Population Zero

Chapter Nine

Due to my injuries I had to remain in bed for the next few days at least which meant Eric never came to "scoop" me back up like he had promised. I slept very uneasily all night because Willie kept coughing and wheezing so loudly that it kept waking me up, even without my hearing aid. Not to mention the nurse had to keep coming in and checking my vitals to ensure that I didn't have a concussion from my fall. When the sunlight finally started beaming into the room through the window I realized I had made it to the morning on little to no sleep at all. At least it would be time for breakfast soon. All I had over night was a big jug of water that I sipped on so I was famished. The nurses aid finally came in wheeling the cart of food and everything smelled so amazing I almost didn't realize that the person pushing the cart was a youth. We locked eyes and he seemed surprised to see someone so young. He stammered a little before announcing that he had poached eggs and avocado toast. He set the food down on my table next to a carton of milk and quickly moved on to feeding Willie. I started tearing into my food savagely even drinking every last drop of my milk and not thinking once about where it came from. My brain must have started to work again because I realized something else I hadn't realized before. That nurse aid looked oddly familiar. That's it! He was in the picture on my roommates dresser. He was the boy with Renzo and it occurred to me that he might just be Derek, his previous roommate turned criminal. This was no prison though. What was he doing here exactly? Spoon feeding Willie his lukewarm oatmeal while Willie spat obscenities to him and tried to convince him to roll over so he wouldn't get bed sores. When he finally reappeared from behind the curtain he was covered in chunks of oats and had an exasperated look on his face. I could tell he was pretty upset because he kept his head low and he was murmuring angrily to himself as he pushed the cart towards the door to leave. I just couldn't keep my curiosity to myself because right before he turned the knob to walk out I said, "Derek?"

He stopped dead in his tracks and he wiped his hand over his face to remove the last bits of oatmeal when he turned to look at me more closely.

"Do I know you?" He said very suspiciously and he squinted his eyes as they peered into mine.

"No.  You were Renzo's old roommate, weren't you? I'm his roommate now and I just recognized you from a picture, that's all." I said as non-threatening as I could. I had questions that needed answers and I didn't want to scare him off by saying the wrong thing.

"Oh. Yeah. I was surprised to see a youth in here. The only other youths here are nurses aids like me. Renzo and I go way back. But that's all in the past now." He said and he fell quiet for a moment before adding, "you probably heard all about the incident with his guitar then.."

"Yeah, I mean, I don't know, I mean..I wasn't there. I don't know what happened." I continued stammering because I didn't want to offend him and he seemed like he had been hurt enough by it without me piling onto him.

"They switched my meds. I say "they" but it was really Eric. He insisted the doctors switch them when they were working just fine and I just kind of lost it on them. Those SSRI's man, you're probably on them too. They use them as sexual repression therapy but one wrong dose and it can have the opposite effect." What? Dustin told me those were for my mood swings. Derek didn't notice how surprised I was at hearing this and continued on talking so I tried to play off my reaction. "I was set up. Eric just wanted me out. That guy is evil. He's fucking sick and twisted." His face grew dark with his revelation and his teeth clenched together in an attempt to suppress his rage. I've done that before too and I instantly recognized his emotion.

"That is sick. Eric is the reason I'm here too. He tricked me into believing he was taking me to the female compound and then dumped me off on a construction site and basically left me to die." I pointed to my head which was covered in bandages and pulled up my sleeves to show all my scratches and bruises.