Nick slumped against the fence a little while after he got in. I had known about his drug problem, but when he told me he had snuck some during the quarantine, I slapped his arm. "What were you thinking taking drugs at a time like this?" I asked. Nick had blinked at me and looked slightly alarmed.

"Says the girl who skipped quarantine and got herself caught!" Nick retorted.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not the one detoxing right now, Nick." He didn't say anything in response to that, just looked up at me and sighed heavily.

Strand continued to pace the length of the pen, stopping occasionally to talk to one person or another. I remembered what he said about people being useful or not in this situation, and I hoped that when he did launch his escape plan, he'd decide to bring me and Nick along with him. He seemed like he would, considering the fact that he had given up a ring just to get Nick put into this pen.

I wished I could tell what time it was, but there weren't any windows in this stuffy room. And the heat of the room was getting worse. I could feel sweat beading on my forehead and starting to run down the side of my face. I wiped more sweat off my brow before looking over to Nick. He was sweating worse than I was, and right now he looked too tired to wipe it off his face.

A soldier walked by us from the other side of the pen and I stood up, getting as close to him as I possibly could with a fence between us. "Excuse me?" I asked him, putting both hands on the fence, instantly wrapping my fingers through the links.

"Remove your hands from the fence, ma'am." The soldier snapped before making a move to continue on. I walked along with him, the fence still separating us.

"I need to know what time it is." I told him, stopping again and instinctively putting my hands on the fence-

"Ma'am!" The solider snapped, louder this time. "Remove your hands!"

"What's the matter with my hands?" I asked without thinking. I clearly didn't move my fingers fast enough because the soldier knocked the butt of his rifle really close to my hands and into the chain linked fence, making it rattle loudly and causing me to drop my hands from the fence. The solider let out one huff of amusement before continuing on, leaving me behind.

Strand was suddenly standing right beside me. "What did you think would be accomplished by antagonizing him?" He asked.

"I wasn't antagonizing him!" I insisted. Strand gave me a pointed look but said nothing in response. I looked up at him with a frown. "Have you thought up a plan to get us out of here yet?"

"Yes I have." Strand said bluntly but he didn't bother to explain. I waited for a minute to explain but Strand was already walking away, holding his hands on his hips and looking out at the soldiers outside the fence frowning.

What was it that Strand had said earlier? That people who kept a level head and observed their surroundings were useful? I blinked again and looked around at the soldiers. And then I saw.

Something was different. The soldiers were practically running back and forth, their faces looking concerned and sort of scared looking. I caught glimpses of some of the nurses from the other rooms, looking even more nervous than the soldiers. I tried to catch a glimpse of Liza, who was supposedly here according to Nick. But I didn't see her. I looked around again and hurried over to Strand, walking right past Nick who was keeping his eyes closed tight.

"What do you think is happening with the soldiers?" I asked Strand the second I was at his side.

"I think the chaos is beginning to knock on their door." Strand said vaguely. "And if it's at their door, it's knocking at our door as well. Give me a few minutes, Joanna."

I nodded once and started to walk away from him as more soldiers hurried past our pen. I watched them go, my face frowning hard. What the hell was happening out there? I went back to the fence and put my hands on it, not thinking about the soldier who had knocked my hands off earlier.

My heart leapt into my throat when I recognized McLendon the soldier enter the room.

"McLendon!" I screamed out. The young man's eyes shot towards me and he ran to me, the chain link fence staying between us.

"How the hell?" He started, but then his eyes widened. "You broke quarantine? Are you crazy?"

"Yes, I'm an idiot!" I quickly agreed with him, becoming aware that something horribly wrong was going on if McLendon looked this freaked out. "Can you get us outta here?"

McLendon nodded hurriedly and he dashed off to the desk that I knew held the keys to all the chain linked fences. This got everyone's attention and suddenly everyone was screaming at McLendon to let them out. Nick managed to stand up and he and Strand were on either side of me as McLendon took his time to find the right key for our fence.

The screams got louder as McLendon successfully unlocked out pen. He gave the other pens a long look as Strand led the way out of the pen, as if he didn't care if Nick and I followed or not. Nick and I managed to keep up, passing McLendon on the way out. McLendon looked at me leaving and then back to the other pens. I kept walking, glancing over my shoulder at my friend before continuing after Strand. Was McLendon going to come with us or...?

McLendon ran after us after throwing the ring of keys into the closest closed pen. The constant screaming of the people in the pens got louder as we left.

"I know how we can get out of here," McLendon said, moving until he was at the front of our small group. I blinked at him, seeing the nervousness and fear melt away from him. I remember thinking about how young he seemed back at the quarantine, how this fact had seemed obvious to me. Now I see that he was a soldier, and a pretty good one by the way he was taking charge of the situation.

McLendon led us down hallways and into a large room, quickly explaining that our exit was across the room and down that hall. The only issue was that this large room was filled with Infected.

"Where they'd come from?" Nick asked, looking terrified. McLendon didn't answer and the look of fear on his face told us that he didn't know they had been in here.

"Get to the hallway!" McLendon ordered as the Infected finally noticed us. "Your exit's right beyond that!" He whipped out the gun holstered on his hip and he began to fire into the crowd of Infected.

Strand didn't need to be told twice and he pelted to the hallway mentioned. Nick and I started after him, the roar of the Infected and gunfire becoming deafening. But then I heard the gunfire begin to slow down.

I halted and turned around to see the Infected begin to surround McLendon; there were too many of them for him to fight off by himself...

"Run, Joanna!" McLendon screamed, firing his gun at the oncoming Infected. I took a few steps back but I froze in place when I saw him run out of bullets. Right as he reached to his belt for another clip of bullets, an Infected woman grabbed onto his shoulders and sunk her teeth into his throat.

My screams mingled with McLendon's as I watched my friend get bit by two other Infected. The monsters dragged him to the ground and I saw them pulling handfuls of red up into their mouths.

"Jo!"

I turned around and ran to Nick's voice. He grabbed my hand as soon as I was within reach and we bolted away from McLendon's body and the gathering crowd of Infected.

The hallway that McLendon and Strand had led us to led to a set of double doors. Strand made it there first and ran into the doors hard. Nick and I skidded to a halt right behind him as we realized that the double doors were locked.

Meanwhile the snarls of the Infected was getting louder.

The only other door was also locked, and the Infected were actually in the hall now. My heart was pounding painfully in my chest and I felt tears begin to burn at my eyes. My breath was coming out in gasps as I heard Nick screaming at someone on the other side of the door. The Infected were coming closer, their eyes white and gray and their hands already reaching out to rip us to shreds-

"Joanna!" Travis's voice cut through the air and I felt strong hands grab onto my arm, yanking me backwards and into the previously locked hallway. Strand and Salazar launched forward and made quick work barricading the double doors just in time for the Infected to reach the doors.

"We can't stay here long!" Madison's voice came. I blinked at started to get a grip of my surroundings, finally realizing that I was with my group again.

Strand stepped away from the barricaded double doors, straightening his suit and meeting Madison's gaze. "I have a place we can go."