“Well, I suppose it’s my turn for a rousing tale of my origins,” Thore speaks up after a moment of silence.

“I love the way he tells stories,” Niko whispers to Marshall before leaning in, “it’s magical,” he whispers loud enough for us to hear.

“I don’t know if you’re on drugs, or you’re just some kind of weirdo, but if you ever whisper in my ear like that again I’m going to rip off your lips and feed them to you,” Marshall threatens Niko.

“Not without going through me first,” Thore speaks up.

“Alright, alright, everyone calm down. There’s not going to be any more whispering or future lip ripping.”

“Before all of this madness took hold, I was a simple banker,” Thore begins his, rousing tale. “Even after the government had begun locking people in their homes, I and my colleagues continued to work. Despite all the stores being closed, we’re considered essential,” he laughs.

“Did you eat all the other bankers,” Enda makes a joke.

“No, I ate a lot of protein and got a good amount of calcium when I was growing. I’m the strongest banker you ever met and maybe even the strongest man. But don’t let the burly exterior fool you into assuming that I’m not as smart as I am strong,” Thore seems annoyed.

Almost instantly Thore is back to being cheerful. “When things went bad, that’s where we stayed. We were already used to seeing each other more than our families anyway. Eventually we started sending people out scouting, searching for food. Bankers have a lot of rage inside of us. We have to smile in people’s faces while they demand we do things we can’t do. Some of the things we’re called would make a Ghuk blush.”

Thore seems to quietly think about what happened, as if he’s forcing himself to recall the memories. The man who has been jolly since I met him suddenly seem to face difficulty grasping his own memories. Niko instead sits on the edge of his seat, either from excitement or whatever drug he’s been taking. “This is the best part,” he says moving to wrap an arm around Marshall’s shoulder but thinking it was best to do otherwise. After Enda, nobody dares interrupt Thore.

“Out on one of the missions, I had a coworker who had been bitten. They decided it would be best to hide the wound until they were caught to saw their own arm off. Most of the others didn’t know what we should do. We couldn’t just throw him out there, it would be inhumane, but we couldn’t risk our own lives either. We followed the news very closely. We knew what happened when someone was bitten, infected. The first few days would be no big deal, then, well you all know what happens. We’ve all seen it with our own eyes at this point. It’s the reason most of us are still afraid to go outside right now. You turn into one of those monsters, one of those grubs. He tried to promise us that he wasn’t turning. There’s no cure, no immune. We could already see how the infection was spreading across his body. He didn’t have much longer but we kept debating, staling on making the choice we knew needed to be made. We were deadlocked, afraid to sleep for three days before someone decided to step up and do the right thing.”

“Tell them what happened Thore,” Niko urges him.

“You don’t have to,” Aaimina reassures him.

“I am not ashamed of what I did. I did what any reasonable person would do in that situation. I did what was needed to survive. I took a fire extinguisher and bashed his head in. I didn’t stop when he screamed in pain, or even when he stopped. I kept bashing until I could see his brain matter start to leak out and he stopped twitching. Others were shocked that I could do something they considered heartless. They were willing to die for that man because they worked with him, they thought they knew him or they considered him a friend. They would have all died if I hadn’t done it. The group was scared of me after that. I had saved us all from their inaction but even in a small group, it easy to become a pariah, an outcast, shunned for making the tough choices. Murder is wrong, but killing for survival is not murder. After that, I was sent out alone. I didn’t argue when they suggested it. Occasionally I wonder if they’re doing okay, but I know the same kindness would not be repaid to me.”

There’s a silence creeping through the room. A remind that Thore is not the gentle and jovial giant we assume him to be. He can make the hard decisions when they need to be made. I suppose he and Marshall are the same. Perhaps I hadn’t looked at his perspective enough. He wasn’t being cold, he was making the choices we were too afraid to make.

“Where was I? Ah yes, after I left I wandered the streets. I traded my fire extinguisher for a broken pipe I found. I’d like a large hammer, but no such thing has come across my path. The thing that brought me to the hospital was food. I smelled it; a man doesn’t get my size without being able to sniff out food. I found my way to the hospital and that’s where I met Aaimina. It was mutually beneficial for us to stay together. She had the survival skills I lacked and I could kill the things that threatened her life. That’s how this little group was formed. A mutual partnership between us. Nothing had attacked the hospital, but if I could get in, anyone could. That’s why we blocked off most of the lower floors. Just a few emergency exits for us if we needed them.”

“And then, Calista came,” Calista smiles as if she made the world better.