Chapter 5: Pharmacy (Part 3)
Hearing strange noises behind the door, Adam held his breath. He rose unsteadily, gripping his improvised weapon. For a long moment, he stood motionless, eyes fixed on the door.
It creaked.
Something was slowly pushing it open from the inside. A thin gap, then wider. Darkness spilled from the back room into the main area, like a shadow bleeding across the floor.
A figure emerged into the light.
A man staggered out of the back room, his silhouette wavering with each step. His emaciated body was tinged with a bluish hue, as if his circulation had failed long ago. Sweat streamed down his forehead and cheeks. His arms trembled uncontrollably, and his bloodshot eyes darted frantically around the room. Each movement tore at his stretched clothing, exposing patches of torn skin hanging in ragged strips.
"Help me..." he rasped. "I don’t... want to die..."
Adam didn’t answer. He stood stiffly, weapon in hand, as though his body were suspended between movement and paralysis.
"M-my... wife... daughter..." he whispered hoarsely, each word sounding like it scraped through a throat filled with broken glass. "Th-they’re waiting for me... I have to... go back to them... I can’t stay here... I can’t..."
The man stepped forward, his knees quivering as if they might buckle beneath him. He shuffled his feet, uncertainly, as if he had forgotten how to walk. His fingers twitched erratically, clenching into fists only to go limp again, as though the nerves inside him were waging a war independent of his will.
He looked Adam straight in the eyes. His lips trembled, as if they might crumble to ash. "I don’t... want to die," he croaked. "Please... I’m begging you..."
He took another step, unsteady, as if fighting against his own body. "They... my family..." he rasped, but he was no longer looking at Adam. His gaze was fixed somewhere else, as if speaking to someone only he could see. "I left the pot on the stove... Anna told me not to forget... I always forget... she’ll scold me again..."