𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦

✮13. Hey, doc✮

We did not dare breathe. 'What the hell was that?'  was  the expression written in Dylan's wild eyes when he looked at me. Both of us were confused but our fear far exceeded our confusion. 

"Was that an undead?", I slowly whispered, my voice as faint as the crickets' chirping. Dylan turned his head into the direction of the scream, "It sounded like one."

"We should go warn the others, what if it got past the gate?", I said. I was about to run to our tents when we heard a few hushed voices and hurried footsteps coming our way. Dylan pulled me by my arm and quickly led me behind a bush where we both crouched. "I told you to contain her, what part of that wasn't clear?", a frustrated voice said and I'd heard that voice before. Soon enough, Dr. Shekar came into view, closely followed by a few other doctors.

"Sir, we're trying but we got intel that she broke her restraints", one of the doctors replied in a worried voice. Dr. Shekar stopped in his tracks, and took out a napkin to wipe sweat off of his forehead, clearly showing that he was under a lot of stress. "Well, we need to calm her down, we're lucky that scream wasn't heard by anyone", Dr. Shekar continued, "Orwell, I thought I told you to give her 75 mg of promethazine?" The doctor he questioned replied from behind him, clutching his clipboard, "I did, along with 50 mg of haloperidol" They all stayed quiet for a few moments and one of the doctors said, "Doctor, these huge doses are lethal in normal cases and we've given the subject every sedative we have access to, I'm sorry but this seems hopeless."

"That 'subject' is my daughter you're talking about", Dr. Shekar said in a low raspy voice, pointing to the female doctor who immediately turned her gaze towards the ground. Holy shit, I thought and I looked over to Dylan, who still was focused on the doctors. Snapping me out of my thoughts, Dr. Shekar cleared his throat and said, "I am willing to do anything to save her, anyone who wants to leave can leave", he looked around for a few seconds but none of the doctors seemed reluctant despite the troubled looks on their faces.

Just then from behind us, noise of a few footsteps came, which startled the group of white coats and Dylan and I, making us crouch even lower. "Oh hey, doc. Getting pretty late, don't you think?", said one voice. As I squinted harder, I noticed that there were two army men standing. "Ya man, we already have doctors on night duty, what are you bunch upto?", questioned the other. Dr. Shekar forced a smile and said, "Oh, we just came by to help out more with the wounded", he continued, "I thought you troops needn't be stationed this side of the camp."

"We just came by to grab something to eat, we're headed back to the gates now. Goodnight", one of the troops said and left. "That was close. See, that's why we need to be careful. If they found out about us keeping her up the south clinic, it won't be good for any of us." With that the doctor motioned let's go to the rest and they all started walking towards the supposed 'south clinic'. 

Once we made sure they were gone and no one else was around, Dylan and I slowly rose up from behind the bush. I had a million thoughts running through my head and I could tell Dylan did too. He begun the conversation, "ok so-", he gave a pause, "I don't even know where to start."

"Ya I mean do we start with the fact that there's an undead on this safe haven or the fact that this doctor hasn't even informed the authorities", I said while taking the last leaf out of my hair. "It's his daughter, no wonder he's so determined", Dylan replied. "Look, I don't care about that, he's putting hundreds of lives in danger about doing that. He has no idea how every survivor has gotten here, what they lost and all they had to give up", I said agitatedly. Dylan nodded and then got quiet all of a sudden, probably because of how I raised my voice. Calming myself down I tried to come up with a plan, "Ok so should we tell someone?" As soon as Dylan opened his mouth, we heard a faint scream in the back. "We could but if he's contained her somewhere safe then what's the harm? If we tell on him, they're just going to shoot his daughter and probably  lock him up or something", he said.

"The curfew is happening at 4 tomorrow, and it's probably already 2", I considered. It's time to be practical, Diana, don't soften. "No", I shake my head at him, "We have to tell, we can't let anything infiltrate the rescue. I mean if he's that determined to cure the uncureble, there's no telling what he'll do. What if he gets her on the ship?"

"I guess you are right", Dylan replied, looking defeated. I could tell this was hard for him, I knew he cared a lot. "Alright let's go", I said and we started walking towards the directions of the army men who had come earlier. But we heard a screech again and behind us the female doctor who had spoken against Dr. Shekar earlier, came running, clutching her left elbow which looked as if it had been broken. "HELP ME!", she fell at our feet. "It's...it's gone rogue in there. She-she got out of the first chamber", she said between quick breaths. "Where is the south clinic?", I hurriedly ask her. "Be-behind the watch tower, far south behind the camp", she said and right then and there she passed out. I noticed a gun sticking from under her coat. She knew what was gonna come, I thought. Dylan picked her up and placed her behind the bushes, so she would be heavily covered. 

"Holy shit, we need to tell the officials", he said. "We don't have time, we have to go the south", I said, grabbing the gun from her coat in the bushes. Dylan nodded, "I'll set the emergency alarm, meet you at the south?"

"You bet", I said and took off.