"Good morning class, I'd like to introduce you to Ryan Kendrick." A strange woman wearing a toothy smile spoke as she placed her hand on my shoulder. I looked over to the class; nobody seemed too excited about my presence. I looked back to the strange woman only to be met with two piercing yellow eyes staring back at me. I stumbled backwards, away from the "Hunter", I then turned away and ran to the desks. Nobody seemed to notice that their teacher has turned into a blood thirsty creature. All of them seemed to busy day dreaming, or doodling on the desks. Before I could ponder what was going on I heard a screech orientating from the front of the class room. The Hunter began sprinting towards me knocking down desks, and students in its wake. I backed up towards the wall, only to meet nothing. Yet again I looked over my shoulder to see I wasn't in a class room anymore but a small neighborhood in the middle of the night.
What the hell is going on? I couldn't trust anything here, but where the hell was I? The neighborhood looked familiar, but I hadn't the foggiest Idea what or where it could be. I looked back to see if the Hunter was still there, but in its place stood three boys. They looked about my age, maybe a little bit older. Each of them stared at like I was meat, as they cracked their knuckles in that sort of stereotypical bully kind of way. I couldn't take all three of them by myself. While weighing the chances of making a clean escape by simply running the other way I felt a slight tug on my left hand. I looked down to see a little girl pulling down on my wrist; she looked about ten or eleven years old. She wore a pair of small jeans and a pink t-shirt reading: "Num. 1 Learner" The little girl got up onto the tips of her toes and whispered: "Run."
Without second thought I ran in the opposite direction of the three kids and followed the little girl. Somehow she ran ahead of me, continually pulling and tugging on my wrist. Looking over my shoulder I notice the three kids managed to keep up to a relatively close distance. I looked back over to the little girl and immediately noticed that she grew older, about three years. The now teenage girl wore a grin across her face as she continuously tugged on my wrist. The girl seemed to be having a great time as we ran for our lives, in front of me I could hear her laughing profusely. Struggling to piece what was happening together, a wave of pain washes over the side of my head. I felt the deformed section of my skull, wincing at the pain. I looked back at the girl and notice she changed yet again, she grew a couple of inches taller, her hair became darker and longer. I couldn't hear her laughing anymore; in fact I could hear quiet sobs emanating from the girl in front of me. Before I could realize what was happening the girl tugged on my wrist one last time causing me to stumble and fall face first into the road.
My eyes shot open to see not the street I was running on, but the hospital room. I blinked stupidly in the morning sun light. I felt a tug on my wrist, turning my neck I saw the girl lying on the hospital bed, with her hand holding mine. She stared at me with shockingly blue eyes, once she noticed that she got my attention, the girl dropped my hand and settled back in. With reluctance, I got up from my chair, bending my neck until a deep crack resound through my spine. I examined my patient's bandages; the blood soaked through most of the layers, giving me the sign that I probably should change them. I dug through the remains of the medical pack and rolled out the gauss. Along with the gauss I picked out two pain pills. The girl accepted them with no hesitation; it seems that the pills wore out over night, causing considerable pain over time, hell of a way of waking up. With only a couple a meters left I could only one layer of bandage around the slashes.
With my work done I took a step back and assessed the situation. We had no food, medical supplies, help, and I was in a patient's gown. No matter how many times I looked at the situation it lead to only one choice: I had to go scavenge supplies in this god forsaken place. I felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, that "Hunter" probably wasn't the only one; meaning I could get jumped by another, and be left out there somewhere as it's meal. Leaning back against the wall my eyes fell upon the girl lying uncomfortably in the hospital bed. If I didn't look for supplies then death would be certain. With the sinking feeling in my stomach getting worse, I walked towards the door and unlocked it. I turned around and looked at the girl. "I'm going to look for supplies, just stay here and with any luck your wounds will heal soon." I spoke in a solemn tone. She just stared at me and nodded. With that I turned the handle and walked out the door.
The hallway greeted me with the flashing of the singular light overhead. Nothing else has changed since yesterday, except for the slowly rotting corpse to the right of me. Carefully overstepping the corpse and the pool of blood emanating from it, I began walking down the hall scanning for anything that could be of use. Despite the floor being littered with random objects there was nothing I could use. I also had nothing to defend myself; this scared me more than anything. That gun the girl was carrying was empty having no reason to bring it with me. I strained my ears for the sound of shuffling feet or that horrible screech of a Hunter, but was met with nothing. This somehow unnerved me even more, the sound of dead silence felt unnatural, like railroad tracts in the middle of the forest; nevertheless I continued on. Reaching the end of the hallway I peeked around the corner wary of unwanted attention. The section looked clear; I walked around the corner and was immediately greeted with a sign that lit up my spirits. The sign shined in bright red letters reading: Emergency Exit.
I quicken my pace, stumbling over my own feet just to get to the door. Nearly sprinting towards the door like a kid running towards his bed after he turned the lights out, I grabbed the handle and opened the door, bursting into the staircase. Looking out the glass window embedded in the door; I saw nothing, absolutely nothing was chasing me, and yet my heart pounded inside my chest and in my ear drums. I looked up to see a large black sign on the wall in front of me reading: F6. Shaking myself, I began to head down the stairs. Everything was still dead silent, until I took a step down, my bare feet slapped against the cold concrete; the sound reverberated through the entire stair case and sounded no less loud than a gunshot to my ears. Freezing in place I could already hear that familiar drum beat in my ears: ba-thump ba-thump ba-thump ba-thump. I took a deep breath and began my descent; this was going to take a while.
After what seemed like hours, with the occasional panicked stop and straining of my ears for the sound of a Hunter, I finally had reached the ground floor. I reached for the door handle when I heard the sound of retching from the other side. The retching then turned into a deep belch. Despite my higher judgment I peeked through the window, immediately what I saw made my stomach turn. The bulbous figure standing next to the door had the same dead gray skin as the Hunter I accoutered before, but this creature's face was covered in large boils. Its stomach was large and bloated, there were boils growing on there too but it didn't seem like they were growing on the creature's skin but through it. Its arms were bloated and covered in boils, at the ends of its fingertips grew claws, not as long as the Hunter's but long enough to cause damage. It began retching again, vomiting up a small pool of bile before bumbling somewhere else. Soon after I could hear growling and three people came running up towards the pool of bile. They sniffed at it turning around to see if anybody was around. I ducked beneath the window before they could spot me. I sat there piecing together what I just saw, so not only were there Hunters; there were bloated fat people who's vomit attracted what seems to be regular kinds of creatures. Though what the hell happened? I couldn't remember my life before waking up but I knew it wasn't like this obviously. What seemed to be going on was that mostly everybody here underwent some sort of mutation or infection.
I sat there waiting for the infected trio to wander off, but it seemed that they weren't going anywhere anytime soon. I could still hear the growls of the wanderers through the door; I began thinking of a different route I could take when I heard the sound of gunshots in the distance, it seemed that the infected noticed the gunshot shots too because I could hear the sound of shoes against tile and the growling grew ever more distant. Standing back up I looked through the window, the coast was clear. I turned the handle and opened the door. I stuck my head out and looked towards both ends of the hallway before walking out.
I scrambled over to the front desk, trying my best not to be seen. The front hall was brightly lit from the sunlight shining through the windows. I climbed over the front desk and began searching for anything I could use. Everything as expected was a mess, but as I sifted through piles of paper work scattered about the place I found a duffle bag stuffed inside a drawer. I wasn't one to question why there were empty duffle bags in the front desks of hospitals, I just thanked my luck. Besides the duffle bag I wasn't able to find anything that would be of any use, causing me to head back deeper into the bowls of this god forsaken hospital.
The hallway in front of me was rowed with doors; I walked down my eyes darting to each door looking for where my best chance for finding what I needed. My eyes fell upon a door labeled with bold letters: Janitor. Excitement built up in my chest as I opened the door and slipped through in a moment's notice. Chills ran through my spine as the familiar feeling of complete darkness surrounding me, I hated this feeling with a passion, darkness held secrets, and from here on out secrets meant death. I ran my hand along the wall feeling for a light switch, a feeling of relief washed over me as I felt the nub of the switch and flipped it. The singular light bulb sparked into life, illuminating the room before me. The janitor's closet was stuffed with random pieces of junk and cleaning supplies, with a lonely locked pushed into the corner. I navigated through the piles of junk to get to the locker and open the door. With the condition of the rest of the room I was surprised to see that the inside of the locker was neat and tidy. In the lower section of the locker a row of dark blue jumpsuits hung from the mid section. In the upper compartment stored a flash light, a couple of replacement batteries, a ring of keys, and something every good custodian should have; especially in a place as big as this hospital. "A map" I said as I unfolded the piece of paper. Feeling a mixture of relief and pride, I began making my through the trash when I knocked over a bottle of cleaning fluid spilling it over the floor. "Shit" I spoke quietly to myself, as I kicked the bottle away, clattering to the locker, as I watched the bottle roll under locker, I noticed something. I knelt down and picked up a leather covered book. A string kept the book tied shut; I began untying the knot when I heard the familiar growls of the infected in the distance.
"Time to go" I thought to myself.
Using the map, I could see the layout of the entire hospital telling me exactly where I needed to go and find supplies. I walked the hallway, feeling slightly better with a torch in one hand while a map and a duffle bag in the other. While still having no weapon, I could always cave in the head of my attacker with the torch. The hall grew darker the deeper I went into the hospital; I switched on my flashlight and checked the map again. The map marked the "Medical Supplies" room around the corner to the left. I turned corner flashing my light down the walls, looking for the doors. I could hear growls of the infected as they echoed throughout the halls; this time it was closer, much closer. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, I had to get out of there and quick. I began running down the hallway repeatedly looking at my map and checking the walls for the doors. The growling and screeching became louder and more frequent.
They knew I was here.
I began sprinting down the hall; I didn't even bother checking the map anymore. I ran down the hall looking for anything I could hide in. Then there it was, like a beacon of light, two doors right next to the sign reading: Medical Supplies. I bolted to the double doors, and tried the handle; locked. "Shit, come on." I looked back at the map, and right by the doors, small penciled in words read: key needed. I immediately unzipped the duffle bag and pulled out the ring of keys. Looking back at the map, I noticed nothing else was written by the door.
"Goddamn, no specific key?" I thought to myself. I immediately was trying keys in the lock.
Key one couldn't fit, key two wouldn't turn. The screeches emanated from the hallway around the corner, growls and retches soon echoed throughout as well. I fitted key number three into the lock; it began to turn but got stuck. "Come on, you son of a bitch, turn." I yelled at it. Wiggling the key back and forth in the lock, I looked to both ends of the hallway, I couldn't see anything yet but judging from the echoes they weren't far back. I turned my attention back to the key; I added more force as the key slightly turned in the lock. "COME ON, WORK!" I screamed at the lock, and as if on cue the key turned,opening the door. I pulled out the key and rushed inside, closing the door and turning the lock back.
I leaned against the wall and slid to the floor, breathing a sigh of relief. My heart beat in my ears as beads of sweat slid down and onto my face. It wasn't until my heart rate regulated did I notice the sobs echoing throughout the room. I grabbed my flashlight and pointed it towards the end of the room; nothing was there except shelves of medical supplies that split of into a T-section. The sobs grew louder, coming from the right turn of the room. I got back up onto my feet and began walking towards the sobs.
"A survivor, but how did they get in here?" I thought to myself. "Hello? Are you ok?" I called out. No response. "It's ok, I'm a friend." I continued. This time the sobbing stopped, I shine my flashlight down each aisle as I walked by looking for this survivor. I had reached the wall and turned to the last aisle pointing my flashlight down the aisle on the curled huddled mass of a person. "Hello?"
AN: I apologize for being a week late on this chapter; I only had small periods of time on the weekend and throughout the week to work on this so forgive me. Hopefully I can stick to my schedule and finish a chapter every weekend or so. So anyway see you next week and happy Labor Day.