Ahead of him in the jet black night, Matt saw a small ball of orange light appear. Raising his pace, he tried to make out what it was.
As he got closer, he saw it moving. Or, more accurately, flickering. Like fire.
Matt finally got close enough to tell what it was. He was right, the light was fire.
But, he didn't expect it to be burning several people slowly limping around the intersection.
Well, hey. At least he had found Main Street.
One of the people turned towards Matt. Which he didn't really enjoy much, as Matt had felt nauseous enough today.
The man had scratches running all over his face, and over one eye. These scratches were now blistered and black, most likely because the man's shirt was on fire. His eyes were clouded. He moaned loudly, and turned towards Matt, who was frozen in fear.
The rest of the people noticed Matt, and shuffled towards him. All of them had injuries like the first, but some were scarred worse than others.
Matt shivered. The people shuffled closer.
As he did back in the apartment, Matt said, "No." and looked for a way to go around them. The fear in him was replaced by a sort of adrenaline, and he quickly ran to the left. The burning people turned in his direction, but they were much too slow.
The whole street was illuminated with various burning objects, mostly cars. Risking a look behind him, Matt saw the people still trying to get to him, and realizing that they were just like his mother- looking dead and still moving.
Matt bit back the tears this time, and kept moving. Illuminated by fire, he could make out the Umbrella Company insignia above the hospital doors. He sprinted away from the burning men, and swerved around wrecked cars, trying to make his way to the hospital.
He stopped suddenly when he reached the hospital courtyard leading to the entrance. Lying down all around the pathway were corpses of all sizes. Men, women, and children lay lifelessly in puddles of blood. The gold paint of the front doors was no longer visible under the splatters of blood, but a clean gold key was set in the lock.
It was obvious to Matt that the hospital wouldn't be sending an ambulance anytime soon.
"What happened here?" he asked no one in particular.
As if in answer to his question, something growled from behind him. Turning around in shock, Matt saw that some of the men had caught up to him. Another moan sounded from behind him. Whirling around, he saw that burning people from the other end of the street had come to tango.
Adrenaline pumping again, Matt turned to the dead bodies still on the ground. He bolted for the hospital doors, stepping on a corpse's hand, and running over the torso of another. Matt jiggled the handle as soon as he got within reach of the doors. But no luck.
Something too close to Matt for comfort let out a tired moan, and in the corner of his eye he saw one of the bodies struggle to get up. Not allowing himself to think about that, he rammed his shoulder into the heavy doors. They didn't budge, as a skinny fifteen year old boy wasn't exactly a metaphorical ox. Seeing the key, he hurriedly turned it. He tried the doors again, but to no avail.
More corpses rose, and stumbled towards Matt. Turning the key the other way, he heard a small click. He pushed open the door, and fell through it. The heavy door slammed against a man who had just tried to fall on him. Dramatic, Matt thought.
He took a second to breathe, and then realized that the door was unlocked. Bolting upright, he turned the lock on the door, vaguely thinking that a lock on a hospital was an idiotic idea. The silver lock did look out of place on the gold doors, and the screws didn't look as tight as they could have been…
Matt didn't get to finish his thought, as he turned around and screamed.