Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

My eyes shot open as I heard my alarm go off. I hated that alarm but it was mandatory to have one, I despised that alarm. I slammed my gloved hand on the top of the clock and grumbled as I got out of my bed if you could even call it that. My bed is practically just Plushies and toys, people would say it's weird but I say it's my way to get the nicest rest as I can get with 8 other rambunctious men in this base. I open the window, nothing interesting as usual. I close it once I finish looking at the city landscape. The only thing that stood out to me was that the RED Soldier was talking with my team's Demoman. Even if my room is above ground I still lock the window.

I make my way to the bathroom to wash my face, this bathroom feels more sterile than Medic's infirmary but I at least have one that works. Scout's shower recently broke, I wish I could feel bad for him but I can't. I pull my gasmask off, I dread doing this every single time. My face looks just as ugly and burnt as I remember. I turn the faucet on and let the water run for a few seconds to get the warm water running. I disliked having to go to Kong King with my team but it was better than some of the other bases we've had to stay at. I take my gloves off and the cold air of the bathroom hits them almost instantly. I splash the water on my face, it feels refreshing. I turn the faucet off and dry my face with my shirt and dry my hands with my pants, I don't feel like using the towel today. I grab the gas mask pulling it over my head and put my gloves on. I shut the door to the bathroom and get dressed in my usual flame retardant suit, stepping into my boots. Sighing once I finally finished my usual routine I slam the door to my room, I'm sure someone down the hall heard it but I don't feel like caring right now.

It's too early to think bigger thoughts than that I need to get to Engineer's workshop before anything. I don't feel like eating yet, it will make me nauseous. I open the door to Engineer's workshop and waltz my way over to him. He looks frustrated as he's trying to fix the respawn machine, it's been broken for a few days now. The respawn machine being broken has made everything a bit more difficult, not being able to go into battle has taken a toll on a few people on the team. "Well, seems this machine is beyond repair for now." The Engineer said as he got up from his workbench and glanced over to me. "Get me a beer why dont you and how about we chill out for a second and watch some TV while I try to figure out how in sam hill we can fix this respawn machine." He told me as he pulled out a lawn chair and sat down in front of the CRT TV he had. I dragged my feet over to the cooler where he had his beer usually stored alongside with fizzy beverages that Scout would ransack in the middle of the night. I grab one of the beers and make my way over to where Engineer was sitting in his chair handing over the bottle to him as I sat down on the cold concrete flooring. The TV was on Nascar, Engineer always loved that channel but I never got it's appeal. He sipped on his beer as he watched the TV. I didn't pay much mind to the racing cars on the screen and rather let my gaze drift off elsewhere. My vision landed on the small window above one of the many shelving units he had. The weather outside looked brighter than usual, almost too bright if I were being honest with myself but then again it's probably the window or my mind playing tricks on me.

Engineer tapped me on my shoulder ripping me out of my thoughts in the process. The TV was blarring some sort of distress signal but I couldn't really understand it over Engineer's yelling at the TV. "Dagnabbit these people interruptin' my TV time!" He exclaimed alongside a few more curses as he waited for the blarringly loud distress signal to end. The text on the TV was somewhat small so I scooted over to get a better view to read whatever was being displayed in the distress signal on the screen. 'Biological Hazard Warning. A Mann Co. Participant has issued a Biological Hazward Warning for all of Kong King. All workers please stay in lockdown until further notice.' And then another even louder noise was played. I got up from my seat on the concrete and looked over at Engineer. "It's probably just another one of those stupid tests, Pyro don't get too worked up about it." He shrugged it off before going back to sipping on his beer. I didn't feel like bothering him for much longer and decided to go outside for a bit but as most of the team doesn't trust me to go out by myself I would have to find a companion to go with me. I waved goodbye at Engineer as I left the workshop and decided to wander around until I found someone that would agree to go out in the sun with me for a few minutes. I turned right from where I stood to go to Heavy's room, he usually liked going out at times like these as it wasn't too hot nor cold. I knocked on the door and waited for him to come out of his room. He came out and lowered gaze to look at me. "What does little thing want from Heavy?" He asked. I murmured under my mask that I wanted to go outside but it seemed like he didn't really understand me which meant I would have to pantomime it. It was always a pain to do this but it was better than not being able to communicate at all. After a few gestures he finally got the memo and nodded his head agreeing to take me outside with him. He put his shoes on and gestured for me to follow him. Soon enough we were outside but something felt strange. The air here has always been somewhat polluted as it was a city which meant there would be smog but today the air felt heavier like someone was pushing it down. The sun was beaming today which wasnt too odd but it did feel slightly suffocating in a way as my suit tended to trap heat and sweat in it. Soldier and Demo were still out so I went over to them to ask if they also felt this way about the weather. They shrugged and told me that I must be on something as if it felt normal to them, I chalked it up to my suit just trapping the warm air in it and gestured to heavy that I had enough time outside and wanted to go back in. "Go inside, something feels off..." He told me before starting again. "Heavy will stay bit longer to figure out what is wrong." He said almost coldly as it felt like he was almost shooing me away telling me to go back inside.

As I made my way inside I couldn't help but notice that no one besides me and Heavy seemed to be actually phased by what was going on. I must be overthinking this I told myself as I wandered around the halls looking for someone that also felt this way. Medic's infirmary wasn't too far away so I made my way over to him. The large metal doors were difficult for me to open but I made my way inside, Medic saw me almost instantly and welcomed me in warmly. "Velkom!" He greeted me as he got up from his desk and shuffled over to me. "Its been a vhile since I've seen jou in mein office." He said as he motioned for me to sit down on the gurney. I always disliked coming here but seeing as someone as insane as Medic he had to feel the same way about this all, right? Medic gave me a pen and paper which was common for him to do as he had difficulties understanding gestures and my mumbles. I wrote down everything that I felt about today's weather and how it felt almost suffocating for me to go out. Medic gave a few nods and a few mmhm's and then started to speak once more. "Jou see.. I feel zhe same vay, vhen I vent out today I felt as if the air has gotten zhinner zhan it vas before." I started to write down what I saw on the TV earlier. He seemed more inquisitive this time and seemed almost baffled at what I had written down. "Vell, zhis cant be any good. I vill have to figure somezhing out before Scout comes and ruins my concentration again." He grumbled at the thought of Scout ruining stuff for him, I gave him a pat on the back for reassurance that he wouldn't come back. I felt bad for Medic, he has to put up with everyone's shit, especially Scout's. Scout even annoys me at times because of how much he tends to make fun of my mumbling and the fact most of the team can't understand me under this mask.

I waved goodbye to Medic and he gave me a small wave back as I got off the gurney and left the infirmary, I decided to now make my way over to the rec room to see what was going on there as I heard some commotion, mostly Scout cussing someone or something out. I peeked my head into the room and saw Scout going absolutely apeshit crazy at the TV as if ww25 was about to happen and he was drafted, I looked around the room and saw Sniper in one of the corners polishing his rifles and next to him near one of the windows was Spy, He was smoking one of his cigarettes and talking to Sniper about something I probably didn't care too much about. I was more interested in why Scout was going absolutely berserk at the TV. I took a few steps forward and listened to his ranting. "God fuckin' damnit now I have to play thorugh all those levels again!" He went on and on about how much he hated the fact he had to redo the whole game because of a stupid pop up on the TV, it must've been the distress signal me and Engineer saw down at the workshop. There were loud footsteps coming towards the rec room, my head whipped over to where the sound was coming from, it was Heavy and Demoman. Demo was screaming his head off about some flash that was in the sky and Heavy looked panicked, I've never seen Heavy look this panicked before so it worried me. Sniper looked up from his gun and asked, "What in the bloody hell are you wankers screamin 'bout now?" "There was a bloodeh freak outside, it looked like their skin was falling off lad. How can I not be panicked?!" Demoman explained himself frantically. Hearing this Scout was pulled out of his ranting and Spy turned his head towards the window again and his eyes caught one of the freakish people outside. "Mon dieu! What is that!" He exclaimed and backed away from the window and pointed at the creature he saw, Sniper turned his head towards where Spy was pointing and looked even more freaked out than Spy was. Soon Scout followed suit and screamed in a really high pitched voice, I'm sure if he tried hard enough or if he held that note a bit longer he wouldve shattered the window from just his voice. Even more frantic footsteps could be heard coming down the hall which were Medic and Engineer, they seemed even more panicked than the two before them. Engineer had a few boards that he was holding on to, presumable to board up windows and or the back entrance. "Zhere are freaks of nature outside! Ve need to go into a lockdown jetzt!" Medic exclaimed in a shaky voice before he grabbed onto Heavy's collar and stared straight into his eyes. "I NEED a sample from zhat creature immediately!" He told him before letting go. During all this fuss I felt as if someone was missing so i subconsciously did a headcount and noticed that Soldier was missing, I let out a noise of panic before bolting out the room to go find him. Finding him was always difficult as he couldn't hear as well as he used to so I had to search through every room in the base. I was out of breath and sweaty when I finally found him in one of the training rooms we had, my knees were hurting and I gestured to him to follow me as fast as he could. He could feel how dire the situation was from just my body language, even if he was dense at times he knew how to be a good leader.

I was out of breath and absolutely exhausted from running and going down a flight of stairs and then up again that I sat down on the floor of the rec room once we finally arrived there. Everyone was still in a panicked frenzy and unsure on what to do. Scout looked confused as everything was going way too fast for him to process. Everyone was practically hysterical at this point and I was tempted to give into insanity also but noticed that Engineer and Heavy were gone so I tugged at the doctors coat and asked where they were. "Heavy vent to get me a sample of zhe creature and Engineer vent to board up zhe vindows and reinforce the secuirity system." Medic was practically heaving at this point. Even Spy looked distressed albeit less than the rest of the team but still stressed out at the situation. A few minutes had passed and I could hear footsteps down the hall, it was Heavy and he was holding the bloodied body of one of the freaks they saw outside and Medic quickly made his way to Heavy escorting him to the infirmary to run tests on the body. "Gott I didn't expect jou to bring zhe whole body with jou but zhis should be more zhan enough for zhe tests." I overheard Medic saying to Heavy. Engineer came into the rec room with his toolbox and dropped it near one of the windows and started boarding it up. I went over and tapped him on the shoulder and shrugged my shoulders trying to gesture for him to explain the reason why he was boarding up all the windows. "We dont know if they can climb through the windows, so better safe than sorry." He explained as he kept boarding up the window. It felt as if an apocalypse was about to start, or armageddon. Yesterday was a normal day and now the world was about to crash and burn, it felt strange in a way no one could explain even if they had the biggest vocabulary.

After what felt like an eternity Medic and Heavy came back and they looked distraught. "Vell, I suppose I should be zhe one zhat tells jou all zhis." Medic announced before speaking up once more, "Zhe reason vhy ve are seeing zhese freaks is some kind of virus zhat manipulates zhe DNA in some vays." My brain didnt really comprehend how or why these freaks were out and about I just knew I wanted to survive through this with my whole team still intact. The sun was starting to set and the team was discussing about who would do what during the lockdown. I didn't pay much attention when everyone was discussing what they wanted to do until Engineer tapped me on the shoulder and told me to go and guard the door. I nodded as I thought it would be an easy enough job for me to do and I could probably shut my brain off for most of it. Engineer came down to escort me down to the entrance where there was a computer that had a video feed of the security camera that was right outside the door. He explained to me that I was allowed to let people in but not if they seemed like one of the people that was infected with whatever this disease was or if they looked like they were bandits. I nodded, simple enough I can't fuck it up that hard.

Chapter Text

I sat myself down on that old office chair and scooted myself forward. I looked at Engineer and gave him a thumbs up to signify that I was ready to start my job. He gave me a pat on my shoulder and told me I got this. He left me all alone which meant I could do whatever I really wanted. The first thing I did was rummage through the drawers that the desk had. There wasn't much, old wrappers probably from Scout along with a notebook with doodles and notes from almost everyone. In one of the drawers I found a Game Boy, it probably belonged to Scout but he wasn't here right now. I booted it up and it surprisingly worked pretty well other than the fact the screen was a bit faded, but it wasn't a big deal. I turned the desk lamp on and positioned the Game Boy under it so that I could see the screen better. The cartridge inside of it was some Pokémon game I wasn't going to complain about, it's better than being sat in this chair and dying of boredom until some rando bangs on the door.

The light of the desk lamp was beaming on my arms making me sweat. I took the gas mask off deciding that my skin needed to breathe a bit. What felt like a few hours had passed before I heard someone knocking on the metal door which made me jolt up and look at the computer. It was an older fellow that I recognized, he was one of Medic's colleagues from a long time ago. I slid the microphone which sat on the desk closer to me and spoke into it. "Hello?", I greeted, unsure of how he would react. Sure, enough the guy was startled by my voice which wasn't all too surprising. "Ja, ähm hello, Felix told me he needed help." The guy seemed nervous but I understood him through his thick accent and decided to let the man in.

I was a bit annoyed that my game had to be paused but I resumed it soon enough. What felt like an eternity had passed and no one came. I was starting to feel bored and hungry so I decided to rummage through the drawers once again. It was baffling how much random stuff were in these drawers. The list would go on and on if I wrote it all down but the stuff that stood out the most was some chewing tobacco that probably belonged to Sniper or Engineer, a spare pair of Medic's glasses and a bonk that expired almost 14 years ago that was somehow still cold.

The chair I was sat in wasn't exactly the most comfortable thing to lounge in which meant I kept shifting around. At some point I decided to ditch the chair and stand up to pace around the small room, it almost felt claustrophobic, I disliked it a lot. I checked the time and it was getting pretty late and my dinner was probably getting cold. Walking over to my gas mask I put it on and I made my way to the dining hall. Only a handful of the team was there which comprised of Medic, Heavy, Sniper and Demoman. None of them were really eating. I loaded my tray with snacks and bagged foods knowing the moment I would be in my room I would scarf everything down. Sitting myself next to Medic I gave him a small wave which he returned but he seemed to be deep in thought.

"What are you doing?" I asked him in the hopes of some closure in this lockdown. Medic began to ramble on and on about how he needed more information on this infection? Virus? I dislike not knowing what’s going on, it feels suffocating. “Did jou let my colleague in?” He asked me looking into my eyes. Well, where my eyes would be. In this lighting Medic couldn’t really see my eyes as the lights here haven’t been changed in decades. Perhaps I should tell Engineer about this since the flickering has increased lately.

I nodded to Medic murmuring something, nothing in particular just a random string of words, it doesn’t really matter as he doesn’t understand me. Sometimes I don’t understand him and that’s fine, I suppose. Felix, our Medic is a strange man, sometimes I wonder how he even got this job as he doesn’t really have all his cups in his cabinet as he would say. He admits he’s quite the man, quite the character. Somehow Felix picks up on my nervousness, perhaps it’s my body language and he pats my back telling me that this will all be fine and that I’m welcomed to go into his infirmary at any time to ask him for more information or just for a moment of respite.

Glancing around I notice Demoman looking quite rough. I leave my tray and make my way over to him, to comfort him. We are a team after all, I have to help him even when we all don’t know what the hell is going on. My gloved hand moved to his back, trying to help him the best I can. He keeps sipping from one of the beer bottles on the table, murmuring and crying. It breaks me to see my teammate like this. I trace lazy patterns on his back. “Thanks lad.” He said between his sobs and it seems like he perked up a tad but it could just be my exhaustion getting to me. I get up and grab my tray from where Medic sat.

I take one last glance around the room, everyone looks stressed out. I turn on my heel deciding the feeling of the cafeteria was too gloomy for now. Theres this feeling in the air, like humidity almost but I know it’s not humid in the base since I know there’s multiple air conditioners almost everywhere. I shrug it off and make my way over to my room or at least try to. I get distracted by Scout’s door being fully open, usually he likes his privacy and has his door closed but this time it’s open. I take a peek inside of the room.

The room is dark only being illuminated by the box TV that he had sitting on the floor right in front of him with his back against the side of his bed. There’s a vinyl player he got some years ago on Christmas from his mom. I met his mother that Christmas, she’s a sweet woman. I always wondered how she raised so many kids. The walls are full of posters of Tom Jones and other music groups he likes. Scout is just sitting there on the floor as the TV keeps blaring some baseball match. It’s loud enough to somewhat hurt my ears but it’s not super annoying. I placed my tray of snacks on his dresser and proceed to observe him for a little while longer. Scout looks tired and like he has a lot on his mind.

The TV casts shadows and colors on his face as his eyes looking bored and deep in thought. It’s rare to see Scout like this, he’s usually spewing word after word so it feels strange to see him so quiet. I quietly make my way over to him deciding to sit next to him. He opened his mouth seeming like he wanted to say something but then doesn’t, his brows furrowing. He ran his hand through his brown hair and then sighed, his shoulders slumping as his knees come up to his chin with his hands covering his face. I may not really like Scout but I care about him. He looked so tense it was as if all the color from his face was drained.

He looked at me, his eyes glossy almost as he threw his hands around me and proceeded to cry on my shoulder. This was confusing but I wanted to help him so I melted on his hug. I rubbed his back mumbling comforting words to him as he kept sobbing. This was stressful for all of us but especially for him as he had the most family out of everyone by a landslide. His sobbing slowly died down and he stopped hugging me.

“Sorry man, I...” He paused for a moment trying to get his thoughts in order. “I don’t know what came over me, I’m sorry.” He apologized once more. I patted his shoulder trying to tell him that it was ok. He sighed and wiped his tears with his sweater, the Christmas sweater Sniper got for him some time ago for a secret Santa we were doing. He resumed watching his baseball game.

“Y’know, I always wondered how your mother took care of so many kids.” I said, I was close enough for him to hear me somewhat clearer than he would usually. He pursed his lips in thought before starting. “Well, I don’t really know since I was the youngest, she always seemed tired though. Me and my brothers were all handfuls, especially me.” He chuckled before starting again. “Most of my brothers, me included had the same dad but he went missing or something, I never really understood anything about that man. I think he came back at some point but my memory is all fuzzy.”

Scout wasn’t really the type to open up like this so I silently promised myself to never talk about this to anyone else. I stayed silent as I listened to him ramble on about his family. “We had a stepfather, he was a real good man but I was always pretty mean to him in my teenage years. With my dad leavin’ and that it left me all sour and mean to everyone.” I could see the regret in his eyes as he tried to remember every little detail that he could. “Which one of your brothers weren't from your dad?” I asked and as I did his eyes whipped to me as if he thought I wasn’t listening to him.

“Well, uh,” He stammered before started. “The middle kids were the ones with the different fathers.” He gulped before resuming where he was. “I was real rude to our stepdad, he always tried his best and he really was a good dad.” He looked up seemingly reminiscing about it all. “I never understood why he wanted to be a part of my dysfunctional mess of a family. I remembered this one time at the dinner table where I lashed out at him.” He chuckled nervously. “We were all pretty silent that dinner. Only a few of my brothers were talking that night and I didn’t have a great day.” He inhaled before resuming his story. “He asked something to the whole table and I just flipped out and spilled my water all over him and then I just...” He trailed off as he kept telling me more. “I pushed him off his chair and then kicked and punched him.” He sounded guilty as he said that but I couldn’t help but keep listening, it felt as if I was in a trance.

“Well, to put it lightly let’s just say I had to sleep in the yard for some time.” He laughed and as he did, he put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it lightly. It was getting late and we should all be asleep by now but something in my gut told me to not sleep tonight. I said my goodbye to Scout as I grabbed my snacks and left his room, making sure to close his door. My boots were heavy against the concrete floor as I made my way to my room.
I open my door, my room is dark as I look for the light switch. Finally getting the lights on I lock the door and take my gas mask off to finally eat my dinner. I eat it all as fast as I can as I was starving to get some food in my system but I get interrupted by rocks being thrown at my window. I thought it was probably some kids. I pause my eating and come up to the window.
There’s a tall lanky man standing there.

It looks like he's too big for his skin, it’s like the skin on his face is melting off. I can see his ribs and his dark hair looks greasy.
His teeth look perfect and his eyes bloodshot, I don’t like the way he’s looking at me. His hands look dirty as if he had just dug out of his own grave. It’s creeping me out.

I gulp. The way he has no clothes on freaks me out too, the way his body is so bony and his head so large. He’s covering himself but I can’t stop staring at his eyes. It’s like I’m stuck in a trance.
My breath hitches as I see him smile, it’s so unnatural that I had to lock my window and close the curtains.
I don’t feel safe at all.

I grab my gas mask and hastily put it on. Grabbing my balloonicorn and a blanket I turn the lights off in my room and leave it as fast as I can, booking it towards the infirmary. I bang on the door and medic opened it. “Vhat’s wrong?” Medic asked but I had no time to explain. Engineer was also in the infirmary boarding up the windows and closing the curtains. I shuffled over to Medic’s desk in a haste and grab a blank sheet of paper and a pen. I began to scribble everything I saw and tried to describe it with words. Medic was peering behind my shoulder trying to watch what I was drawing as Engineer also came up to the desk to see what I was rushing so much for.

“Faszinierend...” Medic whispered as he tried to grab the paper as I was finishing up, I swatted his hand away as I finally finished writing the last word on the paper. I was absolutely exhausted by this point it felt like all my energy was sucked out of me. As I stepped back I felt dizzy, nauseous almost. I took a few steps over to the examination table and laid down on it and fell asleep almost instantly.

I could still feel Engineer’s and Medic’s presence in the room. Footsteps came closer to me, they were Engineer’s footsteps. He put the blanket that I took with me and draped it over me also putting my balloonicorn near me. I must’ve dropped them both in my haste to explain what I saw.
Sleep beckoned to me and I couldn’t resist. I fell asleep instantly from my exhaustion.