The Void

Chapter 1

You walk outside, you risk your life. You take a drink of water, you risk your life.

Nowadays you breath and you risk your life. You don't have a choice.

The only thing you can choose is what you're risking it for.

-Hershel Greene

I twisted and turned in my lopsided bed, filling my nose with the cool morning air. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and sat up, feeling regret from the night before a party. My stomach churned as I planted my feet to the wooden floor.

That party was rough... I thought to myself, walking into the bathroom and leaning over the toilet, ready to upchuck. Minutes later I had given everything I had before to the toilet in front of me.

"So much for not getting drunk." I croaked, feeling the burning sensation in my throat; the excessive alcohol, screaming and partying leaving me with a massive headache and a hoarse throat. I went over to the small sink in the musty two star bathroom, filling the small plastic cup with water and downing it with no effort whatsoever. I did this several times until I was finally satisfied. I sat back against the green wall and closed my eyes. My head ached and my hands quivered. I've gotten drunk before, but this hangover was different. It was practically saying that it was gonna laugh at my suffering and make me suffer all day. I thought I was never going to come down from it. I noticed that I was still in the same clothes as the night before, blue jeans and a tank top. I put my long hair back in a ponytail, looking into the mirror at my bloodshot eyes. My irises had always been sort of blackish brown. My mother used to say It was a sign of beauty, but I begged to differ. I walked back into my room and ascending back to the comfort of my bed. I found myself thinking about what happened to Maggie.

Where did she end up? Probably at some guys hotel room or apartment. I thought to myself, leaving me with a smirk on my face. Maggie and I had been friends since third grade, we graduated together and we decided to take our dreams and put them together, we both wanted to be nurse practitioners, it wasn't about the money, rather it was about helping others. But we ended up finding ourselves skipping classes and going to parties, typical college students. We took all of our grad money and now we are broke, barely paying off the apartment and eating processed foods. Maggie always wanted to be organic, but we obviously couldn't afford that. We had minimum wage paying jobs that gave us $9.25 an hour at Walmart. Our rent for the apartment was around $625 a month and was increasing quickly. The apartment was a four story with breakfast, somewhat like a permanent hotel that you rent. I slipped my overcoat on along with my pink slippers. I wasn't gonna dress to impress. I grabbed the keys off the counter and slipped out of my room swiftly, latching the door behind me as I descended down the hallway. I passed a room where there was a loud pounding on the door, causing me to jump in my tracks. Some people just haven't stopped partying I guess. I thought to myself as the loud muffled music filled the hallway from their room. It was weird, usually people filled the hallway, attempting to phish their key in the lock, half drunk after a late Saturday night. The hallway was empty other than a couple suitcases and clothes on the ground. I peered through the window of the stairwell door then glanced to the elevator. I have never been a fitness guru but I always wanted to stay fit.

"No way in hell am I taking the stairs." I said under my breath, considering I was on the top floor. I leaned against the elevator wall, awaiting the doors to close. Fortunately I was alone, letting out a large sigh of relief as there was also no elevator music. Reaching the bottom floor, the door opened, revealing more clothes and suitcases. What the hell is going on? I walked out and down a small flight of stairs into the main lobby. There was no one in the small breakfast zone, nor behind the small desk in the middle of the room where the receptionist should've been. Which was strange to me. Usually there is at least a group of people who loiter all day, sucking up all the wifi that don't actually live here. I grabbed a plastic coffee cup and filled it with the hot liquid, putting a top on and taking a small sip. The liquid singed my young, leaving me with regret. A door in the corner of the room pushed open slightly behind me, causing a creaking noise. I jumped and turned around. There was a short brown haired man in his bath robe that was leaning over something.

"Sir?" I asked, walking slowly over to the door, I was slightly frightened. I opened the door quietly, tapping the mans shoulder. Then I saw it, the man turned his face towards me, his mouth full of blood and guts. The man spat the guts out onto my slippers and my jeans as it screamed in my face. I screamed, dropping my coffee cup with a large shattering sound that seemed to echo in the lobby of the apartment, falling to the ground. The man turned and stood up, dropping guts from his abdomen. The stench was increasingly dank, causing me to want to throw up, the fact that I had a hangover didn't help either. I scrambled to my feet, running away from the man, turning to go up the stairs when my jeans got caught on something. I looked to find that my pant leg got stuck on a nail. I peered over the small wall at the corpse that lay still, then over at the man who was nearly four feet from me.

Do you want to end up like him? Run! I thought to myself, ripping a hole in my jeans and tripping at the top of the stairs. I got to my feet, sparring a glance at the man who grabbed my neck. I screamed as his fingers left a stain of blood on my neck. He screeched in my ear, causing me to elbow him in the stomach. I got out of his grasp, turned and shoved him. He fell down the stairs and I kept running. I reached the elevator, pressing the button over and over again hysterically.

"Come on! Come on!" I screamed, gritting my teeth as he came closer and closer to me. The elevator opened, allowing me inside. I pressed the elevator close button as the door began to close. Right before the door closed, there was a crack as the mans arm shatter in the small opening, leaving a gut wrenching feeling in my stomach. The doors began to open. I pushed the man away from me, making my way to the stairs, going through the door, pushing the latch down and sprinting as fast as I could up the cement stairs. The man pushed his weight through the door, falling to the ground with another crack. The wretched crack echoed through the large stairwell. I looked over the side of the of the stairwell, down at the man. He snapped his head up at me, sending chills up my spine as I stared into his lifeless eyes. What the hell is going on...?

I ran back up the stairs, stopping at the top to catch my breath. Am I dreaming? Please tell me I'm dreaming. After moments of leaning against the wall I strode back across the hallway to my room, pulling the keys out, inserting the key into the door and walking in to find Maggie and a little boy. The boys face was caked with blood, Maggie had a cold expression on her face as she dazed off into the corner, looking at nothing.

"Maggie! Are you okay?" I asked, walking over and hugging her.

"It's... It's over, Cynthia." Maggie said, looking into my green eyes. I stared back into her blue eyes.

"W-what do you mean?" I asked, feeling the my hair stand.

"We are all going to die." She said.