An Apocalyptic Invasion

i convince someone that they're delusional

When Todd woke up, he was laying on a couch in a large room.
The room looked nice, modern. The door had a sleek design, with a triangular window. There were two other couches next to his.
There was also an oval mirror above a sink, at the back corner of the room.
There were a few abstract paintings on the wall and one leaning against the sink, but nothing too remarkable.
He got up and almost fell over. His legs felt like jelly.
He stumbled a few steps forward, grabbing on to the sink for support.
Is the room supposed to be spinning? he thought.
He waited until the tilting was over, then carefully, slowly, lifted his head.
His hair was, more or less, back to normal. Some of the color in his eyes came back so they weren't as dark as before. His skin received more color.
Am I... returning back to normal? Why? One moment I was a corpse and now... I'm starting to become more alive.
Whatever injected the needle into his body must've had the antidote to the virus. If Todd could get his hands on it, he might have a chance to stop the plague.
His legs felt normal again. He backed away from the mirror and ran out the room.
He grabbed the railing and looked down. He was back on the hundredth floor. Below him, workers milled about, eating donuts or lounging in the lobby.
It struck him on how much power Carlos had; this entire building was refurbished and turned into a magnificent headquarters.
He also had a feeling that he was the leader of a gang- what was the name of it? He had no idea, but he hoped to find out.
He looked around for the door he went through earlier. Once he got to it, he grabbed the handle and pulled on it.
The door wouldn't budge. He thought that, perhaps, it was stuck until he noticed the lock turned to the left.
Well, shit. There was no point in trying to open it now. He could wait for someone to open it, but that would probably take forever.
It was daytime now, which made it harder to navigate throughout the building.
As his luck would have it, there was a map of the building to his right.
It was one of those metal ones you see at national parks or sightseeing places. A white circle was over the area he was in, with the "You are here" above it.
Todd traced his finger along a specific route. If he followed it, the path would take him to the lobby, where he could leave the building without anyone seeing him.
However, like any office skyscraper, the building was probably riddled with security cameras.
He went down a hallway and opened a door, which took him downstairs. As he was heading down the stairwell, something crashed inside the building.
Todd wanted to leave as soon as possible, but his curiosity got the better of him.
The door at the bottom took him into the lobby. The two men who were in the warehouse had Shawn by his arms.
The crash was caused by a sign that was pushed by Carlos, who stood in front of Shawn with a knife close to his face.
"What did I tell you would happen if you gave me the wrong information?"
Shawn gulped. "Y-You would give me and the group a slow and p-painful death." His voice caught on the last word.
Carlos narrowed his eyes. "Uh-huh. And you know what happened? When my patrols got to the place you told us to go to, there was absolutely nobody. It was as empty as your body will be when I'm done TEARING... YOU... APART."
The last three words were accompanied by punches to Shawn's stomach. He grunted in pain and lowered his head.
"You know what?" Carlos said, his voice seething with anger and disgust. "I am so disappointed in you that I can't even look at you." He flicked his finger at the two men, who dragged Shawn away.
"Ugh," he said. "I just got some of that little rat's dirt on my hand."
He already knew Todd was there, so that sentence was directed towards him.
"You can't hit my brother like that," he said as he walked up to Carlos.
"On the contrary, I can," he replied. "He deserved it for giving me wrong info."
"How is he supposed to know where they would go next?" Todd asked demandingly.
"He should have an idea of where they would go next," Carlos shot back. "He's friends with them, isn't he?"
"Well, yes, but-"
"My point still stands. One of them could have let him know where they would move to, and he's just keeping that information from us."
Todd had to admit that he made a good point. "What are you going to do to the others?" he asked, trying to change the subject.
"Hold them for ransom and see if the other group is willing to comply," he answered.
"Why are you hunting them down?"
Carlos looked at him incredulously. "You mean, you don't know?"
"I don't involve myself with them," he admitted. "At least, I try not to. All they do is cause problems."
"Like you did when you kidnapped those babies?"
Now it was his turn to be shocked. "How do you know about that?"
"The father of the babies told me," Carlos said with a 'I've got you now' smirk.
Todd took a step back. "How- do you- are you friends with them?"
"Perhaps I am. Maybe I'm just making stuff up."
"I have something else to ask you," Todd said.
"Again?" he said wryly.
"What made me pass out?"
Carlos frowned. "What do you mean?"
"There.. there was something in the warehouse earlier, with glowing orange eyes. It... injected a needle or something into my arm."
"Todd, there was nothing that could've gotten in through the doors. I locked them and found you laying outside of them."
"But... it said something to me."
Todd recounted what the thing told him. Carlos's frown grew more concerned. "Are you sure you're alright? You must have imagined that; when we were carrying you, you were mumbling some incoherent shit."
"No. That had to be real." He was growing more and more panicked.
"I dunno what to tell you, man, but it wasn't. I mean, everything you saw before that was real, but you passed out shortly after that."
"I..." Todd didn't know what to do. He was absolutely, utterly, convinced that whatever happened earlier was true. The brush against his skin, the needle, the eyes- everything felt and seemed real.
He began to realize that he was doubting himself. He was always one to stay firm to his beliefs, but now he found himself doubting his knowledge of things and clinging on to those beliefs.
Riley suddenly appeared from one of the doors on the ground floor. "What's going on?"
"Todd says something happened to him that made him pass out," Carlos said.
She rested her elbow on his shoulder. "He might have passed out because of the intensity? That's the only explanation I can think of."
"That's what I was saying," he agreed. "But he seems insistent on what he's saying."
She looked at Todd. "Do you think you may have gotten drugged somehow?"
"I honestly don't know." Todd felt jealous of the closeness between the two- even though Riley was the one who put him in a tough situation, she was still super beautiful, and he couldn't believe someone like Carlos was best friends with her; he longed for a relationship like that since he was a young teen.
"Actually, that's a good thought." Carlos laid his eyes on him. "Did you eat anything, maybe you drank something?"
"I didn't receive any food, so no."
"Did you even stop to rest on your journey?" Riley asked.
"I mean, I was a walking corpse. I didn't think of resting since I was, you know, dead."
Carlos snapped his fingers on one hand. "Aha. That explains it. You were still alive, if we're being technical here. I think the lack of sleep caused you to hallucinate what happened to you."
He explained it so convincingly that, despite Todd's best efforts, he began to believe him. Lack of sleep has been scientifically and historically known to cause hallucinations, so what Carlos said wasn't that far off.
The bald man with the beard came in through the doors and went up to Carlos. "Sir, there's a visitor at the door for you."
"What do they look like?"
"Same height as her, has blonde hair and brown eyes."
"Yeah, let her in. She's not a danger unless you provoke her- by the way, I'm not telling you to do that."
The man laughed. "I'm pretty sure I got that. Alright, I'll let her in."
"Thanks, Mike."
The doors buzzed and the girl walked in. "Wow. If only I knew you would organize everything so fast, I wouldn't have offered help."
Carlos smiled. "I got a few friends that helped me out- large ones."
Todd's jealousy spiked as he watched the girl kiss Carlos on the cheek and hug Riley. So he has TWO girl best friends? Where has he been all my life?
"So is this him?" the girl asked him, looking at Todd.
"Yup. Todd, meet Sam, my other best friend."
"That was quite a stunt you pulled with the babies," she said, folding her arms.
Todd stared at Carlos. "You told her?"
He shrugged. "'Course- why wouldn't I tell her?"
"I don't want the whole world to know what I did," he snapped.
"You didn't tell me that he was so whiny," Sam said to him.
Carlos snorted. "Tell me about it. I've been dealing with him for the last three months, and he whined the entire time."
"And it's not the whole world," Riley answered him. "It's only two people."
Todd didn't mind people calling him whiny. He knew that it was true, but can he help it? Not really.
He also remembered the fact that, although Carlos was younger than he was, he lived way before Todd was born. If he had to guess, he was probably born in the early 2000s.
And it's the 7000s now, which means he's been alive for five-thousand-years, he thought with a jolt.
Sam stood protectively next to Carlos just like Riley, which meant that they've known each other for a long time as well.
They're genuine platonic relationships, he thought. Despite all of his flaws, Carlos really cares and loves them- that's why he toned down the aggression with Shawn when he was trying to get the info from him; he listens to Riley and respects her, and vice versa.
I don't know about Sam yet, though. I'm going to have to wait a while more to see something.
In spite of the circumstances, Todd was fascinated and jealous by the relationship Carlos had with the two girls; they clearly knew him better than Todd did, and weren't fazed by what he had done. They know that he's different- they don't care about what he's done, they only care that he doesn't hurt himself in the process.
"What were you thinking when you tried to kidnap those babies?" Riley asked.
Todd shrugged. "It was in the heat of the moment. At the time, I thought it was a good idea."
"Clearly, because the father of the babies is now hunting you and wants you dead because of your mistake," Carlos said, snorting.
Todd felt a sense of dread. "Really? H-He does?"
"He doesn't like it when his babies are taken- especially by a ragtag group of friends who were looking for your sister," Riley added.
"But surely he'll forget... right? As time passes?"
"Oh, no," Sam said. "Once someone does something that is unfair or rude to him, he has the memory of an elephant."
"So I'm pretty much screwed," Todd grumbled. "Got it."
"Hey, don't worry about it," Carlos assured. "He might just lay off hunting you. Might; not sure yet."
"Is there a chance that I can leave now?" he asked, hoping that Carlos would say yes.
To his dismay, Carlos shook his head. "Remember? You're going to help me find the other group, and then help me capture them. Maybe you'll have a special... job to do."
Todd shuddered. The special job sounded as fun as roasting his fingers off.
"Fine. If I'm going to help you, I think we should start now."
"Good idea, but right now we need to raid a gang's territory, and you're going to come with us," Carlos said.
"Do I have to?"
"If you can find anything to do to entertain yourself, then no. Otherwise, you're forced to come."
At least Todd tried to get out of it. "Where's this territory?"
"It's like twenty minutes away from here," Sam said. "Although using the special trucks will cut that down to five minutes."
"Special trucks?" Todd echoed.
Riley smiled. "Oh, yes. You'll see."