*Discontinued* Project Storm

16. Can't Function

As soon as Patton pulled Virgil away Roman took off running. His mind was a mess of just... wild thoughts and emotions. He couldn't grasp a single thing. All that he could focus on was the burning panic and the pain that blossomed in his chest. He was bitten. Virgil was bitten.. twice. BITTEN BY A ZOMBIE TWICE! Roman burst through the door to the surgical room to find Logan standing beside Janus on the table. Roman stumbled in completely out of breath as Logan just looked up at him with cloudy eyes.

"L-Logan... Virgil... zombies... bite.... wrist..." His thoughts were completely jumped up as he tried to get out what he could. His hands moved wildly about as if trying to show what his voice could not get out and Logan narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "...A fucking tissue!"

"ROMAN!" Roman stopped short freezing up at the pain in the logical man in front of him. "You're being annoying. Speak slower and less panicked."

"VIRGIL WAS BITTEN BY A ZOMBIE!" It all came tumbling out at once and Logan simply frowned as Roman nearly crashed in exhaustion. His arms hit the table as he leaned over finally feeling the emotional fatigue. "Twice..." His voice was much quieter that time as he looked up to see Logan glaring at me. All the panic and pain burned through him sapping him of all his strength. It took all Roman had to stop himself from crying over it all. "B-Before we ever... ever..."

"Was that all?" Roman narrowed his eyes in confusion as Logan sighed and pushed his glasses up. "You ran in here disturbing all sense of calm to inform me that Virgil had been bitten?"

"You don't understand, Logan. He was already bitten. He was bitten by a zombie and survived." Logan's expression never changed only the direction he looked. Instead of glaring at Roman, he was glaring at Janus, but Roman knew it was still directed at him. He knew that but still... "Logan, he was..."

"I had already informed you that zombies hair turned purple because of a chemical reaction the zombie virus had to the biologic components in our bodies. The skin pigment turned blue due to the rapid growth of methemoglobin the virus causes throughout the entirety of the zombie. The yellow eyes are an abnormality in the pigmentation once again caused by a chemical reaction." Roman could see the stress growing in Logan as his body twitched ever so slightly. "I have informed you of this and yet you couldn't devise a suitable realization upon seeing such things in Virgil. I find it hard to believe the young man could have had all three indicators of the virus to be in his system for that to not have been the case."

"You already knew?" Logan groaned as he took his glasses off to rub his eyes. He looked exhausted.

"If by 'already knew' you mean 'was smart enough to deduce this from ample information and observation', then yes. I already knew." He put his glasses back on and Roman frowned looking back towards the door. "It does not change anything, Roman. You realize that right. That young man has been this way from the beginning. All that's changed is now you know."

"I... I know..." His eyes darkened as Roman started to shake.

"Are you frightened of him?" Roman's eyes shot wide as Logan went back to observing the sleeping serpent sniper. Roman looked over as Logan glanced up at him with a frown. "Roman, are you frightened of him now that you know he is infected?"

"Scared... Of Virgil?" Roman's voice cracked a bit but no one said anything. All Logan did was nod and Roman just stood there lost in thought. 

Was Roman afraid of him? Logically he understood this didn't change much. They still had a mission to complete. Virgil was still the same morbidly terrified stormcloud. He's still... He's still Virgil just... The zombies weren't attacking him anymore. Roman had stood there and watched as he strolled through the crowd of them like they were just rowdy people at a protest. They didn't bother him. They didn't care. And Virgil he... He defended one of them. A boy who stood there like Virgil was an older brother. Virgil grabbed his arm and the zombie did nothing. He didn't even attack us after Virgil told him to stop. None of them knew a thing about Virgil. Roman didn't know a thing about Virgil. He didn't know anything at all.

Now didn't that sound familiar?

"Roman, I feel I must remind you of the state in which we found Virgil." Logan held Janus's hand tightly as he narrowed his eyes at Roman curiously. "His mental instability... his fear... his anxiety. He is excessively terrified of doctors and not that long ago zombies as well. Not to mention the nightmares and the paranoia. The young man has been traumatized. Do you even remember how he reacted to you bitching about him 'wanting to get bitten'?" Roman couldn't help but cringe at the sudden reminder. He wasn't exactly proud of himself for that. "He even snapped at me when I tried to correct him about a zombie's bite."

"L-L-Log-gan?" Roman froze up, eyes wide at the pain and fear he could hear in the voice behind him, as Logan merely nodded in response to him. Roman looked over to see Virgil in the doorway gripping the door so tightly his hands were white. Not just his knuckles, no... his whole hand. "I-Is h-he..."

"I am unaware of the physical state as there is no power to any of the machinery. I'm afraid it's a waiting game at this point." Virgil's face fell as he looked away. His body shook as he tried to let go of the door only to lose balance and fall. Roman tensed up seeing him drop. He didn't know why didn't run to help. He wanted to. The second Virgil fell Roman wanted to rush over and help him but... He just froze up, unable to get his body to move. Roman just watched him drop to his hands and knees, completely lost and frozen stiff. Logan ran over helping Virgil up, shooting Roman this glare, as he helped the poor man over to a chair. "Virgil..."

"S-S-Sorry... I didn't..." His breath hitched as he pushed his knees up into his chest. Quite the feat considering he's sitting in a chair. Logan brushed the hair out of his eyes as Virgil stared unblinkingly at the floor. "I just... I wanted to... Janus, he..." His breathing was too shallow... too quick... and Roman, who was watching so intently, noticed right away when Virgil's breath gave out. This was bad. This was very bad... and yet Roman still couldn't get himself to move no matter how badly he wanted to.

"Virgil, I need you to breathe." The panicking boy simply shook his head as he buried he head into himself further and Logan tensed up. "PATTON!" He yelled out causing Virgil to flinch a cover his ears. Roman still couldn't move. This was horrible. Roman was practically screaming at himself in his mind, so pissed off over the fact that he was frozen, but it did nothing to change it. Virgil was absolutely petrified. He was in the grips of a full-blown panic attack. Roman had seen many of his men succumb to a varying degree of them countless times over. He wanted to help but he couldn't get his body to listen.

It wasn't that long before the doctor ran in in a state of his own panic to find the darker man huddled up. Logan jumped away the moment Patton rushed over whispering to Virgil so quietly Roman could not hear. What Roman could hear, however, was the groaning that was slowly getting closer. He shot Logan this look, making the other's face go white, as they both jumped to block the door. The moment they manage to move one of the machines to block the door, the sound of bodies slamming it to it echoed off the walls, only making Virgil's panic worse.

"I hate Doctors. I hate labs. I hate needles a-and I hate straps. I hate bright lights a-and... a-and... I can't d-do this. I-I c-can't..." Virgil's voice was getting a little warped as he whimpered and shook. "Somebody help." Patton tensed up and looked back at Roman with such desperation at the pure pain in Virgil's voice. "Please... Please help." The banging got worse as if the zombies were trying with all their might to break the doors down. "Help..." Virgil's face paled and his eyes went wide, his hand slapping over his mouth so suddenly. Before Roman even realized it, he was holding a metal bin just under his mouth, just in time for him to throw up. He grabbed the bin and held it tightly as his body rejected whatever contents were in his stomach.

"Roman, catch him." Roman's eyes went wide as Virgil started to dip forward. Patton ran to catch the tin as Roman caught Virgil before he could fall. He couldn't even explain what he felt right now. Virgil was shaking in his arms as the younger laid there unconscious and feverish. His face was covered in sweat as Roman held his limp body close. "Roman?" Roman never looked up. He never took his eyes off the strain and painful expression on the smaller's face. He never acknowledged Patton. Even when the older sat down beside him with this look of worry. Roman simply remained sitting there holding the emo nightmare in his arms. Virgil's whimpering never ended. Neither did his shaking... neither did his cries or mumblings. The only thing that ended was the misplaced anger Roman had towards him. Something happened to him. Something so bad it caused this fear. This... trauma. He ran for a reason and to be honest part of Roman didn't want to send him back to it. Even if he really didn't have much of a choice.

Roman had people he had to look after. They needed this vaccine. They needed the supplies even more. They needed the promise of safety and security the most. Roman just prayed Virgil would be ok.