𝓕𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓸𝓯 𝓐𝓰𝓮𝓼 - Chapter 9

Chapter 9

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“Oooh,” Cameo groaned. His lip hurt, his legs hurt, his arms hurt, yet he felt worse than all that. Mentally, emotionally, he felt like death. He could feel the blood crusted to his chin, but when he tried to move his arm to brush it away, he couldn’t. Next to him, Infinity sat up instantly.

“Oh, Cameo! You’re awake! Oh, thank goodness. I-”

“Shut- um, sh, Infinity. I’m sorry. I lost it a little, and I'm not sure what happened. I don’t know if you kissing me did it, or what, but I’m sorry either way.”

“I already told you it’s okay. I’m sorry. I was just trying to help.”

“Okay. It’s okay.” Cameo closed his eyes. “We need to get out of here.”

“What? Why?”

“Because we have thirty seconds before at least twelve heavily armed government-sent officers barge through that door.” Cameo jumped up, swaying and stumbling. Infinity quickly put her arm around his waist and steadied him. The two of them hurried to the edge of the building. Cameo wrapped his arms and legs around Infinity. “You took off my suit, so you’ll have to hold both of us.” Infinity took a deep breath, nodded, and jumped, firing the grappler into the next skyscraper. As they swung out over the chasm, Cameo looked down and saw several police cars, presumably all searching for them.

Infinity grimaced as Cameo accidentally strained her injured arm. She reeled them in and they clambered to the opposite edge. Cameo looked back, just in time to see the door on the first roof fly open. “Jump!” He yelled, and Infinity immediately complied, barely letting the grappler out in time. She lowered them to the ground, and Cameo finally let go, stumbling into the wall. He slumped to the concrete.

“Are you okay?” Infinity asked worriedly.

“Weak, so weak. Can’t stand. Ooh,” he moaned, closing his eyes, face going pale.

“No, no, no!” Infinity whispered. “Get up,” she implored. Cameo’s lips looked bloodred against the pallor of his cheeks. She took his hand and it felt ice cold. His breaths were ragged and shallow, and his chest barely rose with each one he took.

Before Infinity could think of anything to do, his eyes flew open, and he sat up, seemingly fine. He growled, springing to his feet, whirling on Infinity. He lunged at her and she shrieked and ducked out of the way. He crashed into the wall, then flung away from it, pacing around Infinity like a tiger in a cage. Suddenly he fell to one knee, hands braced on the ground. Crumbling in on himself, he clutched handfuls of his hair, mouth open in a silent scream, as if something inside was clawing its way up his throat.

“Cameo, what’s wrong with you? Are you okay?” Infinity scrambled to his side. He looked up at her, eyes full of terror. His mouth moved, but no noise was made. His hair had fallen over his forehead, and when he keeled over, it dragged through the dirt. Gasping, he grabbed at her neck and tried to pull himself up. He began coughing, barely able to breathe. Infinity held his head up as he choked, scared and helpless. Tears slid down Cameo’s pallid cheeks as he lay there.

“Help me,” he sobbed. He gagged, and Infinity rolled him onto his stomach and held his top half above the snow. He threw up again, the second time in twenty four hours, but this time, what came out of him was a thick, gooey substance. The instant he was finished and his head was on Infinity’s lap, color bloomed on his cheeks and his body relaxed. He started to breathe again and Infinity gave a sigh of relief. “What happened?” he asked, exhausted.

“I’m not entirely sure, but your puke looks weird.”

“Weird? Like, what kind of weird?” He inquired, suddenly apprehensive.

“It looks like slime,” she responded. “Come see.”

He stood up shakily, but managed to stay upright. “Of course! Wow, I’m dumb,” he said, shaking his head wearily. “This is a highly experimental, top secret formula, given to only a select few. The government had no idea it existed, but I guess they found out. It's called P.U.K.E. Personal Undercover Killing Excrement. Meant to discreetly kill adversaries, a drop in one’s water would multiply, slowly taking over the digestive system, killing one from the inside, and at the same time, turning one against oneself and anyone who makes physical contact.” He shuddered. “I guess Jaiden found out about it and gave it to me.” He sat back down and leaned his head back into Infinity’s lap. “He needs to be stopped.”

“And he will be,” Infinity said, fingering Cameo’s muddied hair, “and we’ll do it together.”

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