought-." She drops to her knees and bows over them.

I go to her and drop to one knee in front of her. "Hey, it's okay. I'm okay. I found Jesus. He's alive." I rub her back.

She sits back, gasping for air. She can't wipe her tears through her hazmat suit, so she just nods and gives a weak smile.

Soon enough, the other three have joined us.

Amari sits with Jesus, helping to stop his nose bleed.

Tomas scowls at me and crosses his arms. "What was that about not leaving shouting distance?"

Tae elbows him in the ribs.

He grabs them and glares at her.

"We need to get Jesus out of here," I growl. "Can you do that?"

Tomas's eye twitches. "Yes," he snaps.

I return to Jesus and offer my hand. "Ready to get going?"

He pulls himself up.

I get myself situated under one of his arms, while Tomas gets under the other.

Jesus studies Tomas's face and shakes his head.

Tomas glares. "Something to say, old man?"

"I didn't realize Crane's son was on a team with such a disgrace."

Tomas's shoulders tighten as he looks at me. "Crane?"

Tae's head swivels towards me, her eyes wide. She nearly trips into the sewage before she regains her composure.

I look ahead and shift Jesus's arm on my shoulder. "C'mon. We need to get out of here and get him into quarantine."

Jesus chuckles. "He's your leader and you don't even know his name? Mason Crane. All that's left of the great-."

"That's enough," I snap.

"I'm just saying," Jesus continues, "after what this boy did, he should've gotten an early retirement. Not put with the greatest Hunter-."

"Shut your mouth, old man," Tomas snarls. He pulls out from under Jesus's arm and shoves him into me. "Walk your damn self if you can't keep your thoughts to yourself."

Amari rolls her eyes and takes Tomas's place. "You're going to be okay," she assures him.

My ears prickle as something hisses in the darkness. I hesitate, dragging Jesus and Amari to a stop. I shine my light into the darkness, but I don't see anything.

"Mason?" Sasha asks, following my gaze.

My brows furrow. "Amari, did you hear-?"

Glowing eyes appear in the darkness.

A shockwave pulses through Jesus. "Infected!" he shouts, ripping away from me.

Amari struggles to catch him before he can collapse.

"We have to get out of here!"

Amari yanks him back when he tries to run for the ladder. "Get behind us! You're also infected! You can't leave without us."

"Tae and Sasha, get Jesus out of here."

"What?" Sasha shouts. "I'm not leaving either of you!"

"You're both Protectors! I need you to protect him, now! Tomas, Amari, and I will handle the Infected."

Tae doesn't argue. She seizes Sasha's upper arm and drags her and Jesus to the ladder. She sends Sasha up first, followed by Jesus. Before leaving, she turns to Tomas and gives him a stern nod.

He puts his hand over his heart and nods.

She hurries up the ladder.

The one Infected has turned into over a dozen. They stand on the other side of the river of sewage, watching us.

One hisses and paces back and forth. His eyes seem to linger on me.

Amari grabs my arm and squeezes. "How have this many Infected been in the city without the Hunters finding them? We have to report this immediately."

"Save it for when we get back," I order. "The three of us are all graduated Hunters. It's our duty to make sure no traces of the infection leave this sewer."

Tomas looks more serious than I've seen him since we met. "If the media learns we had an outbreak of the infection to this magnitude-." He glances at me.

I nod.

We would no longer be a safe haven. Our Hunters would be a joke. Every other city – every other country – would scramble to become number one. It would be a rat race and we would lose everything.

We have to take care of this ourselves. We have to protect our city. It's our job. It's our duty.

I take the lead, leaping across the sewage river and slamming into the Infected that's been watching me. I slam him up against a wall and bury the gun in his gut. I fire twice and the Infected goes limp against me. He collapses as I lunge for the next infected.

The Infected are essentially Hunters and Protectors, but without limitations. Hunters with powers are usually weak in strength. But not the Infected. They're strong, and fast, and they're not stupid, either. They're not brilliant, but they aren't zombies. They don't talk much, at least not in any way we can understand. But they do seem to communicate with each other through hisses and grunts. Protectors, if they can heal, can usually only heal one person per day, and with minor things. And they can't heal themselves. But Infected Protectors can heal themselves. And there's no limit to how much. The only way to take care of them is to quickly snap their necks, so they don't have the chance to heal any wounds you give them.

We work through their ranks quickly and efficiently, like we're trained to do.

Tomas, being older and more trained, kills more of the Infected than us. But he's sloppy. He nearly lets one of the bodies fall into the water.

Amari catches it before it can. She snarls at Tomas about how easily the disease can spread through water sources.

He also doesn't keep an eye out for his teammates. He nearly stabs me with a long dagger before I knock it away and shove him. Any of these things could be the reason he was demoted and shunned by the Hunters. He's fast and strong. But inconsiderate and thoughtless.

When the last of the Infected is down, I turn on him with a severe glare. "What was that?" I snarl.

He puffs his chest out. "I don't know what you're talking about."

I grit my teeth and step closer. "You nearly-."

Amari's breaths change. It's subtle.

I barely notice the difference. But she lets out a tiny wheeze.

When I turn to her, she's pulling her knife from someone's chest. She swipes the black blood onto the woman's shirt and stands with a grimace.

"Amari," I say.

She looks up at me.

I step towards her.

"We were having a conversation," Tomas snaps.

"Shut the hell up," I snarl.

He throws his hands up with a scoff.

Amari sheathes her dagger and gives me a once over. "Something wrong, bud?"

There's black blood splattered across her suit. The suits are meant to be resistant to attack. Nothing is supposed to be able to tear or puncture them. With the Infected being stronger and as smart as us, we needed to be sure they couldn't just scratch our suits open and infect us.

But there's a small tear near Amari's calf. A long fingernail slash is cut into her skin, and black blood has splattered onto the cut.

I reach for the gun.

Amari freezes, her eyes following my hand.

Tomas jolts. "Whoa! Whoa, what the hell are you doing, man?"

I put my hand out to Amari. "You're infected," I tell her.

She blinks. "I-I feel fine."

This isn't the same as the infection Jesus has. It won't pass when it jumps to another person. It'll stay with her. While it'll make her essentially ageless, it'll eat away everything that makes her who she is. It'll eat away at her memories, and her voice, and her skin. She won't know her name, or her girlfriend, or her best friends. She won't know her family, or the Academy, or anything that matters. All she'll know is hunger. She'll never be able to satiate it. She'll eat people alive, and it still won't be good enough. She'll rip out our hearts for fun, but it still won't satisfy her. She'll never know peace again.

"It's protocol," I whisper, unholstering my gun.

She's finally spotted the cut. The sobs come fast. "No. No! I was so careful! I'm- I've never-." She collapses to her knees. She bites her lip and closes her eyes. "Tell Sasha-." Her voice cracks and she bows her head. "-Tell Sasha I love her more than anything in the world."

I lift the gun to her head and shut my eyes.

I squeeze the trigger.