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The Fallout

Never Let Life Kill Your Spark

Oli’s P.O.V

“Oli, I'm going to try find medical supplies, do you want to cover me?” Austin grabbed a handgun and held it out to me, I cast a sideways glance at Tom who was placing a wet cloth on Matt’s forehead. He smiled sadly, nodding his head; I sighed before taking the gun.

“Let’s go.” Austin grunted, grabbing an empty backpack and snatching two masks from inside another bag, I felt my jaw go slack when he offered me one. They were gas masks, why he had these was beyond me. I took it, deciding now was not the time to be asking questions.

“Tino keep an eye on Matt, make sure he doesn’t try to talk.” Tino nodded. After relaying a few more things, Austin seemed satisfied with his arrangement; slipping on my gas mask; I followed him out the door.

“Where are we going?” I pestered, fidgeting with the gun that was placed in my hands. I had never used one before, I don’t even know if I've ever held one; he pointed down the hall, holding up a flashlight to light the path.

“According to the map that was in our room…there’s a hospital a few blocks from here; but we need to hurry. I don’t trust that this city is as peaceful as it seems.” He quickly descended the stairs, me hot on his heels.

“What do you mean you don’t trust it?” I inquired, following him out of the double doors in the back of the building and into the streets. He sighed,

“Oli…you just have to be prepared to be in a confrontation. If there are any survivors they may be desperate and not thinking rashly, just stay close. I don’t want you getting hurt if something happens.” If it weren’t for the mask, I would have had to cover my face, I knew my cheeks were blood red. Honestly, I couldn’t help that fact; Austin was quite…attractive. Not to mention he had that whole tall, dark, and mysterious vibe about him too. Oli, now is not the time for admiring your apocalypse friend.

“Oli?” I blinked a few times, before looking up, his hand was waving in front of my eyes.

“Sorry, zoned out.” I admitted, ducking my head back down in embarrassment.

“Try to pay attention,” he chided in a joking manor, before lightly jogging down the road; I had to sprint to keep up with him. After a few minutes of running we came face to face with a half burned down building, the once neon sign was out, half of the letters gone. ‘PITAL’ was all that remained, as we got closer to the glass doors, Austin grabbed a rock, throwing it through them. I jumped slightly as the door fractured before giving out and crumbling to pieces, Austin used his gun to clear the rest out of the way, before motioning for me to follow him.

As we entered the building I had to do a double take, what looked like 100’s of bodies were piled in the waiting room, their once whole figures eaten away at by fire and acid, my stomach churned.

“Come on; try not to look at it.” Austin laid a hand on my shoulder, leading us down the long hallway. After a few uneventful minutes we came to a door that read, “SUPPLIES, STAFF ONLY.” He turned the handle, grunting when it wouldn’t budge.

“Get back.” He warned, rearing up and kicking the door which gave under the pressure. We filed into the small room, which was seemingly untouched. He laid his backpack on the counter, rushing to the shelves and grabbing several bags of fluids.

“Antibiotics, IV lines, penicillin, scalpel, pain medicine…” he listed off several other things, as I patiently guarded the door. A low grunting noise was coming from the room adjacent to the one we were in,

“Austin hurry.” I whispered, and he hummed in acknowledgement, before zipping the now full bag up, I turned back around and screamed at what I saw. A larger man had emerged from the door across from us, his torso was half way eaten away by whatever poison he had come in contact with, he cried out.

“Kill me! Please kill me!” he screeched, falling to the ground and writhing at my feet, Austin was instantly by my side, pulling me a few feet back from him.

“Are you sure you want that?” Austin asked, crouching down and looking at the man,

“YES! Please! It hurts so much, kill me! Please!” he reached his hand out for him, Austin cursed.

“Close your eyes Oli.” He commanded, but I shook my head.

“I…can’t.” was the best explanation I could offer. I had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last run in we had with people in such a state, so maybe watching this would make me come to the realization that things are never going to be the same. Austin sighed,

“I’m sorry.” He stated, before bringing his body up on his feet, and aiming the gun down at him, he pulled the trigger. The loud bang ricocheted down the halls, before it went silent. I felt a tear trickle down my face, Austin turned around, holding his gun level with the floor. I noticed that the mans blood was staining his once white tee shirt.

“Are you okay…Austin?” I questioned, taking a step forward.

“I guess…I have to be.” He shrugged, looking down at the ground. I stepped closer before encircling my arms around him. He lightly hugged me back,

“I’m sorry you had to do that…” I offered, squeezing him tighter, before letting him go, he shrugged again.

“I didn’t have too…I did It out of mercy.” He grumbled, tightening the straps on his bag before ushering me out the door. I shot a glance back at the man who lay still on the ground, silently praying that Matt wouldn’t meet a similar fate.

-*-

“Alright, hold him down.” Austin commented, grabbing a few sheets and tossing them to Tino.

“Tie him down too. Can't have him moving around too much,” Tino chided, Jona and I obeyed, while Tom tried to soothe him. Matt had woken up not to long after we had left, and had been pretty combative, can't say I blame him. The pain he was in was probably more intense than anything I could imagine. After he was pinned down, we held him as still as possible, while Austin laid out the supplies on a table.

“Alright Matt, I'm going to need you to try to open your mouth, I know that’s going to hurt like fuck, so I'm going to give you an IV with some pain meds, but it isn’t going to take away all the pain. It's still going to hurt like fucking hell, but I will walk you through what we are doing. Just keep your eyes on Tom, okay?” Matt nodded, tears already prickling his eyes as he desperately tried to open his mouth. He made a gut wrenching sound as a popping noise emitted from his jaw, Tom smoothed his hair back.

“Good job, Matt. Now I'm going to have a look, Alan flashlight.” Alan handed off a small flashlight, which Austin used to illuminate his mouth, a frustrated look crossed his face. Curiosity got the best of me, so I decided to have a look for myself. It was horrific, his mouth was blistered completely.

“Okay Matt, so its blisters that are causing your discomfort, so what we are going to have to do is pop those, and suction out the liquid. Then we need to pack them with penicillin, this is going to hurt like hell, but please don’t bite my fingers off…try to stay conscious of keeping your mouth open, okay?” Matt grunted in approval, so Austin set to work. Grabbing a scalpel off the table and opening it with ease, he glanced at us.

“He’s going to try to thrash out, make sure you hold him still.” We all nodded, holding his limbs in place, Austin sighed, “You’re going to hate me Matt.” With that he slid the scalpel inside his mouth and Alan held out a small suction device, I studied Matt’s face. As soon as Austin started it was evident that this would not be easy, Matt screamed, more of a throaty sound since his mouth was being held open, but Austin didn’t falter. For the longest time my friends screams were the only thing that filled the air, it took all I had not to smack Austin In the face and beg him to stop, but I knew that he was doing what was best for Matt. Alan sucked up the access water as Austin laid down the small knife, Matt was still whimpering long after he had stopped.

“Now we have to soak gauze in the medicine, and I’ll give you a shot of it as well…” Shayley and Phil handed him off some wet gauze which I assumed was drenched in the penicillin; Austin thanked them before laying them on the table. He reached for a syringe; test it before sliding it into Matt’s mouth. The drummer screeched, trying to yank his arms free, but Jona and I held them firm to his sides, much to his dismay. Austin quickly withdrew it, before grabbing the gauze and stuffing it next to his cheeks, he once again lashed out, a muffled scream emitting from him.

“Alright, were done for today Matt…you did great.” Austin patted him on the shoulder, before ripping his gloves off and stalking out of the room quietly. We looked at each other curiously,

“It’s over Matt, you did great.” Tom cooed, untying one end of the restraints, Jona getting the other, Matt’s face was still contorted in pain, tears falling from his eyes at a rapid pace, I frowned.

“Sh, don’t cry Matty…you’re going to be fine.” I told him, leaning up and pecking my best friend on the forehead; he snapped his eyes open and shot me a pitiful glance.

“I’ll go check on Austin,” I muttered, standing up from my chair and quickly exiting the room, Tears finally falling from my eyes. That was the most terrific thing I had ever witnessed, imagine watching something so horrible happen to your friend, and not being able to do a thing about it. I wiped my eyes, before walking down the hall in the en suite, coming to a stop when I heard a murmur coming from inside one of the rooms, I pressed my ear to the door.

“Mom…I wish you were here right now, well no I don’t…things are awful. I don’t know what I would do if you were here, It's so…scary. I can't believe it really…what do you think dad would do? Or is he up there with you? Mom I'm terrified, I've done things that I never thought I’d have too…I killed someone today…killed them. Are you still proud of me now? Mom, I don’t want to do this…I Always knew it would happen, dad told me it would…but I'm not prepared for this.”

I heard him choke, and felt my heart lunge forward, without thinking I turned the knob, silently coming in the room. He was on the edge of the bed, his head buried in his hands, clearly crying. I knelt down beside him, putting a hand on his back, his head shot up quickly, making eye contact with me. His usual hardened look was replaced with distraught, tears soaking his cheeks, I sighed. Sitting down next to him, and tossing an arm around his back, he leaned into my touch.

“It’s going to be alright Austin…” I whispered feebly, but I didn’t know if things would ever be okay again; and that in itself....was horrifying.