All was silent. This hospital had long since been abandoned, shut down and forgotten, unable to keep up with or even hold of the rising number of martyrs. And now?. This structure that had once been the epitome of health and advancement had fallen, fallen to the lonely echoes of a once great civilisation. Left, undisturbed, to rot whilst the world forgets its existence, containing nothing, but silence.
The thing to break this silence, the first living things to trek upon this domain of death and filth is are the burdened footsteps of five burdened children. Breathless, they charge the halls, terrified they bar the doors, then once their adrenaline leaves, they collapse. Seemingly safe, the malnourished children survey their surroundings. One of them was in dire straits, barely even able to breath, another was deeply traumatised and could hardly make any coherent sounds, and they were all, reaching their bodies limits.
"What the hell Matt!" one boy screamed, "We could have saved him! why did you drag me away!"
"No you couldn't Jeremy." Matt replied, apathetically adding, "He was already turned."
"So what? He wasn't dead yet. We may have been able to do something!" Jeremy cried, prepping his fist.
"And what? Risk him killing and turning not only you, but the rest of us as well?" came the retort, along with a similarly raised fist, "We both know that there is no way to help someone after they have been turned."
"THAT JUST MEANS WE HAVENT FOUND IT YET!" as he yelled this, Jeremy charged Matt, who proceeded to respond in kind.
"ENOUGH!" a girl squeezed in between the two, Pushing the two away. "Jeremy's lack of evidence does not prove the absence of evidence, dont take your'e aggression out on us. Weve all been through a lot and we need to calm down. Mia's only just holding on and Cilo has broken down mentally. This is not the time to argue with each other-"
*CRASH*
A massive force came through the doors, forcing them off their hinges and into the girl, killing her instantly.
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK. HOW ARE THEY HERE ALREADY. JEREMY GET MIA, ILL GET CILO." yelled Matt, as he leapt into action, almost instinctually.
With no time to argue, Jeremy did what he was told, grabbing the unconscious Mia and heading back to the door as Matt tried to do the same with Cilo, who could only stare at the spot were the girl had once stood with a mix of confusion and shock. Unfortunately, he was too slow and the creatures got to Cilo before he could, and dragged him back to the gloom of the corridor.
Reorganising himself quickly, Matt called for Jeremy to with him and they both began running as fast as they could, for as long as they could. But it wasnt enough...
After having been running all day and not eating for over a week it quickly became obvious that Jeremy would not be able to keep it up while carrying Mia.
"Jeremy give her to me."
"What?"
"I said give her to me."
"But then you wouldn't be able to run either!"
"GIVE. HER. TO. ME!"
Begrudgingly, Jeremy passed over the still unconsious Mia to Matt.
"Good now run as fast as you can. Well be right behind you."
"But then youll be caught immediately"
"Just do it. There is no way Mia will be able to survive in this condition anyway and im not about to let her die alone."
"Then let me stay too."
"No. At least one off us must survive to tell the others about the fall of bunker Iroh. And youre the best person at that you cockroach."
"..."
Jeremy leaves, tears streaking his face, eyes saltier than the ocean, running as fast as his bony legs could take him.
Little over two hours since their separation, Jeremy collapses, completely exhausted. He breaks down. Crying over his friends, his family, his home, all that he had lost in the last two days. He had thought they would live together, eat together, grow old together. He knew change would come eventually but never in such a sudden, violent and painful manner.
It took him a while but he was able to recollect himself and he began to continue his walk. He kept walking, and walking, walking and walking, walking to repress the sadness, the pain the anger, until eventually, he saw something, and he came to a halt. No, more than a halt. He completely stopped in all ways from movement to thought.
His final moments were abbreviated as he said his last words.
"Ah shit"
"ho ho ho. how interesting. sadly these were not the ones to pass. how unfortunate, well, time to move onto the next group then. how about base... Zuko"
Then, at last.
All was silent.