DISCLAIMER: I do not own Left 4 Dead or any of its characters, only Mindy, her mother, and upcoming pet are mine.

Saturday, April 8

Today everything is still a blank to me. I woke up in this hospital bed and haven't been able to recover my memories sine. No one has entered my room and I haven't heard even one footstep in the building. It seems as if everyone or whoever was here, has disappeared or left. After probably an hour of awkward silence by myself I mustered the strength to get out of bed, even though my head throbbed heavily. When I opened the door I found that everyone really was gone. No one. Nada. I don't know how to explain it but it seemed like I was in an abandoned hospital and it hadn't been used for years.

I wander down each and every hallway, checked every bedroom and office, and even looked in the bathrooms (including the men's'). I was in the lobby and realized the basement was the last place to check, but I refused to go there because no matter how comfy and cozy a hospital may seem, every basement has some creepy effect to it. I continued to wait in the lobby and decided to check outside. As I approached the set of moving doors, they didn't open. I tried again and still they didn't open, so I decided to use the push doors. When I got outside I immediately ran back inside. That reason was because covering the streets were…..I can't say it…..ZZZZOMBIES! I swear they were everywhere. I had to be dreaming but when I pinched myself I didn't wake up.

No no no no no, this can't be happening! Zombies didn't really exist! Or did they? No! That wasn't a question, of course they didn't exist! Zombies, the undead that eat your brains out? Those were only works of fiction, at least that what I thought, but considering the scene before me, I didn't really have much of a choice but to believe the unbelievable.

The only weapon I had at the moment was my knowledge on zombies in were slow, bloodthirsty, dumb, easily killed, normally travel in hordes, and smell of rotting flesh. This didn't really help the situation, considering I was still hiding in a hospital, with only a paper nightgown on.

I found my way back to my room and collapsed on my bed in tears. How could this be happening? Where is everybody? I want to see my family! Are they safe….or dead? Or worse, infected! All these thoughts kept racing through my throbbing head as I continued to cry into the sheets of my hospital bed. I knew this wasn't going to keep me safe, or alive for that matter, and decided to do what any survivor of the Zombie Apocalypse would do: scavenge.

I went to each room, only to find them in ruins from any patient who was trying to escape. If I was lucky the room didn't have the remains of the patient and some of the items were still salvageable.

In the end I came out only with a mere ten items that I could use to possibly survive. The items consisted of a small first aid kit, a cell phone I found in a doctor's coat, some knives from the cook's private stash, an extra sweatshirt that was left in the waiting room, two bottles of pain relievers, two water bottles; cold and fresh, and a flashlight. It all seemed like pretty reasonable stuff to carry with me.

Using a small food cart, I pushed all my new found "survival," items back to my room. There I packed everything into my bag that I had brought with me to the hospital when I first came here for surgery.

FLASHBACK: ONE WEEK AGO:

"Mindt, honey, you won't even know it happened. You'll be asleep the whole time, I promise," my mother tried speaking soothing words to me as we drove in the car towards the hospital.
"Easy for you to say mom, you're not the one having surgery," I pouted, turning to stare out the window.
"But I have had it before, remember when I fell and had to have surgery done on my knee and elbow?" she recalled.
"Of course I do. How could I forget? You weren't home for a whole two weeks! And when they did release you, you had to use a walker for whole month! It was awful," I told her once again.
"Yes, I do remember that. But what you need done won't affect you physically like it did me. It's only a small incision in your above your stomach to prevent that extra bone from poking through," she explained.
"That's reassuring," I stated sarcastically.

By the end of our conversation, my mother had pulled our navy blue jeep into the hospital's parking lot. The bright red letters spelling out EMERGENCY DRIVE IN, made me shiver. I had always hated anything that had to do with hospitals or doctors, or worst of all: needles! The mere sight of needles made my blood curdle. Once it was over though I was fine and happy to receive a colorful butterfly Band-Aid and Bubblegum lollipop. The rewards never swayed my hatred for the sharp objects, but it did make things more bearable for anyone who was lucky to be around me at the time.

The sound of automatic doors swinging open snapped me back to reality, freeing my mind, for now, of those horrible hospital memories.

"Good evening ma'am, do you have an appointment?" the nurse at the front desk asked in a cheery voice.
I hated nurses who were like that: always peppy, like watching crying kids and cripple adults come and go was enjoyable to them. I knew it wasn't, to them or anyone else, but the way they hid their dislike for their job was absolutely revolting, and in a way, offensive.

"Um, yes. We're here to see Doctor Colton for my daughter's surgery this evening. The appointment was scheduled to be at 7:30," my mother answered the nurse, handing her the form Doctor C had given her the day he came to the conclusion I needed surgery.
"Of course, here you are. Just sign in on this clipboard and you can have a seat until Doctor Colton is ready," the nurse replied, pushing forward a clipboard and pen to my mother.
My mother quickly scribbled in the sheet's questions and then led me over to a small couch in the waiting room.

The room was filled with more people than I expected to see on a Monday night, each of them seeming to have a varying condition from one another. Taking a seat next to my mother on the soft, red and gold couch, I pulled out my iPod to check for any texts or game updates I had missed. To my disappointment there was nothing new to view on my small Apple product, so I slipped it back into my hoodie pocket.

Turning to the bag I had brought with me, incase I needed to stay overnight, I began to dig through its contents. All I found were some crossword puzzles, books, school work, a blank sketch book, and markers in case I felt the urge to doodle.
I chose the sketch book and took an orange marker; my favorite color, and began doodling any images that came to mind. In the end, right when my name was called by another nurse, I had finished my sketch of a New York City landscape from my point of view.

"Mindy Carters," the nurse called out to the crowd.
"Oh, right here," my mother waved to the nurse.
"Right this way ma'am," the nurse turned on her heel and began down the long hallway.

The three of us arrived after climbing three flights of stairs to get to the fourth floor, since they had a basement, and came to a stop at a large room labeled: Surgical Room 256. The nurse swung open the hinged doors and motioned for us to follow her through. She led us to a small surgical table in the middle of the room and told me to lie down and that Doctor Colton would see us shortly. With that, she quickly left to go and attend to another waiting patient.

"Do I have to have this done?" I whined like a three year old, giving my mother my best puppy-dog eyes.
"Unless you want a bone poking through your stomach, and I know you don't, yes you do have to have this surgery done, TONIGHT," my mother stated her final word, giving me one of those motherly looks telling the child they'd better listen or just hope not to wake up tomorrow.

I knew I wasn't going to get out of this situation and that it was better anyways, then having my stomach popped by an extra bone in my body. In the first place, that just sounds gross, and I'll tell you, it definitely is. Gross to the max.

Doctor Colton popped his head back into the room smiling, "Mindy, were ready to start the surgery. The others will be in shortly to begin the procedure."
Upon hearing that, I could practically hear my heart skip a beat, maybe two. All the color that had been in my face earlier was drained out, not leaving a single drop of pigment. Doctor Colton didn't even stay to make fun of my paling face and quickly left the room, leaving my mother and I alone again.

"You'll be find Min, just don't think about it and it'll be over before you know it," my mother said, snapping her fingers in a quick and happy motion.
"I'll be the judge of that, thank you very much," I replied, knowing that my sarcasm wouldn't have any real affect with my ghostly complexion and croaking voice.

Five surgeons, seemingly about in their twenties, came filing into the room, pushing trays and strapping their masks to their faces. Now I could really hear my heart skip a beat, and maybe even stop for a whole minute. They gestured for me to lay down on the table, their eyes quickly, yet thoroughly, scanning over my body, like they had x-ray vision or something.

"Okay Mindy, now we're just going to give you some medicine to help you sleep through the surgery. You won't feel a thing," one of the surgeons said in a feminine voice.
Holding up a small, but still sharp, needle, she quickly injected the medicine into me. It didn't even take a minute before I began to feel my vision blur, just like the voices around me. My limbs began to feel like they were nonexistent, but I didn't mind. As long as I wasn't going to feel myself being cut and sliced open, I was okay with whatever they did to me.

The last thing I remember, not trying to sound cliché here, was darkness...

PRESENT: HOSPITAL

It was hard to admit, but leaving this room, its tools of horror and everything, was going to be pretty hard now. It was now the only place I found safe, since every other place was, by chance, crawling with infected. This was probably-no it was-my worst nightmare come true. Even worse than the nightmare of being naked in school. Okay, maybe that was unnecessary information. Oh well.

The empty hallway, and what to think of what was just outside those automatic doors, made my stomach flip. I took my dear sweet time climbing the dark stairwell, not wanting to take a chance with the elevator, which could just possibly get stuck, and leave me to rot for the rest of my already short life. Yet, when I reached the bottom, I found that I hadn't encountered one infected person or just passed out from, well, everything.

Instead of trying to pry the automatic doors open, I just used the push doors I had come through just one, short week ago. When I peeked my head out, just to search the area out front, I found that there weren't any infected currently around the hospital. Maybe it was the fact that all the infected bodies that were here had already left to go and find other snacks made out of any survivors they could come across.

The only choice I had left was to just simply walk out and make my best attempt to survive in this hell.