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"Cyrus Syric, is that it?" 

I looked her dead in the eye, passed her judgemental scowl and attempted to ignore the annoying, repetitive clicking she made with her pen by giving her a fake smile.

"Yes ma'am, that's me," I answered kindly. 

Her green, snake eyes glared at me for a moment before she took to flipping through pages on her clipboard with her chubby fingers. "I'm surprised you have a clean record, being who you are," she said dumbly, pulling at the collar of her orange silk blouse.

"I don't know what that's supposed to mean, but of course I do," I responded quickly, trying not to fuel the agitation welling up in my chest.

"Well it's not a concern for now, I'm more concerned about having you in our hospital. Do you know what you're facing around here Doctor Syric?"

"I wouldn't have gotten the job here in this office if I didn't know. Look... Miss, do you have a reason for jumping my case like this?" 

Her blonde curls bounced as she stepped towards me. "My name's Stasha, Doctor Syric, and I have plenty of reason to talk to you right now the way I am. I've got my eye on you," she snapped before handing me a card. "Now take that, it'll get you around the hospital. Don't steal anything though."

I took in a deep breath, realizing I couldn't let that remark slip before I gave her a glare of my own. "If the color of my skin has anything to do with this then maybe I should keep my eye on you," I growled.

She let the hand holding the clipboard fall limp against her light pink skirt before she turned and walked away, her red heels clacking loudly. "Whatever you say, wolf eyes!" She called before slamming the door.

"Thank God that giant is gone," I murmured to myself. I finally was allowed time in my own office, the one I had earned just recently along with my hospital priveleges. Stasha was a nurse at the hospital who had been sent to deliver those privileges, but I wasn't expecting any racism to enter in with her either although I'd already experienced a lot of it getting to where I was now in my life - a fully licensed doctor with a house and two cars.

I plopped down into my office chair and caught my reflection, bringing Stasha's final remark to mind. "Wolf eyes huh? It's not like that's new," I mumbled to myself. My Amber eyes had always been mentioned by someone in a conversation when I met them, whether it be an insult or a compliment, they were impossible not to notice, especially framed by an umber skin tone like mine. 

I pushed a lock of wavy black hair from my forehead before leaning back in my chair, thinking about my future and grinning. "I finally made it."

Lost in thought about how proud my mom would be when I told her or how she'd pinch my cheeks and tell me she knew I was a hero, I almost dismissed the scream from down the hallway. Almost.

I tensed, tearing myself out of those fond thoughts and sitting up in my chair, waiting for another sign, sound, signal, something to give me a reason to get up and do something but there was nothing.  I didn't move, I couldn't move from that spot without another event to stir me. It's not that I was selfish and didn't want to do anything, it's that I was scared of why I had just heard that scream and it sounded like it had come from a woman.

"Is everything alright out there?" I called.

It was quiet for a few moments before something thumped up against the office door. I could faintly see through the frosted glass that someone was there, but their stature was abnormal and the shadow of the person's neck was crooked. I froze, staring and figuring out what to do. I was a doctor, right?! I could help whoever was through that door, that's probably why they were knocking on the door now! But that wasn't knocking... It more appeared that the person behind that office door was ramming into it with all of their might and my gut was telling me to get the hell out of here because this was like a scene straight out of a horror movie.

The thumping continued while I slowly backed away towards the window of my office, bumping into a desk and scattering a few papers onto the ground, but I knew those papers wouldn't matter to me if I was dead.

Maybe I was overreacting, maybe I needed to open the door for the suffering fellow behind it, but I've learned over the years to listen to my gut; it's never been wrong.

A hand slammed onto the glass and a low growl came from the person trying so hard to get in and when I saw the bloody handprint left by their touch, it was enough motivation to say fuck it and leave.

I turned around and climbed onto the desk before frantically pushing the shutters out of the way and opening the window and what met my eyes made me even more terrified.

Out in the streets there were strange, sickly looking people, stumbling about and twitching as they clumsily made their way passed brick buildings, leaving behind a trail of dark red blood.

"Dear Jesus," I whispered to myself.

How could this be happening? How could it have happened so fast, was this some elaborate nightmare I was having and needed to wake up from? I pushed the questions aside and slowly escaped through the window as silently as I possibly could as to not attract the attention of the other beings bumbling around.

My objective was to get to my car, which was parked in front of the office. I started running alongside the wall, and stopped before I ran out into the parking lot so that I could see if it was safe. With a quick glance, I caught sight of Stasha lying on the ground. Surrounding her were 4 people, all kneeling down and plunging their bloody hands into her flesh to eat. Her hand was twitching.

I held my breath and hid behind that wall, trying not to scream or even throw up at that disgusting sight and began devising a plan. All of those cannibals seemed to be busy tearing apart at Stasha which meant that I could have the perfect opportunity to get into my car and drive away while they were distracted. If they caught me, I'd end up like Stasha and if I stayed here I'd probably still end up like Stasha, so I forced my feet to move and began slowly approaching my beautiful silver Lexus in the corner of the parking lot. None of them even seemed to bother with me and I wondered if their fat prize was a better one than my short and skinny build which is why they didn't get up to come after me, but then again I was also being as quiet as I could muster.

When I finally made it into my car, I slammed the door, began hyperventilating and grabbed the keys from my coat pocket as fast as I could before ramming them into the ignition and flooring the gas pedal. 

"I'm coming home, coming home! Tell the world I'm coming home!" I sang as my car bolted onto the streets and down the road.

I cranked the radio on high and heard it whine with Flanagan and Allen's "Run Rabbit Run" as I focused my attention on the yellow and white lines and street signs instead of the monstrosities happening on the sidewalk. 

My only plan really, was to get home. I didn't know what to do afterward. All I knew was I had to get there, and that's all that mattered.