Outbreak-Briana-Week 4

Shock was an understatement. I could hardly breathe as I watched my uncle wander aimlessly around the room not really looking at anything. Trystan looked at me quietly as we both tried to assess the situation. What were we supposed to think? He was supposed to be dead for God’s sake! I pushed my hair back behind my ears before I made my way across the room to where he was standing. My hand had barely brushed his arm when he was lashing out at me wildly. His hand struck the side of my face causing my to stumble back into Trystan.

“Are you okay?” She asked quietly. I nodded slowly as I brought my hand up to my cheek.

“He didn’t mean to,” I said more to convince myself then her.

“He’s out of his mind Bri,” Trystan said causing me to look at her. Her eyes were filled with nervous worry. I forced myself to plaster on a reassuring smile for her. I probably ended up looking like one of those sad clowns with painted on smiles.

“I’m his only family member left as far as we know.” I said sadly feeling a pang in my chest. “We’re going to help him. We have to Trystan.”

She looked like she was going to protest, but I saw something flicker in her eyes that reflected my own pain. All she said was, “Okay.”

I turned back around to face my Uncle who was now watching us suspiciously. My hands were shaking slightly but I straightened my back and locked onto his gaze. If I flinched at the emptiness in his I was only hoping he didn’t notice.

“Uncle Brad,” I said before taking a deep breath. My hands curled into fists to hide my shaking. “What happened here?”

He looked completely through me as he backed away from me. I felt my heart break slightly as I reached a hand out to him and he flinched away. My world apparently could get worse and worse. Slowly and carefully I stepped towards him ignoring the way he was shaking when I got close enough to crouch in front of him.

“I’m not going to hurt you. You’re okay,” I whispered hesitantly resting a hand on his shoulder. He didn’t thrash around this time, but he did flinch away. “I need you to tell me what happened.”

“They come and they destroy and they take.” He said quickly as he really looked at me this time. “They come and they destroy and they take. They come and they destroy and they take.”

He kept repeating the phrase over and over again until he was out of breath. I didn’t understand what he meant. They came and they destroy and they take? What did that even mean? I bit the inside of my cheek before turning to look at Trystan. She looked just as confused as I was.

“Who are they?” Trystan asked from behind me. Uncle Brad just kept shaking his head back and forth muttering the same sentence.

“I don’t think we’re going to get anything out of him right now. He’s too traumatized.” I ran a hand down my face in frustration.

“The Muerte,” he said loudly making me jump. I turned slowly to face him as his last words chilled me to the core. “The Muerte are going to come back and you’re going to be caught in the crossfire.”