Chapter Twenty-One: Wissenschaft

I was slowly waking up, but I didn't want to open my eyes. I just laid there on something that felt cold and metallic. The area around me was cold and stiff, I could smell doctor's tools and rubber gloves, so I automatically made the assumption that I was back in the infirmary. But why am I back here… what happened? And that's when I remembered the stage, the zombies coming in through every entrance and me fighting them off. I remembered standing there happy that I had proven myself to be a powerful ally, and then everything went dark. Richtofen… had slapped me, but why? I was starting to get angry just thinking about it when the door that led inside the room opened, and I could hear booted footsteps enter the room. Though my eyes were closed, I could tell by the way they walked and the smell illuminating around them that it was Richtofen. I was so angry that I wanted to jump up and strangle him, but I decided to wait, to wait and listen to him.

Richtofen paced the room, removing his visor and running his fingers through his hair, almost in a worried state. He enjoyed the feel of his hand sliding across her face, and the grunt of her pain after he slapped her was very satisfying. But he had been feeling odd ever since he assaulted her like that. Usually he would be feeling joyful and happy and slightly aroused, but he didn't feel anything of the sort. He felt almost guilty, ashamed, and surprisingly, he felt bad about it. Vhy vould I pity her, I did it for science, so I could observe her behavior vhen angered? Vhy do I feel zhis vay?

Maybe you are feeling guilt, Edvard'? Richtofen sighed, "Again vith ze talking to me, vhy can't you just leave me alone?"

Because you vould be lost vithout me dumkopf. Perhaps zhese feelings you are feeling are newfound emotions zhat you have never felt before?

He rolled his eyes, "Ja, right, me, having emotions? You must be crazy."

Think about it, you are a man of science, you know it is possible, it is shimple' biology, you are a human male who can feel emotions. It is not strange.

"Zhis is true, it is biology, und it shouldn't be surprising to me to be feeling zhis. Hmm, vell, if zhis is ze case, zhen vhat emotions am I feeling, zhere are so many?"

Hmm, perhaps guilt, anxiety, hatred towards yourself?

"Und vhy vould I hate myself for doing something I usually enjoy, like slapping someone?"

Because one: she is a voman, und you have never assaulted a voman before, und taking zhis into account means you vould feel new emotions, und two: it is a possibility zhat vhile you have been shtaying' here und getting used to her presence, you could have potentially picked up new feelings und emotions regarding her und her alone.

Richtofen looked baffled, "Oh really, und vhat emotions vould zhat be exactly?" There was no answer in his head, and his conscious began to fog, "Ugh, so now you leave me, vhat a nuisance!" Just then Cassie leapt up from her slumber and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, shoving a nearby scalpel against his neck. He stood there for a moment, caught in the grasp of this dangerous woman, staring at her angry eyes. They shimmered a light gray, almost silver, and he could have swore if the lights could grow any dimmer they would glow. Her chest heaved up and down from her excessive breathing, and as she sat there on the medical bed eyes wide and angry, she began to control herself long enough to talk, "Why the fuck did you slap me, huh?! Are you out of your god damn mind?!" He just continued to stare at her, looking deep into her eyes, observing her almost. And as ashamed as he was to admit it to himself, he was getting aroused again. He was very much aware of the scalpel against his neck, but that only added more towards his arousal, and his eyelids began to feel extremely heavy. He swallowed, "It vould… be vise for both of us… if you vould put zhat avay'." She growled and yanked him closer, their faces level with each other pressing the scalpel closer towards his neck, drawing a small amount of blood, "And why would I want to do that?" Time seemed to slow between them, silence filling the room and drowning them in sweat. Their stares at each other were filled with both danger and desire, and both their hands began to sweat. Richtofen himself felt like an animal, growling as he pushed himself closer to her, making her flinch the scalpel back so she wouldn't stab him in the neck. Their lips were an inch away, he could feel her hot breath across his own, and his heart began to accelerate.

Richtofen paced back and forth in front of the infirmary doors awaiting any word on Alecia's condition. She just passed out unconscious right at mein feet. I vonder vhat could've caused zhis? Schuster walked up towards him, scratching at the back of his head, "Any word on her condition doctor?" "Nein, I'm afraid not, ze doctor in charge of ze medical bay has not come out yet. Ugh, vhy couldn't I have been ze one in charge of medical procedures, I do have a doctrine!" Schuster just shook his head, "I don't understand either, Dr. Edward." Just then the doors swished open, and Dr. Porter came out along with Dr. Grayson, and Richtofen looked puzzled, "Dr. Porter, vhat vere you doing in zhere? Do you have clearance vithin zhis ving?" Porter scoffed, "Of course I have clearance, I AM Dr. Maxis' new partner anyhow." Richtofen furrowed his brows and fixed his collar, "As it vould appear so, anyhow, vhat vord can zhere be on Alecia's condition Dr. Grayson?" He flipped through papers on his clipboard, "She is in shock and her brain waves suggest some psychological distress, but she will be fine, she just needs rest for now, but I recommend that her duties are to be relieved of her until she recovers completely." Grayson folded his papers back over and clicked his pen back and forth as he left the room and walked down the hall. The doors opened once more to reveal Dr. Maxis exiting the infirmary right behind Porter. It was like a Mexican stand-off, both doctors on each side staring at each other in confusion and what could possibly be anger. Richtofen spoke up, "Und now I am even more confused, Dr. Maxis, vhy vere you in zhere, vhat business of zhis is yours?" Maxis snickered, "Oh please Edvard', I have clearance anyvhere vithin ze valls of zhis base. But zhat is beside ze point, now if you'll excuse me, I must—" Richtofen grabbed his arm before he could walk away and glared at him through hazardous eyes, "Vhat are you hiding from me Maxis?" He stared at Richtofen, and then at his arm, he didn't know what came over him, but reason was not on his mind right now. Maxis pulled out of his grasp and huffed, "Come vith me, und once I show you vhat you are after, you vill not shpeak' of zhis to anyone vithout clearance, especially Alecia. She must not know of zhis…" Though both confused and angry at each other, Richtofen followed Maxis down the hall towards Wing A, leaving Dr. Schuster and Dr. Porter standing alone behind them. Porter turned towards Schuster, "Vant to go grab a coffee?" Schuster just rolled his eyes, "Alright then."

Richtofen's mind went blank as he felt her bottom lip slightly brush against his, making him shiver as a wave of chills was sent down his spine. The metal tray holding the doctors tools slowly slid off the countertop, dropping to the floor and making both of them jump. Now being brought back to reality, they stared at each other, wondering what would've happened next. Cassie licked her lips nervously and Richtofen yanked at his collar, feeling as if he were being choked by his own clothing. She brushed her bangs out of her face, "Uh… so, why did you bring me back here again?" He cleared his throat, "I… needed to log in ze data I collected from your last outburst, zhat vay I can come to a quick conclusion on how you vork, once ze tests are complete on your blood." Cassie nodded and slowly slid off the bed, not taking into account her nervous and shaky legs, and falling into the arms of the doctor, "Ah dammit!" Richtofen caught her and helped her stand, "I recommend you shtay' vithin ze theater until your body returns to normal, ze stress you have been put through ever since ve arrived a few days ago vill certainly take a toll on you if you do not rest." She walked towards the door, confused, with many questions flooding her mind. She clung to the door frame, looking up at him through her lashes, "I… guess I'll go then…" "You cannot escape zhis," she turned back towards him, "zhis desire, zhis lust. It is biology, leaving zhis room vill not change anything." Cassie sighed, pressing her cheek against the door frame, "I'm not trying to escape it," the surprised Richtofen turned towards her, raising an eyebrow, "Zhen vhat are you trying to do?" She began to walk out, "That's what I'm trying to find out."

I walked outside of the infirmary, holding my arms and trying to rub the chills away. What just happened back there? What was he doing, hell, what was I doing? I'm so confused… I scratched the back of my head, thinking of the unthinkable, He wouldn't want me… would he? I mean, he's a heartless, crazy, aggressive, sadistic… tall, muscular, dangerously stunning… oh god… I face palmed, I wasn't making any progress on this conversation with myself, I wonder how he's doing with this whole situation.

Richtofen slid his hands across the countertop, throwing the tools across the room and slamming his fists down hard. I am a scientist und a doctor, I do not have time for biology right now! His thoughts slowly began to fade back into him:

I tried to varn' you zhat zhese newfound emotions vould take its toll on you, Edvard'.

"Oh shut up, I know all about biology, but zhis is going to distract me from my vork, maybe I should have killed her vhen I had ze chance. It vould have been so much easier zhat vay."

No it vouldn't because she vould be dead und you vould have run out of DNA to test. Plus, zhese new emotions taking hold over you vould never allow you to kill her, maybe even never allow you to harm her eizer.

"Vell I had no problem harming her today…"

Und look how zhat turned out?

He paused, thinking it through, could he really have been that naïve? Had his doubts been clouding his true judgment this entire time? He had to admit it, he was in denial, and he just had to say it, "Alright, alright, I give up, perhaps you are right, und maybe, just maybe, if chance happened by, I vouldn't kill her."

Oh how sveet', face it Edvard', you vouldn't kill her because you enjoy her company, you like her. Und as much as you hate hearing it, I vill continue to shay' it until you realize zhat you ARE a human being, und you CAN feel, ja? You may have shtudied' physics, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics und ozer sciences of time, but biology is no stranger to you.

Richtofen just squeezed his head between his hands, a headache was starting to form, and its booming radius was beginning to irritate him. He sighed, cracking his knuckles and leaning against the counter, "Cassie, Cassie Johnson… vhere have I seen zhat name before?"

After walking through the long dim hallway connecting the infirmary to the theater, I made it back in one piece, still thinking about what's happened. I wasn't sure what he meant by 'this desire, this lust', he was the one who started leaning against me, which in turn made us feel this way. I just couldn't place my finger on it, but for some odd reason, ever since I first met him a few days ago, I've been going through some major déjà vu with this guy, and not just him, but Dempsey too. They both sounded familiar as of yet. And that's when it hit me, I remembered Takeo and him on the stage getting hit with the machine gun turret. Oh… shit! I full on sprinted towards the lobby and headed down towards the stage, figuring that's where everyone would be.

Dempsey coughed as the splinters of wood and debris still slightly fell from the ceiling, that turret can do a lot of damage, a lot more than he even thought. He rubbed his shoulder, ripping a piece of his shirt off to stop the bleeding and turned over towards Takeo, "Aye, you alright Tak'?" Takeo looked over towards him and owed his head, "Hai, it is a small cut, the bleeding will stop soon." He pressed a wet cloth towards his cheek, dabbing it before turning towards the double doors, watching Cassie run inside. She stopped in front of the stage, breathing heavy and attempting to speak, "Are you guys… *gasp* ok?" Dempsey and Nikolai followed suit and looked up at her, and she appeared to be a lot calmer now. They looked around, not exactly sure who she was talking to exactly, when she answered their question for them, "Dempsey, Takeo, are you both ok?" They looked towards her and nodded simultaneously. Nikolai just huffed, "Ah, yes, they are fine, but Nikolai, poor Nikolai is not getting any attention, he is lonely, maybe you should come over and snuggle with me, da?" She smiled, his humor always put her in a good mood, "Alright Nikolai, let me go get the doctor to check you out…" he shot up, "Uh no, no, I am feeling much better now… filthy capitalist." She approached the stage and climbed up, heading towards the dressing room, "Come, both of you, I'll patch you guys up." Dempsey and Takeo looked confused but got up and followed, Takeo probably more confused than Dempsey, "I did not know you were a doctor?" "I studied many sciences in college and high school and anatomy was one of them. I got a bachelor's degree in it at college too."

She led them into the dressing room and sat Takeo down first, sitting in front of him and wetting a rag to dab the wound with on his cheek. She grabbed a thin piece of string and a needle out of a pin ball in the clothing chest underneath her and began sowing him up. "Hey, listen, I understand you may not like me or trust me, and I get that, but eventually you'll have to realize that I'm not all bad. I mean, I know I'm a monster but I have no intention of killing you." She cut the string and tied it, placing a wrap on top of it. He ran his fingers along the cloth, "Thank you." She nodded and watched him leave with a kick in his step, What a happy man. Cassie rolled her eyes and tapped the seat in front of her, "Your turn Dempsey." "Paging nurse Cassie, I'm ready for my sponge bath ma'am." She laughed as he wiggled his eyebrows at her. She dabbed the cut on his shoulder, "Look, I'm sorry about all of this—" "Aye, don't be, if the crazy doc' would've slapped me, oh I would've—" "That's not what I'm talking about." He looked confused, but she continued, "Ever since you guys have arrived, I've been going through hell and back, all this stress is torture on my mind, and I guess if I'm going to be around you guys, I should learn how to control these abilities I have. I don't wanna hurt you guys…" He placed a finger under her chin, "Cassie, look at me," she slowly raised her head, "I can never imagine what you're going through, but listen to me when I say, you're not a monster. You're a human being for god's sake! And I dunno' about the others, but I really enjoy your company." Cassie blushed and smiled, "You really mean that?" "Absolutely…" They grinned at each other for a moment, smiling and chuckling, but then something happened that Cassie didn't see coming. Dempsey slid his arm behind her head and pulled her close, whispering against her lips, "Kiss me." And absentmindedly… she did.

Hello again my pretties! It's been awhile... And I missed you all! Just wanted to leave an FYI out there: I love that some of you guys are giving me feedback in private messaging, but you don't have to hide! I LOVE REVIEWS! Und so does ze doctor...