Matthew POV.
I watch as Peter runs down the street. I needed to be down there with him, I needed to have his back. But he gave me orders, he told me to stay here and that's what I would do. I had never questioned Peter's orders, he always did what was best, and if he thought me being here was the best thing I could do than I wouldn't question him.
"All clear?" I ask Alek as he enters the hall. He nods. After Peter had left I had gone to get Alek, we had agreed that we watch the opposite sides of the room. I would watch the North and South walls while Alek watched the East and West, every few minutes we would switch rotations, just to make sure the other wasn't missing anything.
"Do you see him?" Alek asks staring down at the street below. I shake my head.
"He disappeared down the street a few minutes ago." I reply. We stand in silence for a few minutes before Alek's breaks it.
"So who's the new guy?" He asks using his chin to point towards the room. The sudden impulse to lie flows through my body, but what would be the point? If he saw him, then he probably saw his uniform. That was the only way to tell Guardians apart from regular civilians, like the army they wore a camouflaged uniform but instead of it being a light green or a yellow, it was dark blue.
"He's a Guardian."
"I figured-" Alek replies rolling his eyes in response. He brushes his hair away from his face and looks at me. "-I mean why is he here?" I sigh as I think about an answer to his question.
"Peter didn't tell me much-" I reply. I decide to answer as truthfully as possible, I had nothing to hide and it was better to be honest then to lie and have it blow up in my face later. "-he found him in the sewer. He was still alive so he decided to bring him here."
"Why?"
"You know Peter." I reply and Alek nods. I turn back to window and glance down at the street below, everything was the same. There was no movement or sign of life.
"I'm going to check on Laurie, keep watch will ya?" I pat Alek's shoulder and walk to the end of the hall. I lean against the room's door frame and observe Laurie as she bends the Guardian's arm.
"Do you feel that?" She asks quietly. The Guardian shakes his head. Laurie frowns and sets the Guardian's arm down. Her hand touches his forehead and she pulls it back immediately.
"Your fever is getting worse." She says more to herself than the Guardian. She turns around and wets a strip of fabric, she folds the fabric in half before placing it on the Guardian's forehead. My mind compares the woman who had shrank underneath Peter's gaze to the woman in front of me now. This woman seemed calm and at peace versus the woman that was fidgeting and stuttering earlier today.
"You're a terrible liar." I say without thinking. Laurie jumps ten feet in the air before she turns and glares at me.
"You're adorable when you're pretending to be angry." I say smiling at her.
"I'm not pretending." She replies turning away. I walk towards the table and watch as she measures red lines that were scattered around the Guardian's shoulder. I open my mouth but Laurie cuts me off.
"Blood poisoning. The lines spread as the infection spreads." She says sighing. I have a feeling I wasn't the first person she explained this too, her patience seemed to be wearing thin. I look at the lines and notice how they were all going in the direction of the Guardian's chest.
"Where are they spreading to?" I ask pointing at the lines.
"His heart." She replies softly. My eyes meet hers and I see the sadness in them, she looks away, catching the Guardian's gaze instead. There seems to be unspoken words between them, something that they both understood.
"What happens when the lines reach his heart?" Laurie's eyes meet mine.
"He goes into shock, and then he dies."
YOU ARE READING
The Departed
HorrorThings have never been the same since the world ended. Now we lived in fear, we were unsure of what was to come to next day, so we lived each day as if it were our last. That's the funny thing about life, you don't know when your last day is coming...
