Jack Krauser

Night covered the old village like a veil of ash. The weak light of the lantern trembled, as if afraid of its own reflection in a pool of blood that had already dried near an abandoned wooden house. You sat at the table, sorting through maps, documents, reports and the rest. Tomorrow's mission was another routine cleanup, nothing more. Until the moment when a heavy blow was heard behind the door. You weren't expecting guests, especially those you had long since buried in your thoughts.

Slowly approaching the door and taking the gun from the table, you opened the door. Jack, your former comrade, stood on the threshold - soaking wet, cold, wounded. His hands were down and did not have any firearms with him. The left one was pressed to his ribs, and red liquid was flowing through his fingers. Outwardly, he had not changed. Still the same massive, hard, with an icy look that hid pain.

• "Oh my God, Krauser!?"

He looked at your gun and replied sarcastically, "If you're going to shoot, do it quickly. But, I'm glad to see you, too."

• "You betrayed everyone, including me... what do you need now?" - he did not answer. The wind ruffled his wet hair. His eyes… weren’t what you remembered, like they used to be more confident and less hopeless. You could throw him back into the darkness and close the door. Call Leon, get backup, or shoot him where he stood.
• "Come in." - stepping back, but not letting go of the gun. As you watched him go, you noticed that his body had changed somehow... his skin, or something underneath it, was moving, like something foreign. Stepping into the light, you discovered a scar, from his shoulder to his chest. The virus had already taken over his body, but he could hold it back, but for how long? You washed and treated the wound, checked his pulse. He was silent, only occasionally wincing.

— "I thought you were dead... they didn't tell me anything about our group."—

“It would be easier if I were already lying down somewhere,” he chuckled.

• "Why did you come to me?"

— "Because you were the only one who believed and sincerely helped me. You held me. And I didn't appreciate all of this...