Satellite

Chapter 19 - Interlude

"Damn thing got you good, huh?" Wes chuckled and nudged Drake's shoulder.

      The sergeant was holding a wet rag against his black eye and had the most grumpy face possible. "Fucker came out of nowhere..."

      The two were sitting at the back of the truck together after the team scrounged up what they could from the gun store. Word quickly got around about his and (Y/N)'s encounter with the large fiend. It nearly almost took his life away in a matter of seconds.

      But it was also a surprise to hear that the nurse was the one able to save Drake's life. With just a knife, she killed the large fiend while it was down before it could sink its teeth into Drake's ankle. While they have lost members during the initial rise, it has been days since any losses occurred. It quickly reminded them all that any day could be their last if they weren't careful enough.

      (Y/N) was still in shock of it all. She just killed her first fiend...

      She's never had to raise a weapon before, not even something like a knife. The nurse sat on the other side of the truck with Dell who tried to ease her nerves by rubbing her shoulder. Hearing that (Y/N) had killed a fiend came as a surprise to her friend. She was worried but was glad that she didn't get hurt despite her condition.

      After leaving the store, returning to these trucks, and letting his mind finally process what happened, Drake was starting to see the infected nurse a little differently...

      He didn't take her as the type to let someone die. She was a nurse after all. But considering she hated his guts and possibly his entire existence, it wouldn't be too much of a shock if she just didn't do anything and let him get bit. Purposely or not.

      It would be karma for him shooting her in the head. He shook his head at the thought.

      His only reason for not liking her is simply because he doesn't trust her and what the drug has done to her. She's infected but she's not a fiend. Her condition versus the fates of so many others was something his team and maybe Satellite itself didn't understand. She may be safe to be around now but who's to say she won't be later down the line? Who's to say her success story won't just turn into another failure? 

     The drug has done the exact opposite of what it was made for. Something happened in between finalizing and shipping that made the TAP drug become so disastrous as it was right now. (Y/N) didn't get a dose of the pre-TAP drugged that worked in the test trials, she got the same dose as the rest of the nation. She may be a success now, but with how unpredictable the drug has been, what if she really isn't?

      A part of his mind still clung to the belief that she could go full zombie at any moment. She wasn't being kept locked up or separated from the team thanks to Rose. It would be easy for her to grab the nearest person and sink her teeth into them if the drug in her system did decide to make her another mindless and aggressive fiend.

      It all just came down to him just wanting to protect his team. His military mindset made them his priority above all else.

      But after today, he was beginning to rethink some things now...

      Rose was convinced that (Y/N) was some type of cure and Drake promised the older man to keep her safe for that reason. Even if he didn't trust her.

      But... she did save his life.

      (Y/N) on the other hand was trying to understand what got her to grab that knife and kill the large fiend. It all felt like it happened within a second for her.

       She remembers seeing Drake struggle to fight off the big brute who got the jump on them. Drake may have been a trained soldier and had the muscles to show his strength, but no one could've took on something as tall and bulky as that fiend. Especially when it moved like a rabid animal determined to kill anything that breathed. Fiends had become something that (Y/N) now feared. Just hearing their harsh growls sent a shiver up her spine. She was lucky that they didn't seem to pay her any mind which they recently discovered.

      But that didn't mean others had the same luck as hers. If she can even call being a successful case of a dangerous drug lucky...

      So what possessed her to grab that knife and sink it into the fiend's head? She didn't know. But after seeing Drake, someone who's strong in combat and takes on fiends as if they were nothing but easy targets... start losing to one.

       She remembers seeing the look on his face that believed he was going to die in that very moment and suddenly her anger and resentment toward him washed away for just that moment. That expression reminded her of patients who came to the hospital believing they were going to die due to illness or fatal injuries. Something about those faces reminded her of why she pursued medicine in the first place. She made an oath to help people like Drake in that moment...

      So she grabbed that knife and stabbed that fiend in the head. Instead of sitting by and letting that fiend bite him, she killed it.

      And she saved Drake. The same person who shot her in the head.

      Her eyes glanced over to where he sat with Wes and held a wet rag against his bruised eye. Dell had cleaned up the scratches on his face and neck. In her words, he was lucky the thing didn't rip his skin off.

      It was going to take some time before she ever considered him as anything more than 'the guy who shot her.' The same can be said for the rest of this team and Satellite Corporation as a whole.

      But just like Drake, she also started to rethink some things.

      Drake felt a pair of eyes on him and glanced up with his singular one to meet the nurse's. (Y/N) would've looked away but didn't for some reason.

      To hate the other was easy.

      To not trust the other was easier.

      They simply had to tolerate the others' presence until whatever next comes. Whether it be getting to that facility or if something else arises.

      But the incident surely did leave them both conflicted.