Surprise! Two chapters in one day woot. So here is the story that has been sitting on my computer for a while now. I just could not stop writing it so I had to get it out there. It's a little dark so be warned. Also I don't have a beta reader, so if your interested please let me know!

Darkness

In the darkness they came for her, grasping fingers, hollow eyes. Hungry hands and mouths, seeking her flesh and always finding it. She always fought them, always. Not to fight was to die, and she wasn't ready to die. The scene was always the same, she was always running. She was always in the woods the world seemed to be mad of woods. Voices in the darkness called to her as she ran with promises of safety, but she never stopped.

In the end it never mattered how far she thought she was getting, they would catch her. This must be hell, she thought when she felt the hot breath on her face. This was the compilation of all of her sins, everything she had done to survive this world had created this for her. Fingers dug into her arms faceless shapes holding her still, she twisted, kicked, pitched her body upwards trying to be free. Always fight, she told herself, always.

"Daryl hold her down!" Wait that was different, they never had names before. "I can't get the IV in if she isn't still." They were never women before; this was a woman's voice. Pandora struggled more, eyes opening seeing nothing but bright blinding lights. Her hell was changing, she thought. The faces of the women she failed to save swam in her vision. They screamed and wailed, mouths filling with blood. She screamed the sound like fire burning inside her, You should have fought harder! She screamed at them trying to free herself from her grasp.

Then a pinprick right in her arm, and everything went still. The faces melted away, their voices dying in the darkness. Ice rushed into her veins, freezing them making it impossible to even lift her fingers. As her vision cleared a face swam there, long dark hair, bright blue eyes. He looked down at her, almost worried? Frightened?
Her mouth opened, but no sound came out.
"Sleep now," She heard him say. "Just sleep."

Her mouth opened a closed again, like a fish on land gasping. Pandora wanted to scream at them that she couldn't sleep, not now they were always waiting there in the darkness. It was too late, the man's face faded as the icy water pulling her under, sending her stumbling back into the darkness.

The next time she woke up it was slow her mind waking up piece by piece. Out of old habits, she tensed and released each muscle and old gymnast habit. She opened her eyes now, slowly remembering the bright burning lights. For the first few moments after she opened her eyes she just lay there. Be still, she told herself, be still. In the stillness, she heard her own breathing, slightly erratic little gasps of air. Something else, another breath, this one long deep. Sleeping, someone was sleeping here. Here, where was here she dimly wondered.

Slowly she tried to lift her arms, nothing happened, but something tightened against her wrists. Panic flared for a moment, and she let it come up like a wave crashing over her but like the tide, she waited for it to recede. Her feet were the next thing she tried to move, again nothing just the feeling of being held. Tied, she was tied down. Wiggling her body, she felt the surface under her strong and soft. a bed, she realized with a small content sigh, god how long had it been since she was in a bed.

An image of the apartment building flashed in her mind, the mattresses on the floor in the sleeping room. In a moment she was there again, flipping through the pictures found in the now empty apartments laughing with Lilly. Her heart gave a tight painful squeeze at the memory. Go away, she willed the image, this was not a time for that.
What is this, she thought suddenly when the memory had passed. This is how she will die. Pandora was bound again it must be in a forest, she couldn't hear it now but this was how they left everyone else why would she be different. Her mind was tricking her she decided, trying to ease the way into death. That was fine, she would rather just float away into memory.

"Hey, " She jumped head whipping to the side. The calm acceptance of her death shattered.

There he was again, the man with the blue eyes watching her. "We ain't gonna hurt you." He said hands raised in the air. He didn't move from his chair, but his eyes stayed fixed on her. "I found ya out there, in the woods, I brought ya here." Again he stopped watching her, but she didn't speak only stared large brown eyes flicking nervously. "You've safe here, we have walls to keep the dead ones out, we tied you down cause you tried to hurt yourself, tried to hurt us."

She didn't remember that she didn't remember seeing anyone else. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out, only a strangled sob. Tears streamed down her face, it must be a trick, there was no such thing as safe anything the world was over. Chest tightening, she gasped, sucking in air. It never seemed like enough. Panic flared, the old friend. It kept her alive before it would now, she knew it. Still struggling to breathe she pulled at her arms, feeling the material rubbing her skin raw. She tried to keep pulling, but the tightness in her chest continued. The edges of her vision started to blur, choked sobs broke free.

This was worse then the memories she decided in her panic, this trick, this was cruel. Let me die, she wanted to scream. She was finished now, tired her minds tricks ready just to sleep, sleep forever.

Her head turned to him, who would become when the real world came back into view. He never changed though only his eyes panic flickered in them, he jumped up opening the door and sticking his head outside. "Denise!" He screamed. The sound rocked her ears, making her close her eyes. Fake, fake, fake she scolded herself. This dream was worse, she preferred the ones where she was running she knew how they ended.

There was a woman in the room now, she touched her hand. "Shhh, shhh" She cooed at her like she was a child crying. "She's having a panic attack," The women said over her shoulder. The man was there behind them, a small light on behind him outlining his shape. The women was looking at her again. "It's ok. I promise it's ok."

It was too much, too much noise to much light, too much information. Pandora was slipping away again back into darkness, where she felt safe, where she knew she world she was heading into. The woman touched her arm, her fingers warm on her cold skin. Blinking she turned her head to the side, the women was there the light bounced off the needle in her hand. That was the last thing she remembered before she blacked out again.