Driven To Insanity(Draft)

Grabbing one of the fruits by the desk, Rueben wiped it with his sleeves and took a small bite. He chewed it for a moment before grabbing a bowl and spat the fruit into it. His face crumpled in disgust as he put the apple down.

"This is disgusting, from where did you get all of these fruits from? They taste like rats drench in sewer sludge."

Uril, sitting on a chair with a table on the side with a large flask and some syringe on top if it, turned her head to look at him. She rolled her eyes and spoke, "Those are the best fruits we can find on the market right now, if you can even call it a market. I swear, the longer we are inside this claustrophobic city, the lesser i see other people."

"Maybe the disease really got the people scared." Rueben muttered as he sat back down on his bed while looking out of the window.

"You should also be afraid of it too, you know? That thing turns people into beasts."

"Not if we prevent it, and we have proven that the disease can be prevented." She twirled the fountain pen around her fingers..

Then the pen flew out of her hands and landed a few meters away, earning the pen a groan escaping from her mouth. She stood up and grabbed the pen as she continued to speak, "A few clinical trials and their results suggests that a vaccine can be made in which our immune systems can actively drive out the disease."

She stood up and sat back down to her seat after grabbing the pen. She smiled proudly, "If we can test the vaccines from some none infected individuals, then we can prove that it works! And if the lab can get the Crown's permission to circulate it to the city, we'll essentially become heroes in the populace's minds!"

"But what the people want is a cure, not a vaccine to prevent it. Unless you can create that, i don't think the people will look on the vaccine kindly. Especially with most of the citizens of our city have contracted the disease, they don't need a vaccine, they need a cure." Rueben spoke as he fixed his bed and stretched.

Uril stared at him for a moment, before sighing, "Yes, i know. But it would lessen the people's worries about the disease if they knew that they are protected from it..."

Rueben stopped for a moment, thinking about it before he sighed.

Maybe they will worry less if they knew, but not all of them will. Opinions will be divided no matter what. He thought to himself as he started changing his clothes.

Uril turned her head up to look at him with a confused look.

"Where are you going?" 

Rueben fastened his belt as he spoke, "To Mir Bar. I need to get another weapon made from Riza before i continue my hunting activities."

"What?" Uril looked at him with a surprised look.

"Why? We have already gathered enough of my blood and tissues for your lab's materials, and i am in tip-top shape to continue my activities. There is little to no reason why i'm not leaving this place." He spoke in an irritated tone as he grabbed his coat and wore it.

Uril stared at him, not even trying to stop him from leaving because she already knew what was going to happen. Rueben finished changing and walked to the door, opening it, he was surprised to see a large woman staring at him from down the hall.

The woman stared at him with a chilling intent, making his instincts scream danger. Staring at the woman for a moment, Rueben closed the door quietly and turned to Uril, who just turned another page in her notebook as she observed the changing color from the flask.

"..." Staying silent, he walked to the wardrobe and started undressing, only leaving trousers with slippers and a dress shirt behind and stared out of the window. Feeling indignant.

Uril chuckled as she muttered, "As long as the nurses in the medical facility see you as a patient, they won't let you leave. You know that."

"..." Rueben massaged his glabella. "I know. It's just that i didn't expect that they would put in trained hunters as nurses. Back in my day, they were just normal people with a medical degree."

"Well its a new policy now, old man." Uril let out a snarky retort as she giggled.

I swear to Almer, this whole city drives me insane. 

Thinking to himself, he turned to Uril and spoke, "And why are you even in here?"

Uril, without looking at him, answered, "I am here to observe you and your actions while you undergo recuperation in this medical facility. This is a part of our research in order to aid the creation of a cure, so please do not mind me and treat me as air as you do your business with a free mind."

Seeing his face crumble in irritation in secret, she let out a soft snort which Rueben promptly ignored as he lied on the bed. 

"I am fine." He muttered.

"That's not something normal to say."

"No, that is something what normal people would say to someone else." He retorted back with a slight grunt.

Uril stared at him, before letting out a sigh as she focused on her tiny little experiment on the table. "Yes, something normal people would say. But are you normal?"

"..."

Rueben stared at the ceiling for a moment, unable to come up with a retort before silently grabbing a pillow and turned it sideways. He then lied down on the bed as Uril wrote something on her notebook.

Silence became the only atmosphere. Tak. Tak. Tak.

Uril turned her head out of the window as rain drops started falling from the heavens, it was just a drizzle for the moment but she had a feeling that it would rain heavily today. Pursing her lips, she turned to look at her bag only to find no umbrella to be found. 

Letting out a sigh, Uril made note to borrow an umbrella from the reception desk.

***

Rueben opened his eyes to the all too familiar ceiling. He stared at it for a moment, then blinked and sat up.

He was alone.

He looked out of the window and saw that it was already dark.

She must've went home. Thinking to himself, he stretched his arms wide before getting out of bed. Then he walked to the door and opened it. Upon opening it, he saw a small cart with food covered by a large dome shaped lid. 

Staring at it for a moment, he grabbed the plate and closed the door behind him. He placed the plate on the table and opened the lid, revealing a plate of porridge. He grabbed a spoon and dug it into the porridge, pulling out just a spoonful.

Then he twisted his wrist and pushed the spoon to his mouth. He gave it a swirl for a moment before shrugging. "Good enough." He muttered as he sat down and started eating his food.

Everything went silent as Rueben ate his food quietly. The porridge was well made, familiar in taste but he reckon it was because it was handmade and not made by those steam cooking machines that those inventors made.

"Though, i wonder how those guys make such machines? I heard someone found a dwarven ruin a while back, was it a few years ago?" He muttered as he ate.

"Did they finally managed to recreate it or something? Or did they based the machines on the dwarven machine?"

He then placed the spoon down and looked around the room. He stood up, grabbed a cup and walked to the bathroom where he turned the faucet on, filling the cup with water. After it filled up, he took a big gulp before putting it back. Then he walked back to the table and grabbed the spoon.

"I could use some meat... Maybe not. With the current population of beasts, i reckon some of these hospitals use their meat to cook. It is okay to cook beast meat, i tried it. It didn't taste that good though."

After finishing up, he grabbed the plate and walked to the bathroom once more. He placed the spoon and the plate on the sink and washed it clean before he carefully flicked it around to push excess water away. Then he opened the door to the exit and was about to place the plate and the spoon back at the cart, a nurse walked down the hall.

Upon seeing him, the nurse ran to him, wondering if he needed help or something.

Rueben stared at the nurse, a man with broad shoulders, wearing a black mask covered in a dark veil, a comfortable yet loose long sleeve shirt with a small cloth hanging infront, a long skirt and gloved hand. The nurse was covered from head to toe.

Rueben nodded his head as the nurse asked him what was wrong.

"I finished eating. Do tell the chef that the meal was good and please put these plates away, i washed them in the sink a moment ago." He smiled and pushed the plate and the spoon to the nurse's hands.

The nurse nodded his head and spoke, "Is that so? I will pass the message to the chef."

Rueben smiled and closed the door.

The nurse stared at the door for a moment, before he put his hands in his pockets. The plate and spoon levitated on the air as the nurse let out a sigh.

"I hope you recover well." He muttered as he turned around, the plate and utensil vanished from the air as the nurse walked to the directors office.

He knocked on the door and a slight grunt answered him.

The room was filled with all kinds of talismans, the furniture of the room were only a chair, countless tables and stacks upon stacks of papers.

The director didn't look up and continued to read the papers as the nurse stood infront of him.

"Patient Rueben Mortimer from Room 4 is experiencing hallucinations. He told me that he ate porridge made by the chef and pushed what i imagine to be a plate and a spoon. He also told me that he was about to put the plate and spoon to a cart just beside his room. Its already 10:21PM, Doctor. Uril told us to let him rest and not disturb him so we didn't give him a meal."

The director stared at him for a moment, before nodding her head and motioned her hand for the nurse to leave. The nurse bowed slightly and turned to leave.

The director then leaned in to she chair and let out a groan. Then she hugged herself an in an embrace and prayed. 

"Oh, Mother God. Help these poor children recover..."