The Plague Doctor [RATED R] ✓

(19) A Man's World

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PATIENT 02, ALSO KNOWN as Hunter, was strapped in a metal bed, light directly positioned in front of his face, making him squint. I was standing near the door while master Claudio, and two other nurses, were getting their equipment ready.

     "You know I've been in a similar situation before, but I was being interrogated at that time," Hunter casually says before glancing in my direction and giving me a wink. "How you doing darling?" He then asks, making me roll my eyes in annoyance.

     No one in the room paid him any mind, so Hunter didn't say anything anymore. Claudio then says something in a different language and one of the nurses immediately gave him a syringe filled with yellowish fluid.

     "We've already injected the first dose and there have been no signs yet," master Claudio explains while writing something down in his notebook. Afterward, he puts the notebook down and walks closer to Hunter to inspect his skin.

     One of the nurses said something again, but I still didn't understand it.

     "This is going to be a bit stronger," master Claudio warns, finally positioning the long needle in Hunter's arm. Hunter surprisingly doesn't complain or struggle as Claudio finally injects him with the fluid, but he did flinch.

     After a while, Claudio pulls away and checks Hunter's vital signs. The room was quiet for a while, probably about a few minutes, but then Hunter started coughing. It started with short and quick coughs, but eventually, it ended up sounding like he was moments away from dying.

     He starts salivating soon after, yet no one in the room said or did a thing. No one moved a muscle and continued to observe him. It was honestly a disturbing sight, but I couldn't look away either. Something about this intrigued me.

     "Rashes are appearing in his neck," Claudio says as he reaches out for his head to see the said rashes better. Thankfully they were all wearing gloves. That would have been disgusting.

     Hunter's face was now completely red, and then he started screaming, probably because of the burning sensation. Soon after, he turns his head and starts vomiting on the bucket that's just beside the bed, and the sight of it finally made me look away.

     "Two minutes," master Claudio says, and one of the nurses rushes to Hunter and injects something into him again.

     It took a while, but Hunter starts to calm down. The rashes also started to disappear in an instant. Claudio says something in a different language again and Hunter eventually fell asleep. "We'll continue tomorrow," Claudio adds before removing his gloves and throwing them inside a bin.

     "We're done here. Let's go," he tells me, disinfecting his hands before stepping out of the room. I didn't say anything and just followed behind him, and as soon as we got to the lobby area just outside the laboratory, I spot Pacific and Lady playing cards while three nurses watched over them.

     Lady puts his cards down and looks at us with a bright smile. "Oh, Mr. Doctor, would you mind playing a few rounds with us?" He asks with a feminine voice, and Pacific instantly showed a bitter look, obviously not thrilled with what Lady said.

     Thankfully Claudio wasn't the kind to play cards with his patients as he says, "You can go ahead. I still have things to do."

     Lady nods his head and waves us goodbye as Claudio and I walked towards the elevator that only the master could access. As I said before, the third floor of the manor was locked because it's a section specifically for the patients. I'm just glad we're finally leaving this eerie place.