Barely Alive - Josh Washington x Reader

Chapter 24

"I wanna see him!"

You pushed past the doctors holding you back. The room was full of scientists and doctors, discussing, arguing, trying to find out what was wrong with Josh. The room he was in was heavily locked, and as you scanned your eyes over the several locks, wondering how you would get them all open.

There was no sound coming from the door at all, and you worried about Josh. Isolating him from any contact seemed like the worst possible thing you could do.

Your eyes scanned over door, when suddenly noticing a finger print scanner on the side. You narrowed your eyes and grabbed the nearest scientist. He was struggling against your grip, but before he could pull back, his hand was already on the scanner.

Access was granted and you smiled brightly as the locks opened by themselves. You quickly pushed the door open, and ignored the panicked responses from everybody behind you.

There was no source of light visible in the room at all, not until you opened the door. The small ray of light lit up the room, and your eyes widened at the sight. You placed your hand in front of you in shock as you stared at the creature in front of you.

A screech escaped its mouth, and you took a step back at the sound. You felt tears from into your eyes as Josh finally made eye contact with you. A small whine escaped his lips and you felt your heart ache at the sound. The doctors and scientists just stared at Josh with wide eyes, no words spoken at all. Your breath hitched and you took a step forward.

"J-Josh...?" He responded to the mention of his name. Every step you took forward, Josh crawled back, eventually hitting his back against the wall. You carefully kept coming closer, your hand extended out towards the guy. He screeched silently as your hand almost touched him. You hesitated, but cupped his cheek with your hand. He tensed under your touch and his eyes looked up at you with fear.

You smiled as he didn't react at all, but it faltered as soon as Josh jumped up. He screeched loudly, jumping onto you and pushing your back against the ground. His claws held your shoulders pressed against the cold underground, and his eyes met yours.

You could hear people behind you protest against his behavior, but as he growled in their direction, they immediately shut their mouths. Josh leaned down and sniffed your neck, taking in your scent and smelling how scared you actually were.

"J-Josh..." You whispered, trying to calm him down, but he didn't seem to react anymore.

Suddenly an intense feeling of pain filled your shoulder, and your eyes widened. Josh had dug his teeth into the skin of your shoulder, growling at the taste of you. You screamed in pain. Tears now rolled down your cheek as you tried to escape out of Josh' tight grip. You kicked your legs and pulled at your wrists, trying to pull them out of Josh' hands. You felt Josh being pushed back, and then a pair of hands under your shoulders. They pulled you out of the room as someone kept Josh away from you.  Josh screeched and crawled into a corner, and the guy quickly left the room, closing the big metal door behind him.

-----

"What the hell did you think you were doing?!" You flinched at Mike's angry voice, and averted your eyes down at the ground to avoid his gaze. You shrugged and placed your hand over the bandages area on your shoulder.

"I just wanted to see Josh..." The group was looking at you with disbelief. Even though they had told you what Josh was like, you had no idea he was in such a bad shape. You couldn't even see any emotion in his eyes. He had turned into an animal, a monster.

"Well, you saw him! Now you saw how he is..." Mike's tone turned softer at each word he spoke, as if he couldn't believe Josh had turned into something like that himself. Mike sighed and plopped down onto the nearest chair. The group stared at him with pity as Mike expression turned from anger to sadness.

"I-I'm sorry..." You whispered. Mike didn't even look up at you or give you any sign that he cared. He just stared down at the ground his hands balled up in fists.

"Y/n, you should get some rest..." Emily spoke up, and the rest nodded. You just shrugged and lied back down, staring up at the ceiling and trying to ignore the intense pain in your shoulder. Everybody left, leaving you alone with your thoughts.

You had no idea what to do. It was like a nightmare with no end. Josh did turn into a wendigo, you still hadn't heard anything about Jessica, your parents still didn't know what happened.

You closed your eyes and sighed deeply. How could you continue to live normally? There was no way you could. What would happen to Josh? Was he even able to return to normal? What even happened to make him turn into a wendigo.

You listened to your thoughts as you attempted to fall asleep. The room was silent, and it felt like your heartbeat could be heard echoing around the room, as if you could hear your blood running through your veins.

You wanted to see Josh again. You didn't care if he attacked you again, you just wanted to see a sign of him getting better. The doctors did tell you that he remained calm when you first walked in, which apparently never happened before. Maybe he recognized you or maybe your voice. You told yourself you would visit him again tomorrow.

Maybe it would help him remember what happened.

-----

He figured out what he needed. It was you... or at least your flesh. The taste of your blood lingered on his lips, and it had been the only thing that satisfied his urges. He needed more of you.

The smell of your fear had invaded his nostrils and made it too attractive for him not to take a bite. To taste just a little bit of you to give in to his cravings. Your screams sounded like music to his ears, and he loved the sounds as he slowly sunk his teeth into your shoulder.

But something didn't feel right.
The fear in your eyes made him crave you, but also hurt his heart a bit. He needed more of you, but also didn't want to hurt you. He had enjoyed the metallic taste of your blood, but hated the way you pressed your hand against the wound as they dragged you away. The tears running down your cheeks as you stared at him with fear and betrayal in your eyes.

"You just need another taste, Joshua."