#OutbreakFiles

[theoutbreakfiles]

TEAM ARRIVALS: OUTBREAK FACILITY... SEQUENCING... [ENTRY FOUND]

The day is still new as Perra walks in the glass doors and looks to the office desk, scanning the chart to find her key box. White coated people cross the hall, none of them paying her much attention. It's a busy time, she supposes. At the desk, there's a board of keys hung in little segments, her name freshly written over the remains of someone else's, hanging alone at the very bottom. She makes a joke to herself, laughing under her breath and grabbing her key, looking at the ward number and half skipping to the stairs. She bumps into someone in a white coat, mumbling an apology. They look her up and down.

"Looking for something? Because this isn't the public area."

"I-I'm sorry, what?"

They stop to position their glasses, better exposing their deep eyebags. "This is off limits to patients. Where are you headed?"

"I'm here for the behavioural assessment meeting." She's a bit uncomfortable, but she thinks she hides it pretty well. She's also now worried she'd forgotten what it's called. 

"Oh. You're here for outbreak control." they freeze. "I can take you down. I work in research, but I've done a few things to prep the place for you."

"Oh. Thank you," She straightens her posture a bit. "Will you be hanging around?" 

"Not if I can help it."

"Right, that's fair enough." She starts walking to the stairs again. Brushing their dark coppery hair out of their eyes, the researcher taps her on the shoulder and points to an elevator. 

"You're further down, doctor…?" They pause, waiting for a name to be offered.

"Thesei. Are you sure we can't take the stairs?" She looks to the elevator, then the coated stranger.

"You can. If you feel like four flights. Honestly, it's not worth it. Damp as shit when you get down there."

"Okay…" She backtracks to the elevator, followed by the tired doctor. 

"So. You're level minus four. Breakout facility." They swipe a card through the keypad. "They'll give you one of these when you get down there."

"Cheers…" She looks around a bit more, stepping into the elevator and tapping her fingers on her notebook. The lift is old, but sterilized well. The researcher drums their fingers on the railing.

"Going to ask my name?" 

"Oh, apologies.. What's your name?" She's tapping her fingers faster as the elevator moves, not looking at them. 

"van Deus. Pat van Deus," they nod. "Call me whatever you want, but I'm not a mister. Doctor works fine, so does non binary if you're finicky." Perra nods, accidently giggling a little. Quickly stopping herself. 

"I uh- I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you, just um- You introduced yourself like someone in a James bond movie." 

"Yeah, well. Guess I'm a nerd then," their voice is still monotonous but there's a slight hint of a smile. "This is your floor."

"Thank you." She could not get out of that elevator quick enough, looking around once she's out. The doors shut, hiding Pat from view and she's left alone on the eerie basement floor. She opens her notebook and grabs her purple sparkly pen, deciding just to walk and look for someone. Spotting a young man, she walks up to him.

"Hey, can I get some help finding this breakout facility?" 

"Huh? Oh! You must be… I'm sorry, I have no clue who you are, but sure! It's this way," He leads her through the corridor. "My name's Baksy!" 

"It's um, nice to meet you Baksy, my name is Perra!" She follows Baksy through a door into a meeting room. There's an old square table surrounded by a mismatch of chairs set up with paper files, and a few white coats slung over what she can assume is a coat hook. Despite attempts to make it look professional, it's quite clearly a break room hastily repurposed. 

"Baksy, who've you got there?" A pale man with a worried face turns from the coffee pot to greet them.

"This is-" 

"My name is Perra Thesei" 

There's a visibly delayed thought process as the older man's eyebrows knit together and his eyes dart up as though the gears in his brain are a little too slow. Then, seemingly having realised, his face breaks into a relieved smile.

"The behavioural specialist? Brilliant, I think we're all here, finally. My name is Graham, I'm the head doctor on this project."

"It's nice to meet you. What exactly is happening? I had a brief explanation earlier but don't really understand."

"Well, it's not really supposed to leave this room, the exact details, that is," he sighs. "It's.. well. Some people are calling it an apocalyptic thing, but I prefer to go with Outbreak. The outbreak of some sort of disease that's affecting both body and mind, personality in particular."

"Personality? Is it simply behaviour or is it rooted deeper than that?"

"That's what we want you to find out," he explains, gesturing to an empty seat.

She sits, spinning her sparkly pen in her fingers. "Right… Well what have you seen? Who's been affected by this um, outbreak."

"That's the thing," Baksy speaks up, heading to his own seat. "We can't be sure who is and isn't infected… It appears as irritability then jumps to erratic behaviour." 

"Right… Well for now we should quarantine anyone who's been in contact with known infected people." 

"We have three in current...Captivity," Graham interjects. "They're in the special wards."

"Good, I'd like to speak with them."

"You're sure? Maybe you'd like to read the files first?"

"I'm, sure… I'm not very used to files and such." She isn't sure how to phrase her sentences. 

"Alright... I suppose we're heading down then." Picking up his jacket, he avoids meeting Perra's eyes. "It's cold. You'll um, want a jacket."

She just stands awkwardly, still holding her notebook. "I'm okay with my sweater for now…" 

Graham exchanges a glance with Baksy, who looks back at him, a little amused, even in such an odd time. 

"Rightio then." Graham adjusts his spectacles. "Welcome to outbreak control. Come and meet the inmates."