When I ran away from my friends after I was bitten, I tried to seek shelter for my last few hours of life. The snow was coming down hard and heavy, weighing me down as I walked, but I wasn’t cold.

I felt warm.

Maybe it was a weird way for Death to dig its claws into me.

I found a pharmacy closest to my path and went in, shaking off the snow and going to curl up in the corner. I closed my eyes to accept my fate.

But, suddenly, I was awake and staring into the green eyes of a woman that was leaned over me. She asked who I was and why I was there.

I admitted to her that I came there to die and didn’t understand why I was still alive.

She didn’t freak out and told me her name was Synthia.

She quickly took a liking to me and cared for me by feeding me and letting me rest in bed with her. A lot of my clingy nature was because of her and Lindsey, who let me sleep in beds with them whenever I wasn’t feeling okay.

I liked having people around me, even if they weren’t the best option to spend my time with.

I woke up in my room and pulled on my civilian clothes because it was my “day off” that week, which was never really just a day off. I had to file reports, write a few papers, and it was my turn to feed the dogs, which was a job for only a select few.

My reports would only take a little bit of time and so would the research papers/notes, so it wasn’t like I was being prevented from just lying around all day.

I didn’t like wasting time; I preferred doing work and tried to deny a day off to no avail. It was something I had to have, due to regulations and the higher-ups not wanting to wear me thin. The only reason I had reports and all was to give me something to do so I didn’t throw a fit with Veronica again.

As I was walking towards my office, I glanced in at Andreas and noticed she was sitting up on her own, just inspecting the room with dead eyes. I checked my surroundings and hurried inside, using my key card.

“Good morning,” I greeted as we met eyes. She gasped at the sight of me, but I acted normal. “How are you feeling, Andreas?”

“How do you know my name?”

“Because you’re a patient here. Not mine, but your my friend’s patient.” I grabbed a small pen light and reviewed her eyes. “Can you see me good?”

“No, you’re really blurry actually.”

“Do I get blurrier far away or up close?”

“Closer to me, I guess.” I rummaged through my pockets for my glasses. In life, I was farsighted, so I considered maybe my glasses would help her for now. I pulled them out of my jean pocket and slid them on her face carefully. She seemed shocked and amazed as she reached to touch my face. “You’re so young. Nothing like the man that found me.”

“Oh, Jacob? Ha, well, he does have some gray in his hair, but he’s only twenty-eight. A lot of us are pretty young here.”

“Are you undead?”

“Yes, I am. I should, honestly, look younger, but my body kept aging after I was infected. I wasn’t even this tall or genetically supposed to be, at least.” I moved to sit on the bed with her.

“So, who are you? Should I know you?”

“Well, my name is Lin. I’m a doctor here. You’ve never met me before. I’ve only met you because I used to be in charge of your case, but Dr. Cole took over because he decided I couldn’t handle a case like yours.” I moved her hair to study the now healed over bite on the back of her neck. I braided her dark brown locks over her shoulder and felt her boney frame. I moved the bottom of her medical gown up a bit and moved her leg to check the bite that was still noticeable and even festering.

Then, her hand made contact with my face, making me fall back in shock.

I hit the floor and cradled my injured cheek.

“Do you know not to touch women like that?! Who raised you?!” I stood back up and closed my eyes, trying to keep myself together.

“I am a doctor! I don’t have any reason to put any kind of sexual advances on you!” I moved my hair and put it up in a bun. “That bite on your leg is really infected, so when Dr. Cole comes in this morning, ask him to look at it.” I opened the door and sighed, gazing back at her.

“I-I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll see you again soon.”