Carmen's finger twitches as she scowls at the wall across from her. She didn't know how long she has been here but someone had told her, not including the year she was in a coma, that she had been here for about two months now.

Dammit she was bored. How the hell was she supposed to occupy her time when there was nothing to do and she was confined to the hospital wing of the base? She got that it was the end of the world and there was no cable and all, but couldn't someone have grabbed a movie? Seriously she could go for a cheesy 70's show or even a b rated horror movie right now. Anything to get rid of this boredom!

What was worse was the fact that they weren't even letting her outside and she had no windows.

Reaching over she repeatedly pressed the nurses button. She was hoping for Dr. Ratchet every time she pushed the red button, but each time a nurse was always the one to come in. It was only a minute later of constant button pushing did someone finally come in.

"What can I do for you?" The nurse asks as he turns the call button off. The nurses were great at hiding their annoyance toward her, but no matter how hard they try she could still see it.

"Can I go see my brother?" Carmen asks as the nurse goes about cleaning her small mess.

He sighs, finishing up. "You know Dr. Ratchet doesn't want you outside the ward until he knows you're back up at one-hundred percent. I can call for your brother to come down here if you would like."

Carmen slumps with a whine. "When am I going to be allowed out? There's nothing to do around here!"

"I know, hopefully the doctor will clear you soon. I'll go call your brother." With that he left, closing the door behind him.

Carmen began dozing off when Walter finally arrived, waking up when the door clicked shut.

"Key kiddo," he ruffled her hair with a smile and sat down. She slapped his hand away with a scowl.

"When am I getting out of here?" She asks as she sits up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

Walter leaned back. "You know why, not until you're better."

"That's b.s. Walter, I feel fine. I can move around just fine and I haven't had a nightmare in weeks. Is this because it's the apocalypse? What kind even is it? Why isn't anyone telling me what's going on?!" She shouted with fists clenched. "And why won't anyone let me see Lydia? She must be worried sick about me!"

Walter waved his hands at her. "Calm down, Carmen." He sighed and rubbed a hand through his hair. "We're just trying to keep you safe."

"Keeping me safe would mean telling me what's going on so I can be prepared if anything happens! You always told me to have an exit strategy if something goes wrong, but how can I when I have no clue as to what's going on?"

"I know... I haven't said anything because of orders."

"Orders? So your orders are more important then you family?"

"It's not that! I only went along with them because it was keeping you safe!" He shouts, stopping any more argument from her. "You're one of the few civilians still alive on base and we want to keep it that way. Look, do you remember that drug, Rock Salts?"

"How could I forget it's what did this to me?" she says with an eye roll.

"Well Ratchet did some research and found that the drug removes what makes people, well people, leaving only the basic instincts and a few other things. To put it simply, it created zombies."

"Zombies? Walt, zombies aren't real except in movies. Now tell me what's really going on. It's the Biblical one isn't it?"

"No, Carmen. It's the zombie apocalypse."

"Fine, let's just pretend it is. So what of it?"

Walter sighs and leans forward, placing his elbows on his knees and lacing his fingers together. "Well, Lydia inhaled the drug, same as you, and was in a coma till a few months ago when she... When she turned into one. And mom..." His head fell. "We got to base when we were swarmed by them. A lot of people, both soldiers and citizens, didn't make it..." His shoulders begin to shake from trying to contain his tears. "Mom was one of them..."

Carmen sat in silence, mind working overtime trying to make sense of what she was just told. Standing up she began pacing the length of the room.

This obviously was a prank. Walter was always pulling them on her so why was now any different?

Or perhaps she was actually sleeping right now and this was just another nightmare? It was possible. She could never escape them no matter what the Doc gave her to keep them away.

No. This wasn't a nightmare. The monsters usually would have come out by now. Or perhaps these zombies were the monsters of this new nightmare? It was possible, but then they would have been breaking down the door and attacking by now.

She stops her pacing to grab her head and shook. None of this was making any sense! She knew she was fighting off the drug, her nightmares were the proof of that, but this was way out of the norm of the horrors her mind concocts. Never has any been about her family or friends dying. All the nightmares had been of her getting attacked. Not her mom, brother, not Lydia. On top of that none of them ever turned into the monsters.

A giggle bubbled up from her chest. That's it. She was just in a new nightmare. That had to be it. What else could explain everything that's going on? But... What if it actually did happen and he's telling the truth? Walter has never lied to her, not about something like this.

Walter watched his sister with worry as a crazed look came into her eyes accompanied by a small laugh. Even though he wanted to help her, there was nothing he could do. Not when she started getting like this. He could only watch her and make sure she didn't hurt herself.

Carmen's arms fell to her sides, limp. Her head bows till her hair covers her features. "It's true, isn't it?"

"Yeah..."

"Please go."

He stands silently and turns to leave, pausing with his hand on the door knob.

"Carmen," he spoke up, gaining his sister's attention. "Don't shut everyone out like you did with dad." The door clicked shut behind him.

The room falls into silence only for it to be broken by the sound of a shattering vase and a shout. She grabbed the table the vase sat upon and threw it into the off-white wall, putting a hole in the plaster. With some effort she flipped the bed spilling the mattress and blankets onto the floor. Not finding anything else to take her anger out on Carmen punches the wall, not stopping as the skin on her knuckles split and bleed. Not stopping until soldiers grab her arms and hold her down as she screams and kicks. She doesn't stop until she feels a prick in the crook of her arm and unconsciousness takes her.

Those lights were there again. But something was off with them. They were flashing, almost frantically, as they rushed about making those clicking sounds again.

What was going on?

One of them moved closer, this one beating faster then the rest. She couldn't explain why, but she just knew it was scared.

Why was it scared?

Without thinking about what she was doing she reaches forward and brushes her fingertips against the red orb. Almost instantly it calmed down. She felt a smile form when it moved closer to her hand till it was resting in her palm. Her other hand came up to cup the orb.

She wasn't sure why, but she just knew that this orb was more important than the rest.

Short, I know, but it was a good place to stop at.

Thank you for your time and I hope you enjoyed the story so far! I hope to see you all in the next chapter! Don't forget to favorite/follow and comment.