"No fucking way in hell." I said to Steve. Standing outside the the hum-v, I watched as Chase smiled back at me. Andrew sat next to him, hunched over and not looking at me.

I was in my room, getting ready to go. I was calming myself and reigning in my emotions about all of this. With Max being taken and the unknown of this situation, I need to keep my head. I need to figure things out. It's real fucking hard when these two jackasses are blocking my view.

Steve sighed as he put his shoulder to the side of the vehicle, "Ash, please. We're gonna need people to go with us."

"We just want to help." Chase said to me.

I pointed a finger at him. "No. No, you don't. You have done nothing but criticize Max and question her life ever since coming here. I understand that Blake's death did a number on you, but that is not an excuse. And you." My finger went to Andrew. "You're gutless. A traitor of sorts. You'd rather save your own hide than fight for the group. Why should I trust either of them?"

"Because we're all you got." Andrew said quietly, still not looking at me.

Our group was small. Everyone else we knew was either prepping the Homestead for another attack, or tending to the wounded. The six of us were Max's only hope. At least they would be outnumbered.

"Whatever." I said and climbed in, keeping distance between me and the two.

Steve climbed in as well and scooted over so that he was between Chase and I. At least he was willing to offer some kind of barrier. It would be for Chase's benefit.

"Now we just need Ron." Steve said, looking outside.

Andrew looked over. "Ron. As in Max's dad? The infected one?"

"Yeah!" I said gleefully. "Got a problem with that?"

He quieted down. Andrew's eyes went to Chase for a moment before going back to the floor of the vehicle.

Right on queue, Ron walked up to us. He gave me a half-smile before shutting the doors. The passenger door to the front opened and he hopped in next to Hulk. Hulk, I trusted. I felt like I could compared to the other two.

"Heading out." Hulk called back to us. 

The hum-V whirred softly as it started up. I saw the parking lot change into the barriers of a highway. Soon, it changed into trees. Hulk was really hitting the gas on this. I appreciated it. At least we wouldn't have to worry about other cars on the road.

"How long will it take to get there?" Steve shouted over the humming.

"Maybe thirty minutes?" Hulk responded, checking his GPS. It glitched every so often as we hit bumps in the road.

Don't know if their potholes or bodies, so I was glad I was in the back seat.

"I know it's not that far from here." Hulk went on. "Grimes took Thor there at some point and he gave us a detailed run-down on the security, which is zero. However, Grimes has a shit ton of infects locked up in cages. Apparently he has some kind of control room that opens the doors, so we'll have to be careful about that."

"But why there?" I asked. "What all does he have there?"

"There used to be a team of scientists." Ron chimed in. His voice was barely at speaking volume, yet it could be easily heard around the cab. "Before all of this happened, they would experiment. I know he still had a task force at the college to capture the infected, but I don't know where they went, honestly. Everyone dispersed after the crack down at the college."

"So we could be walking into a nest of those things?" Chase asked.

Ron turned his head to give Chase a side-eye, "Yes. We could. We could also save all of them."

Chase released air through his nostrils before sitting back.

We all fell into a silence after that. Steve sat next to me, looking over his rifle. Something in his face was off. Instead of having a soft smile on his lips, the corners of his mouth were turned down. Even when we went to go get Max at the College, he was still optimistic. Now, I just get this feeling that his resolve is sinking. That his optimism is failing.

I reached over and put my hand on his knee. It was tense. Giving it a squeeze, I caught his eye and smiled. Steve's lips turned up slightly, but went back down just as quick.

***

The trees opened up into a large complex surrounded by a tall fence. Rusted barbed wire curled over the top. The front gate was black, rusted iron with a 'P' formed on the front. A padlock and chain was woven through the bars. Hulk easily rammed through the gate. It produced a loud, ancient creak. Whoever has been here hasn't been going through this gate.

"We have arrived." Hulk grunted, parking the vehicle. He turned his head to look at us. "We stay together. We don't know who or what is in there. If Max is in there, then more things will come to attack us. We have to be cautious and stealthy. Grimes can burn for all I care, but Max is top priority."

Steve checked the ammo in his rifle again, "Of course. Grimes better be dead by the end of this."

Ron growled softly before speaking. "I'll make sure of it."

We exited the vehicle. Cold air hit me in the face as I scanned the building. It was old as all hell and the windows were boarded up. Why Grimes would want this as his home base, I have no idea. Old asylums are always the creepiest choice.

"So, do we stroll through the front door?" Chase asked, looking around. "Or...?"

"You got a better idea?" Ron asked, walking right towards the front door.

They were two large, wooden doors. Planks covered the front as a precaution, but Ron was easily able to rip them off. He pulled open the door. Dust immediately hit my nostrils. The lobby of the hospital was dark with slits of light coming from in between the boarded windows. Furniture was tipped over and broken. Old graffiti marked the walls.

A bronze statue stood in the center. It was a large oak tree with it's limbs low to the floor. Trash swayed from its 'leaves'. At some point, a group of hooligans had TP''d the statue. Even as a fake form of nature, people find ways to pollute it.

"This feels like a video game." Andrew said quietly.

Hulk waved a hand towards opened double doors next to the front desk. A peeling sign said 'Patients' Quarters' with an arrow pointing down the hall. It was dim with soft flickers of light weaving down the hall. There was no movement. Just lights, illuminating down the hallway as if they were leading us somewhere.

So we followed them down the hallway. It was dingy and desolate. Wheelchairs and gurneys sat in the hallways, most of them overturned. Doors were either opened or closed. Hulk took point, aiming his gun at every door in case an infect would jump through. Steve did the same thing. Andrew and Chase were behind me with Ron at the rear. Keep those two from running away, I'm sure.

"Do we even know where she would be?" Steve asked softly. "Where Grimes would take her?"

"I remember Thor talking about a lab in the heart of the hospital." Hulk scanned a room before looking back at us. "It would have been easier to get to at the back, but the front is easier to get into. There are way too many subjects towards the back and I don't trust Grimes."

"Me either." Steve and I said in unison. He looked over at me and gave me a smile. A genuine one.

Thank god.

Turning a corner, the hallway started to change. The lights all operated normally. The doors were all closed. Everything still looked dingy and dirty. The end of the hall held two double doors, one straight ahead and the other to the right. A plaque on the wall held different rooms and directions. The door at the end lead to more quarters. The one to the right was to the labs.

Hulk pointed to the door to the labs with two fingers and waved us to it. Slowly, he opened the doors. Easily, they swung open. A long, white hallway stretched out before us. Doors lined the hallway, each with shatter-resistant glass. Inside, people were in different stages of the disease. Most of them were okay and awake. They would get up and hit the glass, asking us to let them go. Many just stayed on their cots, huddled in balls. The further we got, the worse they looked. They stood from the ground and hit the glass, black blood splattering on the glass.

"Jesus Christ." I breathed out. "What are they doing?"

"What needs to be done." Chase said, staring through the glass at an infected guy with pitch black hair and dark eyes. At first glance, it could've been Blake. But I knew better.

Gun shots echoed, coming from behind another set of double doors on the other side of the lab. Something heavy hit the door, rattling it on its' hinges. It burst open and all of us immediately raised our weapons. Grimes stumbled in, holding his chest. Blood dripped from his mouth as he gave us a grin and fell to the ground.

Next came Max out of the door, wearing nothing but a long black tactical jacket. Dried blood stained her mouth and chin. A gun stayed in her hand and pointed at Grimes. Her eyes lifted to us, dark with anger. They brightened slightly as they looked to me.

"Howdy." Max said, stepping over Grimes towards us. She lowers her gun. "Bout time you got here."