Bio Hazard

The Decision

The countdown continued, there was no way that Ruby had any hope of making a good decision in the time allowed. She forced herself to remain calm, taking a deep breath and exhaling.

"3... 2..."

"Alright, fine, you've got me," She spat, bitterness strong on her tongue once more, batting Paul's hand away from her throat and sliding to the side. She turned back around and glared at the grown man with a ferocity that would make a demon recoil, "What did you have in mind, O Great One?" She mocked with a spiteful sneer,

Paul huffed and sheathed his dagger in a sheath that had been previously hidden under his hoodie. This time he was the one that turned away, walking back into the apartment and sitting down in his rickety wooden chair, resuming the cleaning of his rifle, "Don' be so ungrateful, kid, you're lucky I let you in at all," He retorted, not looking up as he began to take the weapon apart, "And in answer to your question, I don' have anythin' in mind jus' yet,"

Ruby scoffed as she threw herself back down on the seat, sending moth balls airborne, "So basically, you're keeping me here against my will, all because you have no plan?" She jeered, "Or are you just a bit lonely?"

Since the infection, Ruby had found herself becoming increasingly bitter and sarcastic. It was always a trait her mother had tried to beat out of her. Not literally, Ruby's mother was one of the most caring of them all, but she disliked sarcasm and always taught against bitterness. But none of that mattered anymore. Her mother was most likely dead and the world was different anyway. If you're not bitter, you've probably had everything handed to you on a silver platter and so you were probably weak. Weakness was what people fed on these days. Ruby knew that her mother wouldn't have wanted Ruby to end up this way, but even she didn't come to search for her lost daughter. She failed to hold back a snort of laughter upon realising that Celeste probably convinced their families to run and abandon the teen. 

"You've got quite the mouth, li'l lady," Paul commented with his own bitterness clear on his tone, "Mind sharin' what you're laughin' at?" He had actually looked away from his rifle, but continued to pull the scrap of rag through the barrel, a small smirk playing on his lips, but his eyes showing major annoyance,

The teen looked at him and smirked, "Just thinking about the 'friend' that betrayed me," She replied simply,

Paul nodded, looking back down at his cleaning kit, replacing the rag on a string for a larger rag and a pot of oil. Ruby looked away, lying down on the sofa and looking up at the ceiling, watching the specs of dust dance in the musky air.

"I was betrayed too, y'know." Paul piped up, "I guess the same could be said for anyone," 

"Who was it?"

Paul sighed and put down his dismantled weapon again, leaning on his knees and brushing his forehead, "What's got you so interested all of a sudden?" He enquired, speaking up again before Ruby could answer, "Never mind."

He sat back up and leaned against the back of the chair, waiting for some acknowledgement from Ruby, who obliged by turning her head to face him briefly,

"Before all this started, I was a cop. Not particularly high up, but I had the respect of the people on the street. It was hard work, but people had actual respect for me, I could walk down the street and not have to worry about havin' to be a quick draw because some cop-hatin' kid raised by a family of people discriminated against by cops decided to pull his daddy's gun out on me. I was the main reason crime started fallin' aroun' these parts. I made the streets safe.

"When the chief found out about the rapport I had built with the citizens, he gave me a raise, but didn' want to promote me, because that would take me off the streets and into an office. I was bringin' good media attention to the police, I had colleagues fightin' to be my weekly runnin' partner for goin' on the beat because cops that were seen with me also had some trust given to them. It was great, I was sure that there was no way life could get any better. 

"And maybe I was right, because it sure as shit got worse. We got an emergency call from the CDC sayin' they were sendin' an officer from the Epidemic Intelligence Service down, and the guy arrived before the chief got off the phone. He came into the room where most of the guys were and the chief followed him. This officer gets out this big ass folder and says the President himself had authorised the operation and, jus' like that, the chief sent us all out to secure all the exits to the city. I was sent to the north exit.

"Anyway, I was given a megaphone and when all the traffic had been stopped, we ordered everyone to get out and line up for blood tests. We had no idea what we were dealin' with until it happened. A couple of guys failed the test and I recognised them from my beat, so suspected drug use had ruined the results, but when they started spewin' blood I knew somethin' was up. The chief had come with me and he pushed me over the hood of my cruiser towards these guys and I put a hand out to stop myself and I just pushed it straight through one of these guys' chests. Straight through. And then my hand started burning away, like this." He held up his skeletal hand, showing how little muscle he had left on it, "At first, I though he had done it out of shock, but when I looked around, he was just watchin' me. He could have saved me. But he didn'!" 

He booted a rifle round across the room and it bounced off the wall with a somewhat satisfying ping, rattling across the floor again. Talking about his betrayal had brought out his rage, much like it did to Ruby whenever she thought about it. His breathing was heavier, his eyes seemed to be ignited with anger. His fists were clenched so hard they threatened to pierce the skin, on one hand anyway. 

Ruby had sat up towards the end of the story, feeling another feeling she had not felt in a long long time. Relatability. She understood his rage perfectly. She got up and casually approached him, a dark smirk on her face, the dull light giving her half melted face an even more menacing look. She lowered her face to his level, to speak quietly into his ear, 

"Help me then." She breathed, "I know your betrayal. Help me solve my problem, I'll help you solve yours."

Paul opened his eyes and looked across to Ruby, inches from his face, "I want to help you, but we cannot get inside there." He replied, "That treacherous bastard is in there somewhere, getting away with what he did to me and I want nothing more than to go in there and rip his head off with my bare hands. 

"And you will," Ruby grinned, "All you have to do is help me. Help me help you."

It gave Ruby a sense of power she liked to know that her words were having as strong of an effect as she hoped. You could see the cogs and gears turning in Paul's mind. A bead of sweat formed on his forehead and ran down his face. 

"You need to make a decision."