dishonesty // egobang

1. dishonesty

the walk through the compound was so bland and tasteless. nobody bothered to greet one another. no reassuring smiles that promised even a feeling of ecstasy for a couple seconds. he never saw another soul during this time. maybe they were too occupied with their patients and extracting blood from their bodies. it was the only thing that was helping.

eventually, he arrived at his destination. his roommate and therapist was waiting for him silently. the man was rearranging the things on their shelves with no approval from the man that walked in the door. suddenly, he turned his head and with a genuine smile, as if expecting him to come in.

"arin." he said.

"dan." arin replied. "are you having fun with that?" dan nodded solemnly, returning to arrange the cubes on the shelf one last time that day.

"it wastes time quickly. although, why would i want to when we've got top scientists-" arin waved his hand dismissively and dan stopped talking. he shut the door and sat down on his bed. "sorry. i know how you feel about them."

"it's okay. literally talk about anything else." arin and dan chuckled together.

laughing at a time like this certainly seemed out of place. an incredibly ravenous disease ran rampant outside these incredibly sterile walls and the only two that seemed to be enjoying themselves were locked up in scentless and boring chambers. don't get them wrong, they could leave anywhere between eight am and ten pm, with the exception of staying out late for experiments and recovery.

"did anything interesting happen today?" arin asked, letting his gaze fall on whatever it happened to see. dan sighed and faced arin.

"nothing out of the ordinary. just the routine weekly inspection. no outside chemicals, nothing plugged into the outlets, the usual." arin sighed and dan decided his next question.

"what did they do?" he asked quietly, as if the people in the rooms on either side could hear through the reinforced steel walls. arin's posture stiffened.

"you know we don't talk about what they do."

"yeah, but we're best friends. everyone's got secrets, arin." dan smiled and joined arin on his bed, about a quarter of a foot apart. "and since when were you a stickler for rules?" arin bit the inside of his cheek like he was thinking. he always did that when he thought.

"i mean... i guess you're right."

"when am i not?" dan relaxed. he brought a leg up to rest on his knee while he listened to arin talk about what they did in the lab.

"i doubt it's anything different from what you did when you started working. they drew some blood, the norm. they did the weekly tests,-" arin audibly swallowed and stopped speaking for a moment, which worried dan.

"arin?"

"yeah, sorry. they did the tests and they found something... they found something they haven't before, and it wasn't something... with a positive connotation."

"what did they find?" arin took a deep breath. dan could tell it was hard for him.

"a chemical imbalance. found the virus in my system. they don't know how it got there." dan felt his heart skip a beat.

his only friend was about to get wheeled into the morgue, he already knew. they would experiment on him, alive. they didn't care if he was comfortable like they did here in the living quarters. the only discomfort anybody felt here was the tiny pinch of needles under their skin and the once again, bland, taste of the pills as they slid down throats.

"when are they coming to get you?" dan asked. his voice cut through the melancholy silence like a hot knife. though, not one sign of weakness shone through his hard exterior. not a crack in his voice, no wavering faith that arin was telling the truth.

"i don't know. they might take you too, since you've been around me."

"i'll insist." arin gave a sudden disgruntled laugh.

"i'm not letting them take you. you have a chance to live. you have a chance to be humanity's savior." dan's lips turned up.

"you talk about me like i'm jesus. which," dan was already interrupting arin. "i am not, but thank you for thinking so." arin smiled. dan's was bigger.

"i'm sorry, i just love you so much and i don't want you to lose your life because of me."

"i love you too, dude, but i'd gladly die for you on any occasion." arin sat with his hands clasped in his lap for a couple minutes before dan asked a question.

"is it okay if i give you a hug? it looks like you need one right about now." arin didn't hesitate to agree, and the two of them sat on the bed enveloped in each other's arms, not eager to see if they'd see the light of tomorrow.

so, here's where it begins. a new story. a relight for my love of egobang.