Eye See You: Infection pt. 34

I sprang up, every muscle in my body protesting at the quick movement.  My hands grasped Albert’s shoulders, and he went limp. 

Holding him up, I was again shocked at how light he was. If Dina and I hadn’t found him when we did, he probably would have been dead in a few days.

“I need… to get… back to the Void.” I could feel his frail frame shake with each violent sob. “I need to go to my home.”

“You can’t do that Albert.” I kept my voice calm.  He was a sick, crazy man. Yes, he was evil, and I would have loved nothing more than to drop him to the ground right then, but I couldn’t.

Whatever evil had driven Albert was gone now. Instead it was replaced by that same sense of powerlessness that had driven him to invade the Void in the first place.

“What did you call me?” His yellowed, watery eyes looked up into mine.

“Albert.” I returned his gaze.

“No.” He shook his head. “No! I am… I am the Unknown Sender. I am…”

“You are Albert May. The Unknown Sender is dead.” My grip tightened on him, and he winced.

“No.” His lips were trembling. “No, no, no, no…”

“Yes.” I sat up, pulling him onto the bed. “Virus killed him.  Now you are all that’s left.”

I sat there, Albert cradled in my arms like a sick child.  His frame was so small, and his body so starved that he seemed to curl up on my lap.  I felt sick feeling his head resting against my chest, and yet a part of me wanted to laugh. 

The big, powerful Unknown Sender was practically being rocked to sleep in my fucking arms.