Among the Dead

Roman

"I'm gonna go hit the showers! You did a great job today! Better than Monday!" I praised my pupil, Mike.
"Thanks!" he responded. "You're a better fitness instructor than I imagined! I've already shed about seven pounds, and it's only been a week and a half!"
I smiled back at him. "Have a good day, Mike. See you in two days."
I walked over to my duffel bag, and pulled out a towel, soap, shampoo, and fresh clothes. As I was pulling out all of my shower necessities, I noticed a man standing before the windowed wall to the gym, just staring at it. I looked around to see if any of the very few people who were in the gym had noticed him, too. Looked like I was the only one.
Confused and concerned, I walked over to him.
"Hey, excuse me, are you alr-" I stopped dead in my tracks. The man had large, purple veins running courses through his face. He had dark circles under his black, dead eyes. He blinked rapidly as he breathed heavily through his nose. I reached out to touch his shoulder to see if he was okay, but before I could get to him, he started walking towards the window. More like shuffled towards the window.
By the time he reached the glass, he smacked his hands against the window, and just continued to stare his dead eyes out into the parking lot.
"Are you looking for someone?" I asked, still morbidly confused to what he was staring at.
I received no answer.
"Look, man, do I need to call an ambulance, because you don't look so good," I went on.
No answer.
"Are you going to answer me? Can you even hear me?"
Still no answer. Instead, the man leaned forward, his breath fogging the glass. He slowly opened his mouth, and he started licking the window, leaving a nasty reddish, brownish residue on the glass.
I froze in my place, not sure what to do in this bizarre situation. I half expected the man to say, "These snozberries taste like snozberries!" But, of course, he didn't. He just continued to rub the nasty colored excretion from his mouth all over the window.
Snapping back into it, I pulled the man away from the window, and turned him to face me as I held onto his shoulder.
"Come on, man. What the hell?" I said, giving him a little shake.
He then tore his gaze from the window, and looked at me with those hollow, lifeless eyes. With the secretion running down his chin, he opened his eyes, and a nasty, inhumane sounding snarl formed in his throat. Then, the man froze, the veins vanishing from his skin. He went limp as he passed out, and as I called for an ambulance. I slowly lowered the man to the ground, making sure he was okay. Taking a deep breath, I moved my hand to check his pulse on his neck, but pulled away. His skin was burning hotter than a cast iron skillet, and I wondered how it was humanly possible to have a fever that high. I looked down at my hand, and saw that some of the skin from the mans neck came off upon our contact. I gagged, horrified as I wiped it on the towel around my neck. I threw it aside, and sat there, wondering what the hell I was supposed to do. I stayed by the mans side until the ambulance came, not sure what else I could do.
This is one fucked up sickness.
The paramedics examined the man, taking note of the condition of his skin. I turned away, unable to stomach the sight of a human beings skin being pulled from his body.
About five minutes later when my stomach had settled just slightly, a police officer walked over to me.
"Roman Alessandrini?" he asked.
I looked up, and nodded. "Yeah, that's me."
"Would you mind explaining to me what happened here, today?"