Dave stuck his head behind the curtain and grinned at his partner.
The kid was looking pretty green, and clearly regretting his short trip down the alleyway responding to a stranger’s hoarse call for help.
“You doin’ okay, Morales?”
Eli looked up from contemplating the bandage on his forearm. “Great,” he said drily. “’Cuz being a chew toy for crazy bums is totally why we do this.”
“Thin blue line,” Dave chuckled, sitting on the hard plastic chair by the wall. “They almost done with you, or what?”
Eli shook his head. “Jesus, I hope so. Nurse Johnson has already put more holes in me than our friendly neighborhood nutjob.”
“Yeah, but she’s damn cute.”
“Alright, there, Officer Johnson … You know it’s a stereotype for cops to marry nurses, right?”
Dave gave a real laugh. He always felt like he was under Anna’s feet when he had to bring someone in here, but tonight would also serve as a rough introduction to their latest foster child. God knew she’d adopt Eli, regardless of what the usual house procedure was for a new partner anyway. He was just too much of a puppy not to make it into the normal dinner rotation on a faster route than her usual.
They were both still chuckling a little when a nice-looking nurse’s assistant bustled in and collected some items off the roll table next to Eli. He chatted with them for a few minutes. Then he stood next to the injured cop looking at the tablet he’d brought in with him and asked Eli to confirm the date of his last tetanus shot. Eli did and the young man said sympathetically that someone would be right back. Eli’s eyes followed him until he disappeared back out into the chaos.
Dave laughed quietly, “You know it’s a stereotype for cops to flirt with nurses?”
Eli grinned. “Learning from the best, Old Man.” Then he frowned. “Might be nice to get something outta tonight other than a scar.”
More ribbing before he got into a sour mood seemed in order. “I’m sure you will. Your rowdy indigent probably had rabies.”
Instead of finding it funny, Eli’s head sunk against the stiff pillow. “Jesus. Probably.”
“I’m kidding. Probably high on bath salts. That’s not contagious. You just gotta be born stupid.”
This time Eli snickered, as he peered around a gap in the curtain. “I just want to get home and sleep tonight off. It’s noisy as hell in here.”
He rubbed his forehead absently and squinted.
“You hit your head when you went down?”
“I don’t think so; probably just a stress headache. Because my partner’s a dick and keeps saying shit like rabies.”
“Sorry, man. I’ll shut up,” Dave laughed and got up. “Gimme a minute, I’ll see if I can get them movin’ on discharging you.” He was going to see if he could speed things up. Being married to the charge nurse was supposed to be worth something. Eli was right, it was noisy.
Dave stepped out into the hallway of the Emergency Department and it was chaos; shouting, fighting, things flying through the air. He started to radio for assistance, but heard a crash from the cubicle behind him. He turned to check on his partner, but the eyes staring up at him belonged to the same hunger that had gotten him bitten.
Eli was lost to the invasion’s first wave.
~ End ~
Demons Run Press 
This is awesome. Congrats to the winner 😀
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Thank you! I had a lot of fun with this one. It started as a simple enough prompt: A scene in a busy emergency room with an unexpected ending. Then Imagine Dragons Radioactive came up in my playlist and Strange Invaders was the result. Glad you enjoyed it! ~ J
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