AM13 Outbreak Shorts

Outbreak - Twenty

I wake.

How long have I been asleep? What's going on? I blink my eyes a few times, trying to strain against the brightness of the white light surrounding me, but it's hard. There's an intense aching in my head, in my arms too, it feels like something terribly dramatic has happened to me, but I'm not quite sure what.

I stir.

As my vision slowly starts to return to me, allowing me to see that nothing but whiteness is around me, I try to move, but there's something weighing down on me. Either that or I'm so stiff that I can't get up.

"He...hello?" I stammer, far too quietly for anyone to really hear me. A strange fear has clamped down on my voice box, making it incredibly challenging to talk.

My brain reels, trying to recall the last thing that happened to me. Maybe if I can remember that, everything else will be a lot clearer in my head. Flickers of odd things come up, but nothing that can truly help me; packing up boxes, moving house, the beach, the school...but none of the images stay in my head for long enough to mean anything...

I flicker my eyes open once more, shaking as I realize that I must've accidently fallen back to sleep again. Exhaustion must be rife inside of me for me to sleep in a place I'm totally unsure of.

Everything is different.

This time I can hear noises coming from everywhere around me; screams, growls, yelling. It's enough to make me want to join in with the racket myself. I try to push myself upright, but it quickly becomes apparent to me that the reason I can't move has nothing to do with my stiff limbs. I'm pinned down by something else entirely.

I shift my eyes down, straining my neck as much as I can manage, and while I can't see much, I do notice a black strap across my chest, fixing me in place. That sight creates a massive golf ball in my throat, blocking my airwaves, leaving me barely able to breathe at all. I gasp loudly and desperately, trying to fill up my lungs, but they continue to empty, more and more with each passing second.

I slowly struggle to move my head to the left, then the right, and what I witness shatters my heart painfully in my chest. I'm not alone strapped to this bed, there are hundreds of people around me; some screaming, some silent and terrified, some in the full throes of infection, thrashing and growling violently, frustrated by their restraints. It's like a nightmare, one that I cannot wake up from.

"What...what is this place?" I mutter to myself. "Where am I?"

A specialist medical facility.

I don't want to think those words, but it's the only thing that makes sense. This is what my dad wanted to avoid, what my mom wanted to keep him away from, and now I can understand why. This is hell...and I'm stuck here. Whatever I thought it would be like in my mind, it's a million times worse.

"Help me!" I yell, twisting my neck once more to see another petrified face looking back at me. "Help, this isn't right, I'm not infected..."

My words trail off as I remember something else. Zac, staring at me, slowly losing himself o the virus. I watched that happen to him, I saw it, and now...well, maybe now I am infected. Would I know if I was? Would there be any way for me to tell?

"Help," I continue to whimper, regardless. "Please, someone."

As I turn to the other side, I see a girl who hasn't been human for a while now. A girl who's snarling and snapping, drooling blood, her face falling apart from the massive hole in her cheek revealing the majority of her teeth.

Finally I can hear footsteps walking around the room, which must mean that someone who's fully alive and there for me to talk to is here. I try not to lose myself in the excitement at the opportunity of an escape, the fear that I can't get it finished sooner, and the dreaded anticipation as I wait, but it's hard. Almost impossible.

"Ah!" I can hear the person now, the shoes are clipping behind my head. My heart hammers in my chest as I painfully turn myself around. There I see a very pretty-looking nurse, with stress etched all over her features. "Hello, you, please help me. I need help," I bumble over my words, I can barely get them out. "I'm not infected, I don't know why I was brought here. I think I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, that's all..."

My words fall apart on my lips when I see her pull a jagged knife out from her pocket. She presses it to the boy's throat next to me, seemingly ignoring the fact that he's showing no obvious signs of the disease, and before I can even begin to react she drags the knife along his throat, causing blood to spurt out everywhere.

Time stops, yet rushes past me at the same time. Shock has rendered me absolutely useless, I don't even feel like I'm on the planet.

No, I think desperately in my mind. No, not me, I'm not infected, I don't want to die! Yet somehow, I can't get the words out however hard I try.

The nurse steps over to me, her expression one of cold calculation. The knife is high above her head, and she's coming at me with it. I need to speak now before I lose my life.

"Th...this is a mistake," I finally manage to pant. "This is a mistake, it is."

"Yep," she replied, barely meeting my eyes. "It always is."

If this were a horror film, this would be the moment the camera pans away as I'm screaming...