A Cure For Poison

A Cure For Poison Part 4

I looked around trying to get my bearings in the world. I looked at the sun setting in the west and decided I would go the opposite way, towards New York. I put my hands in my pocket and started walking east, hoping to find a quarantine zone. Judging by the forestry surrounding I guessed I was somewhere in the North-East already. "Great, not far to go" I thought to myself.

I finally reached a small camp in a clearing in the woods. I stumbled out of the underbrush, cuts and bruises all over me. The past couple of nights were very rough on me, especially without any weapons. I remember having a knife at one point but one day when I woke up it was just gone. Like it had disappeared by some godly force. The following night I was attacked by wolves. I remember their sharp, ruthless teeth, tearing into my soft shoulder skin. Parts of my sweatshirt were tattered and covered in blood.

I looked up at the quarantine zone laid out before me. It had high walls, made out of a mix of wood, metal, and bricks. It had four crudely constructed guard towers on each side and a main wooden gate re-inforced with metal beams. I ran down to the camp, hoping the guards would let me in. Immediately, all the guns and cannons manned by guards in the tower turned to me. I put my hands up in a surrendering position.

"Hey guys! Don't shoot! I'm a survivor, please let me in!" I pleaded.

The gates opened and out marched around ten guards, all dressed in a full black uniform with various masks on them. One of them had a cat mask while another had a clown mask. I even spotted a guard with a donut mask. They told me I could enter and I stepped into the camp.

I looked around the camp and saw small log cabins crammed together all along the sides of the interior walls. On one side there was a medical tent and cabin set up. The tent was crudely constructed out of a white bedsheet with a red cross spray painted on it with sticks holding it up. I walked over to the tent and ducked inside.

Inside, I found many hammocks and pull-out beds crammed together. On top of them were patients with severe burns or fatal injuries. Some patients were missing limbs while others had bullet wounds. Surgeons and doctors moved around me, too busy with patients to notice me. I walked over to one patient with dark black hair and black eyes. Upon further inspection, I found that he had a gunshot wound to the shoulder. I could see he was under narcotic by the way he was moving and I decided to get to work. 

I went through drawers scattered around until I got all  the materials I needed. I kneeled over the patient and began working. Soon, I had the bullet removed. I started patching the wound up. My hands flew across the wound like a trapped bird that just escaped. I cut, bandaged, and gauzed up the wound. Soon, I had healed the wound. Just then, the patient woke up from the narcotics. 

He winced in pain as he tried to sit up from the medical stretcher. His right arm instantly shot up to his shoulder where I had patched up the bullet. He looked up at me and sighed. "Thanks dude" 

"Don't mention it" I replied.

I walked out of the tent and looked around for what to do next. I saw a large building across the valley that had barbed wire around it. It looked like a huge grey rectangular building with no color at all. It had a huge yard attached to the side of it. In the yard, I noticed people working out and and shooting guns. The building had a huge star with a circle around it painted in red towards the top of the building. I guessed it was some sort of Military base. 

I started walking across the grassy valley towards the base. I got over to the building, opened the door, and walked up to the front desk. 

"Hello sir, I would like to enroll in the military" I said.

The officer manning the front desk looked up at me and laughed. He almost fell out of his seat laughing.

"You want to join the forces huh, well I don't think you would last one day. What are you fucking emo with your green hair? You don't even have a soldier build." He said when he finally finished  howling with laughter.

"Sir, I know i'm kinda puny right now, but that's just because I haven't eaten in a week. I've had to survive in the wilderness while I was trying to get here. I request to be a medic. I can heal a bullet wound in a short amount of time and I've worked in the medical bay before." I said sternly.

"Well, I guess you can be a medic. We can condition you correctly. There's a new squad being formed called the 326th legion. We only have a couple others in that legion so you'll fit right in." The officer said.

"Okay wheres the squad meeting up at?"

"Go to the fifth floor, barracks 98"

"Okay thanks." I said as I walked to the stairs. I climbed up the stairs to the top floor and pushed open the door marked 98. Inside, I found two rooms, each with a couple of bunk beds. I guessed one room for the girls and one room for the boys. "Well this isn't so bad, it's kinda like my room back at Beacon Academy" I thought. "Wait was was Beacon Academy?" I felt like I should know the name of it but I couldn't place it. My memories have been a little funky lately, getting a kinda deja vu over and over again. I didn't even know how I got here. All I remembered is anything from that day I awoke in the dessert and onward.