The Wires{Got The Best of Him}

Welcome

 The car ride was long and eerily silent. Aaron's mind kept going back to the words the driver said earlier. He already knew the chances of him being able to return were low, but 'no one else is coming out'? The way he said suggested that everyone else was gone... But that would be impossible. Not everyone was infected. They'd have no reason to take them away. There was an alternative, of course, but he didn't want to think about that. He didn't want to think about the fact that his neighbors were either dead or in the same place he was heading.

They'd arrived. The building was in the countryside, big and gray and unremarkable. It could be compared to a big block of cement. There were no windows, at least, not any with glass in them. Barred openings were scattered along the front of the building.

"Get out of the car. Approach the guards at the front and tell them what your symptom is. They'll lead you to your room. If you try to run, they will shoot you." The driver instructed him from the front of the car. Aaron felt the color drain from his face when he heard 'they will shoot you'. He wasn't even inside the building and he was afraid.

He opened up the door and stepped outside. The police car sped off immediately. There was a single set of double doors, exactly the same shade of gray as the wall. In front of them stood two guards. Around the gray building was woods. The woods surrounded the entire place, stretching as far down the road as he could see. The ground underneath him was a large slab of concrete. It looked newer and cleaner than any sidewalk he'd ever seen.

He walked up to the doors slowly, trying to stop shaking. This place was giving off the same vibe he imagined a prison would. It certainly looked the part.

The guards didn't really acknowledge him when he walked up to them. They asked him the question the police car driver said they would, but they seemed detached. Like they were sleepwalking. One of the guards held the door open and the other one walked inside. Aaron followed him inside.

The interior looked duller than the outside, if that was even possible. The hallway they stepped into when they entered the building seemed to not end. It was so long he couldn't see the end. To the left and right of him, there were doors. Brown, unremarkable doors. Every so often, a barred window. It was deadly silent. The only noise was his and the guard's footsteps against the stone floor. As they continued down the corridor, his head started to pound. The pure repetition of the place was messing with him. Not a single thing was different. There weren't even number plates on the doors to help convince him they weren't just walking in a loop. An impossible loop.

The end of the corridor was drawing nearer. Or was it? There were little dots appearing in his vision. He was 99.9% sure he was going to pass out before the reached his room. His vision went black and he felt the sensation of fallin--

He woke up with a pounding headache. There was a bandage around his head and he was lying on something soft. He looked around and saw nothing but gray. Where am I? When did I pass out? Why is there a bandage around my head? Then he noticed something he hadn't seen before. There was someone staring at him from the center of the room. And who the fuck is that guy?

"Ah, you're awake. You should probably stay in bed. I heard from the guard you fainted and hit your head pretty hard, Aaron."

"Who are you?" And why do you know my name?

"Don't tell me you got amnesia. I'm Josh remember? I know you haven't seen me in a while, but jeez."

"Josh..." Aaron thought as much as he could without agitating his headache. "As in Joshua Bell?"

"That's my name, don't wear it out."

"Where are we? I don't really remember how--" Suddenly Josh started to cough, interrupting Aaron. He sounded terrible. When he stopped, Aaron noticed there was blood on his arm.

"Sorry about that. I can't control when the coughing starts, but I guess you knew that already. I'm gonna clean myself up, I'll be back." He walked through another door that Aaron hadn't noticed before because of how well it blended into the wall.

He was coughing up blood... That's the second worse symptom. Poor Josh...

This chapter is considerably shorter than the first one. 'Bout 100 words shorter. I don't know how to feel about that, considering a literally wrote this in an hour. As I said in the last chapter, I wrote this very quickly so there's bound to be some grammar mistakes. Please tell me if you find any.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i am on a roll today. like i said, i did change some stuff, but it was mostly just descriptions and making this easier to read. nothing too important.