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Loud, motor-like snoring echoed through a cell phone. Belonging to a sleeping patient as her head lay beside it. Its screen still on, showing the source of the snoring. A partial view of a sleeping boy’s face. “Should we wake them?” A nurse, already fitted in her protective equipment, hesitates to open the door to the patient’s room. Behind the nurse, stood a shorter doctor also suited in her protective layers. “Either open the door Nurse Rue, or I push you through it.” Rue bit her lip, then replied: “And a good morning to you, Doctor Isla.” Rue exhales out, then enters the patient’s room. Bright lights activate above and fill the room with harsh light. Apart from the tangled mess of cedar-colored hair that spills over the white bed sheet. The entire room was like a plain canvas. If it weren’t for the crowd of tech around the hospital bed beeping away, the room would be completely silent. A tranquil melody played over the device. No doubt the reason both fell asleep on a call. The
"Recording us?" A stranger's face entered Cole's vision. He leans over her, a gun in his grip as he studied the female patient. Looking over her from head to toe. Faint breaths escape her lips. As she tried to resist the cold grip that crept up each of her limbs. The man lingering looked years older, with wild hair tousled on his head and a beard. His light hair appeared as red as the flashing lights, but Cole guessed it had to be silver. Strands of his beard dangle below his chin as he speaks. His voice is gentle at first, and slightly husky. The stranger’s eyes are a deep dark, like looking in a bottomless pit. They wander over her vulnerable figure, taking in the sight of her dying state. In the corners of her vision, Cole vaguely spots four others. They wander the room in silence. "Little girl. What were you recording? Uh? You doing that for your friend...? Can’t you see, she’s abandoned you? Just like the others. Just like my boy...” He says with a hint of pain and resentment i
"You…" Cole breathes in and out, calming her heart which was beating too fast for her to focus. "You said you were a doctor." She mentioned."Y-Yes." Vincent reaches into his back pocket. "I can show you."Cole tensed, but when Vincent took out his work badge and wallet her shoulders relaxed. "Look", Vincent spoke as he held up the badge. "That's me… Vincent Lance."She studied the badge with her eyes. His name and picture were on it. "Saint Hallman?" Cole read the top of the badge. "Saint Hallman's Hospital was destroyed four years ago." She looked at him curiously, remembering how the building glowed in the night. Like a torch against the night sky, Saint Hallman burned while Cole and Doctor Isla viewed the horror from the safety of a helicopter."You were there?" Cole wore a look of disbelief."Yes." Vincent pressed his lips together after admitting it."Then you knew a doctor…" Cole hesitated, then decided to describe the doctor. "She's not very tall… Brown hair, long, usually wit
"Cole?" A voice echoes in the darkness of her mind. Slowly luring her back to consciousness. Cole opens her eyes partway to see a worried young boy leaning over. A plastic rod in his hand, he pokes at her thigh as if checking to see if she was alive. "Hey. Can you hear me?"The patient tilts her head, looking through foggy vision to see there were others entering."What the fuck happened, Tuck?" Eris says when he sees the patient."I don't know, man. I just found her I swear." Tuck says."Fuck, I don’t need this right now." She hears Eris grumble while he steps away. Cole thought both of them were going to leave, when he re-entered the bathroom with a pink throw blanket. "Hey kid." Eris speaks softly, despite the clear annoyance in his gaze. "Let me help you up."Cole's gray eyes peek to see Eris extend his arm toward her. His tall frame shadows Cole's smaller form as her eyes fill with dread. Cole's heart beats harder the more he neared. Reeling to the surface, the memory of their fi
"She's asleep..." Vincent whispers to a curious Eris, who re-entered the room with a tray of food.“Great", Eris sighs, "An hour in the kitchen and two flights of stairs...""Guess there'll be leftovers". Vincent whispers as he tucks in the patient. Carefully gathering her long hair with his hands, before slipping on a hair tie. This allowed him more access to her neck as he wipes away the perspiration on her pale skin with a clean towel. "She's got a temperature of 110." He tells Eris, wiping away the sweat from her face as well."Infection?" Eris wonders."It's too early to tell. For now, let's let her sleep." Vincent decides.The pair exit the bedroom, turning off lights as they went, and washing up in an adjacent room. A single bedroom made into two… Modified to fit the living requirements of a fragile patient and prevent the risks of a domestic outbreak. Time passes as the pair vigorously clean and prep for the next day.Only when they part from the purgative room and enter the h
Cole sat up in bed, her pulse beating wildly as her gray eyes look around the pitch-black room. Sweat leaking down her forehead. Travelling down the curve of her neck and soaking into the collar of her gown. She lifts her right arm, trying to locate the bedside lamp when the noise comes again.Bang!She jolts in her spot, and immediately recognizes the noise as a gunshot. This time there was no mistaking it.Dread poured over her body, flooding down to the tips of her fingers and toes. She trembled uncontrollably, her gray eyes watering as she could not think of what to do.Cole stayed put for the duration of the silence that followed. Until a multitude of footfalls echo past her bedroom. She finally slipped from bed. Sliding off the side of the mattress and onto the cool tiled floor. Cole shifted her gaze toward the bedroom window. Observing the ray of pale moonlight that filled a spot on the floor. Then to the right of it. She could faintly see the pile of luggage in the corner of t
Eris's voice comes from Vincent's radio as he says something in his native language. Cole listened curiously as Vincent responded, chatting back and forth until Eris finished. Saying: "Entendi, obrigado." "You're so quiet…" Vincent observes, while he carefully wraps her shoulder with new bandages. "Are you in any pain?" He wondered. A look of concern surfacing in his green eyes again. Cole secretly thought his round eyes resembled a timid stray pup. How can a grown man look so… adorable? She stares senselessly into the pair of eyes, admiring the lush green of them. "Cole?" Vincent blinks nervously as he stops what he's doing to look at his patient. "I want to know what's going on", he whispers, "but… it's kinda hard when you don't talk." Cole shifted her gaze at last. Pretending to find the bathroom floor interesting, before she comes up with an answer. "I… It's just… you're so different from Isla… More…" Cole struggles when the heat rises to her cheeks. "More… what?" Vincent's
"I- I am wearing gl-gloves." Cole barely manages to get out. Rambling: "It's only cards. Tuck assured me they were sterile. He even brought me this bed-tray, so nothing touched the sheets…" Vincent looks at his patient in silence. Shifting his gaze to the cards, which were set on a firm bed table, and Cole was indeed wearing latex gloves too… With a deep breath, Vincent set the food aside. "Alright…" He speaks softly, the crease between his brows slowly disappears as he neared. "Let me take that so you can have your meal." Cole glanced one last time before setting the cards down. The doctor seemed calm… at least that's how he appeared now. "Leave the gloves too." Vincent points with his eyes, to which Cole understood and discarded them. She watched as Doctor Lance took the table and set it with the other items. Then he brought her the food, carefully putting it on the bed where she could reach. "It’s not a five-star meal so… if you don't like it, don't eat it." He says, turning to