Vorfreude // Jake Riley

Chapter 1

"You have got to be shitting me!" Another great day of being stuck in traffic. I groaned at the sight of never ending cars ahead of me. What was a girl with a sick mom to do?

More often than not, Atlanta brought a feeling of stress upon me. I had taken a day off from my job at NASA and driven all the way from Florida.

I had grown up in Atlanta but once I had a engineering degree from Georgia tech I escaped as quickly as possible. The only thing that kept bringing me back was my mother and my sister, especially since my mother was at a critical condition.

Finally after 30 minutes of traffic I made it to the hospital. I parked in a hurry and rushed inside.

"Hey how is she?" I made it to the front desk and signed in. The friendly nurse, Valerie, was there as usual.

"The same answer I gave you when you asked last week, Kendal." I gave her a sullen smile as I made my way to my moms room. As I opened the door she sat up. The chemo had aged her made her bald, but she was still one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. For as long as I remembered I wanted to be as pretty, kind, and smart as her. Seeing her lie in this bed made me fall apart every time I came here.

"Kendal you look tired are you okay?" Always worrying about me, even if she were laying on her death bed.

"I'm doing great now, mom. You read any good books lately?" When she was first put in the hospital I made her promise to read a book each week so when I came back she could tell me all about it. Most of the time I wasn't listening but instead I liked spending time with her. 

Once she finished talking I would tell her about the new discoveries we had made or the stuff I had to fix. It seemed odd to most people that I didn't stay for my mother but she understood. Atlanta had always haunted me and I was running from this ghost of a city. Only to come back when it was necessary.

I left her room to find the bathroom. Something seemed off as I rounded the corner.

It didn't go unnoticed when there were two nurses whispering, looking as pale as snow. It also didn't go unnoticed that there were police officers walking around with masks on. The last straw was a doctor walking hurriedly with a face mask on. I rushed back to my mothers room then.

"We need to go." I started to pack my stuff back up while disconnecting her from her bed.

"Why honey? Kendal tell me what's happening?"

"Something's wrong." I had only acted so brashly once before and that was another time of emergency. My mother didn't question further as I helped her into a wheelchair. I wheeled her out with my bag at my side.

Taking medication would be too risky now, I would have to take her with me back to Florida. I didn't know what was happening but as I approached the doors leading out I realized just how bad the situation was.

Two nurses stood in front of me.

"Ma'am you can't leave there's been a possible outbreak that needs to be contained. You must stay 4 to 6 feet away from everyone at all times. Including your mother." Outbreak. Contained. These words made my blood boil. Like usual when I got mad, I talked before I thought.

"I can't leave her side right now do you understand? 4 to 6 feet my-" I was furious and probably causing quite a scene. So before I could finish my statement I was pulled back from the waist. Legs flailing and kicking whoever had the misfortune I was put down after being pulled away from my mother and the nurse. The arms weren't removed from around my waist until my mother had been wheeled away from me and I had stopped fighting.

Tears stung at my eyes. I couldn't lose my mother to some, "outbreak," I wouldn't, not after everything we had been through. She deserved better.

The person had moved away, probably to uphold the new rule. I turned around to look at him. A cop, one of the two roaming the halls. He was young probably my age, his skin was mostly covered and his face masked.

"What exactly is going on?" I had calmed down now, for the most part, and I wanted answers.

"I'm sorry I can't help you." He was turning away and I almost reached out for him but remembered what I was told to do.

"Wait! I just I need someone to tell me what's going on so I can help, I need to help someone." He probably thought I was insane at this point. He looked at me and raised his eyebrow but still seemed to understand. After all I was just a frustrated girl trying to save her mom.

"A Syrian man came into the US very sick, he's in isolation now, doctors are doing everything they can but anyone who's been in contact with him, like the doctor he infected, is vulnerable to a highly dangerous virus. The hospital has to be on lockdown until it's confirmed he is the first carrying the virus."

"What about the current patients will they be cared for? Surely someone can help them."

"Right now everyone is scared, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone kept to themselves." No one was going to help my mother. That's what he was trying to say. Stage 3 breast cancer and I couldn't do anything to help her through it all. Whatever I could do I wouldn't do it alone. This guy would be my best bet at getting her the care she needs.

"I'm sorry for lashing out its just my mom she's pretty sick and I can't watch her-"

"You won't have to. I'm Jake by the way."

"I'm Kendal." We stuck our hands out to shake only to remember the stupid rule again. I laughed dryly and so did he. When Jake smiled he didn't look as intimidating his eyes were warm, and his smile made his entire face light up.

"How long is lockdown?" I walked by his side and he didn't seem to mind. Wherever he was going, I was going. If there was a dangerous outbreak then the safest person I could be with was walking in front of me.

"Just a few hours for now at least."

"I swear, this is how every zombie movie starts." I mumbled it under my breath but he had caught it. Jake chuckled at it but I was just hoping things wouldn't get as bad as it did in the movies.

A/n: a lot of grammar mistakes probably but I'm too tired to fix them. I love this show so much and IDEK what I'll do when it finishes but yeah here's a new chap. I have the same birthday as Chris so happy belated birthday to me!
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