A FRACTURE IN THE CONSCIOUSNESS ✓

JOSH

{tw: dead body, blood, murder, death}

Josh stood outside of Spencer's room, barely able to hold his eyes open, when he saw him. Or rather, some form of him.

Tyler stood in the heavy crowd, wearing dark blue nurse clothes and a name tag. His hair was blonde, and that stupid mustache was gone. He was looking right at him with a look of contentment and shock on his face.

That couldn't be right. Josh, feeling his body go cold for a split second, blinked hard, and the figment of Tyler he saw was gone. A hallucination, probably.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept properly. Tyler used to talk about how lack of sleep could call psychological breakdowns and even cause people to have hallucinations. As much as he wanted to say otherwise, Josh really missed him.

Brad came back from the break room with two steaming coffees in hand, passing one to Josh, who took it gratefully. "Thanks, man."

"No problem." He leaned on the wall across from Spencer's door, taking a sip. "Any news on Joseph yet?"

"Not that I know of." Josh gulped down half of his drink down, ignoring the searing pain in his throat as he swallowed.

"How about this dickhead?" Brad nodded at the door.

Josh shrugged, moving out of the way of the door as a nurse brought in a replacement saline bag. "He's stable, I think. Honestly, I couldn't give less of shit."

"I feel you. I just want this all to be over. And soon."

"It will be once we find him."

Brad sighed and looked up and down the hall. "Do you think this is our fault?"

The question caught Josh off guard. Brad wasn't one to second-guess himself. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"Do you think we ignored the signs Tyler was exhibiting, the ones we look for in unsubs?" Brad reiterated. "Is that why this is happening?"

Josh had to take a moment to mull over what Brad was asking him. "I think... people like Tyler who become unsubs are smarter than the ones we hunt, because they know how we think, and they know how to manipulate us. Tyler never would've gotten caught if he hadn't made his... vendetta personal."

"You're right. I just- I can't help but feel responsible for not being able to stop him or see the path he was taking until it was too late."

"Whether or not it's your fault or mine or fucking Brendon Urie's, it was always Tyler's choice. He's the one who started killing."

Brad shook his head, chuckling somberly. "Was it, though? What choice did he really have?"

Before Josh could respond- if he even found out how to- a loud, long beep came from inside of Spencer's room. He pushed the door open and saw Spencer convulsing on his bed, mouth foaming and eyes completely white. His face was a zombie green, skin almost translucent.

Brad pulled him back just as doctors swarmed the room, checking his vitals, his bullet wound, then his pulse. One nurse is performing CPR, all the while the others begin to unhook Spencer and roll him out of the room.

"I'm the agent guarding his room. What's going on?" Josh asked, following the cot as they took Spencer to the Intensive Care Unit.

"Mr. Smith is flatlining," one doctor replied."Possibly due to an overdose as there's nothing else that would cause the foaming.

"Wha- overdose? Nobody went in or out except for a nurse."

"Someone tampered with his saline bag and injected it with a supply of drugs and poisons we keep in our refrigeration unit," the nurse Josh saw walk in said defensively.