"Ah!" I gasped, sitting upright and panting. My heart was beating out of my chest, and sweat was dripping down my forehead. I put my hand to my heart, which was beating like it had just been supercharged, which was to say, it was beating as fast as hell.
The perspiration dripped down my forehead, and a little weakly I wiped it off with the palm of my hand. The nightmare I had just had...it had been all too real. What's funny was that this nightmare was no less realistic than the actual events of last night.
Zombies....zombies were real...what kind of messed up world was I living in?
I looked down at my skinny shirtless self, and my blood covered hand and instantly remembered the blur of events that had taken place the night before. The zombie attack..and then...I killed it with a surgical instrument? Yeah..that's what happened.
I couldn't believe it, I had survived.
"Yeah but Zack" I thought to myself, still breathing heavily, "That was just one zombie..you got lucky. And as crazy as it all sounds, zombies are real now, how do you expect yourself to survive the next time this happens?
It really did seem true. After all, luck could only be on your side for so long. Next time may not be so good. In fact, I had to make sure there wasn't a next time.
"Speaking of time..." I murmured to myself, "What time of day is it? I really do hope it's not night time."
Well apparently it wasn't. The light of day was pouring in through the semi permeable blinds that draped over the hospital windows. Little streaks of that light lit up the room slightly, enough for the room's details to become visible to me. I groggily reached over for my phone and turned it on.
It was currently five minutes to eleven am, which meant I had woken up pretty early. But considering everything, that was probably for the better. I had to get ready for the day, and prepare myself for what it was going to throw at me. Especially if that thing which was to be thrown at me, was a freaking zombie trying it's best to kill me.
Needless to say I most definitely wasn't in the mood to die today, or any time soon.
Well before I did anything else, I needed a new shirt, and with that preferably a new change of clothes. Secondly, I needed to wash, and desperately too.
Luckily, there was a toothbrush and sink in my room, so I wasted no time getting there. I quickly looked at myself in the mirror, and just as quickly looked away in disgust. I looked terribly dirty, and the unspeakably gross flecks of zombie blood all over my face made it even worse.
I grabbed the soap and washed myself thoroughly, scrubbing it all over my face and then my hands, before brushing my teeth. It was lucky for me that these facilities were in my room, but then again, it was a hospital. It was supposed to be a place with a sanitary environment.
"Well..it was a sanitary place before this whole zombie outbreak happened which I somehow totally missed" I said to myself, grabbing the towel to dry myself off.
I just shrugged this question off for later as I then proceeded to look at myself in the mirror, admiring how much better I now looked after washing myself. I was now as clean as could be. And with that done, I proceeded to look for a shirt. I grabbed my phone and the instrument off the bed, and pocketed the phone, keeping the dagger like object in hand.
I reached for the doorknob, and instantly a vivid flashback of the night before came to me. I gasped and doubled over, gripping the weapon like steel and backed up against the wall, my heart beating at an unimaginable speed.
"It's okay Zack" I said, trying to comforting myself, "It's okay. No zombies will attack you this time. It's day time, and you'd see them way before they saw you. You'll be alright, don't worry."
I took a few deep breaths, now reassured by my own reasoning, and this time I walked briskly to the door, and opened it with little hesitation.
"Okay" I thought to myself, "Now I had to be quick, and I had to be quiet with what I was about to do."My eyes quickly darted from left to right; no zombies, good. Silently shutting the door behind me, I tiptoed to the nearest door next to my very own room door. The door belonged to room 759, and I gently nudged it open.
I slowly peaked in, and I looked in shock at what I was met with: the chaos that had overturned this whole room. I pushed open the door to get a better look of the place, and all that came out of my mouth was an impressed, albeit fearful, "oh...oh my g..god".
The patient's bed had been completely overturned, and the sheets were scattered across the floor. The sink had been trashed, and the wood floor had cracked where the sink was resting now; probably from the dampness of the water that may have leaked out. The mirror though, was absolutely obliterated, with bits and pieces of glass all over the place, and the frame of the mirror itself split in three. But perhaps most terrifying of all, were the claw marks on the blinds.
Five distinct tears in the blinds of the window, each of the size and shape which made it more than easy to discover it's source. A zombie must have come here, and from the looks of everything, it seemed like the inhabitant of this room had done more than just put up a fight. I went closer to the window, and then I saw something terrifying which made me gasp in horror.
Blood stains...blood stains from the curtains to the floor.
I felt like screaming.
There had been a serious battle here. But there was no body.
I thought to myself for a moment, wondering how that was possible.
"Do..do the zombies eat humans whole?" I thought to myself, cringing from disgust. That disgust very quickly turned in to fear. This whole room only showed how these undead nightmares were much more terrifying and merciless than I had actually thought. And I had never underestimated them.
"This is bad" I mumbled, now shaking even more, "Really, really bad."
I didn't want to stay here any longer. This whole place was creeping me out. It was a nightmare. This was all a nightmare! I wanted to get out of this nightmare!
"Calm down Zack!" I chided myself, "Listen to yourself. You're acting crazy! Do you want to end up like this person did?"
I looked down. I was right. I hadn't stepped foot outside the hospital since I woke up. Who knew what horrors awaited me outside? Who knew what unspeakable dangers there were? I was lucky so far to not have a whole zombie horde after me! I had enough knowledge about zombie movies and such to know, that the moment someone made a mistake, they were done for.
Right now I was on the edge of making those kinds of mistakes. And if I didn't stop I'd be no better than the man whose blood now stained the walls.
I sighed, and walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind me. Room 759 was a failure. It was time to go to the next room.
That was when I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my stomach. I doubled over in pain, and clenched my stomach tightly to try and ease the pain, but to no avail. It now seemed the change of clothes would have to wait.
"Great" I thought to myself, rather annoyed, "Now I need to find food for myself"
And since I didn't know of a kitchen in the hospital, and was too scared to go find it, I'd have to go to the vending machines. I knew where those were of course, but that's what I feared about them now.
They were on the first floor.
"Oh well" I sighed to myself, "This was going to happen eventually." And quietly, i walked over to the stairs. The very stairs I had descended the night before, before getting attacked and almost killed by that undead creature.
I could feel my heart thumping in my chest again as I silently went down the flight of stairs. The memories of last night were coming back, and they were becoming clearer and clearer. I could hear those very voices again, telling me stop my feeble attempts and to go back to my room.
"Just go back to the room where it's safe" they whispered to me darkly.
"I..i can't. I'm really hungry, and if I won't eat..then I'll die!" I thought back, trying to get the voices out of my head.
"What does it matter if you die? You'll die in the safety of your room, as opposed to being ripped apart by a zombie. Is it really worth going on when you will succumb to this fate Zack?" the voices replied, trying their hardest to convince me to change my mind.
"I'm not going back. Not now. You can't make me" I replied, and with that, the voices seemed to stop.
That was a little victory for me, but from that point on every step I took, increased the magnitude of the fear I was feeling. It soon got to the point where I was shaking uncontrollably, with the lethal instrument gripped so tightly that I thought it would either shatter in my hand or pierce my skin. My muscles had stiffened from fear, and I found it increasingly hard to go on with the same level of determination I had started out with not so long ago.
But alas, it was futile to try, all that determination was gone. But every time I felt like giving up, I'd receive a harsh reminder from my stomach, and this reminder only seemed to get more and more painful. I needed food, and I really, really needed it now.
A few minutes passed by, and I was now six steps away from the first floor. I paused for a moment, remaining completely silent, trying to detect any noise which could mean danger. My senses went on high alert, just waiting to pick up something.
After a few moments of not hearing anything though, I decided it was safe to move on, and I cautiously walked down the last few stairs.I was now on the dreaded first floor.
There were a series of vending machines right in front of me, all of which were broken from the front. I didn't even need to look for but a moment longer to realize that none of them had any kind of food in them.
Great..that was just great.
The pain in my stomach was only getting worse. I had to think and find some source of food or I was going to die from starvation. And in a flash, I remembered there were always rooms where food was stored before being stocked in to the vending machines. I dashed towards the door which led to that specific room. Luckily I knew this from memory as I had seen food being brought to be loaded in to the vending machine from there.
I opened the door quickly, while still trying to maintain silence. And my eyes were yet again met with disappointment. The storage room was also empty. The place was wiped totally clean.
"God dang it" I muttered under my breath, not being able to believe my bad luck. "Please god. Please let there be just one bit of food for me to eat."
And just like someone above had been listening to me, I instantly saw a can of food in the corner of the room. It was like a blessing from above! I wasted no time sprinting to it and grabbing it, and like lightning I ran back towards the stairs, and clambered up the stairs as quickly as possible, now paying no heed to how much noise I was making. I just wanted to get back to my room and eat the food in peace, and savor it for as long as possible, and relish the feeling of having a full belly.
Had I payed attention I would have noticed that the front door of the hospital had been ajar as I had run past.
I entered my room swiftly, locked the door just as fast, and sat on my bed, almost squealing from joy of having found something to eat. I couldn't believe my good luck!!! Now at least I wouldn't starve!
But just as I layed my hands on the tin to open it with the dagger, I heard a loud shriek and then heard something running down the hall. I sat still, frozen with fear, and then that same thing banged itself in to the door.
My heart felt like it would explode; it was beating so fast.
A zombie had tracked me to my room.
Suddenly I heard several more shrieks coming from nearby.
There wasn't just one zombie...there was a whole horde of them.
Crap.
I jumped off the bed and started pushing the bed as fast as possible. I summoned all my strength and pushed forward, fully aware I had only a few moments before the door was broken down and I would become the latest victim to these flesh eating monsters.
The blood chilling shrieks grew louder, and louder, and louder. Every passing moment the pounding at the door grew more and more aggressive.
"Come on Zack god damn it!" I said to myself, struggling to push the bed. Get a move on!"
I was running out of time. I could see the door bulge inwards now every time the zombies rammed themselves in to it. A few more tries and the door would blow off it's hinges.
With one final effort I pushed the bed to the door, effectively blocking the entrance. Then, for good measure, I picked up the light side tables and placed them on top of the bed, laying them against the door.
I lay my back against the wall and let out a sigh of relief. I was safe, for now. Now I just needed to wait it out and then escape from this dreaded building.
But that's when I was struck by a terrifying thought.
Didn't the door open outwards too?