The Vendeleer Brothers Book 4: The Plagued Forest
Chapter 5: Man Down

Roderick stood at the door to his college apartment ready to lose it.

Of course he had forgotten his key. And of course his roommates had to be gone. They were probably out at some party getting wasted again. Roderick scowled. Normally he could have crashed at his older brother’s place, but Ian just so happened to be out of town for some math thing.

Stupid math.

With a sigh, he sat down on his doorstep, prepared to wait the long night for his roommates to get back. It was bad enough that Rebecca had just rejected him. Now he had to sit and wait for drunk people to let him in. A few minutes passed and a cool breeze blew through the balcony as it started to rain.

Great.

Rain.

Just his luck.

Roderick gave a deeper scowl, probably mirroring what Ian always looked like, and told himself to be grateful that there was at least a roof keeping the rain off of him. A moment later, a pudgy guy carrying what could have been something like thirty bags of groceries all at once waddled by, even carrying a bag of bread in his teeth. The guy had brown hair so dark it was almost black, and the messy hair came down over his ears and eyes. Roderick was surprised he could even see anything. The guy stopped and then did a little backtrack when he saw Roderick sitting there.

“Vfff Mmmhmm Vffft?” he asked with the bag in his mouth. Roderick looked up at him in confusion.

“What?”

In a big struggle, the guy put down his many bags of groceries and then stood there panting for a moment.

“I said, are you ok dude?” he asked.

“Yeah. I’m just locked out of my apartment and my roommates aren’t home.” Roderick replied a little sourly.

The pudgy guy paused.

“Aren’t you in my history class?” he asked. In response, Roderick simply shrugged.

“Dude, there are like, a hundred people in that class and I don’t think I even know any of them yet.”

“Well, if you want, you can come hang out at my apartment until they get back. That way you’re not just waiting out here in the rain. I live in 210.” the pudgy guy told him.

“Um… Ok. Do you want help with those groceries?”

“Sure.”

Roderick stood up and helped the guy with his bags, and then followed him along the balcony to room 210, thinking how this was a strange turn of events. After a balancing act in trying to get the keys out of his pocket, the guy finally got them into his apartment and turned on the lights. Roderick set the bags on the table and then looked around with interest at the posters of women in bikinis hanging up on the wall. The guy swiped some empty beer cans off the counter and put his bags down.

“Where are all your roommates?” Roderick asked curiously. The guy shrugged.

“I don’t know. They’re usually gone when I’m here. Probably partying or something.”

“Huh. That’s funny. Mine too.” Roderick laughed.

“By the way, I’m Brian. What’s your name?”

“Roderick.”

“Nice to meet ya.”

As Brian started to put away his groceries, Roderick continued to look around. He stopped when he noticed a super nintendo with a Mario cartridge in it.

“Uh… Is that your super nintendo?” he asked.

“...Yeah….” Brian said hesitantly.

“That is so cool! I wish I had one! I get so bored when I get out of class!” Roderick said excitedly, squatting down and looking through Brian’s games. “And is this gamecube yours too?!”

“All those game consoles are mine.” Brian said with a little smirk.

“Holy crap!! Lucky!” Roderick exclaimed.

Brian put his milk in the fridge and then jumped onto the couch.

“Would you want to… play something?” he asked. At the sound of this, Roderick’s face lit up.

“Of course!”

Roderick sat in a hospital chair, reminiscing on old times. He felt sick at the thought of Brian possibly having the strange sickness in town, and he hoped against everything that it was just bad pizza, but the more he thought about it, the sicker he felt. Ian sat next to him, a hand on his younger brother’s shoulder.

Ian, Joey, and Jordyn wanted to say something to comfort Roderick, but found themselves at a loss as they waited for Lori Evans to come get them. A moment later, she came in, and they all stood up hopefully. She gave them a grim look.

“Put these on…” she said quietly, handing them gloves and masks. Roderick swallowed and the four of them followed her down the hall and to a bed that was blocked by a curtain. When she pulled it back, no one said anything. They all just stood there and stared.

Brian had the weird sickness alright. His eyes were now open and glazed over, and a vine had already grown out of his mouth and wrapped around his neck. Roderick turned away, tears burning his eyes at the sight of his best friend.

“Roderick?” Ian asked hesitantly, reaching out to him. Roderick pushed him away.

“I just-need some time alone…” he sniffed, trying not to run out of the hospital ward. Once he was back out in the hallway, he ripped the mask and gloves off and sunk into one of the chairs, burying his face in his hands. He felt so helpless.

Fighting back the tears that wanted to escape, he pulled out his flip phone, thinking of someone else who had a flip phone. A moment later, Holly Richardson answered the phone.

“Why hello Roderick!” she said in a chipper voice. “How’s that South Carolina mystery goin?”

Roderick sniffled, wiping away the tears from his face.

“Kind of crappy.” he said. Holly paused.

“What happened?”

“There’s a strange sickness going on and… Brian caught it…”

“Oh no…”

“Yeah…”

Roderick suddenly didn’t know what to say. He wished Holly was there with him so she could help him get his mind off of things, but at the same time, he was glad she wasn’t there. It would have been way too hard if she had gotten sick too.

“Do you want me to get your mind of things?” she asked, almost as if she had been reading his mind. Roderick gave a little smile.

“Yes please.”

“Well, you wouldn’t believe what happened today. I swear-having Akaysha coming over her really puts me into some embarrassing situations!! Bobby was having me work on this van and-.”

Roderick sat there and listened to her for a few minutes, glad that she was so willing to just talk and that she was in his life. At one point, he was aware of Ian coming over and sitting down next to him, but his older brother remained silent to respect his conversation. Roderick then thanked Holly and said goodbye, and then leaned against the wall with a sigh.

“We barely just got here and we’re already one man down…” he said misrebally, looking up at the ceiling.

“How’re you holding up?” Ian asked.

“I’m holding. He’s just-he’s my best friend. I don’t know what to do if… well, you know.”

“Yeah.”

The two brothers sat there listening to the muted sounds of monitors, nurses, and doctors beyond white sterile walls.

“Man, why do they have to keep is so cold in here?” Ian asked shivering. Roderick smirked.

“Probably because it’s blazing hot outside-.”

He stopped when he looked over at his brother, who was now sweating profusely. Roderick sat up and looked at him with alarm.

“Ian, you didn’t have contact with any of the water did you?” he asked. Ian wiped the sweat from his forehead, shivering again.

“Uh… I don’t… I don’t think so, but…”

Ian looked down at his hand and then slowly facepalmed.

“I did. I helped Brian out of the swamp…”

Roderick jumped up when Ian leaned over to one of the trash cans and started throwing up.

“Lori!! Nurse!! Someone!!” Roderick yelled in a panic, staying close to his brother’s side. Ian groaned and shivered again.

“This… really sucks… We’ve barely started and… looks like… we’re going to be two men down…”

“Someone HELP!” Roderick yelled out.

“Roderick… don’t give up… I know you three can… figure this out…” Ian said hoarsely. And then, he fell to the floor and lost consciousness.