"Initiation has begun, deactivation is NOT a possibility. Let the games begin, and to the winner all the spoils."
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The voices rang louder in my head, the darkness cradling what had been my 'body' for so long began to disappear into the flood of details my sensory organs were picking up. My hearts pounding became so evident to me, I thought the earth was shaking. I grasped with hands I had control of after several years in a coma. My mind was foggy but alert, there were bells ringing, flashes of red. There was some kind of alarm, but what for I had no idea.
I took time away from all my senses to assess my surroundings. I was in a hos-...I was in a hos-... I couldn't remember the word. It scared me at first, but I shrugged it off, going on. I was in paper clothes, or scrubs, I couldn't exactly tell, but it felt like paper. I turned to look at the machines that had kept me alive, or at least I thought that was what they did. It took me another moment to notice I was not connected to them. I was In a coma, I should have IVs and.. I was in a hospital! That was where I was.
It took a minute for me to assess that revelation, forgetting about the disconnection between myself and the life support. I swung my legs off the side of the bed, and as soon as my feet hit the floor, I was standing, rather wobbly mind you, but I was standing. I checked all the muscles in my body, working joints until I was confident everything worked, then looked at the room again.
It was kinda small, and there were exactly seven chairs lined up against to walls. So apparently I had many visitors come here often, otherwise there wouldn't be many chairs. But nobody sat in them now, so I probably hadn't had anybody come by today. I wondered who they could be, but stopped as I became aware of the alarm again.
It was turning the room red in short flashes, and immediately I became worried,... was it a fire? I slipped on slippers I saw at the edge of my bed and half ran, half scuffled out the door and into the hallways. They were mostly empty except for trails of blood, some were mixed with something sickly green, it looked so disgusting I could have almost threw up. But there was no time for that, the possibility there was a fire sent me running for a flashing exit sign at the end of the hall. I would glance at the beds in the other rooms as I ran. Other patients were unattended, and unhooked from almost all of the medical machinery, most were obviously dead.
Why was the hospital letting all of patients die in their beds? Maybe they wouldn't be able to take care of them, or maybe they didn't have much time because of a fire. Speaking of which I still couldn't smell anything burning, hear the breaking and groaning of burning material, where was this, thing, that made everyone evacuate? I didn't stop while I was thinking such things, but they did make me slow down somewhat.
I came to a sudden stop when I came across a room who had someone standing. There was no color in her skin, like her warmth had disappeared. I took a step toward the room in curiosity, then I saw her eyes. They were black as pitch, and seemed to hang like a dark fire above a somewhat lustful smile, showing teeth that had been yellowed from laying still in what could be a coma like the one I had just woke from.
My body froze in fear as I recognized that look as the same look a serial killer would have in a movie, that smile wasn't simple lust; It was bloodlust.
My fight or flight response suddenly decided I was going to fly and I took back off down the hallway, other patients were beginning to stand in their rooms. But none of them seemed to have the same way of awakening as I did. They were all colorless like that woman, and stretched like they hadn't moved in years.
I tried to pay them no mind as I hit the door at the end of the hallway full on and came into the stairwell, my heart pounded furiously as I took off down the stairs, hopping down the steps I could.
A sound caught my attention as I looked down a few levels, there were the same colorless patients walking up the stairs, a hungry look in their eyes. One noticed me and turned to stare. It was a man, he was fairly young, and his unkept brown hair hung in curly ringlets. He stared at me as if to look into my very soul, then scowled, like he didn't see what he was looking for. I didn't want to give him time to explain what I had missing, so I left the stairwell for the door to another level. I opened it and began to run but looked straight into another hallway full of colorless patients.
I was going to call them zombies, heck I'm still calling them zombies, cause now I know that's what they were. Boy, I had no idea whaling of ride I was in for.
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This time, my fight or flight response was overridden by logical thought, I was fighting this time. Maybe if I could get through this hallway I could find an empty stairwell. I ran straight forward, if they tried to stop me I would floor them, super man punch for the win.
Sadly, none of them seemed interesting in stopping me, I wasn't gonna have any fun with this at all. I brushed by some of them during my dead sprint. Their skin was cold as death, which confirmed my suspicions they weren't exactly their old selves. Some of them were walking on broken limbs, and other such things. If I was any more squeamish than I was I would have dropped to my knees and fainted.
When I cleared the hallway, there were three other hallways. One of them was barricaded with chairs and desks, the other two held throngs of zombie people. I decided I was going to scream for help and see if anyone was behind the first hallway.
"Hey! Is someone on the other side of that thing? Help me out here!" I yelled, running to the barricade expecting an answer. I didn't exactly hear an answer, so I screamed again, by God they were gonna help if they were behind there. "I SAID HEY! Let me in darn it!"
This time I did get an answer. "We can't take it down! Not yet!" They said, it was a masculine voice, it was scratchy like he had been coughing for awhile, that or he was a smoker, which would contribute to the former I guess. "Why the heck not! Let me behind that thing!" It was only after this that I realized:
One, if they took it down they might not have time to put it back up.
Two, did he say "Not yet!"?
I looked back at the other halls, the zombie people where starting to walk towards me. Crap, if they took down that barricade for me they wouldn't have time to put it back up. "Keep it up! I'll just find another way out!" I was standing on my toes now, ready to take off in any direction. The problem was any direction but the barricaded one lead to the undead patients.
This was not good, not good, not good at all. I was going to die by zombie. I had always believed the zombie virus was a stupid idea, that there was no possibility. Yet here I was, staring down death, quite literally. If I was a cursing person I would have done so under my breath, SO many times.
I stood there, jumping on my toes for a few seconds, trying to figure what to do as the zombie people shuffled, walked, and ran in my direction. I had to move somewhere quick, but everywhere was blocked, or to clustered to get through. Maybe I could try dashing and knocking them sideways... No, to many...
"THAT'S HIM, TAKE DOWN THE BARRIER!"
What? I turned to look back to see the piled furniture begin to break apart at the sides. What where they doing? Where they idiots?!
"He has to see me!"
That voice... It had a feminine high to it that seemed to echo in my head.
"He has to know what's going on!"
I had to remember that voice for some reason, I heard it before. Somewhere deep in the recesses of my mind, I could feel something come to life. It must be that feeling you get when your waking up from amnesia, that thing you couldn't quite grasp, but it was key with finding out who you were.
"Gabriel can you hear me? It's your mother! I'm coming honey, don't move!"
Ok, maybe I wasn't gonna have to think to hard. I've found my name...and my...mother...
/A cool hand stroked my cheek, a hot tear being wiped off. It's owner, a tall, pale, brown headed woman. She was cradling a small boy, kinked reddish blonde hair spilling to either side of his face. They gruesomely complimented the redness in his face as he cried over a broken leg. It was bent sideways and bleeding, slightly./
Holy mother of God, that voice belonged to mine. "Mom!" I cried, throwing myself at the barrier of furniture, dismantling it faster than I thought I could. Her voice broke open a wall in my head, a dam retaining memories of her and me. Past holidays spent together, my dads funeral we both went through, things she did every Saturday to make me feel special.
"Mom! I remember! I'm coming!" I screamed, a hoarseness taking to my throat. Before long, the combination of work between me and the people on the other side opened a hole in the blockade. It was surprisingly deep in my opinion.
I looked at the people on the other side, they were all hospital employees, nurses, doctors, some where even patients, the ones that could walk that is. They all looked extremely calm to be surrounded by zombie murderers. I turned my head quickly to see that they were right next to me almost, they were slow, deliberate things.
I turned back just in time to see my mother, aged by tears shed for my comatose. She nearly tackled me, sobbing like mothers would. "Mom we gotta...zombie people..." I wanted so bad to have a reunion right now, something sweet and hallmark-like. But we would get killed if we stood here, sobbing over each other. I could hear footsteps behind me.
"Mom they're gonna kill us..." I tried to move her, but she wouldn't budge, she stood there sobbing into my shirt. "Mom!" I tried to get away pulling at her arms. I didn't think she was this much of a mess, not to see the looming death behind me. "Mom! We HAVE to move." I almost through her down, but maybe.. Maybe if I...
I hugged her, squeezing with all the strength of my arms. "Mom listen, we have to lea-"
"Gabriel..." She intruded, a small wail rising in her throat. "Gabriel if only you knew..." She dug her nails into my back, earning a cry of pan from me. "You, honey, you have to die."
"Wha-?!" Was all I could say before a metal pole was thrust through my back and into my mothers chest.
