28 DAYS LATER
Tony woke up with a sharp in-take of breath. The first things he saw were blurred, his eyes having not focused just yet. When they did focus, he looked around him. Tony was in a closed off hospital ward and in front of him, his left leg was held up in a cast, it must have been broken but when did he get here? Why was he here? Where was he?
The front of the car knocked right into him, vaulting him into the air and onto the bonnet of the car with a howl of pain.
Tony instantly realised he had been knocked down, so his leg must have been broken when the car hit him and that he must be in a hospital. Slowly looking around again he noticed all sorts of hospital equipment around him, bags of fluid, electrical heart monitors and the like, but they seemed to be off, maybe the power was out. Tony then, to his complete surprise, that he was lying on this hospital bed naked. How could anyone just leave him here naked? Tony was determined to find out who had and aptly punish them for it. Tony rose himself into a sitting position and slowly removed the cast on his leg, noticing his leg was healed. He then moved round so his feet touched the floor, he went to stand up but hospital equipment fell down since it was attached to his arms and chest. He slowly peeled the wires off of his body and faced forward. His fringe tumbled down past his chin; he would definitely need a haircut when he got out of the hospital. Tony looked at the desk on his left and noticed cards; obviously get well cards for him, how long had he been out? He wondered. Tony picked up one of the cards, it read;
Dear Tony,
I'm horrified to see you in this coma; the doctors are saying you may not pull through. Please, please get well for me. Love you loads, Sarah xx.
Tony smiled, imagining how Sarah would react when she saw him awake. However, as the thought went through his head, he noticed something he hadn't before, there was silence around him. Tony looked at the double doors, looking through the glass he saw nobody. Looking straight ahead of him he saw his clothes laying on a chair, so he slowly stood up, getting used to walking again and slowly got dressed. Once he was dressed he found some bandages in the room and wrapped them round the cuts he had received from the wires. Tony walked to the door and tried to open it but it was locked, which he found odd. However, at his feet was a key, so, he picked it up and gave it a try and the door unlocked. Tony slowly opened the door, trying not to disturb the eerie silence of the hospital. Thankfully the door didn't make a sound and the only noise was the echo of his footsteps on the marble floor. He called out into the silence, hoping to receive an answer, any answer but he had no such luck. Walking down the yellow coloured hallway he soon came to a flight of stairs, heading down into reception, deciding to go looking for anyone, Tony walked down the stairs. A great fear of loneliness was creeping into his mind but he didn't dwell on it. When he reached the bottom the reception was in ruin. There were stains all over the floor, pay phones left hanging off the walls, overturned chairs and tables spread over the place. There were all sorts of sheets of paper scattered on the floor. Walking through reception Tony came across some vending machines, noticing his thirst he looked for any water but couldn't find any in the vending machines or on the floor around them where cans of Pepsi and Tango were strewn all over the place. So, he walked across reception and into the cafeteria in the next room. In here it was even worse, not a single chair or table was like you would expect it to be, there was rotting food lying on the floor, smashed cups and plates all over the place. Tony walked around the destruction that lay before him and went behind the counter of the cafeteria. It was even worse here, all the food had gone off and the smell was horrible. Tony tried his best to ignore it and opened the fridge, he found water but when he touched it, it was as cool as the air around him, there wasn't any electricity so the fridge wasn't working. At this point of time however, Tony didn't care, he opened the bottle and downed the whole bottle of water in one swig. He was so thirsty he took another bottle and did the same. After that he looked down to the ground and found a knife with a six-inch blade. Due to how quiet it was he picked it up and found the sheath it was kept in when it wasn't in use. He slotted the knife carefully into the sheath and tied the sheath to his belt with a piece of string that was on the counter. Tony walked out of the cafeteria, making sure he didn't stand on anything nasty as he walked. Once in reception again, Tony checked one of the pay phones, pushing the button on the phone holder and holding the phone to his ear he listened for anything, particularly the all too familiar monotone that would ring out of the phone but there wasn't any. The phones must have been out too. Tony cursed under his breath and walked towards the main door, if he was going to find out what had happened to everyone, he would have to go outside into the streets. Luckily for him it was only mid-day so it was easy to see and it wasn't cold outside. Opening the door Tony was shocked when he looked around him in the street. There was no sign of life, not one light on, not one car engine on, no sound except the mid-day birds as the sang to the empty and lonely streets. It was an unnerving and eerie silence that floated around him, there was no noise that he would expect to hear, cars engines, horns, bikes, kids playing, nothing! It was as if life had never existed in the first place. Someone had to be here, he thought, someone must be around. Tony's thoughts moved to Sarah, she always helped out at the local church, despite not believing in God she was always welcomed to help. So, Tony decided he'd start there, only problem was, it was going to be a very long and lonely walk to the church. Tony, knowing his bearings, walked down the long main road that ran down most of the city. It always felt like a long walk, but this was going to be ten times worse. Tony trekked down the road, looking in empty shop windows, parked or broken down cars abandoned in the middle of the road. Bags and paper littering the ground along with other everyday items. It was so silent, even the birds had deserted him in this silent city. About halfway down the main road Tony came across empty bullet shells lying on the pavement. As he examined them he noticed there was also dried blood all over them and around them on the ground. Tony's eyes continued looking to the right until they fixed on a 9mm handgun, another item abandoned. Fear slowly crept it's way to the front of Tony's mind. What the hell happened that would require someone to need and fire a gun and then drop it? This fear forced Tony to do something he vowed never to do; he picked up the gun and shoved it in his pocket. He didn't know what was going on but he felt he needed extra protection. Tony rose to his feet and continued on down the road, listening for the slightest sound of anyone or anything coming his way, his right hand in his pocket, constantly holding the gun. When Tony reached the bottom of the road and found the city's square, he was awestruck; everywhere there were flowers and pictures, cards, toys, candles, everything on the square. He slowly walked round, reading them. They were about people who had disappeared and were missing, others that were thought dead and others that were dead. Tony looked for his friends amongst the hundreds of tributes but couldn't find them. He did find people he knew and grimaced at knowing that whatever has happened here they fell victim to. Tony shook his head in pain and moved away from the square, he had to get to the church and find Sarah, he was not a believer in God but he prayed she was okay, both her and Mark. As he walked on he discovered the corpse of a fox, it looked as if it had just died, no external cause of death that Tony could see, so he left the corpse in peace and walked on. He rubbed his eyes; he was strangely tired even after waking up after God knows how long. As Tony walked and walked, he came across a McDonald's supply lorry, the ingredients scattered around the lorry on the road, and the boxes inside the lorry were all ripped open. Tony continued on his legs were aching with all the walking but he had to get to the church, his sheer determination to see Sarah was the only thing driving him forward.
Tony finally arrived at the church, the church was a large stone building with the colours of grey and brown decorating it, it's spire rising high above the large front doors. He opened the large wooden doors to the church; they made an agonizingly loud creek as they opened on their rusting hinges. Tony slowly walked into the church, he tried the door to the main hall but something was blocking it so he walked up the stairs instead. On the wall next to the stairs there was a large splattering of blood but it was dry so Tony ignored it. Tony slowly walked up to the top of the stairs so now he was on the balcony that overlooked the main hall. Instantly he realised why he couldn't open the door. There were bodies littering the main hall, amongst them there was two men scraping at the door, trying to open it. They looked dirty and were covered in blood but hadn't noticed him yet. Tony decided to try his luck. "Hello!" He called to them.
They spun round with great speed to look up at him; their faces were blood red, just like their eyes and they looked furious. Tony was about to say something else when the door to his far left at the end of the hallway burst open. The priest burst out of it, staring at him, panting like a dog with rabies, his eyes were red and his hair was a mess, his priest suit was covered in blood.
"Father?" Tony asked nervously, something wasn't right. "Do you know where Sarah is?"
The priest was making strange sounds, his arms flailing in odd directions with the sounds as he began walking towards Tony at a threatening pace.
"Is everything alright?" Tony asked, he had the distinct impression the priest wanted to harm him. "Don't come any closer"
The priest continued at the same pace, so Tony pulled out the gun.
"Any further and I blow your knees out!" Tony shouted at him threateningly.
However, the priest continued to charge towards him so Tony pulled the trigger only to hear a click.
"Fuck!" Tony cursed loudly, that's why the gun had been left on the ground.
Tony thought about his mistake but was quickly brought back to reality when the priest had closed the distance between them, so, out of pure instinct, Tony kicked the priest across the face, knocking him to the floor. The priest started to quickly crawl towards him. Tony looked down into the main hall and noticed the two men had vanished, he wondered where they were until he saw their shadows approaching the door the priest had erupted out of.
Tony cursed again and ran for it, running as fast as he could back to the stairs, practically jumping down them and sliding down the banister to get some kind of gap between him and the three men who were now running after him. When Tony reached the bottom he charged out of the front doors, slamming one behind him to gain any kind of advantage he possibly could against these drug-crazed lunatics. Tony ran out into the main street, running as fast as his legs could carry him, knowing the men were only a few yards behind him and closing in. He would stay and fight but there were three of him and only one of him so he didn't have much of a chance of coming out of a confrontation unharmed. As Tony ran as fast as he could and slightly faster the men were closing in on him, Tony knew it was only a matter of time before they caught up with him and he didn't dare think of what would happen then. One of the men was about to pounce on Tony so Tony spun round and was about to hit the man with his knife when a gun shot suddenly rang out and the crazed man's head blew open in a torrent of blood. "This way!!" A gruff voice called from behind Tony, without a second's hesitation Tony spun back round and ran towards the sound of the voice, he noticed a man holding a revolver. The man wore a red and white chequered shirt, blue jeans, brown work boots and a brown belt. The top button of his top was unbuttoned. He had short brown hair that reminded Tony of Pierce Brosnan. As Tony ran past the man the man called out to him; "Second shop on the left!" and shot down the other two men before running with Tony back to where the man stayed. The man ran ahead of Tony, opening the shop door and pushing Tony inside before rushing in himself, closing the door himself and pulling down the metal gate. Tony stared at the man who in turn stared back.
"Okay, I've got one, very important question." Tony stated. "What the fuck is going on?"
The man smiled at him, the type of smile you give to an ignorant child. "Take a seat," He said in his gruff voice. "I've got some bad news."
That was a bastard to write but it's up. Not as long as I had hoped but a good start to the story I think. R/R