Okay, so due to all of the Coronavirus bullshit (Or the C-Virus as I like to call it for those Resident Evil fans out there,) my college got closed down and I've moved to online classes. The last two weeks have been a clusterfuck for me, trying to move all of my stuff out of the dorms when all DOD personnel have a travel ban placed against them and their families. My house even got quarantined. Not some stay at home order, but actually quarantined. (None of us have it, but since my dad works at a prison, the government can't take the chance, and my brother also works at an old folks home.)

Fun times!

I did have this chapter halfway done already, but couldn't complete it due to reasons. I was working on a different chapter for You've Got To Use Silver, but learned I really hated what I wrote, so I've decided to scrap that chapter and rewrite it. DrSanjiZant asked me when the next chapter for this was going to come out, so I decided to finish this one up and get it out there.

Also save all questions for what happens in this chapter for after you read it. I explain some stuff at the bottom.

Yang jolted awake, sitting up as she looked around the room to survey her surroundings. She expected to be somewhere inside an abandoned building or even her own house, but neither was correct. The brightly lit living room of the Arc house was where Yang found herself.

As the faint hum of white noise filled her ears, Yang slowly calmed down. Her entire body feeling as though it was about to jump out of its skin. This sudden surge of adrenaline like that of stirring from a nightmare. Waking up in an unfamiliar place after stomping through hell would have made anyone this ancy.

Why am I on the couch?!

Yang wasn't sure about what happened after getting out of the shower and checking on Ruby yesterday. Her exhaustion from everything that happened over the last few days taking a toll on her body and mind. Yang guessed she passed out on the couch and didn't remember. Happened to her a few times after a hard work-out or coming home from a game.

She lifted her legs slightly to swing them over the couch. As Yang did so, both limbs screamed out in pain. Her entire body followed, aching as if given a massive tetanus shot in every extremity. The soreness in her abs prevented the girl from getting a full breath in. Even trying to turn over so she could fall off the couch proved pointless.

God damn it...

Through sheer willpower, Yang contorted her entire body around to face the TV. The pain in her limbs climaxing as she managed to sit up, but then subsiding when settling down. A few laboured breaths left her mouth as Yang tried her hardest to relax.

"Oooowwwww," a voice uttered from her left. His groan, long and drawn out.

Yang glanced to where the voice came from, peeking over the side of the couch. A mop of blonde hair rising from the floor was a surprise for the girl. The boy rubbed the back of his head, seeming to be in pain from something. Yang herself was confused as to why he was here.

"You kicked me in the back of the head," Jaune whined, pushing himself off the floor. He stood up and dusted himself off before stretching his limbs. The boy's posture was in an almost slouched state and obviously uncomfortable.

"Sorry," Yang apologised curtly, trying to muffle a snort. She watched Jaune take two steps, limping as he did so. The boy's body probably feeling as stiff as her's did. "You slept on the floor?"

"Huh," he mumbled, turning around to face her.

Jaune's hair was in a mess. While it was usually scraggly and such, this was a bit different. Half the hair on his head was pushed down in a way indicating the side in which he slept on. The boy hadn't had the time to wash up or even fix his ruffled hair, telling Yang he was just woken up.

"Yeah..." he continued, bringing a hand up to his face and wiping the sleep out of his eyes. "You passed out on the stairs, and I let you take my spot... No other couches to sleep on, so I just stayed here."

Oh...

"You didn't have to," Yang countered, shuffling to the edge of the couch. She tried to stand up but couldn't find the strength in her legs to perform such an action. The pain from her sore muscles forced the girl to sit back down.

"It's fine," Jaune replied, making it seem like it was no big deal. "I have to stay down here to watch the house, and if I tried carrying you back upstairs, I would have dropped you."

A snort escaped Yang's nose. "Is that your way of saying I'm too heavy for you to carry?"

Yang understood the reason why Jaune had to watch the house. With all of the craziness going on around these past few days, it was needed to ensure their safety. It didn't discount the gesture of giving up his spot to the girl, however. She appreciated that Jaune was willing to wake up with a sore ass for her.

Jaune let out his own little laugh, seemingly figuring out the joke. "No... heh... No, if I dropped you, then it would be like waking up a sleeping bear during hibernation. So, option number B was the best pick."

Yang giggled at the idea. "Don't worry Jauney Boy, I wouldn't have hurt you too bad... Just a few bruises here and there," she jested, cracking her knuckles on one fist.

Jaune visibly cringed as he thought about it. Instinctively, an arm came up to rub his bicep. Probably a memory from when Yang gave him a light punch to the shoulder.

"Yeah, that's gonna be a hard pass," Jaune replied, holding his hands up in a manner one would when trying to surrender. "I'm a fragile little snowflake..."

"Heh," Yang laughed a little, pushing herself up a bit with her arms. "Calling yourself fragile? How do you think my legs feel?"

"Like jello?"

She shook her head up and vigorously, winching as she did so. The stiffness in her neck preventing the girl from doing it too quickly. Actually, the right side of her neck had the worst of it.

"Yeah... real bad," she confessed, reaching a hand out for Jaune to pull her to her feet. "Gimme a hand, I can't stand up on my own."

"Here..." Jaune mimicked Yang, grabbing onto her hand and pulling the girl to her feet.

As Jaune did so, Yang took a second to get a feel for his grip. His hands were actually very soft. As if he used lotion on them regularly. This supple texture was countered-balanced by the rough callouses at the top of his palms.

'Pleasant' was all she could describe it as. Not in a bad way either.

When Yang was brought to her feet. She took a few moments to get used to standing up. Her balanced was fine, but the strength was similar to a newborn horse or giraffe. Each limb wobbled a bit as she took her first few steps. When Jaune was sure Yang wasn't going to fall over, he left her to get ready for the morning.

Okay, time to get Ruby...

[Upstairs]

Climbing up the staircase wasn't as much of a challenge as Yang thought it would be. The occasional sting in her legs when lifting them was ignored for the sake of her current goal. Checking in on Ruby to see if she was all right was probably the most important thing in the world to her. Going through any pain would be worth it.

Rounding the corner at the top of the stairs, Vi passed by, heading in the opposite direction Yang was going in. The girl wasn't looking too well-rested, maybe having only gotten a few hours of sleep since the younger blonde had arrived. Vi's hair was all a mess, and she had bags under her eyes. The girl even moved at a sluggish pace.

Jaune was right about his sister's mood. Poor girl looks like she hasn't gotten any sleep.

I should talk to her sometime.

As Yang pushed forward, there was not another soul upstairs to distract the girl. After a few steps, she was standing in front of the upstairs guest room. Yang tentatively put a hand on the doorknob, pressing her ear against it to listen in. Her actions were out of caution from the previous encounters with Infected. It was almost subconscious to the girl.

Once Yang realised what she was doing, she let go of the door, silently stepping away to compose herself. Her nerves were already getting the better of her. Yang had to convince her body that it wasn't in any danger. Except her hands still shook like she was shivering. Even a lump began forming in her throat.

Okay, Yang, get a hold of yourself... You're at Jaune's house...

She went for the door handle once again, grabbing it and turning the knob gently. With a little creak, the door opened as Yang pushed forth. The first look inside the room was of darkness with low light pouring through the shades. As the door fully opened, however, Yang heard growling from within.

What the fuck?!

Yang froze in that instant, not recognising the sound. A deep rumbling growl from the bottom of someone's throat. It was coming from within the darkness where Ruby's bed would have been. Every fibre of her body started telling her to run in the opposite direction and to grab some blunt object.

However, the girl hesitantly reached for a nearby light switch, preparing herself for the worst. Her body did not wish to take chances, associating growling with the sounds of Infected. Her mind told Yang that this was her baby sister, and she had to make sure. Fleeing would never be an option with her.

Flicking on the lightswitch brightened the room up instantly. Yang scanned the entirety of the small bedroom looking for an Infected where she thought there should have been one. Yet, there was nothing here. No person standing intimidatingly in the corner watching her every move from the shadows. No Infected charging out from the centre of the room.

All there was was a single corgi sitting on the bed facing her. His jowls were pulled back, exposing his teeth for a fraction of a second after the lights turned on. Once, he realised who he had been growling at, Zwei immediately calmed down and ran up to her. His tail wagging excitedly from side to side.

Fuck you dog... Scared the shit out of me...

Yang let out a sigh of relief, finally figuring out what that growling was. She really needed to calm down. Maybe a stiff drink or watching a movie would do it? However, before anything else, she needed to check on Ruby.

She headed over to the bed and leaned down to inspect the girl's condition. Ruby was sleeping peacefully, having wrapped her arms around a pillow and making it into an improvised body pillow. Her soft breaths giving Yang some modicum of peace, knowing that someone at least got a good night's sleep.

"Hey, Rubes," Yang calmly spoke up, trying to stir the younger girl from her sleep. She placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder, beginning to lightly rock the girl back and forth.

Suddenly, Ruby snapped awake, grabbing Yang's wrist and letting out a short cry. Her eyes darted around the room, inspecting it for danger or anything out of the ordinary. Before this could continue any further, Yang clasped both hands over Ruby's shoulders, holding the girl still.

"Yang, w-what's going on," Ruby spat out fearfully, still trying to get her bearings. Her speech choking up halfway through. It sounded like the girl woke up from a nightmare or was expecting Yang to come running in to tell her there was an Infected.

"Hey-hey-hey-hey, it's okay," Yang tried placating the girl, dropping down to her eye level. "You're at Jaune and Marron's house. It's all right... Just came up here to see how you were doing!"

Jeez, she's got it bad...

A few heavy breaths and Ruby was able to calm down just a little bit. The girl still felt tense as all hell. She was more like a statue than a human being. However, her hands and even the rest of her body shook nonstop. The sensation of fear running strongly through her.

"R-Really," Ruby asked again, making sure. Clearly, a part of her mind didn't believe anything that was going on around her. Like Yang, Ruby was still feeling anxious over what happened the last few days.

Almost there, Rubes... Just calm down a bit.

"Yep," Yang reassured the younger girl confidently. "The others are probably getting breakfast ready... You want me to bring you some?"

She needs to grab a bite to eat... Haven't had a proper meal in days. Doesn't help when you barf up everything.

Yang just needed to keep Ruby from passing out like she did yesterday. The girl probably spent every last drop of glycogen left in her body when the two walked to Jaune's house. She wasn't just running on empty, the dial went below the red bar at this point. A diet of granola bars and gas station food wasn't helping her out either.

"No," Ruby said, swallowing back her fear. "I-I think I can do it." She began pushing herself up with her left arm. "I'm really - OW!"

Ruby let out a yelp as she tried getting off the bed. Her entire body seemed to shut down again, and the girl grabbed her shoulder in pain. As she writhed there for a moment, Yang noticed whenever Ruby moved, she would wince in pain. Like her entire body was aching beyond belief.

That's got to hurt...

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you're sore too," Yang asked, getting up off the bed. Her own legs crying out as they were feeling the burn too.

"It hurts a lot," Ruby whined. Her body seemingly deflating as it settled into a comfortable position.

"Want me to find you some painkillers," Yang followed up immediately.

Her reply was what counted as a nod in Ruby's head. Or what she could manage. The slight tilt of her neck going back and forth confirmed she was feeling stiff all over. Not just in her legs and working muscles.

I'll take that as your consent...

"All right, I'll be back in a little bit," Yang declared, turning around and heading out of the room.

Okay... Maybe there's some ibuprofen laying around that I can give her.

Yang had some stuff lying around her house that would have helped. Stuff for menstrual cramps or her dad's painkillers. Both would have done wonders for Ruby's situation had Yang been able to take any of it with her. Really, anything would be useful to at least allow Ruby's muscles to relax or take her pain down a few notches.

Well, Jaune and Marron's dad is pretty old, and he's in the Army. Guy probably has the plug for a crapton of painkillers.

Crossing the hallway and dipping into the bathroom, Yang found the medicine cabinet. Unlatching the child safety lock on it, she opened it up and began looking through it. The sounds of pill bottles bumping into each other filled the room two seconds later.

Okay... let's see whatcha got in here!

There was a lot of cold and flu medicine. Most of it was either generic or brand name stuff. Yang suspected Momma Arc stocked up in case one child gave a virus to all the other kids. Other than that, there were some muscle tranquilisers, and a lot of stuff Yang could not pronounce or even knew what it was. The names weren't anything she had heard of before.

"Yang," a voice came from behind her. "What are you doing?"

The suddenness of the other person's entrance caused Yang to jump slightly, knocking over half of the pill bottles in one fell swoop. The small plastic containers fell to the ground in probably the loudest way possible, scattering themselves all over the floor. Yang tried to catch some of them but was unable to, causing her to drop many more to the ground.

"Goddamnit," Yang cursed as she kneeled to grab some of the bottles. A head of blonde hair appeared to her left, Yang recognising it as Marron. She dropped down and grabbed some of the containers as well.

Of course, this would happen to her. Just her luck. Not like it was any better over the past few days. Yang just wished she got a break for once. This was all beginning to stress her out more and more as she thought about it.

"Sorry," Marron apologised, sounding like she really meant it. "I shouldn't have snuck up on you..."

You say that now...

"It's fine," Yang replied curtly, grabbing the last few bottles of pills and setting them back on the shelf. "Just a bit jumpy..." Yang turned around to face her fellow blonde. "I'm looking for some ibuprofen for Ruby. She's so sore she can't move."

"Oh... that bad," she asked, cocking her head to the side. Her expression shifting to a more concerned one.

"Take a girl who's never worked out a day in her life and make her run all day for three days while carrying a dog around," Yang began, crossing her arms. "Then make her walk/run another twenty miles with two breaks... You get the picture?"

In contrast to Yang, Ruby wasn't the one for physical activity. She was a mechanic. The tinkerer. Working with her hands to either pull apart the guts of a car or soldering electronics for a class project. Ruby had actually made some pretty impressive stuff when she was kid, earning her a few prizes at school conventions. Unfortunately, that didn't work in her favour this time.

Marron nodded twice, showing Yang her understanding. "Come on, I know where we keep the good stuff," she said, turned around and signalled for the girl to follow. Her blonde hair disappearing beyond the threshold of the bathroom door.

Yang was right on her trail, catching up with the Arc as she headed to the far end of the upstairs hallway. While walking around up here, Yang took a moment to admire the many paintings and portraits dotting the walls. Many were art projects or family photos with either Marron's household or extended family. The compositions were extraordinarily well-done and on the verge of being professional-grade work.

It was a lot compared to her own household. Yang's place didn't have that many complete family photos, or it was just herself, Ruby, and her dad in a few dotting the house. It made the Arc house seem homier in a way. Yang almost felt jealous at that.

As Marron reached her destination, she grabbed a door handle to the farthest room and opened it. Inside was a master bedroom obviously belonging to her parents. Most of the room was neat and orderly aside from the errant pair of uniform socks or a stack of files on the study. There were a lot more frames in here as well. Yang was beginning to wonder if they ever ran out of wall space.

Yang stood around while Marron ducked into the master bathroom to gather the needed medicine. She guessed the Arcs kept certain drugs away from the kids and only the safer stuff readily on hand. There was some logic to it as young kids would get into anything and end up hurting themselves. Made the experience Marron's parents had seem more obvious.

"Okay..." Marron spoke up, exiting the bathroom with a pill bottle. "400 mg of prescription ibuprofen... Use it wisely." The blonde tossed the bottle to Yang. She caught with both of her hands.

A quick glance down at the label showed some basic pharmacy stuff. The name on the bottle, however, brought chills up Yang's spine. The name Nicholas Arc. Yang had no idea why it made her feel that way.

[Kitchen]

After giving Ruby some painkillers, Yang left the girl to her own devices. It would take some time for her younger sister to be up and moving with how much pain she was in. Yang didn't feel like sitting around and waiting for breakfast to be ready, however, so she went downstairs to see if there was anything she could do.

Coming down and into the dining room, Yang spotted Ren and Nora sitting at the dining table. The boy hunched over the notebook he had been writing in yesterday. A mug of coffee in front of him that had scarcely been touched. Nora, on the other hand, had a glass of orange juice in front of her and seemed to be in the same state as Ren. Both exhausted as if they had been up most of the night as well.

Yang was almost glad for the sleep she got last night.

"Sup' guys," Yang greeted the pair. The immediate response she got was the two teens staring at her. Nora let out a yawn and Ren's head bobbed forth as if he had fallen into a microsleep.

Is this house full of insomniacs?

Yang had her own apprehensions for sleeping for long periods. She had to wake up every few hours to make sure everything was secure in her and Ruby's shelters. Her anxiety would go through the roof until everything seemed all right in her mind.

"Heyyy, Yang," Nora eventually replied sleepily. She brought her right arm onto the table, propping her head on top of it. "How did you guys sleep...?"

Yang let out a little laugh. "Best night of sleep I've ever gotten," she explained confidently. Her body readily agreed.

"Good... for you," Nora congratulated, beginning to nod off.

"We've been up the entire night going over the information we've gathered," Ren took over, explaining in a less exhausted tone. "Other than what we went over earlier, there's nothing new."

Damn...

Yang hoped Ren's brain would go to town and piece something together. Maybe when everyone got together, they would be able to figure something out? Having both her and Ruby's input might help some. At least it would be a start.

"Well... I guess I'll leave you guys to it then," Yang concluded, beginning to head into the kitchen. "I'm going to help with breakfast..."

Both Ren and Nora nodded in Yang's direction, acknowledging what she said. The former of the two closing his notebook and taking a sip of the coffee in front of him. Nora fell fast asleep.

...

Turning the corner and coming into the kitchen, Yang looked around to find Jaune and Vi preparing some basic foodstuffs. Eggs with a side of toast it seemed. They were making enough for the ten people living in the house at this moment, but not enough to be considered a large meal.

Yang was fine either way. She didn't feel her stomach could handle anything too rich right now. The girl needed a few days before going back to hamburgers, steaks, or anything really greasy.

With most of the food laid out at the moment, Yang wasn't sure how she could slide in and offer her assistance, however. She might be more of a hindrance than a benefit with the cooking; so the blonde, instead, turned to the nearby cupboards to grab plates and utensils. The sounds of ceramic clinking soon filled the room over the sizzling from the frying pan.

Turning around and setting some of the plates down on the island adorning the centre of the kitchen; Yang noticed a bag resting on top of the granite. Its design that of a pricy backpack made to last someone years. Something her dad would have taken with him to work, holding his laptop or even a lunch. Going to move it off the counter, Yang only then recognised where this accessory came from.

With the bag in her hands, Yang saw the images of the motorcyclist she had taken it from in her head. The feeling of disgust coursed through her body as she watched him writhe there helplessly. His broken limbs on presentation, showing the bone jutting out from within. The sound of his voice calling to her for help. Finally, the moment Yang turned around and ran away, dooming that man to die alone.

Suddenly a wave of nausea struck Yang like a freight train. Her head wracked with dizziness threatening to have the girl collapse right then and there. The air in this room became too much to bear. Too many things going on around her. She needed to leave. A surge of liquid beginning to pool in the back of her throat prompted real action.

Turning and walking out of the kitchen, Yang opened the trash can and dumped the bag inside. Not wasting a moment after, she opened the back door to the patio and stepped outside. The rush of fresh air liberating Yang, for now, allowing a gasp to force air into her lungs.

She wrapped her fingers around a railing and leaned over it. Yang spat some of the salivae that pooled in her mouth into the flower bed below. The urge to vomit stifled with a few more breaths that followed.

Fuck!

Yang cupped her hand over her mouth as she started crying. The tears spilling over her cheeks once again and rolling down her face. Even muffled, the faint sounds of her whimper rang over the background noise. Enough that Yang moved away from the back door to avoid anybody coming to check on her.

She needed this right now. Privately. To just get it out.

However, before it was allowed to continue any further. The sound of a glass falling onto the floor and shattering directed her attention back inside. Normally, she would have just ignored the sound for what she was doing right now, but soon, a cacophony of footsteps all began heading away from the kitchen to another part of the house. These weren't walking steps either, whoever was making these were running.

What?

Oh shit! Please don't let this be Ruby again!

Yang quickly wiped her eyes and made herself presentable before running in the same direction.

Busting through the back door, a mug lay on the ground just inside the kitchen. A pool of coffee and broken ceramic lined the floor. Everything else had been abandoned in an instant. The burner still on, cooking eggs on the frying pan. A piece of toast halfway through being buttered. Yang wasted no time, shutting off the stove before chasing after everyone else.

Come on! Where did you guys run off to?!

Running past the dining room and into the entrance of the living room. Yang turned to see everyone gathered by the front door of the house. Nora and Ren were standing off to the side, but all of the Arcs were gathered around another person. Yang recognised her. It was Mrs Arc.

Each of her children present had wrapped their arms around the woman in a massive group hug. She returned it gleefully. Tearfully, having not seen her children or heard from them for several days during this outbreak. Most of her kids, barring the oldest ones, were crying as well. Most were too excited to even begin crying. Yang was just happy to see them reunited. Jaune especially, given how uplifted his mood was now versus how it used to be.

As the group hug drew to a close, Claire reached for her left shoulder, bearing a pained expression. Seeing this, Yang took note of her condition, finding it to be much like her own when she arrived at the Arc house. However, her scrubs were covered in far more blood and bodily fluids than Yang's clothes. The blonde guessed it was from trying to treat people at the hospital who were injured in the chaos.

"Mom, what's wrong," Vi asked, moving to check on Claire's injured shoulder. The older blonde moved in turn, showing the kids the bandaged wound on her shoulder blade. A simple towel tied around her arm to staunch the bleeding.

"I got bit by one of those Infected," she explained, turning to head inside the kitchen. Some of her kids began to clamour as they started asking questions, but were silenced with a single look from the woman before she spoke. "I'll tell all of you about it in a minute, but we need to clean this wound first."

[A Few Minutes Later]

Mrs Arc sat in a kitchen chair while Vi stood just behind her, working on cleaning her mother's wound. The bite mark on her shoulder was more of a tear in the flesh as Yang saw it. There wasn't a clear sign of any teeth marks to be found. Only a single jagged cut, buried deep into the flesh.

The bite was bleeding slightly, but only a trickle compared to how much blood stained her shirt and towel. However, the laceration wasn't what concerned the children. The redness building up and around the bite mark paired with darkened veins showing beneath the skin was more prominent than the wound itself.

"Hey, Mom," Vi spoke up again, applying an antiseptic to the bite with her gloved hands. "This looks pretty gnarly. You might have an infection."

Marron took a picture of the wound and showed it to the woman. A grimace on her face told the kids about her displeasure towards the sight.

"Jaune, can you grab some amoxicillin from the medicine cabinet," she asked. The boy didn't say anything in response, running out of the room and up the stairs. Claire then looked back to the children and continued. "We've seen bites from these Infected before and treated them with antibiotics. Most turned out fine during follow-ups."

"Really," Ren asked straightforwardly. His energy seemingly having come back to him. "Then how did this spread so quickly? Do you know how it works at all?"

Yang was curious as well. She wanted to know everything this woman had to offer about the outbreak. Mainly to see how they could protect themselves from it or if any medicines could prevent someone from turning into one of those things.

Claire let out a sigh. "We're not sure," she declared, shrugging her shoulders. "We can't even pin down a mode of infection between people. Some get bites and start attacking people only a few hours after. Some are fine with antibiotics and rest. We've seen others with no bites come in with severe food poisoning and they turn in the middle of the night." Claire ran a hand along her jawline. "We started seeing these cases about a week ago, and it became worse every single night. The hospital was packed with so many people we couldn't treat them all. Then people started turning, and the hospital became overrun." She sat up straight and looked at the children with a serious expression. "You wouldn't believe the panic. Our security and police officers were torn apart in front of us. They even set up a barricade outside the hospital in the parking lot, but that didn't stop the Infected from coming over it. When they got inside the building, it turned into a bloodbath. I was inside the pediatric ward last night when one of our kids turned. She tore out one of the nurse's throats, and we just started running. I got tackled on the way out, and that girl bit me. One of the janitors hit her with a fire extinguisher, and she wouldn't go down. That poor girl's skull was crushed, and she still tried to get back up." As Claire finished her story, Yang saw her hands were shaking. This woman was succumbing to fear like the rest of the kids were. Just telling her tale was enough to bring back those fresh emotions.

"I know what you mean, Mrs Arc," Yang spoke up, trying to show the woman someone else knew what it was like to face the Infected. "I've had to kill a few of them when Ruby and I were trying to get out of the city."

"Same here," Ren added on, jotting stuff down in his notebook. "But it doesn't seem blood is how you get Infected either. I got covered in it, killing a bunch of those things."

That's what scared Yang about this so much. She didn't know how you got infected. Some of that blood would have gotten in Ren's mouth or even her own when they killed them. Same for Jaune when Cardin came after him. So, if blood or bodily fluids was not the reason why then what was?

"Hmmm," Claire hummed, loosening up a bit with their encounters. "Then if you guys know how bad this is, we should begin preparing. I don't know how long this is going to take to blow over." A few kids nodded with their understanding. "Tomorrow, we can start looking at places to get some food or even seeing if we can find my husband at the military base he works at."

[Later That Night]

Yang was laid out on the couch with Ruby and some of the others, watching a movie. Aside from the television, things were quiet once again. A calm had taken over the entire house. Her friends were relishing in this peace for the moment, seemingly never having achieved it over the last few days.

The sounds of footsteps coming into the living room turned Yang's attention away from the TV. She looked over to find Jaune appearing from within the darkness. The boy seemed to have a relieved expression on his face. Better than him brooding like he was for the last few days, according to Nora.

"So, how's your mom," Yang asked.

The woman had gone up to her room to get some rest soon after she arrived. Claire claimed to be exhausted, having not gotten much sleep for the last few days. Aside from the usual concern for her children, trying to make sure they were all right, she hadn't said much else even about her experience. Ren didn't try to push for any information Claire knew as the woman knew about as much as the rest of them. Claire wasn't one of the doctors trying to fight this thing on the frontlines, so what would she knew about it anyway?

"She's got a fever," Jaune answered, plopping down on the opposite end of the couch. "Mom also said it might take a few days to show any improvement, but I convinced her that we need to find a doctor. That bite's starting to look worse now anyway. So, we're gonna try for Blacklight tomorrow."

"Want some help with that?"

A part of Yang didn't want to risk going out there again. But she couldn't let Jaune and probably Ren be the ones to do the heavy lifting while she sat on her ass back home. With her knowledge of the Infected and how bad the highway was, it made this an easy choice. Even better, knowing that Ruby would be safe here with her friends. So, the girl volunteered without faltering.

"Sure, why not?"

So, Claire has been bitten!

If you're wondering about why they let her inside the house, the kids don't know the mode of infection for this cordyceps infection. With a doctor telling them she doesn't know either, it makes it more likely they wouldn't suspect a bite. This idea is reinforced by the fact Ren, Jaune, and Yang were covered in infected blood at some point in time. They would have gotten it in their bodies somehow and they were not infected.