Over There!

New mass used drug has fatal side effects, someone's gotta pick the corpses off the streets.

 “God damn it, woman, why don’t you pick that damn phone?” Ben took a large drag on his cigarette and leaned on the van with a large SDD logo painted on it.

“Calm down, Ben,” Nick put a hand on his shoulder. “Helen had a scan check recently, remember?”.

“Yeah, yeah, scan check, whatever. We both know how that happens, “ Ben went on a rant as he started poking his phone again. He jammed it to his ear, listening to a nasty melody of beeps. Two men stood in deep suburban silence in the middle of a dying day.

“No answer!” Ben said desperately, “Screw this damn MIRACLE drug, screw it. Ten years ago people never dropped dead on the streets.” He almost smashed his phone but Nick caught his hand.

“Please stop, Ben. Remember how she screamed in agony, how she begged you to sign that damn waiver? Yes, that came with a price but she’s with you now. All gone. Didn’t you want that for her?”

“Y-yes, you’re right, I guess”, he put the phone in one of his back pockets. “I just feel like I never worried about her like I do now, and that makes me feel twice as worse.”

Nick sniffed and took an unexpected pause, ”A damn well thought thing, actually. That drug they came up with will just tear up any tumour like a fatso eating a double burger.” - he burst out with dull laughter.

“Yeah, would have been a well thought thing. Hence this dumb abbreviation - Sudden Death Department," Ben pointed at their threadbare van, "and guess what we’re here for.”

"Well, as I said earlier”, Nick replied, still not completely over his sudden laughter, “everything in life comes with a price. Yes, it’s definitely shorter now, but ...” he suddenly stood up and pointed behind Ben’s back - “Over there! Look!” Ben turned around, dropping his cigarette. Two blocks down the road two silhouettes in front of a setting sun got merged into one.

Nick got into the van and jammed the engine. “This damn dumpster takes its time, as always. Run, i’ll catch up with you!” he shouted to Ben as he already took off.

When Ben arrived, he saw a young man holding a woman in his arms. He seemed like he was trying to shake life into her, but no seizure or heart attack could suck life out of one’s eyes like MD23 did.

The man raised his head. It took him a couple of seconds to realize who was standing in front of him:

“No! Get away from me! Get Away!” he backed away, swinging the woman’s body like he was defending himself with it, “Please don’t come closer. Just call the ambulance, damn it.”

“Sir! We’re SDD!” Ben showed him a slightly folded badge, “Please, sir, calm down and put the body on the ground.”

“No! Get the hell away from me! How many people have you buried alive already? You fuckers have no business here!”, hysteria was dragging him down.

“Sir, we always examine the bodies first. We never make mistakes. Please sir, let me see the body.” he slowly reached out for his stunner, “Please don’t make me use force, sir. You know the law.”

“Every citizen must never prevent an officer of SDD from fulfilling their duties,” a man loosely quoted, “in other words, taking the ones you love!”. This way it surprisingly made more sense to Ben.

Suddenly, victim tipped over the sidewalk. Ben immediately hopped towards the falling couple and caught them both in an incredible feat of dexterity. He put the electrical bracelets on the raging man with a slick move, temporarily paralyzing his arms as he clenched his teeth in pain.

”You god damn idiot," Ben screamed to his face, "you already knew she’s a dropper! In about five minutes her face will melt off, In about nine, she will turn to dust. Could you at least let her go in one piece and not in a damn tin can?”. That seemed to calm them both down a bit.

Ben turned his attention to the woman. He grabbed a scanner and put it to her face as it started collecting data. “Sarah Clarke, 24 years old. Previous hematological malignancy present. Was injected with MD23. Complete recovery. Current condition: severe metabolic damage due to an unexpected metabolic burst, possible cause: prolonged side-effects of previous MD23 injections. Tissue breakdown in progress. Organ tissue loss imminent. Approximate time until complete cell decomposition: 11 minutes 32 seconds.” Scanner beeped again - highlighted in red, it said “Warning! Pregnancy detected. Approximate time passed from conception - 11 weeks.” Ben drew a deep sigh.

“Months of me being stuck by her bed," he heard behind his back, “praying to whatever there is up there. Did you know they make YOU sign that paper? Not her, but me. I made that decision. They told us having a baby would be too dangerous,” young man’s eyes were slowly getting flooded with tears, “But she wanted that child so much, we both wanted it. We wanted too much. You don’t get two lives by the price of one. In this damn world, no matter what you pay, you only get an infinite amount of death.”

The man crawled up to her and bowed down, intermittently wheezing and sobbing. “Tell me, officer, what was I supposed to do? I would have killed them both anyway,” he mumbled hysterically. Ben never answered as the man continued to mumble and choke on his own words, “Please don’t take her away from me, please!”

A van approached the scene slowly as the sun almost got hidden by the asphalt road. Nick pushed a mobile gurney towards the corpse but Ben stopped him. “Not now. It’s far too late. It's always too late,” he said quietly, “A couple of minutes won’t make a difference for us, but for him.”

As they set off, Ben looked in the rear-view window. The man was still sitting there on his knees, staring at their van. He didn't move an inch since they took her away from him.

“Don’t worry, man”, said Nick in a slightly throbbing voice as he was driving the van through the dimly lit streets, “Ambulance will arrive in a few moments and pick that poor fellow up. So, ehrm, what are your plans for the weekends?”

"You know, Nick," Ben ignored his question, "I think we're only doing half of what we're supposed to". Nick turned his head, waiting for his thought to be expressed further, but Ben just silently stared forward onto the road. He pulled his phone back out so that Nick wouldn’t see it in his hands and opened the contacts. His palms and fingers were shaking yet his face expressed nothing. He pushed the green button in front of “Helen” and closed his eyes. The phone beeped, and beeped again.

   

Author's Note

my first short story ever done in English, must be really rough grammar-wise
originally done for a youtube storytelling challenge

Reviews

[K. Payne]

Your first English story was pretty entertaining actually. The only real revision I would do is:
-"“No answer!” ***desperately said Ben***." (You should probably rewrite it as "Ben said desperately". It makes more sense and flows easier.) I like this story of a toxic drug that was made to help. I'd like to know more about the development of the drug, the first real adverse side effects, etc. This story reminds me something of how Phillip K. Dick (one of my favorite sci-fi writers) would write. He'll usually show the aftermaths of situations like yours what can happen to people who probably don't deserve it.
Keep it up!
-Kay

[nnyh8s]

Thanks, I appreciate it. P. K. Dick is one of my inspirations for sure.

I actually did a more elaborate first writing which included what you want, but since it was for a contest, I needed to cut it to bare bones so it would fit the requirements.