AM13 Outbreak Shorts

Crackdown - Four

That boy...I wonder what happened to his family. I tap my pen aimlessly against my chin as I think. I don't want to think about that boy anymore. In an idea world I wish I could just forget about him so that I could carry on with my life, but I can't. Every single time I let my mind wander it's all about him. He's consuming me, killing me slowly. His body, the blood, the unmistakable stench of death...it's all too much.

"Come on, mate," Enrico says with a weak smile as he stands at the end of my desk staring down at me a little bit like I'm something from a zoo. I can see his gaze flicker towards the bottle of extra strong pain killers that are sitting there, the ones that I was supposed to stop taking years ago, but he doesn't say anything about it. I can tell he can see that I really cannot hack it today. The life lecture can come some other time, thank you very much. "We've got to head over to the specialist medical facility. There's been some reports of some chaos over there."

"The hospital?" I ask, the fog in my brain clouding over. "Really?"

"No, that facility they set up for the infected."

I want to give out a spiteful laugh at that remark. After what I've seen recently I don't think any specialist facility will be having much success in solving all of this. The infected are inhuman, they're unlike anything I've ever seen before. I don't think there's any point trying to cure it because it's utterly ridiculous. I could argue this point with Enrico, I could tell him that I cannot be bothered to over to what is effectively a morgue, but I don't. I don't think I have the emotional energy to argue. I'll just take it on the chin now and keep it all inside.

"Yeah sure," I sigh while pushing myself into a standing position. Every inch of my body feels achy and weary, it's as if I've been in a boxing ring or something. "Whatever we've got to do."

Enrico lets me stew in my misery on the drive over. I can't stand to look at the disgusting state of the world anymore so I slide my eyes closed as he drives. Maybe I even fall asleep, I'm not quite sure. It's probably a good thing if I do since I haven't slept well for ages. I can't remember the last time I climbed into bed and I simply fell to sleep without any issues. It was long before all of this started anyway, and it's only got worse since I became a murdering son of a bitch.

It isn't until the car comes to a stop and I snap my eyes back open again that Enrico says anything to me. "Sorry for dragging you along on this trip," he says regretfully. "I just thought that you could use a bit of time away from the station. You look...you look like you're struggling at the moment." He turns in his seat to look at me with sheer concern in his eyes. "You know there is always someone to talk to if you need to. I'm always here."

"I know," I reply in a croaky tone of voice. The emotion is thick in my throat making it a struggle for me to get my words right out. "I know, Enrico. Thank you. What...erm, what do we need to do in here?"

"I think it's just control, I don't know the full details." Enrico offers me a one-shouldered shrug. "I suppose it must be hard for them all to keep control over the virus victims, I don't know how they're doing it."

"Or why," I say coldly, unable to keep my bitterness in any longer. "But I suppose someone needs to try and help."

"Of course." Enrico seems stunned by my outburst. "Or it'll just get worse. If there isn't anyone trying to find a cure to all of this then it'll just get worse and worse. More people will get infected."

I roll my eyes, forcing myself to keep my unwanted opinions in and I push myself out of the car. We walk towards the small, innocuous-looking building rapidly and purposefully, as if we're doing some good. I keep up the appearance that I agree with what we need to do with work. I'm an officer of the law, not someone who's supposed to fall apart at the seams. I want to make a comment that it doesn't look like the sort of place where anything good can happen, but I don't bother. What would be the point?

Enrico pushes the door open and I stand behind him while we go inside. Already there's noise and chaos, my heart instantly leaps up into my throat as terror becomes all of me. There's a sense inside of my chest that this might be more than just chaos, that there might be something more dramatic going on in here than just a bit of crowd control.

If I'm honest, I think everything has gone to hell.

"Help us," a red-haired woman gasps at me and Enrico, her eyes wide and full of unbridled fear. "Please, help all of us."