The Symptoms

Place Your Bets

"Where's it at, and when are we leaving?" I asked, bolting upright and hopping up off of my bed. He lifted an amused eyebrow at my enthusiasm, placing a calming hand on my shoulder.

"Calm down there, dormouse. From what I gathered by asking around, it's hidden in plain sight in an abandoned, underground train station. One that was shut down all the way back in 2007, so our best bet is there. As for when there's no time like the present, so pack your shit. We're going."

He lifted his hand off my shoulder, and I scrambled across the room in a frantic scurry, throwing on my kit belt and other necessities. I tossed my hair up into a bun, and forced on my boots, but as I was tying them, my gaze rested upon my fingertips. It was like I dipped my fingers in black paint, and it had smeared unevenly down my hands and arms, the small capillaries in my arms and hands were tinted a vile shade of purple-ish black that trailed all the way up my forearms and up to my elbows. I could even see my veins darkening a bit. Shaking my head, I finished tying my shoes and looked at Lucas's eyes. In the light, his glasses mirrored my face, showing the dark red-ish circles under my eyes, and if you looked closely, the small veins that lined the skin around my eyes were darkened into a sickly dark purple.

I didn't look bad. In a way, it looked kind of cool. But I also looked like I was dying, and I could feel it. Lucas snapped his fingers at me.

"Are you just going to keep staring at me, or are we going to go?" He urged. I quickly rolled my eyes and stood up.

"Yeah, let's go."

**************

"Are you sure that this is the right underground train station that shut down in 2007?" I asked, exasperated. Lucas gave a small nod.

From what I saw, it was nothing but a crumbling hole in the ground, surrounded by dead grass and dusty, sand-like dirt. A putrid smell came from it, like something was rotting. The heat didn't help either, in fact it made it so much worse.

Lucas went down the old stone steps first, stopping mid-way to hold out his hand and offer to help me down. Reluctantly, I took his hand and we both made it down the steps with ease. This place was completely abandoned, and it was so quiet that we could hear our own heartbeats echo through the empty caverns.

Before we had arrived at this place, we came up with a simple backstory. That I was a savage who had been recently infected, which was true, and that I wanted to find some way to help. I would lie and say that I have links to get them what they need, it was simple, really. Just get in there, ask some questions, and hope for the best. But right now, it looked like a ghost town, and I wasn't very confident in where we were even going. Lucas hits his flashlight a couple of times and it flickered to life, lighting up the surrounding area. I groaned.

"It smells like something died in here..."

"Something did," he responded, shining his light at the ground at what looked to be bones, stained brown in some spots and yellow in others. Why? I didn't want to know. I shuddered and looked away. The probability that those were human remains were pretty high, and I didn't really want to think about it.

As we quietly walked down the towering halls, a faint ruckus could be heard. I paused for a moment to try and identify where it was coming from, but it almost felt like it was everywhere. Looking over to Lucas, I shot him a wary glance. He was stopped too, his eyes closed as if he felt something.

"They're below us," he finally said, "You can feel the vibrations in the floor."

I nodded and looked around for a pair of stairs, sighing with relief as they caught my eye a couple of yards away. Jerking my head, I signaled for Lucas to follow, and he did. The noises got louder as we pushed on down the stairs, and I made Lucas turn off his flashlight as I saw a second light in the distance. Somehow, I managed to keep my composure and pulled my hood up over my head, Lucas following my lead silently.

We heard faint cries of pain growing louder in the distance, along with clattering and chanting, and in front of us now was a door. The door at the base of the stairs was cracked open in an almost welcoming way, so we looked at each other and took our chances, strolling in like we belonged.

Nobody seemed to suspect a thing as we walked in, and everyone there looked very shady and unhealthy. The strong smell of drugs hit us like a wave, so much so that it was dizzying, but the sight that was before us snapped me out of it quicker and harder than smelling salts. There was an elevated fighting ring with people chanting and shoving each other in the sidelines, watching the show in front of them. The two people fighting were barely on the cusp of humans and fought viciously, each one tearing at the other like the last piece of meat on earth. Such lifeless and empty eyes, filled only with blind rage.

The bigger one of the two suddenly picked the other off the ground, and slammed it hard back into the floor. The dull crunch echoed through the ring and spectators watched as it stopped moving. Some people groaned and handed other people money, walking away to get a drink. My mouth hung agape in horror.

"Oh my God..."