hi.! so, this is a little glimpse into a Pitt au I'm working on. I have left the project behind, but if anyone likes it, lIl continue
c/w: this is gonna be dennis x reader too, fem reader, vampire au, graphic description of wounds, violence, medical inaccuracies.
words: 1.8K!
notes: Its inspired by early sunsets over monroeville by
MCR... I may rewrite or add on to it if I get motivated.
You should’ve listened to your gut. Maybe acted out earlier—questioned more.
“Psychosis induced by drugs.” That’s what the authorities told you all when patients from the same unsheltered community were arriving with odd behavior. It was weird, this conduct was only reported in this specific area, you haven’t heard about this in any other unhoused settlement, or happening to other addicts.
You weren’t convinced. And you knew you weren’t alone. You could see the doubt in the eyes of others here in the Pitt, though no one said anything out loud.
But, lets run it back to the first patient who started this silent conspiracy you and the rest of the day shift shared, without having to say a word.
While working on the street team alongside Whitaker a while back, you had visited a lot of these communities, so you had an idea of how these individuals were, and it wasn’t like how they were described to you—“aggresive, almost primitive, full of rage” These people weren’t monsters, they were humans struggling. There had to be something else happening that law enforcement didn’t wanna talk about. It wouldn’t be a surprise if they were hiding something.
In one of these communities, there was this woman.
“All we need is love, sweetheart.” She would always say, grinning, every time you came through and checked on her vitals. Repeating it each time as it to make sure you really believed it. Always making sure to gift you a grain of hope, by being full of it herself. She wasn’t one to give up, ever. Even after all that she’d been through, she was the loveliest woman you knew, and she made sure you would never forget it. For her, tomorrow was always another day, glass half full kinda person.
Because of this, when you saw her enter the ED, you felt your whole body tense up. That couldn’t be her. She walked as if each step meant dragging a hundred pounds, an almost corpse-like wheezing escaping her mouth. Her skin, now dull, was covered from top to bottom with cuts and bruises. A truly disturbing image, the blood in her clothes, you couldn’t tell if all of it was hers. Something that stuck out to you about these injuries, was how they managed to look extremely fresh but grossly infected at the same time. Something you’ve never seen before. Her posture, crooked, didn’t leave space for you to really see her face, but even like this you could make out the exhaustion that was portrayed.
Beside her, cops restraining her movement, making her already challenged enough gait, worsen. ”Be careful with this one. She’s extremely dangerous”. Those words made you even more uncomfortable. “This one” as if she wasn’t human.
Samira interrupted the scene. “What’s happening here?” Her eyes widened as she tried to assist the woman, her legs looked like they could give up any second now.
“This violent junkie attacked another woman.” The cops claimed, Samira could only resist rolling her eyes. She ignored their words, urging them to take their hands off the woman, then rushing to get her a room.
You didn’t buy this for one second, you didn’t know this woman, but you knew damn well this didn’t seem like what you’ve seen of her, like at all. You had helped her enough times to see the kindness of her soul, always shining through the smile she wore everyday. Though she struggled a good chunk of her life with addiction, she was never aggresive.
Last time you had seen her, she was going to rehab, thanks to the help of the street team, while working hard to find a job. She had told you she felt hope to get out of her situation, and she really seemed happier. You could tell she was healing.
You followed behind Samira, helping the woman be more comfortable in her room.
“My name is Dr. Samira Mohan, I’ll be treating you today.”
The woman didn’t reply, she didn’t even make eye contact. She seemed ashamed.
“How’d you’d get these bruises ma’am?” Samirah added, hoping to get something out of her. Still nothing. Mohan noticed the woman’s hand, it was wrapped in fabric. The skin underneath it looked red and swollen, as if hiding an injury.
You wanted to say something. Ask about the plans this woman told you about. See if you could get something out of her, but you couldn’t. It wasn’t the time, she looked tired of even existing here right now.
Samira’s gazed followed the trail of bruises and cuts in the woman’s arm, until it reached her wrapped wrist, where the redness began.
“May I?” Samira gestured, asking for permission to unwrap it. The woman nodded, still, not a word from her.
When she unwrapped her arm, she saw it. It was a grotesque view. A bite, and it didn’t look normal. Beside the fact that it was infected, it was deep. Especially in the canines, that oddly looked thicker, and bigger than an average human being.
She flinched from the pain, and finally broke silence. “I got in a fight. Some bitch bit me.”
A gasp escaped your mouth, louder than intended, which you rapidly cut off. You didn’t want to embarrass her, but the image was far too surprising. How could a human have a bite like that?
“I didn’t attack anyone, I was defending myself. But since I’m not a Caucasian hoe, they say I’m the criminal.” She argued, clearly frustrated. Her voice strained. You could hear the exhaustion in her tone, still managing to evoke the rage she felt.
“I’m really sorry you had to experience that. We hear you.” Samira replied, trying to keep her calm. But, she glanced at you, and you could tell this was also surprising to her, who has been working here longer than you. There was more to this they weren’t telling you all, and you knew she could sense it as well as you did.
”A human you say?” Samira added, meanwhile rotating the woman’s wrist to get a better look. “Like, today?” She looked up, as well as you had noticed before, she could tell this bite looked extremely infected for it to have happened just today.
The woman nodded, not indulging in the conversation anymore.
“We are gonna clean the wound and give you some antibiotics. Take care of it, don’t wrap it again as it can trap moisture. We are gonna run some tests to make sure you didn’t get infected with anything.” She finished, getting up to put on her orders.
ᓚᘏᕐᐷ
Later in the day, you had so many questions. Why was her skin dull? Was this really about drugs? Why did she get in a fight? Why was she bit? How could you approach her again, maybe be there for her and ask what actually happened? You didn’t believe what the autorities said for one bit, especially after hearing part of her side.
Then, it happened. Meanwhile you were fixing another patient’s IV, you heard a scream. So loud the whole ED heard it. Then, there was noise. Apart from the scream, someone had fell—was someone attacked?! It sure felt like it.
When you got the chance to look, it was her. The same woman you attended before. You only recognized her because of her clothes, because what you were seeing, was nothing like her a couple of hours before. She was aggressive, like an animal. Bloodshot eyes with no shine. Shaking frantically and breathing heavy. From her mouth, red leaking out. What the fuck?!
In the floor, was one of the nurses you worked with. She looked scared, you’ve never seen her like that, she’s always been so tough. Near her neck, a bite. Deep, infected. How the fuck was it infected? It hasn’t even been seconds. It looked worse than anything you’ve seen today, or ever. You froze, thankfully, she was already getting help, and the woman was taken into her room again. You took a glance at her, and she looked completely different once again. Sorrow in her eyes, pleading for forgiveness without saying words. Just staring, like she’d have been possessed and someone else took over her body when she committed the attack. This was so weird, what type of drug does this shit to you? All the years you’ve studied medicine, all the time you’ve been here, you have never seen something similar. The ED was a mess now.
Chaos remained, people scared. This wasn’t a normal attack like you’ve seen before. Yeah, healthcare workers get attacked at least once, including you. But this?! A bite like this is something new. A bite.. that looked oddly similar like the one the woman had in her wrist. What kind of freaky apocalypse movie franchise are you living in right now? You tried to ignore those thoughts, they were silly, and making you irrationally unnerved.
While tension calmed down and you remained working, you couldn’t help but overhear Robby’s wrath.
”How am i supposed to keep my people safe with shit like this?! This isn’t normal. You assholes aren’t telling us something, because in all my years in this shit hole, I’ve never seen drug induced psychosis have people looking and behaving like this.”
You tried your best to shake it off. Not because you didn’t care, but because you were afraid it could be real. That something more was happening and you weren’t just imagining it.
You could only think about one other thing, Whitaker. Maybe you could talk to him, calm down for a bit about what you just saw. Take a breather.
Then, Samira met with you. Weird, usually you would’ve come up to her.
“Hey. About that woman we treated. I need to show you something because I'm not really sure what this could be.” Her voice was slightly shaky, which really didn’t ease you up. This was unusual for her.
You nodded, gesturing for her to show you.
“It’s the test results. Her tox screen came by negative for all type of drugs or substances. Even the ones we wouldn’t usually consider. She is not under any influence.”
What? I mean—you already saw her act out, right? This couldn’t be nothing, there was something there. You were atleast relieved, because you were right at some point. She was healing, you knew it, she hadn’t relapsed. But—now it meant something even worse was happening, and you didn’t know what.
You didn’t say anything. You stood there taking it all in, your eyes fixated on the results, like having to convince yourself they were real.
“And, her blood work. This doesn’t make sense, it may be some kind of virus but, we weren’t expecting to see anything like this in her blood. I don’t even think we know what this is.”
What the fuck do you mean we don’t even know what this is?!
