Another Reality

We are totally silent, I look around and I see a lot of blood, I see Steward's body on the floor covered in blood. John checks if he still has a pulse, he looks at us and shakes his head. Damn it Steward! Then we move on, next to each other, to the reception desk, there Morgan checks the phone and shakes his head also "Mute". Great!

"And now what? What do we do?". I ask.

"Let's see what's going on out there... maybe we can get some information." Opines Dwight.

"Yes, let's do this". Strand says.

When I'm about to move, I feel a hand on my shoulder pulling me Alicia?! What are you doing here?! When I turn around I see Steward, his eyes black and lifeless, his mouth all bloody, trying to bite me “Hey what are you doing?! Stop it!". I cry out desperately, holding his neck to prevent him from getting close.

As he is stronger than me he throws me on the ground, then he climbs on top of me and tries to bite me again “Steward, stop it now! You’re crazy! It's me... Al! We work together for God’s sake!”.

It doesn't take long and John takes him off me, and Strand lifts me up “Are you okay, Al? Did he hurt you?”.

"No... he tried but failed... thanks guys". I look to the side and see John, Dwight and Morgan holding Steward.

"What now?! What are we going to do with him?!”. Question Dwight.

"I don't know... I have no idea". I say.

“We can’t think too much! He’s very strong!". Says John.

Then in one move Steward slaps John and pushes Morgan over. Damn it! Strand and I go towards them and try to hold him and get him off Morgan, but he manages to knock us both down and turns his attention once again on Morgan. They were right. He's really strong.

I take the piece of iron that I had on my hand and start hitting Steward, he stops and turns to me. Great. So I'm on the floor with him on top of me again, Strand and Dwight trying to get him out of me, Morgan trying to recover from the attack and I had no vision of John. I look him straight in the eye and see absolutely nothing, he looked like a rabid animal, I start to lose my strength and when he is about to bite me I see an iron going through his head. He falls on top of me and I see John "Are you okay?". He asks.

I nod "Just get him off me".

So I get up and try to recover from what just happened. Strand approaches “Are you sure you're okay?”.

"Yes, just... catching my breath and... trying to understand and process what just happened." I say breathless.

"Yeah... it was really something, I was not expecting it."

“Nobody was... how was he alive Strand?! John said he was dead! How is this even possible?!". I say outraged.

"I have no idea Al... I think that whatever it is is much worse than we thought". He answers.

"I don't know what to do... I can't think of anything... especially now".

"Let's get together with the others and think about something... don't worry." He puts his hand on my shoulder.

Dwight comes in first then Morgan, John, Strand and me. As soon as I enter Alicia is already at my side “My God Al! What happened to you?!".

"What? What do you mean?!". I ask without understanding.

"What do I mean?! You have blood everywhere! What happened?!". She asks again.

"Ahhh...". I look at my clothes and hands and they really have blood on them. You got to be kidding me! "It was nothing... don't worry". I try to reassure her.

"Nothing?! Are you kidding me?! Look at your condition... and Morgan's!”. She screams.

“Hey calm down! Why are you suddenly mad at me?!”. I speak a little louder.

"Hey girls... how about we calm down a little huh? We don't want to worry others, do we?”. Strand says.

"Yeah... you're right." I say going out and sitting in a corner to calm myself down and not draw too much attention.

I see others speculating what happened outside after seeing my state and Morgan's. I see Alicia talking or arguing with Strand. I see Dwight and John talking, probably trying to come up with a plan. I see June and a few other people looking after Morgan. And I find myself alone, sitting in a corner, with my hands shaking, still trying to understand what happened.

I wake up with a noise beside me and jump "Sorry... I didn't mean to scare you... I just came to leave you something to eat later... but since you woke up, how are you?". Question June.

“It was nothing... I'm fine. It was just a little battle... thank you”. I say taking the cereal bar she left.

"Sure... do you want me to examine you or help you with something?".

"No! I... I mean... thank you but you don't have to. I'm fine". I say taking a bite of the cereal bar.

"Okay then... if you need anything just call me". I nod, then she gets up and leaves.

I look around and see through the window that it is already night. How many hours did I sleep?! I also see that most people are sleeping as well, I look down and see that my hands and clothes are still stained with blood. How am I going to get this out? How am I going to change my clothes? There is nothing here that I can use! Damn it!

I get lost in my thoughts when I see someone stopping in front of me, handing me a wet cloth "Here... I think this might help". I look up and see her.

"Thanks Alicia... You didn't have to." I say taking the cloth.

"We did the same for Morgan... he said it was bothering him, so I thought it was bothering you too... I was going to bring this earlier but you were sleeping and I didn't want to wake you up." She says sitting next to me.

“Thank you... and yes, it does bothers... a lot. But the clothes I don't know what to do, I think I'll have to put up with it a little longer”.

"I think so... it's not like you have a lot of choice." She holds a part of my shirt "It's really a shame... it was such a beautiful shirt". She smile.

I laugh a little "Yeah... it is a shame... I loved this shirt, and I was looking forward to wearing it because today would be a special day but... it wasn't".

She tilts her head and looks at me with a confused expression “What do you mean, special? Were you going to be promoted or something?”.

"No! It was supposed to be... you know what, forget it... it doesn't matter ”. I say looking away and cleaning myself again. Almost Al!

"Are you sure? You know you can tell me, right?”.

"Yes, I'm sure". I continue to clean myself when she puts her hand over mine "I just wanted to apologize for earlier... I shouldn't have yelled at you I... I don't even know why I reacted that way".

I look back at her and give her a smile “It's alright Alicia... you don't have to worry about that, I freaked out a bit too. I understand".

“Even so... I felt bad afterwards. You had just been through a terrible thing and I should have helped you and not shouted... I'm sorry”. She says looking into my eyes.

“Okay… I forgive you. But you also have to forgive me”.

She laughs "Ok... you’re forgiven too".

I reach out my hand, she looks and smiles and then squeezes. I look into her eyes and smile. We stayed like that for a few seconds that seemed like hours, until she took her hand away “Good thing that were ok again... I wanted to ask you if you’re ok?”.

I look away again "As I already said to June... yes I'm fine, nothing happened".

"That’s good... I'm happy and more relaxed now". She smiles again. Dear God! That smile!

"There's nothing to worry about."

"Okay so... I think I'll try to sleep now, recover energy and stuff... you should do the same Al... good night". She says getting up.

"Yes ma'am!... good night". I say smiling. She smiles and goes to lie next to Luci.

I stay up a little longer, going over everything that happened and thinking about what might still happen. What will we do now?