Chapter Text
Conrad was having a pretty shitty day at Chastain Park Memorial Hospital. Patient after patient came in. Some weren’t even sick too. They just felt “weird.” Conrad didn’t mind helping these people, but these cases were starting to become ridiculous.
After Conrad's 10th patient in the hour, (doctors normally see 20 patients a day) he decided to go to the break room to take a breather and grab some coffee if he could get his hands on some.
He took a quick 5 minute break with some coffee and the Atlanta News. He saw that the people all over Atlanta had the same “weird” feeling, but didn’t present any medical issues of any sort. Conrad frowned as he thought hard about what this mystery sickness could be. Then suddenly, a scream came out of the ER, followed by a crash and more screams. Conrad instinctively ran to the ER, leaving his coffee behind.
He ran into the ER to see blood splattered on the floor. Conrad then saw a man hunched over one of the struggling ER doctors. Blood pooled out of the doc from a huge bite in her arm and she was screaming in pain as the man took another bite out of her. Conrad ran to her aid, pulling the man off of her only to be attacked. The man looked pale, too pale, and his eyes were a nauseating color of Yellow where white should’ve been. Blood dripped down his chin, and his clothes, and hands. Conrad avoided his teeth as he quickly pinned the man down with a swift motion. The man was letting out weird groans and growls as he tried to pry himself from Conrad's restraint, but Conrad held him there. Devon ran to the ER docs side and began to stop the bleeding and ask her questions, but the doctor wasn’t responding. She had a blank stare, and she was pale from head to toe. Devon assumed it was from the fact that a man took a chunk out of her, but that wasn’t the reason at all.
“Can you hear me? Hey! Can you-” Devon fell back as the woman lashed out at him, arms swinging wildly. Devon frantically moved away as fast as he could from the doctor and she began to run after him. She tackled him to the floor and was about to bite into his neck when Conrad was there, holding her back as best he could. Conrad left the other guy on the floor which may not have been the best idea, but he had to help Devon out. The doctor screamed and grabbed and clawed at devon, her nails ripping through Devons skin, drawing blood. Conrad, needing to reduce the problem, knocked her out with a blow to the head. She hit the floor, head cracking on the floor. Conrad stood there gasping for breath. He looked to see that thankfully the other doctors were holding down the other guy, but Devon was laying on the floor, face pressing into the floor. He was motionless. Conrad ran to his side and slid to his knees. He noticed small trickles of blood running down his neck from the doctors nails, but other than that, he seemed fine.
“Devon? Devon. Are you alright? Did you hit your head?”
“C-Conrad. I- I-” Devon was speechless, but not out of fear. He seemed oddly calm for someone who just got tackled by a crazy woman. He sat up slowly, but looked weak and breathless. Then he suddenly began to turn pale in front of Conrad's eyes. “Conrad. I- I don’t feel so good.”
“Stay with me Devon. Would you like some water, or anything I can get you?”
“I- I don’t… I don’t…” He couldn’t seem to finish his sentence, and he kept repeating “I don’t…” over and over like a broken record, until it faded and his voice was no more.
“Devon?”
Devon looked right at Conrad, eyes a gross shade of yellow. Conrad had seen those eyes before in the man pinned to the floor. He wasn’t taking any chances.
“EVERY ONE BACK! GET BACK!” Conrad stood up quickly and backed away from Devon, eyes not leaving his infected ones.
Devon wasn’t moving a muscle. He didn’t even blink.
“Devon. Snap out of this.”
Devon didn’t say a word, but Conrad saw foam starting to form on the side of his mouth mixed with saliva.
“EVERYONE GET OUT OF THE ER! LOCK DOWN CHASTAIN AND DON’T LET ANYONE IN WITH YELLOW EYES AND PALE SKIN!” Conrad screamed at anyone sane left in the ER. Once people cleared out, Conrad began to slowly walk to the emergency stairs, still keeping eye contact with Devon, out of fear of what might happen if he broke the stare. Conrad was pretty close to the stairs. Close enough to sprint to it, beat Devon and lock the door. He took a deep breath, getting ready to break the stare. He broke it and sprinted to the door, Devon now running at him. Conrad ran through the door and slammed it behind him, locking it the second it shut. Devon slammed against the door, falling back from the force of his body against the hard surface. Conrad watched him through the glass window on the door as he lay motionless on the floor.
“I’m sorry Devon. I should’ve helped you more.”
With that he ran up the stairs and took out his pager. Everyone needs to know what’s going on here. He had to now focus on the people he could save.