Prologue
My hands couldn't stop shaking, my ears wouldn't stop ringing. I can't feel anything.
"Listen to me Adam stay calm, Rick Grimes is okay, the surgery was a success!" My adviser Sam kept telling me. "Okay I think I'm calmed down, has anyone told his family and friends he's stable?" I asked Sam, I had seen the way his Wife and Son looked when any nurse passed by. "We think its best you do it, you're good with the patient's family and friends." Sam says looking at the family. I shrug off my nerves and head over with the calmest expression I can muster. When I arrived they looked at me with both hope and worry. "H..How is he?" His Wife Lori asked me, her son wasn't talking, just holding her hand. "He's stable now. Your father's a very strong man." I tell the boy smiling at him. "But I need to discuss other measures with your mother if that's alright with you miss." She nodded and Carl was off looking at a puzzle or something. This was the part that always bothered me, not to mention the guy was a sheriff so a lot of the waiting area was filled with cops. A man by the name of Shane was holding Lori's hand as I spoke. "What else is there to mention, was there a complication?" Shane asks, I shake my head a little, just done with all the doctor talk.
"Rick is stable, but he's comatose, we don't know exactly when he'll come to. Could be a month, a year. All we know is that he's alive." I rip that band aid right off, knowing that I wasn't exactly reassuring with either of them. "What do we do than?" Lori asks, close to tears. "Hope for the best, I promise you I won't let anything happen under my care, and notify you of any changes!" That was one of the toughest conversations I'd had since I started this Residency, for a Hospital it lacked the exciting pace you would see in the TV shows and Movies. God Why didn't I cherish those moments way more.
I didn't think I'd miss that aspect of it, or how much I cared about lousy water cooler talks on break. When the outbreak happened I continued working at the Hospital, hoping that things would go back to normal, even when the Military showed up for extra man power and protection. The only patient I still had to take care of was Rick, who still got the normal amount of visits one gets in the apocalypse. I was finally ending my shift when I heard the gunfire, afraid for what might be out there I stayed in the room with Rick. I tried my best to calm myself down but I kept hearing shuffling and footsteps. If it hadn't been for that cop's uniform when the door open I would of probably died from fear. "Shane!" I Whispered from behind the bed. "Doctor Davis, what the Hell is going on out there?" As if on cue an explosion rocked the building, causing the power to go out. "No,no, no, no, no, the power, Rick!" I try ignoring Shane and check Rick's Vitals but without power I knew he wouldn't last long, especially without someone managing his IV.
I was struggling to comprehend my surroundings and the only thing I could do was pace. "Davis snap out of it, if we don't leave were dead!" Shane says grabbing my arms, his eyes glowed with intensity. I swallow down any doubt I had and start pulling medicine bottles, and two viles of morphine from the cabinet. "Its best if I take these." I tell him as we leave the room. "Just keep quiet and help me block this door." That was the moment normal wasn't ever an option any more. A normal doctor had an oath to protect ones patient, while I left mine to die. I couldn't stop thinking about it, which was why I clung to Shane like a life line as we left. Any order that came out of his mouth I followed half heatedly. "I can't do that again." I think to myself, if I make it out of this I won't let anything happen to your family, I promise you Rick.
"What should I call you by, Doctor Davis?" Shane asks as we run away. We hadn't exactly been friends, I only knew a little about him because of the numerous times he visited Rick, one that he was a loyal friend and two he looked Damn fine in that uniform. I shrug as we run down the street avoiding sight as much as possible. "I can't just keep calling you Doctor Davis, what's your name?" I get that he was just trying to lighten up the mood but what we just saw in the hospital cancelled that. "Just call me Doc!" I try my best to whisper. I can hear people screaming and running, everyone trying to get further away from the madness as we ran towards it. "Okay Doc it is!" He smirks taking us into a driveway where two people were already inside the house looking out the front. "Shane what's going on out there?" Lori asks leaving the front door.
"There's no time to explain get packed and get into the house!" They follow his orders, getting into the house and locking the front door behind us. "Doc help Carl get a few things together, I'll help Lori." After Shane's orders both Carl and me head to his room, I help him grab a bag, a few shirts and some pants, enough to last a long time. "Just in case we can't be back right away." I tell him with a smile, in a time of a crisis I think it's best to pretend like the undead weren't just in my hospital. When everything is gathered we leave in the night, people already driving to a nearby safe zone.
"Doc, is there anywhere you need to be, your family has to be worried sick?" Lori asks me, I get why she'd be worried, she's trying to think about what she would do if I was her son, not with them when the outbreak happened. "No, I've been on my own for a while!" I say with a calm reassuring smile. "Seems like you're stuck with us." Shane says looking back at me.
The car ride to the refugee camp was at such a slow pace that someone with no legs could walk faster on there arms. The further we got from Kings county the heavier the traffic until we were stuck in gridlock traffic. It was almost an hour before people started getting out of there cars. I had stayed quiet, not wanting to make anyone question what could be going wrong, when things were already dreary. My job before was to reassure people that it was all under control. The hospital had taught me people were unpredictable and without reassurance things could plunge into chaos. So when the emergency broadcast stopped transmitting I put on a brave face, got to know some people here or there, and tried to keep things calm.
This wasn't a hospital situation though, and it quickly deteriorated. Helicopters had flown above the highway and were heading straight into the city, all it took was one second for all my hopes to be crushed, the city had to be over run so protocol must have been to use anything to get rid of WildFire, including napalm.
That was one of the worst days of my life, it marked the end of normal and gave birth to Hell on Earth.
Author's Note: Yeah there wasn't much dialogue and it was short but I'm just trying to introduce the story. Hope you liked this, if you did or didn't leave a review of what you thought.