Practicing Medicine // Complete

Chapter Twenty Two

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The window shattered. The layers of skin separated. The eyes spun in circles as the flesh turned black and bumpy as it sloughed off his skull.

I turned away.

The window shattered. The layers of skin separated. The eyes spun in circles as the flesh turned black and bumpy as it sloughed off his skull...

I buried my head in my hands, but my eyes wouldn't stop seeing.

"Hey Volker, do you see that? I think there's something in the window-"

I jumped forwards, but it was too late. The window shattered. The layers of skin separated. His eyes puffed out of their sockets and the blood poured down out

the blood poured down out of his nose and around his ears. He opened up a maw full of broken teeth and stared at me with his swollen eyes. His skin was white as snow.

White as snow... The other one was white as snow- Volker. Coffee grounds were slipping out the corners of his mouth. His stomach had exploded inside him. His blood was burning hot with disease.

God, his skin was so hot- so hot that it was coming off. His skin was coming off all over the floor, but he would be okay. It was okay. I was there. I put my hands on his chest, and then the bullet ripped through his jaw.

I tasted his blood on my face. Bright red blood, sprayed across jagged teeth and hanging skin. A living avulsion. I tried to put his head back together, but the pieces ran through my fingers. Empty eyes full of blood-

I looked away. Empty eyes full of blood and tears begged me to keep trying, until his forehead caved in and his eyeballs popped out of their sockets. The monster turned her iron on me.

"I don't want to die," I said, but the words were trapped in my throat. Hot metal punched through my chest- a sound I'd never forget. I shook my head.

"I don't want to die." My glasses shattered. Blood ran down my forehead. I felt my whole body prickling. I rolled onto the floor; the skin was sloughing off my bones.

"I don't want to die!" My head was buzzing violently as my lungs collapsed and my stomach exploded inside of me. My blood ran hot with disease.

"I'm not going to die," I decided. I pointed my pistol at it, because when the bullet hit then it would split and deflate like a vacuum tube. My finger was wrapped around the trigger, and all I had to do was squeeze...

"Isaac, baobie, are you okay? You're shaking."

My eyes snapped open- The morning air of the waking world felt cold against my skin. Up above me, the orange roof of the tent was being pelted by a steady shower of rain. I could feel Savanna's body behind my own, holding me close with her arms wrapped tight around my chest.

I sighed.

"Yeah. I'm okay." I turned my head to the side, and realized that I was holding my six-gun in my hand. My finger was resting on the trigger. "Just- just a bad dream. That's all."

I dropped the gun. 'Just a bad dream-' god, if only I'd known! I laid my head back into Savanna's chest, and tried to let the images fade away. But those were sights I couldn't unsee, sounds I couldn't unhear; The waking world offered no escape from the pictures that had burned themselves into my brain. I tried closing my eyes, but that only made the blood more vivid. I could practically smell it as it ran down my face, and soaked through my clothes. There'd been so much blood, much more than any person should have inside them...

"Are you sure that you're okay?" asked Savanna. I dug my teeth into my lip.

"No."

And then I started crying. Quietly, at first, but after the first few shuddery sobs, I guess some sort of dam broke, because after that I just lost it. I broke away from Savanna, pressed my forehead against the tarp floor, and wailed like a baby in a vat of acid. Soon, hot tears were pooling up around my uncontrollably running nose.

"Oh- Oh, Isaac..." Savanna crawled up next to me and draped her jacket over my back. I tried to look at her through the tears.

"I don't- I don't get this! It don't make any sense!" My arms and legs were shaking too much to hold me up, so I collapsed onto my stomach. Savanna didn't say nothing; she just grabbed me under my arms, lifted me up into her lap, and put a cool hand on my forehead. I could feel my whole body shuddering in her embrace.

"I'm so sorry," I whimpered, trying in vain to wipe away the tears in my eyes. Savanna squeezed me against her.

"It's almost over, Isaac. We're so close now." That should have comforted me, but I just started crying harder. Because the truth was, I didn't care how close we were. I didn't want to be close, I wanted to be done! I'd seen things that a kid's not supposed to see, and now no matter how close to or far away from New Vegas I got, I was never going to escape that.

In that moment, I knew that I'd be stuck with this horrible journey for the rest of my life.

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