Monster One-Shots

Patient Zero

            "You should let me out," he teased. 

            "No," Rowena said plainly. 

            "You're no fun," he huffed. 

            "Shut up, and eat your dinner, Cas," she ordered. 

            "But it's not brains," Cas pouted, putting his hand up to the glass.

            "You need to eat real food," she pressed. 

            Cas shrugged. "I told you I'm not hungry unless I'm in bleurghh mode."

            Rowena turned to the assisting scientist working behind her. "Patient Zero still exhibits a lack of appetite unless in zombified mode."

            Cas was quarantined after being exposed to a virus that seemingly induced zombified episodes. Really, they expected the virus to fully turn an individual into a zombie, but he still managed to keep half of his humanity. 

            He was exposed after managing to fuck around in the secure, transportation truck when it was parked. Obviously, the lock wasn't that secure, but they generally didn't expect anyone to break in and play with the chemicals marked "deadly" while the driver was in the restroom.

            Rowena turned back to Cas. "You're going to die of malnutrition if you don't eat."

            "Just for you, I'll try, but if I get sick, I'm not sorry to whoever has to clean up the vomit," he said nonchalantly, plopping down in front of his meal.

            "Try your best to eat as much as you can without getting sick," Rowena suggested. 

            He sighed, looking down at the salisbury steak, broccoli, and mash potatoes. The standard, nutritional meal they kept trying to get him to eat. He wasn't sure if they just didn't care if he got tired of the same food or if they assumed that since he never finished a full plate that he couldn't get tired of it yet. 

            He tentatively took a bite of salisbury steak.  

            "Make sure to eat vegetables too, and not just the whole steak and nothing else," Rowena scolded as he got around to half of the steak.

            "Fineeee," he whined. 

            "And I don't just mean mashed potatoes," she added, not even needing to look up from her paperwork to know he went straight to the mashed potatoes. 

            He groaned, forking up a broccoli.

            "Happy?" he asked through a mouthful of broccoli. 

            "Very." 

            "Whatcha typin’?” he inquired as he spooned himself some mashed potatoes. 

“That your eating habits have remained the same. I’m also adding a few notes about physical and behavioral observations. It’s just part of my record about you.” she informed him. 

She waited for to make some witty comment asking “ are you that obsessed with me?” but he didn’t. Instead when she looked over at him, she found him lazily stumbling over to the reinforced glass beside her. Mashed potatoes dripped out of his mouth as he mumbled unintelligible nonsense. He wavered between numbly banging on the glass and pushing his face against it. 

    “You were doing so good,” she uttered, smiling emptily. 

    She put her hand up to the glass, but that only seemed to drive the zombified man wilder. He merely started to smash his face towards her hand, so she removed it. She didn’t want Cas to get hurt.

    “They say not to get attached to the test subjects,” the assisting scientist chipped in.

    Rowena stiffened. “I’m not,” she informed him emotionlessly. 

    “I won’t tell anybody. I get it.” he reassured her, “But I recommend distancing yourself if you can. His zombified episodes are occurring more often and lasting for longer periods of time. I’m afraid he may eventually enter that state permanently.”

    She looked down at her hand. “Even if he fully enters that state permanently, do you think we can still find a possible cure to undo it?”

    “I don’t know. But we’ll try.”