[h2]Jakob Main[/h2] [b]_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/b] “There were so many people in that airport. So. Many. People. You could taste the desperation in the air. Fear gripped us hard and it wouldn’t let a single mortal go. Right beside me was a father who kept trying to reassure his son that everything was going to be alright but when I looked into his eyes. They were dark and filled with fear. His hands quivered relentlessly and his head drenched with sweat. I felt the same horror that he felt and so did everyone else; It was contagious. Then fear struck its loudest cord in all of us when all we could hear from the back was a scream that could have struck even the heart of Satan himself. That’s when the stampede began. Chaos and panic swept all of us as we all tried to push towards the gates. People were falling down left, right and center; it’s like they were being dragged down to hell. As I looked ahead, they were already closing the gates. People were trying to claw the doors like animals and some even tried to break the glass to the outside. When you looked behind you, all you saw were men, women and children being savaged and torn apart by the demons. I’ve read all manner of stories about creatures but never in my darkest nightmares did I ever think it would come true. I just started running to an exit sign nearby. Other people were having the same idea, but some were trying so hard to hold to their briefcases, luggage and many other superficial items that it ended up failing them in the end. As I got there, people were squeezing their way through the door, trying to make it to the runway outside. I managed to get myself to the door, but my arm was aggressively grabbed by someone. I felt like my greatest fears were about to be lived but as I quickly turned my head, it was the father from before. He was holding one hand on a bloodied bite wound on his neck and the hand on his son. He tried to offer is son’s hand to me and begged me to take him. His eyes wept with pain and despair; I had never seen such a look before. My whole life felt like it had just stopped then and there. The world felt like it was looking at me for an answer, for a choice! God’s judgement was pressuring down on me and I could feel the burden crushing me like a thousand rocks! You know what I did next? You know what I did next!? I ran! I left the boy and his father and ran! I never looked back but now all I think about is what he must have felt when he saw his own fellow human being abandoning a little boy for certain death. I sentenced a man and his son to death! I’m a monster! I’m no better than those creatures out there!” [b]_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/b] The man in the bed lay there crying for someone to hear his sorrow. That person was Jakob. Jakob sat at the said the bed, trying to comfort him in his final moments. The sickbay of the facility is dark, gloomy and filled with other people like the man in the bed. It’s a depressing place, filled with the screams and cries of sick patients. The staff is so few in number that many of them are going crazy with stress and panic. Not everyone in this godforsaken part of the facility will live. Jakob proceeds to give the man in the bed some water from the desk by his bed. He sits there and watches his trembling fingers try so hard to attempt to lift the cup up and drink but to no avail. He was diagnosed with severe cancer a couple of months after he arrived. The doctors didn’t know which cancer it was exactly, but the general medical opinion is lung cancer. Since there’s no chemotherapy or medical drugs that can help, all they could do was make him comfortable in his final few months. Jakob is the only person that’s been visiting him the past few months. Day by day, he saw the man’s condition deteriorate bit by bit; like watching the leaves of an old tree fall off day after day. “Here, let me help,” offers Jakob. In a failed attempt at independence, the man tries to do it himself but ends up spilling it all himself. Jakob quickly grabs a nearby towel to help wipe it off him, but the man waves him away. “Please don’t bother. I deserve this”. Jakob then sinks back down in his chair. He could see the man’s guilt a mile away and he wishes he could help him carry it but alas, Jakob is carrying his own guilt and it weighs him down like an anchor. “Jakob.” Whispers the man. “Yes?” Asked Jakob, as he moves a little closer to be able to hear him. “I want you to end my pain”. Jakob would have looked at him in shock, but he’s been so desensitized by all the pain and suffering in this place that he just takes it as an understandable comment. “I’m not going to kill you.” Said Jakob as he shook his head gently. “Please. Please end my suffering. I need to die so that I can get my judgement. I need this pain and guilt to go away. Why won’t you help me!” Jakob starts to shush the man as his volume started to rise. “I can’t do that for you, my friend. I can ask one of the doctors to give you more morphine bu-”, Jakob is stopped mid-sentence by an unforeseen spit from the man in the bed. He proceeds to wipe it off as if it has no effect on him. The man’s voice starts to transition from a whisper to a shout. “You know what you are a coward! You sit here and you try to tell yourself that by helping others with death and guilt that you’ll start to feel more comfortable with it but let me tell you this old man: It doesn’t get easier! It starts to eat you up and engulf you in a blackness the likes of which you’ve never seen! Ghosts start to pop up everywhere you go! All you hear in the back of your mind is their screams and cries for help! I can see it in your eyes that you too carry this burden I hope to hell that it corrupts you to the point of no return because that’s when you’ll feel what I and every person on this godforsaken planet feels!” He starts to cough violently due to pushing his own voice to levels to which it doesn’t normally stand. Blood starts to come out with coughs. Jakob just stands and gives a sigh. “See ya tomorrow, Jack.” He then proceeds to walk out the sickbay. [b]_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/b] Outside the building, the people wander around going about their day to day lives. Many of them want to keep themselves in the illusion that their safe and that their lives are the same again, but it’s all a lie. If Jakob had a nickel every time the base leaders were close to running out of supplies; well, he wouldn’t be rich considering there is no currency anymore. Jakob just spends his time to talking to people who need it but half the time, a lot of them don’t want help. The fear of feeling vulnerable can make a person stubborn. Jakob knew that Jack was right. He only does this to help make himself feel better about his own demons. He’s been at the base for nearly a year now and he’s done fuck all to help his daughter. She could be alive or dead and he cries himself to sleep every night over this fact. He walked across towards the fence on the other side of the courtyard. He continues to stare out at the grass beyond. It was starting to get longer and more wild. Nature was starting to take back its land. The buildings and settlements of the past were starting to be claimed by the present. Jakob would come out every day to watch the grass grow. It was the only time of day where he didn’t think, he didn’t dwell. He just watched. Another day in the new world.