Lucius and Drew: Expository Intermission

[Disclaimer: I do not own the PPC.  That is the property of Jay and Acacia.  Drew and Lucius, on the other hand, are mine.]


    Agent Lucius Sievert, Department of Floaters, paced the waiting room of Medical nervously.  It had been several hours since he had dropped his partner, Agent Drew Charles, off.  Drew had been moderately incapacitated due to a near-fatal wound during their last mission.  Agent Lucius was somewhat unsure of the events that had followed, but as far as he could gather, his partner had something wrong with his blood that had revealed a previously underlying condition.
    Understandably, he was worried, confused, and somewhat frightened.

    After what felt like several more hours of pacing, a door opened.  Lucius turned just in time to see Drew stumble out.
    “Drew!”  Lucius rushed over to his partner.  “Are you alright?”
    Drew slumped against his partner.
    Lucius started.  “...Drew?”
    Drew remained silent.
    “Drew.  Seriously.  What is going on?”  Lucius pushed his friend to arms length.  “...Are you crying?”
    “A little bit, yeah.”
    “I am assuming that none of what you just found out was good news.”
    Drew nodded.
    “I am also assuming that you are going to be needing a bit of time off.”
    Drew paused, then continued nodding.
    “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
    Drew continued nodding.  “Can we just get back to the RC?  I need to lie down for a bit.”
    Lucius nodded.  “Alright.  Whatever you need, mate.”

    Trips through HQ take faster when the involved parties are distracted.  Mortal wounds and general concern do wonders for this.  Before long, the duo had arrived at Response Centre 43042.

    Drew wandered over to the pile of blankets that served as his bed.  “So, you want to know what happened?”  He sat down heavily.
    Lucius nodded.  “Whenever you’re ready.”
    Drew sighed.  “Alright.”  He curled up.  “I might fall asleep in the middle of explaining.  If I do, please don’t wake me up.”
    Suddenly, the console beeped loudly.
    Lucius punched it.  “Shush, you.”
    “Thanks, man.”  Drew nodded absently.  “So, you know how I come from a ‘verse with zombies, right?”
    His partner nodded.
    “Well, at some point, I got infected.  Which means that, well, I’m a zombie now.”
    Lucius peered at his friend.  “You don’t... look that undead.”
    Drew shook his head.  “That’s because the whole weird time-space thing in HQ kinda... Iunno.”  He rubbed his temples.  “Sorry, I was kind of... in shock, I guess.  I’m trying to think about how the doc explained it.”  He sighed again.  “I guess... well, I’m not turning proper.  I joined the PPC before I turned, so my body is intact, but my mind... well, it’s the only part that’s going to decay at a consistent rate.  So, my sanity will probably degrade over time, and moments like this, where, well, I’m lucid will get less and less common.”

    There was a lengthy pause.

    “Lucius?”
    “Yeah?”
    Drew took a rather shaky breath.  “I’m scared.”