Death Would Be Fine

☢Prologue☢

November 15th, 2025

The corridor was silent, there were armed guards standing along the wall, one every few feet. They made him a little nervous, even though they were there to protect him. He wasn't a prisoner, he was there willingly, but he still couldn't help the anxious feeling that always seemed to come over him in front of authority figures. It was a habit, even if he had never actually done anything wrong.

He was brought into an interrogation room. It was actually a repurposed janitor closet, but it was big enough for a table and four chairs, that was all they needed. He took a seat in one of the chairs, the two detectives took a seat across from him. For a few moments, they just stared at each other.

"Well?" the woman prompted him.

She was attractive, that was the first thing he'd noticed about her. Another habit. Her hair was neat, straightened, and somehow surviving the humidity. Her brown eyes were boring into his, even though she wasn't angry, she still had a stern stare. As for her male companion? He was attractive too. Blonde, tall, blue eyes. He could've been a model before this, Julian could see him posing on covers of romance novels about cowboys and CIA agents holding babies and making ovaries explode, or whatever. 

What the fuck am I thinking about?

Julian snapped out of the momentary trance and cleared his throat. "Well," he repeated, "I thought I could help."

The woman sighed softly, leaning forward and resting her hands on the table. "They said you had information, what kind of information?"

Julian shifted uncomfortably in his seat, wondering if maybe he'd made a mistake in speaking up. "I... Okay, so I heard about patient zero. I was there, actually, and I think I know what might've happened." Faces flashed in his mind. Terrified and blood, sometimes smiling, sometimes screaming. Dead faces, glazed eyes, milky white. It had only been four months? It felt like years, he felt like every time he looked in the mirror he saw his dad now. Stress. That was putting it mildly.

"Kid, come on," blondie finally spoke up. "You're not in trouble. We're just trying to fix everything. We're not going to tell your friends, we're not going to tell anyone."

"My friends know," Julian said, his mind drifting away from the faces again. It was an absent-minded comment, it didn't actually matter. His friends were the reason he was here anyway. "I was there," Julian repeated, "for patient zero, I mean. Like I was right fucking there."

"Like... You knew patient zero?"

"Yeah, we went to school together."

"Okay, so tell us everything."

"Everything?"

"Yes, everything," the woman replied, starting to look a little more annoyed.

He could tell them everything. He wasn't sure how much of it was relevant, but he wanted to do his part in all of this. From the moment it started, he'd wanted nothing more than for it to end. He would spill his whole damn life story if that was what they wanted.

⊷ ☣⊶

Outside of the building, a group of four stood, waiting. Inez had wanted to go in with him, she didn't think he should be alone. She'd become protective of him in the last four months. He was the youngest of the group, just a kid, still in college. Well, he was in college. She was a cashier. Ben was a teacher. Quinlan was a cop. Dorian? Dorian was the only one who hadn't changed. He was made for this world. He was in his element. The rest of them were still trying to adapt.