Hi there!
OMG So many people read the last chapter! I almost can't believe it! ヾ(*T▽T*)
Thank you everyone! It makes my day everytime I see those numbers!
Happy Halloween by the way! (*^▽^)/ *
Now to the fic! (￣▽￣)ゞ
Day 28, later
Warner had never imagined that the air could ever feel tense in the same room as Delalieu. Awkward, sure. Panicked, yes. It had happened on several occasions.
But this was new to him.
If he didn't know better he would think Delalieu was about to scold him. Even if he probably had the authority to do so.
At least that was what it felt like when he stepped into the medical corridor.
But when he saw the older man; restlessly pacing back and forth before the pair of chairs by the wall. Which he had probably been sitting in at some point. He realized this tenseness was something else.
Worry.
"How is she?", he asked.
Delalieu looked up and stopped in his tracks. Looking just a little confused over what he was doing. As if he had woken up after falling asleep before the TV.
"S-sorry?", he asked.
Warner cleared his throat.
"How are things going?", he asked.
Delalieu nodded. Still with that lost expression on his face. His gaze flickering between Warner's eyes and the wall behind the commander.
He even forgot to salute the younger. But he didn't reprimand him. No one else was there anyway.
"They've p-put in a tub to ease the… fluids…", he answered.
Warner nodded once. He had made the decision to pick her up and run back from the compound fence back there. But he had had to go up to take a shower and change his shirt when they arrived to base.
Though that was a detail he wanted to keep from the old Lieutenant.
Right now the girl was being examined and treated in a room somewhere further into the medical wing.
"But they are still k-keeping the oxygen mask on…", Delalieu added.
"Good", Warner said.
He wanted to ask of the doctors had found a reason for the blood, since he was curious. But the lieutenant seemed so giddy he decided not to.
Instead he cleared his throat.
"Well then, I'll return to my office. Alert me when she's ready to talk, though I would think that won't be until tomorrow. Until then I need to start a report on why the medical wing is being used by someone without a citizen number", he said. With an inner sigh on the paperwork.
How was he going to explain that he didn't make an even larger report when she first showed up? 'Oh, didn't I send it to you already? My bad!' Sure that would work.
"Will d-do, sir", Delalieu said, this time remembering to salute. Even if his whole posture was shaky.
Warner turned around to leave the corridor. He had no further business there. Well, until the medics could give his report an even better reason to why the girl was being treated on base rather than in the compound.
But the doors slamming open interrupted him. Almost hitting him in the process. Out of it came four nurses. Or, came is an understatement. They burst out of the doors. Running.
Warner had time to push himself against the wall before they rushed by. Two of them immediately going through another door further ahead.
All Warner could catch of them was that one of them had a push cart with something. The wheels rattling echoing even when the second door slammed shut.
The other two stopped by Delalieu and Warner. A male and a female. Though it was hard to actually tell with their uniforms being exactly the same.
They had masks over their mouths. Eyes wide. Alert hands raised before them.
"What's going on?", Delalieu asked. Confused.
"I'm wondering the same", Warner asked, standing away from the wall. Though his voice was as cold and steady as ever.
The nurses shared a look, looking at Warner, then at Delalieu, and back at Warner again.
"You must come with us, sir", one of them finally said. The female. Looking straight at Warner.
"And why exactly, would I have to do that?", Warner asked. His voice sharp.
The male answered this time. Lowering his hands to seem less threatening.
"You were there when the girl coughed blood, right?"
Warner could literally hear how Delalieu went pale.
"Yes", he replied, uneffected.
The nurse nodded.
"That means you were exposed to pneumonic plague. And you must come with us to prevent any further spread. Sir."
Pneumonic plague.
He had heard that before. But he couldn't remember where.
But they didn't give him any time to think of it any further.
"Sir, you must come with us now!", the nurse said.
He was about to object. To demand some sort of evidence. A confirmation by someone more authorised than two mere nurses. Then Delalieu's meek:"Sir you should g-go with them", cut through his thinking.
He looked at the lieutenant.
Some sort of knowledge. A legit worry that covered him.
They meet eyes and Delalieu gave him a small nod.
"Fine", he said and looked back to the nurses.
"Delalieu you're in charge of the the girl's medical progress. Report everything to me", Warner said before the male nurse escorted him away.
To where? They hadn't said.
"Are you s-sure you don't want me to come t-too?" Delalieu asked as the female nurse turned to walk through the second door. Warner was out the first door, and the Lieutenant would be all alone if she left.
She turned halfway and looked at him.
"You haven't had any contact with the girl since she was brought in, have you?", she asked.
"I haven't. I stayed out of the way out here", he answered.
"And I assume you haven't been within physical contact of the commander."
It was a safe assumption.
"Y-yes", he assured.
She nodded.
"Then you haven't been exposed. Sir Warner was in contact with the blood. You weren't, so you're safe."
"Is it the plague?", he hurried to ask as she turned again.
She froze. Looked at him over her shoulder.
"What is?", she asked.
Delalieu inhaled. A frail breath.
"Is that what she's sick with?", he asked.
"The... p-plague…"
He tried again. Managing to bring more air into his lungs this time.
"Is it… the plague?"
He sounded so hopeless she was unsure if she was supposed to answer.
She took a deep breath. It sounded extra loud with the mask before her mouth.
"It's what the examination says. The syndromes point to it", she replied.
"But all I know is that all the doctors that treated her without protection is having to stay in quarantine. At least until we know that they weren't infencted."
They looked at each other for a few seconds.
"I need to go now", she said. Then she turned and hurried through the doors to help her colleagues. Leaving the lieutenant behind.
"Oh dear…", he said as the meaning started sinking in.
He found himself supporting himself against the wall. His balance lost. Slumping towards the floor.
He covered his face with his hands as he shuddered.
"Oh dear God…", he whispered.