You really messed up
"J-Just trust me okay," Atlas replied after a bit, before tossing a small bag at his brother.
"Here's 5000, should be enough for you and gramp's ticket as well as accommodation for a few days," he said, before patting his brother on the shoulder and handing him a few notes.
"What about you?" his brother asked sharply.. not bothering to count the notes.
"I need to warn the Doc as well. I'll catch up to you guys, you know how to use this right?" Atlas asked, before handing his brother his knife. His brother just nodded in response, before hesitantly accepting the knife.
"Don't lose it, its my favorite blade. And ah..." Atlas said, before walking to his closet.
"Keep this handy. It only has a few calls left on it, but in case you get lost, or need help just hit the center of the rune. It connects to mine," he said, after pulling out two purple stones from his closet and tossing one to his brother.
"Now get going. I'll call once I finish up with the doc," Atlas said, before rushing out the house.
Sure he felt a little irresponsible leaving everything to his little brother, but there was no way he would leave without warning the doc. In this filthy place, the doc had been the only person to give him half a fair shot at anything. Without the doc, he probably wouldn't have been a runner, he probably would've been dead by now.
After running through the district, jumping from roof to roof, he finally made it to the doc's place. A inconspicuous shack, positioned in what should've been the entry way to an alley.
Atlas looked around, before knocking on the shack's door three times in an odd pattern.
"If you're looking for something," a voice called out from behind the door.
"Then you're lost," Atlas replied, and a moment later he heard the sound of metal clicking. Once the door was swung open he came face to face with a behemoth of a man, carrying a massive scrap ion rifle in his hand.
"Ah, its the Cat," the burly man said in a deep voice, before stepping aside.
"Hey Gustav," Atlas greeted awkwardly, before walking past him. He honestly couldn't get a handle on the man. Apparently he was one of the last few people from his tribe, sometimes he spoke English, sometimes he claimed he couldn't. At least the man seemed to like Atlas well enough.
"Atlas, you're here early. I thought you were on a demon blood run," and old man wearing a blacksmith's apron said, as he worked a needle through a woman's skin. She was currently unconscious, and naked on top of a makeshift gurney.
"About that, I need a check up. Some of it may have spilled on me," Atlas said whilst covering his mouth. Even though he had seen his fair share of blood, something about seeing the needle poking in and out of the woman's skin nauseated him.
"You spilled what on yourself?" the doc asked, stopping the needle midway through his work.
"I spilled some blood on me, just a few drops. I thought maybe I should get i-" Atlas was about to say, however the doc was already furiously walking towards one of the medical cabinets that stood at the ends of the room.
"Just a drop of the stuff can infect you. Are you sure it was demon blood? Maybe you got it confused with something else," the doc asked, as he removed a syringe and a few petri dishes from the cabinet.
"Green goop, pretty hard to mix up doc," Atlas replied half jokingly, though from the expression the doc had on his face, this was clearly a laughing matter.
"I wiped it off right after, and I didn't have any wounds there. Surely th-"
"Do you think this is the flu? Because it's not! Now hold still," the doc shouted in response, before sticking a needle into Atlas's arm and drawing some blood.
"Jeez, you could've been a little gentler," Atlas joked, as the doc began placing the blood into the perti dishes and examining them under a microscope.
"So, what's the verdict?" Atlas asked, coming to stand behind where the doc was sitting. The doc remained silent, before placing another one of the petri dishes under the microscope. He did this for each petri dish he had placed Atlas's blood in, before cleaning his lenses and trying again.
"I-It can't be that bad right?"
"Your brother and grandfather, where are they?" Doc asked, still looking through the microscope.
"They're on their way to the 11th district," Atlas replied.
"11th district? Wh- you know what, that's good. They'll probably target your brother once you're gone," the doc murmured to himself.
"You messed up... messed up really bad. How could yo-" the doc broke out into a sudden fit of rage, before slowly calming himself. "How could you have been so careless? Look, I'll take care of Drystan as long as I can. Is he as good at sky-running as you?" doc asked afterward.
"I don't want Drystan doing r-"
"How else is he supposed to survive with you gone? Huh?" the doc asked angrily. "So how good is he? Do you think he could replace you?" the doc asked, before packing the petri dishes away with a vacant look in his eyes.
"I-I don't think so. You know I started when I was just a kid," Atlas replied, still a little detached from the situation he was currently facing.
"Why are you so calm? Do you understand the magnitude of your fuck up? You're going to turn into a mindless creature, and your grandfather and brother will lose a breadwinner. Where do you get off-" once again the doc had to stop to calm himself down.