Beth awoke abruptly. Her head was spinning with a splitting headache. "Where am I?" she thought. Everything was white and too bright for her sore eyes. Tangled in a damp sheet that was wrapped around her small frame. Tight and secure she fought to free herself all while she strained to use her left arm. What was happening? Was she dreaming?

Once free from her cocoon she struggled to stand. The left side of her body was numb. Her left leg tingled but regain some function, she figured she could stand but her arm wasn't asleep; there were no pins and needles like when you lay on one side for too long. This wasn't from being wrapped like a mummy that cloth. She strained her eyes and began to focus in on her surroundings. The buildings in the background were familiar; it was Atlanta. Not the Atlanta she had once visited with her family on weekend getaways. It was half demolished and mostly burnt. In the other direction was a wooded forest and she could smell the dampness from the forest floor. It must have just rained. The hot, humid air felt like a blanket on her skin.

Still astonished by her surroundings Beth got to her feet without any grace. It was like she was cut in half. One side, fully functioning and on her one side was her arm hanging there like a useless bunch of bones and flesh.

Why was she alone?

What was happening?

So many questions ran through her pounding head. She raised her right hand to her head and she put her fingers through her tussled blonde hair. It was sticky with blood. Panic and fear stuck her body and she flashed back to a scene in her mind. It was like a movie or a dream; nothing seemed real in what she later thought of as a memory. There were people, a hallway… her friends were there she thought. But these people weren't her friends from school. But she knew she knew them and cared for them. She searched this memory for anything to soothe her racing mind. No family stood in that memory but there was a feeling of connection and there was a man with a rugged look and from the feeling she had, she knew, he was special and he felt like more than family.

"What the hell is going on?!" she spoke in a small breathy voice.

A moan arose from the woods. A disheveled man was coming towards her, and boy, he stunk! Beth was confused by the situation but knew she had to move and quickly. Her semi-frozen left side made this difficult of course but she managed to hobble away to the other side of where she woke up. Hidden behind a large tree she watched the corpse-like man stagger away. Somehow she managed out of his sight and was no longer his prey.

Beth slid down the tree trunk and sat in the dirt. She knew she had to figure out what had happened to her but nothing was coming to her mind quick enough. Her right hand searched her sticky hair and face. She found something, a dent or a hole on the left back side of her head. She gasped but felt no pain when she touched it. Franticly she searched her body, looking for any more signs of questionable marks or wounds. Running her hand along her face Beth found a small hole on her forehead. Now the panic rushed her body. Maybe it was the fear but she didn't feel the pain of this discovery. It must be the position of these wounds that were making her left side feel like it didn't exist. This was all so overwhelming for her. She just woke up in what can only be described as a makeshift casket. Who had done that and why had they left her there? So many questions were racing though her very damaged skull. Heck, who knows if all this was real, she thought. Why was she able to wake up after such a horrific injury? Whoever had wrapped her in that sheet must have thought she was dead.

She glanced back to the mysterious sheet she had escaped from. There was a shovel not five feet from where she awoke. That could have come in handy if that walking corpse had come any closer. And just beside that shovel… were the beginnings of a grave. Her heart sunk. Maybe she was one of those walking corpses now because she sure as hell wasn't alive. This isn't what she remembered, even if it was a faint memory and not very clear. This isn't what being alive felt like. But this was her reality and she was going to figure this out even if she was left behind without a thought or a proper funeral.