Free Relay for Life by Jana Downs

Marcel called up as Andrew disappeared down the river bank. It was up to him to survive now. Deadzone would send a retrieval team for him within hours. He hit his distress beacon on his vest.
“You, too, Mar. See you on the other side.”
Marcel sent up a prayer to whatever powers were listening and made peace with the fact that he was going to die.
* * * *
    Marcel blinked back to the present. He had no way of knowing at that moment that another field team whose runner had been snatched by a Necro just behind Andrew was coming to their aid. They’d helped them fight their way out of the mess, but they’d lost almost all of both teams in the process. The heaviness of their equipment coupled with the cumbersome amount of long-range weaponry had slowed them down. Jax hadn’t been infected, but he’d had gotten a serious head injury in the process when a Necro had thrown him headfirst into the side of the ATV. The rest of the team had been killed.
    The only thing they could do was evacuate. He had been frantic to find Andrew afterward, but it hadn’t been possible. The intervening month had been hell. It was almost surreal to see Andrew walking beside Matthew, alive and well. He was so happy that the run kid was all right.
    “Now that we’ve all been scared out of our minds,” Matthew said, giving a short laugh. “Shall we continue?”
Andrew gave a shaky laugh as well. “Yeah. We should. The sooner we get to Brook, the sooner we can get home.”
The com link buzzed loudly, and Matthew answered it. “Yeah, Daniel?”
“Hi,” Daniel said. He sounded just as exhausted as before. “Just wanted to let you guys know, another team hired to pick up a lost runner from N Corpus picked up Bryan and Brook about half an hour ago. He phoned into Deadzone to let us know. You guys need to head out of there. Go north. Jason is sending an armored vehicle to the UMF border.”
“Thank God,” Matthew said, relief evident all over his face. “Is Brook okay?”
“Broken arm and some minor cuts and bruises, but otherwise okay. Bryan’s dog apparently saved his life. I think Jason is going to put a bronze statue of the thing in the hallway. He’s already given Bryan and the dog a permanent place on the field team if he wants it.”
“All right, man. Get some sleep.” They cut off the connection and Matthew raised his eyes. “Change of plans.”
“I actually like this plan better,” Marcel admitted. “I’d go through the fires of hell to get everyone out, but it seems like a much better strategy to get the hell out of this place as quickly as possible. There is something weird with the infected here.”
Andrew nodded his head in agreement. “You’re not kidding. It’s almost like they’re thinking. I know they’re supposed to have a hive mind when they mob, but whatever kind of monster the Necro King is, it makes the rest of them seem that much more intimidating.”
Marcel agreed. The sooner they got away from these things, the better. He glanced over at Andrew but then away when Andrew caught him looking. Unfortunately that had him staring into Matthew’s knowing face instead. The other agent winked, and Marcel’s stomach tripped over itself. Marcel was wary of the odd pull between them. What if he gave into it and lost Andrew in the process? He wasn’t sure he’d forgive himself for something like that. As much as he liked Matthew and was drawn to him, he was drawn just as strongly to Andrew, more so given their friendship and long-term connection. He cleared his throat and adjusted his pack.
“We leaving or what?” he asked.
Matthew nodded. “Sure thing. According to my readout, it’s a two-day hike outta here.”
Great . All the more time for him to get into some major trouble.
* * * *
    Andrew would’ve been blind, deaf, and dumb not to notice the way they were looking at one another. Marcel would stare at Matthew. Matthew would stare back. Marcel would look away. Over and over, the pattern had repeated