Oh my apocalypse [YiZhanFF]

Part 14. The Old Man

It was late afternoon when Zhan and Yibo woke up, unable to sleep any longer. Still so much time before they could finally leave. And with each additional hour they spend in this place that is eerie to both of them, the more uncomfortable they feel. Why do they feel so much more uncomfortable in a place without creatures and obvious danger?

To kill at least a few minutes of the many hours, Zhan asked, "What was your childhood like? I told you about mine, and I'd be interested to know how you grew up."

Yibo sighed, a topic he didn't like to talk about, before saying, "An up and down I would say. My first 8 years of life were very happy. My parents were always happy, loving and attentive. I had many friends and lacked nothing. Then, however, my father lost his job because of a colleague who had wrongly accused him of a crime. At that time, the evidence was already in favor of my father's innocence, but two incompetent police officers did a bad job. My father was not only given a criminal record with a suspended sentence, but also lost his job. Out of anger and desperation, because no one wanted to hire him after that, because he was a convicted criminal, he started to drink. And the hard time, which already lasted 1 year at that time, became even harder. My father, when he drank, was quiet and went to sleep when he was drunk. But that was only if he was left alone. My mother learned that the hard way when she scolded him for drinking all the time. She tugged on him because she was so angry that my father drank away our money. And my father tried to fight her off. This was when I was 11 years old. Anyway, he fought off her yelling, screaming, and hitting him on his arm. He gave her a little push, I saw it myself, she stumbled, fell and landed with her chin on the table in the living room. She had a broken jaw. Immediately it was said everywhere that my father was violent and he was even threatened with imprisonment. But my mother could clear it up fortunately. In the neighborhood, however, it was still said that my father was a brutal thug. At school, my friends got rid of me, also because I was suddenly considered destitute, and we lost our home in the end. When I turned 12, we moved, my father went to therapy and finally found an employer who listened to him and gave him a chance. And, the crime of that time was finally solved. My father got compensation from the state for the wrongful punishment. But the trauma remained. And for me, things started to come up again, too. "

"I see, so presumably, because of your father's story, you became a policeman?"

"Yes, exactly. Because with two incompetent police officers, my father's downward spiral eventually began."

"Mhm, if just one makes a mistake, it can destroy the life of a whole family. It's even like that in my profession. If I make a mistake in an operation and a patient will suffer consequential damage or even die, I have not only destroyed his life, but that of the whole family."

"I see. Was there any particular reason you became a doctor?"

"I thought the white coats were great haha. No, I've always been interested in it. There wasn't any other reason."

"So you always knew you wanted to be a doctor?"

"Exactly."

"Ah what time is it now Zhan?"

"Exactly 6 pm."

"Damn, at least 4 more hours until we can move on."

"Um, don't forget, you wanted to check out the police station too. And honestly? We're basically supposed to just drive on it. There are no creatures here, no people. And since we'll be hours on the road to our next destination anyway, and we won't pass any towns or villages, what's to stop us?"

"So you mean we're driving in daylight?"

"Yes exactly. I suggest we pack everything up, put it in the car, drive to the police station and then get out of here."