Beneath the Mask

R and R

"I'm sorry, you're dying." Doctor Iplier told Schneep grimly as Chase and Seán practically dragged the German inside, Schneep's head barely raising to look at his coworker.

"I fucking know!" Chase and Seán snapped in unison, a nurse silently rolling a stretcher over to the American doctor.

"You guys stay here." Seán directed JJ and Robbie, the zombie whining as he and JJ sat in the waiting room.

"It'll be alright Doc, you're gonna be alright." Chase assured Schneep as he and Seán helped him lay down on the stretcher, the German's blue eyes rolling into the back of his head.

"What happened?" Doctor Iplier questioned the group quietly as he pushed the stretcher down the hall to his room, Chase holding Schneep's hand as he walked by his side.

"He...got attacked in an alley by some guy, we found him by tracking his phone." Seán lied, feeling a twinge of guilt while Chase quickly nodded in agreement.

"Hopefully you both aren't squeamish." Doctor Iplier grunted as he placed Schneep on his table, carefully snipping what was left of his pale blue t-shirt off of him.

Seán gagged as he looked at the gun wound in Schneep's shoulder and the gash in his side, looking away while Chase was unfazed.

"Chase, can you get me the anesthesia?" Doctor Iplier questioned, Chase nodding as he looked around the room for it.

"I...alvays f-figured zhat I-I...vould go in-insane before...I died." Schneep joked with a smile that looked more like a grimace, a quiet chuckle escaping him that quickly turned into a wheezing cough.

"You'll have plenty of time to do that, right now you should just save your strength." Seán advised, focusing on Schneep's face to avoid looking at his wounds.

"Here." Chase stated, handing Doctor Iplier a syringe.

"Stay still, I'm just going to give you some anesthesia." Doctor Iplier told Schneep gently, the German nodding as the dark haired male injected the anesthesia into Schneep's neck.

"Now," Doctor Iplier sighed as he slipped on a pair of white rubber gloves, Schneep's eyes fluttering shut as the anesthesia entered his bloodstream.

"Let's see if we can keep him from dying."

Seán eventually left the room and sat with JJ and Robbie as they waited to hear about Schneep, Chase remaining to help by keeping the German sedated.

"It's been fucking hours, why haven't we heard anything?!" Seán huffed in exasperation, his leg bouncing up and down impatiently.

"Robbie know Sheep okay, Robbie make drawing for him!" Robbie replied brightly, holding up JJ's notepad he borrowed from the mute to show Seán a picture of a stick figure with a lab coat, a smile on its face.

"Sheep?" Seán repeated with a snicker, Robbie nodding eagerly as he continued doodling, JJ reading a magazine in the chair next to Seán.

"Hey...guys." Chase panted, out of breath as he stopped running down the hall and skidded to a halt in front of the trio.

"So, how is he?" Seán prompted, JJ looking up from his magazine with a hopeful expression while Robbie quit drawing.

"He's in stable condition for now, but we had to operate without anesthesia." Chase stated grimly.

"The fuck? Why?" Seán frowned in confusion.

"He...whatever Marvin did to Schneep, it's really messed him up in the head. Whenever we would knock him out, he'd start thrashing wildly as if he was having a nightmare." Chase explained.

"Can we see him?" Seán countered, Chase nodding as he motioned for them to follow him down the hall.

Seán entered Doctor Iplier's room to see Schneep lying in bed with his eyes closed, his arm in a sling to prevent him from injuring his shoulder further and his clothes replaced with a crisp white hospital gown.

"Hey, how're ya feeling?" Seán questioned Schneep as he stood by the German's bedside, Schneep cracking his eyes open to look at him.

"About as good as I look." Schneep croaked, his raspy voice barely audible.

"Well, then you must feel like a million bucks." Seán teased, Schneep laughing quietly before wincing in pain.

"So, Chase said that you couldn't use the anesthesia since you were freaking out in your sleep. What going on?" Seán continued, sitting on the end of Schneep's bed.

"Zhat motherfucker...he had me dangling over a shark tank that was being kept in a warehouse full of other animals waiting to be transported to other zoos. He cut my side so the sharks could smell my blood and become hungry for it." Schneep growled coldly.

"Then what?" Chase chimed in.

"Zhen I vas knocked out and brought to zhe store you found me in. After zhat, Chase saved my ass as vell as many other peoples, and...vell, you know the rest." Schneep finished.

"Anything else?" Seán interjected, Schneep shaking his head.

The Irishman could tell that he was lying, but he let the subject drop as he stood up, Robbie curling up on the bed by Schneep and hugging him.

"Look, Robbie make drawing for Sheep!" Robbie beamed proudly, offering the stick figure drawing to Schneep.

"I love it Robbie, thank you." Schneep smirked, ruffling Robbie's hair.

"He has a cut thats stitched up in his side and a gunshot wound to his shoulder that'll take plenty of time to heal, as well as a skin graft on his inner thigh. He'll live, but he needs time to rest." Doctor Iplier informed the group, Schneep groaning in irritation.

"But-"

"Doctor's orders." Doctor Iplier interrupted, Schneep rolling his eyes with a scowl as he let out a sigh.

"Thanks, we'll make sure to visit when we can." Chase nodded, the four leaving the room so Schneep could rest.

"Now what?" Chase muttered as they left the hospital.

"JJ, you said that you were working on a thing that could reverse the effects of the antiserum?" Seán questioned, JJ nodding.

"Then we just need to find Marvin, inject him with that shit, then everything will be hunky dory." Seán declared.

"How do we know it'll work?" Chase countered warily.

"How else can we stop him?" Seán shot back, his expression grim.