The bright lights blinded me as I opened my eyes. My head hurt like hell and I was soaked with sweat. It felt like I had slept for days in this bed I was unfamiliar with.
“You’re awake. It’s about time,” the doctor said to me. He was a short man, with slicked back hair and a dark beard. He had a thick Spanish accent.
Dr. Fernandez. That’s what his name tag read. I was in a hospital. But for how long? What the hell happened to cause me to get here?
“A week and two days. That’s a long time to be out,” Dr. Fernandez explained to me. “You’re lucky the officer found you when he did. You damn well could’ve been rotting in the ground somewhere rather than here.”
Officer? I don’t remember any officer. The last thing I remember seeing was my friend, Jeremy, lying next to me, finger held up to his lips. He was trying to keep me quiet. His eyes, I remember his eyes. Filled with so much emotion but also none at the same time. He was definitely scared, scared about something.
“I can see the look on your face. I know what you’re thinking,” Dr. Fernandez was saying. “You were shot. In the head. You’re really lucky. Everybody else in your class…t-they we’re killed.”
Tears welled up in his eyes. I remember what happened now. School shooting. I was in a school shooting, and I’m one of the few people that managed to survive. Fuck. Jeremy. He didn’t make it.
I remember the loud “BANG” and seeing Jeremy’s color fade to white, his eyes staring blankly at me. Blood. So much blood coming from his mouth and head.
I heard another “BANG” then a groan. There went another one of my classmates. Then I heard one last “BANG,” and my vision faded.
I wanted to cry, but tears wouldn’t come out. I wanted to scream, but words wouldn’t come out. I wanted to run, but my legs wouldn’t allow that.
“Would you like something to eat or drink? Maybe both?”
“Yeah. Water please. I’m not that hungry.”
Dr. Fernandez smiled at me as he left the room. I sat there, staring at the wall blankly. I felt sick to my stomach. I didn’t want to believe what I was experiencing was real. School shooting? Nah, that wouldn’t happen to something like me, especially in the small town I live in.
But it did. It definitely happened. I touched the back of my head. It was tender to the tips of my fingers. A burning sensation went through my head and I winced in pain. I was definitely shot. Fuck.
Dr. Fernandez came back and handed me a bottle of water.
“We’ll have to keep you for a few more days. Monitor how you’re doing and make sure you can be cleared to leave. I’m sure you want some alone time right now, so I’ll leave you be. If you need anything, just press this buzzer next to your bed,” he pointed at a small, red button next to me, “and a nurse will come to assist you. I hope you feel well soon.”
And with that, he left. I opened my bottle of water and took a sip. My vision got all fuzzy as soon as the liquid went down my throat. I couldn’t see anything. The bright lights of the hospital vanished and I was transported to a world I was unfamiliar with.
I was in a room. A dark room. The walls were made of only concrete. The floor was cold and hard. The only light inside of the room was the light shining in from the bottom of the door. The only sound I heard was the howling of the wind. I walked up to the door and leaned against it.
I fell backwards as the door opened behind me. I jumped up. I was in a house. My house. I walked up the stairs leading to the den from the basement. I stepped foot into the den and looked out of the window. The sky was grey and depressing. The trees lost all of their leaves and there was snow on the ground.
I searched my house, looking for a coat or jacket, a pair of pants, and some boots. But nothing. I was stuck wearing this hospital gown. I walked through the living room and up to the front door. I took a deep breath and opened it.
The cold air hit me. It felt like thousands of needles piercing my skin all at once, all in the same spot. I stepped out onto my front porch. I looked at my front yard. It was covered with a sparkly white blanket. But there was something else. Blood. A few drops of blood in the snow.
I went out to the drops of blood. It was a trail. I found more blood a few feet away. Then more. And then even more. I kept following it until I reached a body.
It was of a man. An old man. My neighbor, Gregory. I ran to his corpse to see if maybe, just maybe, he was still alive. But no. No breathing. I felt for a pulse. Nothing. He was dead.
I looked around, and saw a figure in the distance. I waved my hands in the air and yelled at them. They let out a loud screech and ran towards me at an inhuman pace. As it got closer, I realized this…this thing wasn’t human. It had no face other than eyes. It had pieces of flesh rotting from its head and arms. I turned to run, but I couldn’t run fast enough. The thing caught me.
My vision went fuzzy again. I was back in the hospital room. But it was eerily silent. I slowly got up from my bed and peered out of my room. There was nobody out there. No beeping of machines, no groaning from sick patients. There was nothing. I walked back over to my bed. I stared at that red button for a few moments, and then pressed it.
I heard a buzzing come from the nurses desk outside of my room. But I also heard something else from outside. A screech. The same inhuman screech I heard in my “vision.” My heart raced as I heard the sound of fast footsteps approaching my room.
I slammed the door to my room as that thing turned the corner at the end of the hall. I hid behind my hospital bed and pulled the table over for extra cover. The thing banged and scratched on the door. I just hope that the door will keep that thing on the other side.