BODY & BLOOD

𝓒𝓗 25 𝓙𝓪𝓷: 𝓓𝓻. 𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮?

   "HERBERT, GET YOUR ASS IN THE KITCHEN! IT'S LUNCHTIME!" Jan yelled, making Herbert accidentally cut an artery with a scalpel. Herbert grumbled, taking off his gloves and throwing it haphazardly across the tin plate holding his utensils. He makes his way up the stairs of the basement and opens the door. He looks at his surroundings before trying to go back and close the door. Once his hand touched the cold, circular doorknob, a loud cough caught his attention, making the doctor sigh in defeat. He turns around to see Jan, her arms crossed over her chest as she huffed angrily. Herbert rubbed the back at his neck, "I know what you're going to say." he says as Jan cocked an eyebrow.

   He slowly raises his right hand and slaps his cheek so hard, leaving a red mark in its wake. Jan's eyes widen but is soon replaced with a smirk creeping up her face as she walks to the doctor and grab his arm. "I'm glad you know the routine by now! How many times do I have to tell you to stop skipping your meals!" Jan says as she drags the man into their respective kitchen. She sits him down as she goes to her seat. Picking up a fork to swirl the alfredo pasta while intently staring at Herbert.

   The man just rolled his eyes and picked up his own fork, making Jan grin and turn her attention to her food. Herbert gobbled the entire entrée, leaving a clean plate, as he stood up abruptly and went back into the basement. The sound of the door opening and closing again as Jan just stared and sighed deeply.

   "When will that man learn...", she chuckled. Their relationship was nothing more than a doctor and an unwillingly assistant, at least at first. They've become really good friends over the years, it's just that Herbert wasn't one to be verbal on his emotions. He overworked to the point he won't eat so Jan has to physically drag him out of the basement or call him out of work. When a corpse was re-animated it always ended in a bloody mess with the both of them almost dying, well Jan died a lot. For example, she was helping Herbert inject the reagent into the corpse, springing it to life. It ended up being violent as usual and slammed the tin plate of surgical tools into Jan's face, impaling her.

   Herbert was about to pull her away but the corpse threw him across the room as it attacked Jan. Herbert profusely apologized and now has to clean the house every Saturday. Everyday with the doctor was exhilarating, Herbert was very fond of her presence but he would never tell her. He shows it time from time, asking her what she likes and he ends up buying it for her. Jan smiled at the thought of Herbert opening up more often now.

   She finished her meal and picked up both of the empty plates, putting them in the dishwasher. Afterwards, Jan decided to read a book on the couch. Hours passed as the book was now planted on her lap, as she stirred awake. She wiped the drool off her face, "Ew.", she says as she got up and returned the book to its rightful place. As soon as the book slid in the shelf, a loud, enthusiastic voice booms from the direction of the basement. She quickly made her way down the basement as Herbert wore a big smile as his figure blocked something on the table. He didn't notice the girl's presence, as he injected a little more reagent into something Jan couldn't see.

   Jan made her way to the side of the doctor to examine his work. She sees a paw that belong to a canine start moving, prompting her to come closer, she was already used to dying so what's the harm. Herbert sees Jan, in an victorious haze, he instantly grabs her shoulders with his hands. He then pressed his lips into hers in a swift motion, catching the girl off guard. He didn't even notice what he did until he realized she wasn't moving.

   He blushed and adjusted his glasses, "I would like to introduce you to K9.", he says as a beagle that had some lacerations and a missing left eye stands up waving its bone tail. Jan's face lights up as she scoops the pup in her hands, "You actually did it!", she says excitedly as K9 licked her face. Herbert smiled softly at Jan's reaction, her baby talking the dog. "Oh, I almost forgot." Jan says making Herbert raise an eyebrow until Jan pecks him on the cheek and runs up the stairs with K9. What was he going to the do with this tightness in his heart?

   "Checkmate" the static form says as it turned off the tv. "Time to give them a little visit, shall we?" it chuckles as it jumped into the tv. Distorted laughter being the only sound it made as colorbars flickered on the screen.