December, 2031

Marley paced in front of the infirmary, hearing the hacking coughs coming from inside. What was going on? Delilah had been sent to come get her, but it wasn't even light outside. Who was coughing? Suddenly, the door burst open, and Jaden slipped out. She pulled the mask off of her face, shaking her head.

"Ujani, Mariel, and Luciel are sick. I don't want anyone else going in there, besides me. They're contagious," she reported. Marley cursed, running her hands over her face.

"Okay. Is there anything we can do? Anything at all?" she asked. Luciel was sick too? That meant they only had one healer, and it was winter.

"I'm trying to treat them all, but there's only so much I can do. I need more medicine as well. I'll keep treating them, but I need the next scavenging raid to get medical supplies," Jaden answered. A loud, hacking cough was heard from the infirmary, causing the healer to slip her mask back on and go back in. Marley turned around and headed back to her office.

As expected, Delilah had brought Lilly and Jon to the the room. Surprisingly, Delilah had also gotten Rachel. When she saw Marley's confused look, the worker shrugged.

"Mariel is sick right now, and Hudson isn't very assertive. Besides, Rachel's a good builder to," Delilah said. Marley sat down at her desk, motioning for the others to sit down as well.

"I assume Delilah has briefed you on the sickness?" Marley began. Lilly, Jon, and Rachel nodded, so Marley continued. "We need to do a hospital raid. This will be extremely dangerous, more so than supply raids. We need to create a task list for today".

"Then you should take as many people as you can without hurting the system. Rachel, how many people can you get by with?" Lilly asked. The blond girl thought for a minute, mindlessly tapping on the table.

"Honestly, me and Hudson don't have any projects going right now. We're saving up material for a workshop," Rachel replied. Marley nodded, and wrote that down in her notebook.

"It's winter, the fields are frozen over. We aren't farming," Jon added. That was good, she didn't have to expend manpower for farming or building.

"Okay, I think I have the list. Me, Duncan, Kefira, Serena, Delilah, and Jon will go on the scavenging trip. Jaden will be watching over Ujani, Mariel, and Luciel. Hudson will help her with anything she needs, since he has some medical experience. Lilly, Rachel, Storm, and Jaden will be on watch," Marley announced. She looked back at the others for approval, only to see Rachel with a worried look on her face.

"We don't have enough people to man the gate . . . how will you get back in?" she asked. Marley gave Rachel a look of respect, glad that one of them had noticed. Rachel wouldn't make a bad captain . . . she'd deal with that another time.

"Me and Duncan can scale the barriers. Perks of being scavengers," she explained. Then she tore the page out of her notebook, and handed it to Lilly. "Here, when everyone wakes up, explain what's happening. Me, Jon, and Delilah need to prepare". Then she stood up from her seat, and headed downstairs.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Marley helped Jon buckle the harness for the cart on, as Delilah, Serena, Duncan, and Kefira stood by and watched. Jon seemed a bit anxious, as he glanced at the others.

"Marley, I'm not so sure about this. If zombies come to get me, I won't be able to run away. I won't be able to fight either," he whispered. Marley looked over at him, as she tightened a strap on his back.

"Jon, you'll be fine, I promise. The rest of us are all armed, and we know how to fight. I can leave someone out here when we get to the hospital, if that would help," she offered. Jon let out a shaky sigh, then shook his head.

"I'm fine. Let's go," he said. Marley finished adjusting the harness, and he started walking. The rest of the group got into formation around them, and they began to march towards the hospital.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Marley motioned for Jon to stop, as they pulled up outside the hospital. Delilah silently handed him an extra spear, as the others got their equipment and everything ready.

With another signal, Marley quietly opened the front door to the hospital. Duncan and Delilah went through first, baseball bats at the ready. Kefira followed with her bow, then Marley with her gun. Serena took up the rear, swords drawn.

The first room they reached was a standard check up room, with a cabinet of medical supplies. Marley loaded her backpack with bandages and other supplies, then the group continued.

Marley felt a growing sense of dread as they advanced through the hospital. Where were all of the zombies? A hospital would have been full of people unable to move. It should have been completely infested. Delilah was halfway done with filling the pockets of her cargo pants when she got her answer. Delilah screamed, as a zombie leapt out of a supply closet and tackled her. Serena swung her swords, slicing the zombie's head off. But the damage had already been done. A low moaning could be heard, as the zombies swarmed towards the source of the scream.

"Abort mission! This'll have to be enough!" Marley shouted. Delilah was laying on the ground, clutching her scratched stomach. Serena sheathed her swords, and picked the girl up. Then they started to run towards the exit, footsteps echoing through the halls.

A swarm of zombies appeared out of one of the hallways behind them, and was quickly approaching. Marley swore and turned around, firing at the zombies as they continued to run. Duncan was in the lead, knocking aside the zombies that came at them from the front. They turned the corner into the hallway that lead to the exit, only to discover a group of zombies standing at the door. Before they had time to react, Kefira had fired an arrow through each of their heads.

"Jon!" Marley shouted, once the zombies had fallen over. There he was, still attached to the cart, trying to fend a group of with his spear. They rushed outside, and killed all of the zombies attacking him.

"Go!" Serena yelled, as she placed Delilah in the cart. They set all of the medicine in the cart as well, then took off running. Kefira threw her bow in the cart as well, then started pushing from behind.

"I'm out of arrows!" she explained, when Serena gave her a confused look. No one said anything else, as they kept up their adrenaline-fueled sprint all the way to the base. Marley and Duncan pulled ahead once the base was in sight, and scaled the gate. Once on the other side, they cranked the gate open, and the rest of the group rushed through.

"What the hell is going on here!" Jaden exclaimed, rushing down the stairs. She ran over to Delilah, who was still in the cart. Marley came over, as Duncan and Serena closed the gate.

"Delilah was scratched by a zombie, will she be okay?" she asked, face red from running. Jaden took a minute to examine the wound, then looked up, face grim.

"I'm not sure. She's been infected".