"How do you know Paige was Patient Zero?"

"Inez said it started with her."

☠☠☠☠☠

August 28th, 2025

"C'mon Sammy," she crossed her arms, looking down at the young, red-headed boy. "Your dad literally owns half the damn town and you still try to come in here and shop-lift gum? Gum, of all things, it's like three bucks dude."

"Please don't tell him..." the twelve-year-old mumbled.

She'd known this kid her whole life, hell she used to babysit him when she was in high school. He came from a wealthy family, the type of family that owned lots of businesses and made enough donations to get wings named after them. And here he was, the spoiled little brat, trying to steal gum.

"I was thinking of asking him to start paying for your petty thievery in advance, since the cops won't do anything," Inez said with a sigh. "That way you can look cool in front of your friends and we don't have a ton of shrinkage... Not that you've ever actually gotten away with anything."

Evan pouted, hanging his head in shame. "Please," he whimpered.

"Get out of here," she said, motioning for him to leave the office. As soon as she caught him with the packet of gum in his pocket, she'd dragged him into the manager's office to have a talk with him.

The boy looked relieved, he rose to his feet and started to scurry out of the office.

Inez grabbed the back of his collar and dragged him back, making him yelp a little. She shoved the gum back into his pocket before letting him go and sending him off with a pat on the back. With a sigh, she pulled her wallet out and took out a five-dollar bill to put into the drawer. She knew eventually she'd have to stop covering for the kid, but if she didn't, his dad would.

The one time one of the new employees had called the police, it was taken care of and the police let him go.

She didn't want to get the police involved anyway. They loved gossip just as much as anyone else in the town. Quinlan hadn't bothered her a whole lot since the breakup, he wasn't the jealous ex type, but she also knew that he wasn't entirely fond of Ben and the fact that she'd started dating again. Ben, thankfully, didn't take any of Quin's jabs seriously. Instead, he relayed them to her with vague amusement. She wasn't sure what to make of the love triangle she'd found herself in. Quinlan cared about his job a lot and Inez was proud of him for it, but she could tell that his job was his top priority and that was completely fine. It just wasn't... What she wanted.

And then with Ben...

Well, he was kind and he was an elementary school teacher, despite looking like he should be featured in Friday Night Fights. She was happy with him and she loved his little sister, but Inez had to admit that she wasn't sure if she saw them ever getting married and starting a family. They weren't in any rush to do so, of course, but she knew it was something that Ben would want eventually.

I have time to figure it out.

She went back to the pharmacy counter of Hartman's Drug Store, stepping behind the counter and taking a seat on the old metal stool. She kicked back, opening up her book again. It was always quiet on Thursdays. It was always quiet every day, honestly. They were the only pharmacy in town, but there didn't ever seem to be anyone in desperate need of medication. Then again, didn't that mean that everyone was doing well, health-wise?

It made her job easy. The boss was one of those "old money" types of guys, so he paid enough that she could afford rent (the American Dream) and that was enough for her, even if it did get a bit boring.

The bell above the door rang and Inez looked up, waiting to see who it was. She smiled as her coworker Maria stepped through the door. "I'm here to relieve you," she called in a sing-song voice.

Inez checked her watch and saw that it was already four o'clock, time for her to leave. She raised an eyebrow and checked her phone, scrolling through her messages. "Huh," she mumbled under her breath. Ben was supposed to get a hold of her, but he hadn't even texted. School was out at 2:45 pm, he was usually free by now... Could just be held up grading papers.

With a small shrug, she got off the stool and stepped back around the counter. She passed the keys off to Maria and chatted with her briefly, just simple small talk, before leaving the Drugstore. She pulled a cigarette from the box in her pocket, lighting it up as she sent a text to Ben, asking where he was. She was taking a drag when her phone started to ring.

"H-ello?" she breathed out, stifling a cough.

"Stop smoking," Ben greeted her. "Anyway, sorry, Paige got into some-"

"Don't tell her," Inez heard Paige protesting in the background.

"Oh she'll find out eventually," he argued. "Anyway, I had to pick her up from the police station."

Inez raised an eyebrow, "What? Paige?"

She could hear the girl whining in the background, sounding ashamed and embarrassed.

"Aw yeah, your little boyfriend was called in to investigate. She beat up some kid from school, probably her boyfriend or something."

"SHUTUP," both women said simultaneously, followed by, "he's not my boyfriend."

"Jinx, you guys owe each other a coke."

She rolled her eyes, ignoring it. She didn't even want to know what had happened with Quinlan, but she was curious about what had happened with Paige. She never expected to hear about her going to the police station. "So what'd she do to this guy?" Inez asked.

"Punched him, got him pretty good from what I saw," Ben replied.

She heard Paige breathe a sigh of frustration.

"Was he a pervert?"

That was the only thing that came to her mind when she wondered about the reasoning behind punching someone. Sure there were plenty of other reasons, but Paige had never struck her as the confrontational type.

"Uhhhh..." he paused, as if he was uncertain about telling her over the phone. "Let's talk about that later."

⊷☣⊶

They picked Inez up as she walked, Paige had slid into the backseat, looking exhausted. Inez had started to worry about the girl, she had good grades and she seemed enthusiastic, but there was always something tired and sick about the look in her eyes. No matter what they said though, she refused to go to a doctor for anything and kept saying she was perfectly fine. Inez felt like she looked worse today, lost in thought, barely engaging as she got into the car. Then again, she had just gotten taken to the police station, so it was natural to be a little out of it.

Benjamin didn't want to say anything just yet, instead he simply drove them to Paige's building and sent her up to her apartment to get some of her things.

As soon as the girl was out of earshot, Ben let out a long sigh.

"They think it was drug-related," he admitted bluntly. "I'm not really supposed to say anything, but I mean... Maybe you can talk to her? She seems to open up a bit more with you... Or you can throw those anti-drug pamphlets at her."

The admission hit her like a train and she raised her eyebrows, for a moment she was unsure of how to respond. "I mean... College kids, amirite?" Ben gave her a stern glare and she sighed. "Sorry, I just... I gotta say, I'm really surprised about that. So the kid she punched, what about him?"

"He's not giving anything up, neither is Paige and neither is his roommate. They are going to do a test though, so... It'll come out eventually, probably in a day or two. I just wish she'd tell me the truth, we could get it all figured out from there. I mean, they're in college, how bad could it be? Weed? Adderall?"

She didn't want to answer that question. She knew it could be a lot worse than that, but Ben didn't need her saying that out loud. "So is that other guy like... Her dealer, or...?"

Ben shrugged, "Since no one's giving anything up, we don't really know, but that's what it's looking like. That's what Quinlan thinks, but he obviously can't tell me a whole lot about the investigation."

"You guys didn't..."

He smirked, his green eyes narrowing a little, but he shook his head. "Don't worry, we didn't fight in front of everyone for your hand in marriage," he said, dramatically sweeping his hand towards her. "I'm 100 percent sure he gloated about it though, getting to call me in to tell me my sister was under arrest."

She knew that wasn't the whole story, but she didn't want to push it. Inez rolled her eyes and looked up at the building. "What if they try to skip town?" she asked. Ben would watch Paige like a hawk until those results came in, but what was stopping the other two from just up and leaving?

Ben looked around a bit, then spotted whatever he was looking for, he tapped Inez's arm and motioned in the direction of a car sitting across the street, a few yards away. "They're being watched," he said.

"How do you know?" she asked, looking at the car.

"Because I saw that car at the police station."

She would argue and tell him he watched too many cop movies, but he was probably right. She knew Quinlan wouldn't risk letting two 'suspects' run away, he probably did have someone watching them. She paused a moment, thoughtful. "Should we have let her go up alone? If that is a cop car watching the two boys, that means they're here, right?"

Ben froze. "I told them to give us twenty minutes at least..."

"Did you include picking me up and driving here in that timeframe?"

"Oh, dammit!"

"Ben."

"I just picked my sister up from a police station and got told she might be on drugs, I wasn't thinking straight, okay?" he argued as he got out of the car.

Inez followed, running into the building after him and sliding into the elevator. It was an awkward ride up, Ben looking anxious and her simply hoping that the two boys had stayed out for longer. "I mean, they probably won't fight again, you know?" she said, trying to comfort Ben after his small mistake, "they wouldn't risk getting into more trouble."

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open as they reached the fifth floor where Paige's apartment was.

Well.

They weren't fighting.

What they saw when the elevator did stop made Inez's heart drop.

Paige was on the ground, seizing, foaming at the mouth. Ben let out a cry, a sound of terror and worry mixed together. They both ran forward quickly, Ben practically slid to his sister on the ground as he lowered himself beside her.

Inez was in full panic mode, trying desperately to search her memory for her first-aid training. Quickly, Inez took Paige's glasses and rolled her onto her side, that would help, right? "Call 9-1-1," she told Ben quickly. Paige had never had a seizure before and this was obviously not a normal one.

"What the hell is-" the door down the hall opened up and she saw a young man pop his head out. His eyes widened. "Oh holy shit, Paige!"

⊷☣⊶

The young man had turned out to be the roommate of the guy Paige had fought with. He had been terrified, panicking, and not knowing how to help other than to call 911 too. They never saw his roommate though, but maybe he'd thought it was best not to show his face.

Quinlan had been outside of the building, directing people away as a crowd gathered to see what was happening. His quick response made her wonder if he was watching the boys personally, but she didn't get a chance to ask. Not that he'd tell her anyway, he was good at separating his work and personal life, he was good at keeping secrets. She drove Ben's car to the hospital while he rode in the ambulance with Paige.

She didn't know what to make of any of this, it felt like everything had gone downhill so suddenly. This morning her main concern was wondering where she and Ben would go for their date, now she was worrying about Paige... Whatever was going on with her. Drugs, fighting, and now this?

There was a moment when she and Quinlan caught each other's gaze as Paige was being put into the ambulance. She knew that look, he didn't have to say anything. There was something smug about him, not happy or gloating, but it was his "see, I was right" look. She'd seen it plenty of times before. She had to admit, she'd come to hate it after all this time.

Inez didn't want to admit it, but something was very wrong with Paige.

She made it to the hospital just behind the ambulance. She found a parking space and left the car, running into the main entrance and heading straight for the front desk. She was told it would be a moment since she'd only just been admitted, but soon Ben appeared from the direction of the ER and hurried over to her.

His eyes were wide, rimmed with red. He didn't say anything, Inez simply went to him, clearing the distance and letting him lean into her. He had to hunch a bit to let his forehead rest on his shoulder, but he didn't seem to care about the discomfort.

"She'll be alright," Inez told him, patting his back.

"They don't know what's wrong," he said in a low, cracking voice.

"They probably won't know for a while, but they'll figure it out, it's what they do," she told him. It was all she could think to say to comfort him, what else was there to say?

He didn't seem convinced, he didn't respond. He only sighed and kept his head on her shoulder for a few more seconds before pulling away. Inez followed as Ben turned, heading for the waiting room to sit down. They waited for what seemed to be an eternity, sitting in silence until a doctor finally came out and said they could go see Paige again, but that he needed to speak to Ben.

Inez told him she'd go ahead to Paige's room, figuring that it was probably best for Ben to hear the news alone and, if he wanted to, he could share it with her later. A nurse led her to Paige's room and Inez stepped inside, taking a deep breath. Paige was lying down on the hospital bed, attached to a couple of machines, the heart monitor was beeping at a steady pace, but... Quicker than it should be. Then again, Inez knew she wasn't a doctor and she couldn't tell if it was too quick or not, it could've been perfectly normal. The thing that wasn't normal though...

Were the restraints on Paige's wrists and ankles.