Blood and Sweat
The air was musty and smelled of pure death. George slowly opened his eyes. He was confused and awakened to pure silence. He didn’t dare move out of his bed. A single sliver of glistening moonlight found its way into the presumed windowless room. He feared the dark like a young child. He laid under the sheets and was absolutely still - like a dead body. The clock had stopped and the lights were nonexistent. George began clicking his nurse button frantically. His worries multiplied. There wasn’t a single sound outside his room. He pushed the sheets off and slipped his feet down. The room was freezing. With nothing but a hospital gown to cover himself, his whole body shuddered and shivered. His feet were bare and cold as well. He wobbled into the bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror. The man he saw in the reflection was unrecognizable. He had a full, thick, brown beard. His face was pale. His hair was long and scruffy. His body was skinny. His eyes were the same vibrant blue as they had always been, but this time, his eyes stared back like a sad puppy staring at their departing owner. He moved over to the sink and turned the hot water knob, expecting a flow of water. His dry hands were met with nothing. He drew his hands back in surprise and cautiously walked back to his cot. He sat on the cot and surveyed the room. The sliver of moonlight from before had revealed something odd about the room. He crawled across his bed to the moonlit nightstand and put his head right up close to the surface. He touched his finger to the surface and dragged it to the end of the table. He continued by lifting up his finger and inspecting it. A thick layer of dust coated the tip of his finger. The wheels in his head began to grind and he thought of how long he may have been in the lonely room. He tried reaching back into his memories to figure out the reason he was in the hospital, but he couldn’t grasp the faint memory. Anxiety and worry quickly set in to George. With his patience for something - or someone - to come for him, diminished, he decided that staying where he was wouldn’t solve his problem. He slipped off his bed once again and approached the heavy wooden door. He took a deep breath and opened it. His head popped out of the doorway and swiveled back and forth. The long hallway was barren. It was a terrible mess. It looked as if a herd of bulls had a stampede through the length of it. A single broken light flickered at the end of the hall. Glass and other debris lined the hallway. Carts laid on their sides and most of the contents was spread around. The hallway was the front line of a war. George’s eyes were wide and he was in disbelief from the destruction. As George pushed the door open, it creaked, making a painfully loud and disturbing sound. He was soon in the middle of the hall and totally alone. He called out, “Anybody there?” There was silence. He once again looked up and down the empty hallway. With George’s first step, the single flickering light extinguished, leaving a totality of darkness. George froze in his footsteps. He was filled with fear. He kept walking forward with not much vision for what was in front of him. He put one foot in front of the other and was making some ground. Suddenly his foot landed on something much too soft to be the floor. With perfect timing, a strike of lightning shone through the windows and lit the object up. The presumed object was a human. The thing that looked like it was once a man was ripped apart and lying in a bloody puddle. It was a mess. The scene looked like a gruesome murder. George puts his hand to his mouth and his jaw dropped. The color from his face drained. He was in total disbelief. It was dark again. George proceeded on moving down the desolate hallway. As he neared the end, he heard a medicine bottle fall and spill it’s contents at least 15 feet away from him. He froze and stared into the darkness that laid in front of him. The light that was once lit, flickered again and buzzed on. The flickering light revealed another man’s silhouette at the end of the hall. George walked faster and faster towards the presumed man; his eyes watering. He traveled closer and closer until he was less than 4 feet from the man. The light continued to flicker but it was violent now and faster, like a beating heart when fear strikes someone. The mystery man’s back was turned towards George. George reached out and placed his sweaty, shaking hand on the man’s shoulder. He thankfully stated, “Hey, I thought I was the only one-” His sentence was stopped short when the man snarled and slowly turned around. The thing’s guts were falling out of its stomach and its face was shredded apart. George screamed in terror and ran. The thing he encountered began a slight jog after George. It growled and hissed. George kept running through the desolate halls, it seemed like a labyrinth. His curiosity was now his greatest weakness. He didn’t know where to go. Soon he pushed through a door, which brought him to the exit. He felt free and was relieved at the beautiful sight. He got to the exit that would lead him into the night. He quickly tugged on the door handles. It wouldn't budge. He tugged again. And again. It was locked from the outside with chains and a wood plank. The lock was busted. He began to bang on the sealed exit for help. No help was to come for the stranded man. No back-up. No soldiers. No savior. His heart beat as fast as a drum. A loud bang came from behind George. He whipped around and stared back at the entrance into the labyrinth of halls. Another bang hit the doors and George jumped. Sweat rolled down his frightened face; he was absolutely frozen. In a split second, the doors erupted open, sending a herd of human-like things forward. His screams and pleas for help were unheard and unknown. George watched in horror as they approached closer and closer. Their decayed and bloodied bodies came into better focus as they drew closer. He looked forward, shut his eyes, and waited. He was instantly tackled and engulfed by the living-dead.