The First ~10K~ (book 2)

1.) Awake

My eyes shot open. The light from the window was like looking directly at the sun. I squeezed my eyes shut and then squinted, trying to let my eyes adjust to the light and to my unfamiliar surroundings.

After a few minutes trying to see, I could make out where I was.

I was in a bed. A hospital bed, at that. I had on a blue shirt and black yoga-like pants on with fuzzy socks. I had an IV in my hand and a tube running through my nose. A heart monitor beeped next to me. The blankets from the bed were pulled to my hips and my arms laid perfectly to my sides.

The room was a perfect color of beige. The curtains in the windows were pulled back, letting the sun shine though, giving the room a warm glow.

If I had enough energy and didn't feel like my head was about to explode, I would have freaked out. But I just laid in the bed and felt tired. My eyes were about to close when the door opened and a kid my age walked in. He had a small bowl of ice cubes in his hand. He was kind of cute.

He must not have expected me to be awake, because he saw my eyes open and he dropped the bowl. It shattered at his feet, making my head pound.

"Tracie! She's awake!" He yelled.

A red haired girl, about the same age as the boy, walked in, meeting my gaze.

She walked over to me, tripping over the glass and ice cubes.

"Jon, clean this up!" She said.

She came over to me and put her hand on my forehead, checking for a temperature. She looked at a clipboard, flipping the pages and adjusting buttons on the heart monitor.

The boy that dropped the ice was gone, along with the mess. He returned shortly.

"Do you need The Mayor?" The boy asked.

The doctor must not have heard him, because she took out the IV in my hand and ignored him.

"Tracie?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Get him." She replied.

The boy stared at me all the way out of the room. Then he disappeared.

"You shouldn't be awake," The girl told me.

"W-what?" My voice came out like a raspy whisper. It felt like my throat was cut open and replaced with sawdust.

"I put you into an induced coma. Your body was suffering severe damage. You were almost dead." She explained.

I was confused, trying to wrap my head around what had happened.

"Do you remember anything before you hit your head? Anything specific?" She asked, clicking a pen.

I thought about it for a long time, but I could only remember killing some zombies.

"I can only remember zombies," I replied. My throat burned.

Tracie scribbled down my response on her clipboard.

A knock came from the door. The young boy and an older man stood there.

Tracie put her things down and welcomed the man. They exchanged words before the boy was ushered out, along with Tracie.

The man gave me a quick smile and shot the door. His boots thumped in the wooden floor as he walked to my bed. He pulled up a chair and sat down, resting his hands in his lap.

He just stared at me. I was starting to grow uncomfortable. Finally he spoke;

"Hello. I'm Jake. But people call me The Mayor. I'm what does for a leader around here."