by Lucas Coon
“Why isn't he fainting like the rest of them, sir?” King pointed at Mitchell on the monitor.
“That's Mitchell, he's the one that appears to be a special case. If anything, his not collapsing is actually a confirmation of my theory.” He smiled. “He's been directly exposed to an infected's blood. Somehow it must have gotten into his system, so he's not susceptible to the mixture I just blasted them with.”
“Mixture, sir?” King looked at Andrei puzzled.
“It's not relevant. Grab a mask, we’re going in.”
-----
“Where are the girls?” Andrei continued to prod Mitchell for information. He could see the look of fear on his face, which meant he had the upper-hand here.
“Listen, you need to tell me--” King interrupted Mitchell's shouting by pointing his rifle at him.
“Answer the doctor's question or I'll use you to paint the wall.” King's voice boomed loudly from behind his mask. Andrei rolled his eyes annoyed, it was obvious his statement of 'not using violence' hadn't quite gotten through to him.
“King, stand down.” He waved his hand at King who immediately did what he was told. “He really has no choice here, so force isn't necessary.” Andrei looked back at Mitchell to give him a moment to consider his decisions.
“They're in the common exam rooms. Rooms five and six. Please, just... don't hurt them.” Mitchel gave Andrei what he had asked for. Andrei could hear both fear and genuine concern in Mitchell's voice.
“I don't intend to hurt them, don't worry.” Andrei stepped towards the door. “King, stay here and make sure he doesn't go anywhere.” He looked at Mitchell. He could tell the man had been through hell and considered to give him some reassurance so he didn't do anything to jeopardize what he intended. “Be gentle with him, he's confused so he may act irrationally. Do not kill him.” Andrei opened the door and entered the central room. He looked around for the signs to the common rooms and found the directional sign. He followed it and went down the small hallways to where he was needing to go. He approached door six and slowly opened it. Inside he found a small girl with tightly curled hair and dark skin standing in the corner and staring directly back at him.
“Hello dear, what's your name?” He knelt down and stared her straight in the face. She didn't respond. “It's OK dear, I'm not going to hurt you. Are you Lilly or Brynn?”
“How do you know my name?” Brynn remained skittish, but was now curious.
“I'm a good friend of Madison.” He smiled at her. “You know Madison, right? She's very worried about you, no? She was in the hallway praying very loudly asking for you to be OK.” He could tell that Brynn was starting to loosen up.
“I'm Brynn. Are you really friends with Madison?” She stepped away from the corner.
“I am. She's a very nice lady. She said that she wanted me to come get you because we're going to go somewhere.” He knew he had her.
“She told me to stay here because I'm sick and she doesn't want anything bad to happen to me.”
“Sick? Did she look in your mouth?” He hoped this wasn't the case.
“Uh-huh. I drank the water out of the sink and she told me that I had gotten sick because of it.” This was what he had hoped she wouldn't say.
“You drank the water? When did you drink the water, dear?” He was curious, if she was infected, how long she had.
“Right before Mitchell and Darren came and rescued us. She said that he didn't know I was infected because it wasn't showing yet.” She frowned. “I wasn't supposed to tell anyone that.”
“Can I see your mouth Brynn?” His look of happiness quickly turned to one of discontent. “Please. I'm a doctor. I can make you better.” She slowly walked over to him. He took out his small flashlight and shined it into her mouth. He looked at her tongue and was met with three holes. He was certain that she was infected and worse was that she would be turning soon. At this point there was only one thing he could do for her. “Alright, Brynn, I want you hop up on the bed and lie down, OK?”
“Is that going to make me better?” She looked him directly in the eyes. Her sad look hit Andrei hard.
“Anything to further the cause Andrei. Anything.” He cleared his throat. “Yes. I'm going to give you some medicine and make you better.” He forced a smile at her. She complied with his request and hopped onto the bed. “OK. You're going to feel a pain, like a bug stinging you.” He pulled a syringe out of his pocket and removed the cap. He hesitated for a moment, looking at the needle and the little girl in front of him. The moment turned into a minute. He shook his head. “It's going to hurt, but you'll get better. I want you to close your eyes, and after you feel the sting, I want you to count back from a hundred. Can you do that?”
“I don't know how to count to a hundred.” She looked at him with a concerned look, like she had gotten caught stealing candy from a super market.
“That's OK. Count to twenty. Can you do that?” She smiled and nodded at him. He touched the needle to her skin and she closed her eyes. He pushed it in and pressed the plunger down all the way. As the plunger hit its end, he pulled the needle out and tossed it into the nearby trashcan. As a doctor, he would normally be more careful with what he did with his syringes.
“That hurt...” Brynn's quiet voice directed these words at the doctor. He looked at her morosely.
“I know it did Brynn, but it'll make it all better.” He sighed. “Now, go ahead and count to twenty. If you start to feel tired, just close your eyes and go to sleep.” He pulled the chair away from where she was lying.
“One, two, three, four...five...six....seven” There was a brief pause. “Eight.” Her voice started to get quieter as she counted higher. “Nine...ten.” Andrei listened as she got to ten. He waited for an 'eleven' but it never came. He stood up and looked around the room, there was nothing worth grabbing for himself, nor for his new guests. He walked towards the door and exited the room, pulling the door tightly behind him. He took a deep breath in and recomposed his thoughts.
“Alright. So Lilly is in room five.” He stepped the couple of feet to the next door and put grabbed the handle. “That means that Mitchell was probably room seven.” He looked down the hallway and thought for a moment. He let go of room five's handle and walked over to room seven. He entered and looked around. There were several notebooks lying around, a book, and a bag with various packaged food sitting on the chair by the door. He noticed that one of the drawers in the counter on the wall was slightly opened. He stepped over to it and pulled it open. “There we go.” He pulled the handgun from its hiding place and slipped it into his pocket. He pushed the drawer closed and looked at one of the notebooks on the counter. The page it was sitting on had Darren and Kayla's names on it with various adjectives scribbled under them. He flipped the pages back to the front and glanced over what was written.
"Aria, my Beautiful Melody I miss you. That's sweet.” He turned to the next page. “Aria, I will do anything to see you again. You're the only thing that is keeping me going. I cannot give up.” He flipped a few more pages forward. “”Aria, I feel lost inside. Every time I sleep, I see you. Every time I see you, I feel like I'm dying inside. I hope that you're still there. If so, I'll see you soon.” He kept going to the last page with writing. “Aria, we made it, but you're not here. There's little hope at this point that we'll ever be together again. I don't see any reason to continue on. If I die tonight, then I wish you the best. You were my beautiful melody and were the one thing I got right in my life. Through all the times I messed up, you were there. You were the balance and I will always cherish the years we had. I wish it were more.” He stopped reading. “Poor guy, I almost feel bad for what is going to happen to him.”
“Is everything OK, sir?” King's voice boomed from the small speaker hooked to Andrei's belt. He removed the clip and pressed the button.
“Yes, everything is fine.” He looked at the notebook in front of him. Mitchell was obviously a caring person and Andrei assumed that he was bothe
ring King to make sure that Lilly was fine. “Actually, could you please send Mitchell my way? And could you please start taking our guests to their room?” He closed the notebook in front of him and began walking toward the door.
“Sir, are you sure you want him wandering around without someone guarding him? He might try to--”
“What, run? And where would he go?” Andrei rolled his eyes. “Do as I say King.” He put the radio back on the clip. “For being a good soldier, he sure likes to question my judgment.” He opened the door, exited the room and walked back to the door for exam room five. He opened it slowly and cautiously entered the room.
“Daddy!” Lilly started to run towards the door excitedly until she noticed it wasn't her father entering the room. “You're not daddy...” She stopped dead in her tracks.
“No, Lilly, I'm not. But I'm a friend of your father's and he asked me to come get you.” He knelt down and smiled at Lilly. “Do you want to go see your mommy and daddy?”
“I don't know who you are and daddy said not to go with people that I don't know.” Lilly took a step back from him. “I don't want to go with you.”
“You're a smart girl Lilly. You shouldn't go with strangers.” He reached his hand out to her. “But I'm not a stranger. My name is Andrei Grigorev. I'm a doctor and I’m here to help.” Lilly was unmoved by his plea. “OK, I understand. You're cautious. We'll wait for Mitchell then.”
“Mister Mitchell is coming?”
“Yep. I told you, I'm their friend. He'll be here, just wait.” He smiled at her again and stood up straight. They stood quiet for a few moments
“You're short mister Andrei.” Lilly made a comment towards Andrei. He chuckled at her statement.
“I know I am. I've always been shorter than average. When I was your age though I was the tallest kid among my friends. I don't think I've grown since--”
“Mister Mitchell!” Lilly ran over to him. “Where's Daddy?”
-----
Mitchell sat on the corner of the bench near where he had awoken earlier that day. The shower was refreshing and the food that Andrei brought them was decent, but he was struggling to come to terms with everything that was happening. He peered up at the others in the room. He looked over to the Barber family first. Kayla was lying down on her back. Her positioning indicated that she was comfortable and the slow shallow movements of her chest indicated that she was either asleep or quickly falling asleep. Darren and Lilly were sitting next to where Kayla was, with Lilly leaning against her father. She was staring down at the book that Darren was holding, reading aloud the story of the purple pug. Darren had his arm around her and was keeping her close. As Mitchell continued to watch for a moment, his eyes met with Darren’s. His look remained solid, there was no smile or look of happiness on his face. For the moment, Mitchell didn’t feel comfortable looking at the man he had come to think of as a friend. It felt more like he was looking into an enemy’s eyes; the eyes of a man that was angry and bitter. After only a moment Darren’s eyes shifted back down to the book that Lilly was reading. Mitchell felt a chill run down his spine. He shook it off and continued to shift his focus around the room.
He glanced over towards Madison and saw her sitting with her arms wrapped around her knees. He tried to figure out how to describe the manner she was sitting, but he could only think to call it a sitting fetal position. Her arms were tightly holding her knees close to her face and she appeared to be staring over them at the floor. Her eyes were red and the area around them looked slightly swollen. Mitchell was certain that she had been crying, but he wasn’t sure if it was over their general situation, or if there was something more to it. He considered the possibility that it was about Brynn. She’d been so sure that she had saved her, but here she was without her. He assumed the worst had happened to her, as he was certain she had, but there was no way of knowing for sure. It wouldn’t be like Andrei to just leave her there and take them; Mitchell was certain that he would have been more than delighted to have another test subject. He would have only left her there if he couldn’t use her, which meant there was something that would have caused any tests or experiments to be flawed. Taking this into consideration, Mitchell guessed that she was dead. He had his own theories, but this was most likely. He continued watching Madison sit, rocking slightly back and forth. He was certain that she was starting to lose it. She turned her head slightly and met his eyes. It was then that she quickly realized that there were others in the room and her cheeks started to beam red. She rubbed her eyes and looked up at Mitchell. She smiled at him.
“Hey.” Her voice was soft. She was clearly not in a good place.
“Hey, Madison.” Mitchell returned her greeting. “Are you OK?” She glared at Mitchell for a few moments after he asked this question. Her stare wasn’t angry, it was more what Mitchell would consider to be empty. Mitchell assumed she was trying to put the words together to make a response.
“I’m fine, I think.” She looked back to the floor. “No, I’m not.” She started to cry again. Mitchell wanted to ask her what it was, but he got it at this point. It was half Brynn and half general situation; so he was right on both fronts. His other instinct was to tell her to calm down and that it would all be OK, but it would’ve been a lie. “We’re going to die, aren’t we?” She whispered this question to him, but it felt like one of the hardest hitting questions that Mitchell had ever been asked.
“We’re...” When he started his sentence he noticed that Darren had looked up at him with the same look as earlier. Mitchell assumed he was waiting for him to answer Madison’s question and he was going to analyze everything he said. He reconsidered his response. “We are alive now, that’s what matters. I don’t know what’s going to happen.” It was the vaguest response he could muster. He didn’t want to sound hopeless and he didn’t want to anger Darren any more than he had already.
“That's it? That's your hopeful response?” Madison looked back up at him with a look of anger and disappointment. She let out a heavy sigh mixed with a grunt. It was a sound that could be used if one was asked to define anger. Mitchell guessed it also crept into the categories of frustration and hopelessness. “I'm guessing you don't have anything better.” She looked over at Darren.
'”What?” Her question obviously caught him off guard. “You're asking if I have anything better than 'I don't know'? Sorry, but I don't.” His focus went back to his daughter reading her book.
“Of course you don't. That's because there's nothing left. You three are sitting over there like it's a lazy Sunday afternoon. While Mitchell sits in his corner staring at that notebook. None of us are going to survive this, are we? We're all dead. When he gets done with us, he's going to shoot us and then throw us out back to be eaten by giant tongue eating bugs.” She stopped her freak out for a second to catch her breath. “Hell, for all we know he's going to torture us and bring some infected into the room so he can study their feeding habits while they tear our flesh off and eat us alive.” Her statements were getting gradually more grotesque; a sure sign that she was starting to lose her grip.
“Madison, chill.” Darren's voice thundered from the corner. “That is enough! Just calm down and be patient. One of us will think of something.” He looked back down at Lilly. “And it's not like a 'lazy Sunday afternoon', I am worried. I'm just making sure that I'm able to spend time with my daughter and wife just in case.”
“It's Friday daddy.” Lilly hit him with a correction.
“I know it's Friday honey. Let's finish your book.” He looked back down and Lilly went right back to reading. Madison's jaw lurched forward in preparation of another statement, but she stopped herself just before saying anything. She pulled back and looked at Mitchell. Neither said anything. She sighed and went back to her sulking position. Mitchell looked back down at his notebook and what he had written so far. 'Aria, we're at a point now where the end is in sight. I feel like I've given up entirely and Darren appears to want the role of martyr. I'm certain that he's
going to do something to get himself killed. I don't want that to happen, but I have no way of stopping him. Madison I'm not so sure about.' He steadied the pen at the end of this sentence and crossed it out. He moved to the end of the now removed sentence and started writing again. 'Madison appears to be losing her grip on sanity. She's not going crazy, but more so has lost her ability to accept what may happen.' He stopped there and closed the notebook. This wasn't how he wanted to end his new entry, but he had run out of things to say.
“Do you know why I became a doctor?” Madison sounded like she wanted to talk, so Mitchell perked his ears and listened. “I wanted to cure cancer, or the common cold; both seem to be impossible.” She stopped, she seemed to be hoping that someone would join in on this discussion.
“That makes sense. A lot of doctor's strive to cure the diseases that are currently death sentences. They usually want their name in the books for it, but it's still a noble thing to do.” Mitchell quietly responded.
“My sister died of cancer when I was twelve. She was ten years old when it finally took her life. She was diagnosed a few days after her ninth birthday with an osteosarcoma.” Madison looked up at Mitchell. “Sorry, bone cancer. Malignant high-grade bone cancer to be exact. She was OK at the beginning but within a few months she would scream in pain. I always told her that she'd be OK, that she'd make it through it. Even though I knew it was a lie, I kept telling her and myself, that she was going to be fine. When she finally died, I lost it. The only thing that kept me somewhat sane was that my promise wasn't kept. I told her that they'd find a cure and she'd be back in school, or that she'd have boys tripping over themselves to get with her in high-school and that she just had to stick around for it.” Madison started to cry again. “Because I couldn't keep my promise to her, I became a doctor and promised myself that I would be the one to cure it. Not treat it, not better manage it, cure it. That's why I took Brynn's case so personally.”
